1000 mile check-in!

[Jaxfan]

Well, after 1000 miles I thought I might give my impressions of my Feejeer. Probably nothing new, maybe no one will care, but what the heck. A little bit about me since things are always relative to the person riding. I am 6'4" and about 240 lbs (no I am not fat! - so says mom anyway), and 40 years old. I have ridden for 20 years off and mostly on. Started with a SECA 400, and currently own the FJR and a hard-tail wide tire cruiser.

First, the things I need to change:

Right hand continues to get tingly after about 20 minutes. I have the bars moved forward to get me lower under the windshield, but I'm not sure this is helping much. I will probably move them back to the original position and see if it helps my weight distribution on my hands. I think I'll try different thicker grips and the ThottleMiester with heavy bar ends for this buzziness also. The power commander seems slightly more technical than I am ready for yet. And a little more pricey initially.

Still can't seem to get the low speed shifting down without hanging on for my life, especially around corners. Not sure I'm smart enough to perform the barbarian mod or Fred's cable manipulation. Think I'll try the G-2 tube fix first since I'm looking to change the grips anyway and see if I can get better with the throttle.

I'm gonna need a comms system since the wife wants to ride all the time now. Can't take her tapping on my helmet all day to get my attention! Gonna have to use Skyway's new ball bearing mod on her before long! (See I do read the boards!)

And the great stuff:

Wow this bike is scary fast. I owned a Suzuki GSXR 750 that would pull your arms out of their sockets. The FJR may not be there, but with the FJR you don't realize you're going 100 mph until you look down at the speedo.

Rock steady manners on this bike. Speed doesn't seem to upset it at all.

This bike has the best brakes I have ever felt. I have certainly not ridden every bike, but there is no grab or weaving under braking that I can feel.

Wife absolutely loves this ride. We probably will never get to be iron-butts, but this is a great bike to ride with pillion.

I have eaten many bugs and rocks :dribble: when riding my cruiser, and I have come to truly appreciate the benefits of a nice full face helmet and the windshield! I have seen lots of threads regarding larger windshields, but I like the sportbike look with the smaller windshield down. Don't think any change is needed there for me.

Maybe this will be of interest to prospective buyers, maybe not. Just another noob trying to do his part! Ride safe and look out for the other guy, since it seems they are never looking out for me!

Jaxfan

 

[throttlejockeyTJ]

A Mod you might like is tha Audiovox Cruise Control. TJ

 

[OrangevaleFJR]

From a lot of reading and a little experience, there are two things that will impact numb hands:

1) Get a set of tacki grips. Search for them on the forum, you'll find a link to them. They aren't the best looking grips, but solved my numb hand issue for $10

2) Throttle sync being good reduces vibrations.

 

[FJRMGM]

nice report - the throttle body sync will help the hand vibes.

Stand by for more great riding.

 

[boogahboogah]

+1 what Orangevale sez

Plus three more things - changing grips really helped me (I used the BMW grips, other folks like the Grip Puppies), learning to use a more relaxed grip helped, and the last thing was miles. After 25k miles I don't feel much vibration anymore, I think that it pretty much goes away as the engine/tranny break in, but maybe I've just gotten used to it, maybe it's a combination of physical & mental both ?

 

[bmac]

You are smart enough to do the Barbarian mod and it helps with the vibration. That along with reduced throttle spring tension and a throttle sync goes a long way to reduce vibration. Reducing the spring tension on the throttle means you don't have to grip it as tight which aids in reducing the impact of the vibration.

It is a non-issue for me after these three changes.

 

[Cdogman]

Hey, I found a thread where I have something to add

I just did the G2 Mod, Love it. I get MUCH better resolution on the throttle. I am far less concerned with my arms being ripped out on acceleration than upsetting the bike in transition from off to on throttle. I will also be doing the PCIII later this year.

I Just installed an "AutoComm Superpro AVI" last weekend. Under the seat. Super easy, I will be doing a major mod to it this weekend (it is snowing like hell outside right now)

The autocom has a MAJOR drawback for me as configured right now. I have the feedback mike in my helmet and it does a fine job of adjusting for the helmet noise. But I wear earplugs (cannot take the wind noise volume at speed) and the Autocom speakers (easy to mount) have too low a volume to overcom this. Bass response is extremely poor. On my Goldwing I installed an Autocom box in front of the factory system and it works great with the volume control on the handlebars. No such animal on my FJR since I am only running an Ipod Nano in the glove box.

Autocom sets compared

So here is what I did and am doing for that this weekend

New lower cords

1. I have two new lower cords that will allow me to use in ear speakers (ear buds that seal tight in my ears) and remove the speakers from my helmet

2. The no brainer to volume control is to mount the Ipod and its little friends where I can get to them. Doing that too this weekend

3. Power strip and proper junctions.

The Yahoo (I should have known better than to buy his crap) told me the unit draw almost no juice idle and not to worry about the battery as long as I ride a couple times a month. DONT BELIEVE them. I am taking the front left side off and installing power strips, grounding strips, and relays and the whole shebang this weekend in an anal retentive way. I will take step by step pictures and incude a narrative next week so you folks can either see the results of my productive labor or watch me mess my bike up and then I will tell you what it costs for me to get it fixed. Either way, we should learn something .

Then I am going to tie in my GPS (garmin) my Ipod (exterior mount), My cell phone, the kitchen sink, and mebbe even my XM (All taken off of my GL1800) << wonder if I should keep that bike, (feeling separation anxiety already)

Anyway,

That will be .02 please

 

[keithaba]

Grip puppies and a PCIII will do wonders for vibration and tingly throttle hand.

The PCIII really isn't that technical at all. You practically can't mess it up, and the tutorials from the power commander site make it really easy to understand the software. Mine took about 2 hours and the hardest part is getting the darn plugs apart!

I highly reccomend it. If you have any questions about the install there are a lot of people here who have done it that can help you with questions.

 

[MotorSWATCop]

Kieth nailed it. PCIII is cake. The only hard part is seperating the connectors and a person w/ opposable thumbs can do it.

 

[Bike Effects]

It is always the right hand that has a problem, do you notice? The multiple cure here is (IMHO):

Reduce the throttle spring tension (well documented here)

Throttle body sync (also well documented)

The G3 Throttle tube seems to be a great mod for the second generation FJR owners

The addition of a Power Commander

 

[skyway]

Before you start adding a power commander, I would address the ergonomics first as you already mention. Set the bars in the rear position and try them there. It sounds like you're over compensating on your riding position for wind protection? If so, I would change to a larger windshield before a power commander.

The first 24 hours of ownership, I rode almost a thousand miles 2-up, so I had plently of time to figure out what I liked and dis-liked. And I can say that the first thing I did was to unhook that throttle return spring, as for me the FJR throttle was too stiff for long periods in the saddle. The other thing this did for me, was my grip relaxed on my throttle hand, and this is what I believe was also causing my numb hand. Problem is now gone.

I also added risers which moved the bars back. This removed all the pain I felt between my shoulder blades during my first ride, which hasn't returned.

Also adjust the throttle cable and remove all the cable slack Yamaha seems to think is needed. This adjustment allowed me to be much smoother on the throttle during transitions, and should help you immensly with your slow speed manover issues.

I also bought a throttlemeister, but if I had it to do over, would save my $, as I find it to be a PIA when compared to the Audiovox CC, which is almost the same money and superior in every way.

I also replaced the factory grips with the BMW sport grips. Cost around $20. They were an improvement over what was there, but I can't comment on any others as these seem to work ok.

And remember that the body needs to be constantly moved around to avoid pain spots, be it stretching, standing on the footpegs etc. Forget to do this and your body will remind you all to quickly. On long rides this is a must!!

I don't think the vibration of any motorcycle is ever the primary cause for fatigue quickly setting in, the ergonomics play a much bigger role in long term comfort. YMMV

 

[rockmurf]

Power commander, heli triple clamp. No more vibration. Everett