1985 FJ, 20k miles, immaculate

[dcarver]

Have a lead on 2nd owner 85 FJ. Red and White. My favorite. My bud Mr. Cobb had one back in the day and I chased him all over the North County on my KZ1300. Always did like the look and sound.

I haven't seen it yet - but the owner states he bought it from the original owner who was a nut ball DjBill type neat freak. The bike has 20k, and is supposedly brilliant minus 2 small dings in a muffler due to a tip over in a hotel room. Yes, in a hotel room.

My question to you peeps is this -

if, it's as advertised, what is it worth?

Give me a top $$ number you personally would pay.

I'll post pix as soon as I get them.

..and all you locals stand the **** back, this baby is mine!

 

[Hudson]

Don, I had an 86 that I sold in 1999 for about $2k. Great bike, and those early FJ's were a tad speedier than the later ones, even if the later ones were a bit better looking.

A low miles bike is great, but know that unless the bike was stored well and maintained regularly, you are still going to have to attend to some things. Fork seals, brake and clutch master cylinders, and sprockets and chains are easy, but make sure it doesn't have the dreaded gear slip, where it either pops out of gear or is real hard to push into second or third, which may mean a tranny rebuild.

I think anything under $2k would be interesting, assuming the bike checks out. That's a lot of scoot for the money.

 

[dcarver]

Thanks Hudson - appreciate your input.

Supposedly, the bike is regularly ridden, e.g. once a month or so.

It's been indoors its entire life - and the current owner is very familiar with maintaining vehicles in 'storage'.

I simply need to look at this ride - I'm pretty savvy about what to look for, and I'm not in LUST with the bike. But, if it is as advertised, is 2k a good price? What would your top dollar bid be?

The tranny statement - do the FJ's of this era have a tranny weakness or is your comment a generic warning?

 

[FJRay]

The FJ, XS and the Venture were all known to have trans issues. A tear down and undercuting the the dogs usually solves it unless it's been run a long time that way.

 

[BkerChuck]

FWIW, I bought my 85 FJ1100 as a brand new leftover in 1987. It was sitting in a back corner of a dealership in PA, dust covered and lonely. In almost 25 years of ownership I put 60k miles on it. I owned multiple bikes so some years it got more use than others. I never had the reported second gear issue. I sold it in late 2010 for $1600 to buy a second Buell S-2 from a friend and didn't have room to keep all of the bikes I was accumulating. I will state for the record that my wife did offer to park outside and give up her half of the garage. The FJ was definitely one of the best bikes I ever owned and there are times I feel I made a bad move selling it.

 

[lnewlf]

Sold my '89 for 2 grand with 100 K on it-ran and looked perfect-no smoke , no tranny problems-easily ran with a friend's Busa up to 100.

 

[Bearly Flying]

Don, I still have my 85 FJ, it has been an excellent bike. After many years of faithful and rigorous use, second gear was starting to jump out under hard acceleration, it was never a problem in normal more sedate riding conditions. I had the gears undercut when I rebuilt the bike a few years back.

It will still put the hurt on a lot more modern bikes, back in the day the published numbers for the FJ11 was 10.44 @ 127 mph.

Is the bike your looking at a Canadian Spec bike? During the 80's the USA versions were limited on horsepower.

 

[dcarver]

I'm hearing that right around the 2k mark is where it should be. My gut is this guy will be asking more. Time will tell. I can't spend all my spare coin foolishly. I have KZ1300 to rebuild, an XR600 engine to rebuild, then start on the /2's.

 

[FJRay]

I'm hearing that right around the 2k mark is where it should be. My gut is this guy will be asking more. Time will tell. I can't spend all my spare coin foolishly. I have KZ1300 to rebuild, an XR600 engine to rebuild, then start on the /2's.

Go for it. If it's as nice as you say it should live on your road long enough for me to get the others done. You need bike storage in town, the savings in repair costs would pay the rent.

 

[Niehart]

I put many, many miles on my '84' FJ with no problems. But that being said, I did see a few with the second gear problem so just make sure you ride it.

Email sent.

 

[dcarver]

You guys should see the pix pops sent! Lol

 

[Bungie]

We're waiting.

I've never owned an FJ, but my lust for them is what brought me to the FJR.

 

[willboe]

Kelly Blue Book says the bike is: $1195 trade-in, $1795 Retail. That one probably has some 'add' for low miles.

 

[dcarver]

POPs, ok to post the pix you emailed me?

 

[Niehart]

Yes.

 

[escapefjrtist]

Sounds like a nice survivor you found Don. Any word on the price yet...I'm betting it'll be in the $2500 - $3000 range.

Good luck!

--G

 

[rmcobb]

tick tock.....waiting for pics. God I loved that bike. Sold it to buy a house back in 1990. Should have kept the bike, the house didn't fare well in that So Cal real estate downturn

Never experienced the tranny issue on mine, but it only had around 25K when I sold it IIRC.

 

[escapefjrtist]

Don't leave us hanging Don! Did you add another one to the stable?

--G