jjsC6
Well-known member
This thread is going to be a bit lengthy, so I'll organize it by sections. The history is that I bought my 06 two years ago in May, and now have 21,000 miles on it. That inlcudes 300+ rides almost every Saturday, an eight day - 2900 mile trip to the Smokey Mtns 18 months ago, and an eight day - 3,800 mile trip to the Rockies last summer. I absolutely love the bike except for two common problems, and they are both pretty annoying. First is the vibration and stiff throttle that causes right-hand fatigue. The second is the throttle response off idle. This is a well known and documented problem that makes riding in on twisty roads a challenge because when you drop down a couple of gears going into a corner, then go to roll back into the throttle, there is a hesitation, then a sudden "jerk" of acceleration. I personally know of two people who sold their 2006 FJR specifically because of this issue. Here are all the fixes I've done, and the results (to address both problems above). By the way, all of these "fixes" are the result of what I have read on this forum, so I'm not implying all these are new ideas. But I know that a lot of people (like myself) like to see as much response as possible from people who have tried these modifications.
Remove center throttle spring
Almost right after I got the bike, I removed the center return spring on the throttle bodies. It's a wee bit intimidating to do this, because if you have to reverse the process, it would be a serious pain in the ass. My advice? Just do it. It made of world of difference in the throttle stiffness and my hand did not fatique nearly as much (although it still does some due to vibration).
Throttle Lock
I installed a "Vista Cruise" throttle lock before my first trip. This allows me to live with the problem of hand fatique from the vibration in the throttle. On long rides, this is a simple way to let go of the throttle for a few minutes and relax my hand. The Vista Cruise is not nearly as clean and neat as a Throttlemeister, but they work great and are simple to engage and disengage.
Barbarian Mod
Along with the off idle response problem, the bike also had a lean surge that was noticable expecially in lower gears cruising at steady throttle. This would be like riding through your neighborhood. I had hoped the Barbarian mod would help both the surge and off idle problem, so I performed this before my trip to the Smokeys (wanted to be smoooooth on the Dragon!). It fixed the surge, but did not help the off idle problem at all. Worth doing, but its not going to make or break how happy you are with the bike.
G2 throttle
To help with the throttle response off idle, next up was the G2 throttle barrel. This made a very noticable difference immediately. It did not fix the hesitation then jerkiness off dead idle, but it did help make the throttle much easier to modulate smoothly at lower throttle movements. I highly recommend this mod.
New ECU (High altitude fix)
I didn't notice it much in the Smokeys, but on my trip to the Rockies I was very aware of how poorly the bike ran in higher altitudes. Imagine my delight when shortly after the trip I see that Yamaha is issuing a TSB to replace the ECU. I jumped on that right away (MAYBE it would even fix the off idle problem that by now is really pissing me off). I had the ECU replaced in November. I have not ridden in the high altitude yet, but it made no other changes in the bike except the lean surge was back. I re-did the Barbarian mod and it was back to exactly how it was before the new ECU. I assume the new ECU will fix the altitude problem, but it did nothing else.
Power Commander
I have become so frustated with the off idle problem that I have been toying with either buying an 08 FJR (if I can assure the problem is fixed) or a Kawasaki C14. But I really love my FJR - more than any other bike I've owned. So I decided to try a Power Commander. I have read reviews of it on this forum, and the folks that put them on 06 & 07 didn't seem very unified that it fixed the problem - so I was skeptical. But I really wanted to pull out all the stops. So the other day I put on a Power Commander with the base map that comes with it. In all fairness, I also bought a throttle body synch tool and synched them at the same time. I KNOW, how do I know whether the synch or the Power Commander made the difference? Sorry, but thats what I did. The bottom line is that I rode 350 miles yesterday, and there is no doubt that the off idle problem is FIXED!!! I do not believe the throttle body synch was a factor, because only one cylinder was off, and not by much. So I am quite sure its the Power Commander that made all the difference.
Like I said, I love this bike. Along with a couple of other mods (Garmin 2720, louder horns, and heated grips), this is now almost a perfect bike for me. If only they would offer a factory cruise control!!!
I hope this helps, and I'm sure that others who have done the same mods will jump on this thread and confirm whether they had the same results.
Remove center throttle spring
Almost right after I got the bike, I removed the center return spring on the throttle bodies. It's a wee bit intimidating to do this, because if you have to reverse the process, it would be a serious pain in the ass. My advice? Just do it. It made of world of difference in the throttle stiffness and my hand did not fatique nearly as much (although it still does some due to vibration).
Throttle Lock
I installed a "Vista Cruise" throttle lock before my first trip. This allows me to live with the problem of hand fatique from the vibration in the throttle. On long rides, this is a simple way to let go of the throttle for a few minutes and relax my hand. The Vista Cruise is not nearly as clean and neat as a Throttlemeister, but they work great and are simple to engage and disengage.
Barbarian Mod
Along with the off idle response problem, the bike also had a lean surge that was noticable expecially in lower gears cruising at steady throttle. This would be like riding through your neighborhood. I had hoped the Barbarian mod would help both the surge and off idle problem, so I performed this before my trip to the Smokeys (wanted to be smoooooth on the Dragon!). It fixed the surge, but did not help the off idle problem at all. Worth doing, but its not going to make or break how happy you are with the bike.
G2 throttle
To help with the throttle response off idle, next up was the G2 throttle barrel. This made a very noticable difference immediately. It did not fix the hesitation then jerkiness off dead idle, but it did help make the throttle much easier to modulate smoothly at lower throttle movements. I highly recommend this mod.
New ECU (High altitude fix)
I didn't notice it much in the Smokeys, but on my trip to the Rockies I was very aware of how poorly the bike ran in higher altitudes. Imagine my delight when shortly after the trip I see that Yamaha is issuing a TSB to replace the ECU. I jumped on that right away (MAYBE it would even fix the off idle problem that by now is really pissing me off). I had the ECU replaced in November. I have not ridden in the high altitude yet, but it made no other changes in the bike except the lean surge was back. I re-did the Barbarian mod and it was back to exactly how it was before the new ECU. I assume the new ECU will fix the altitude problem, but it did nothing else.
Power Commander
I have become so frustated with the off idle problem that I have been toying with either buying an 08 FJR (if I can assure the problem is fixed) or a Kawasaki C14. But I really love my FJR - more than any other bike I've owned. So I decided to try a Power Commander. I have read reviews of it on this forum, and the folks that put them on 06 & 07 didn't seem very unified that it fixed the problem - so I was skeptical. But I really wanted to pull out all the stops. So the other day I put on a Power Commander with the base map that comes with it. In all fairness, I also bought a throttle body synch tool and synched them at the same time. I KNOW, how do I know whether the synch or the Power Commander made the difference? Sorry, but thats what I did. The bottom line is that I rode 350 miles yesterday, and there is no doubt that the off idle problem is FIXED!!! I do not believe the throttle body synch was a factor, because only one cylinder was off, and not by much. So I am quite sure its the Power Commander that made all the difference.
Like I said, I love this bike. Along with a couple of other mods (Garmin 2720, louder horns, and heated grips), this is now almost a perfect bike for me. If only they would offer a factory cruise control!!!
I hope this helps, and I'm sure that others who have done the same mods will jump on this thread and confirm whether they had the same results.
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