kamal
No longer frightened by corners!
I agree. I was more curious about the fit & finish, which doesn't look too bad - IMHO.
Aftermarket fairings from ebay.
- Thread starter puppychow
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birkdale10
Well-known member
Folks, I'm glad someone is interested in hearing how my purchase and fitting of a Chinese fairing works. And Warpdrv asks me a hard questions. I would love to post pics. I have a GoPro camera and it takes great photos.Cool Man..... Looking forward to hearing about these.... My bike looks awesome, but am curious about the colors and how they match up to the tank....
I've always liked the 2005 Blue/Silver Scheme....
Which did you go with? Hope you will be posting up pics...
I have no idea how to post a pic on this forum. I once tried (with a pic of my odometer showing 66666 miles - the numberrr of the beast!) but everything I tried failed.
Is there a how-to on what I have to do to post pics?
jmgrif
Well-known member
I use Photobucket which is free! Then copy the link into your post and select the "image" icon in the second line of text of the two above which only show in the "Reply to this topic box"!
wfooshee
O, Woe is me!!
Yeah, you can't post directly to the forum, you have to upload your images to a hosting site (Photobucket, Picasaweb, Flickr, etc.) and you can get a URL for the picture from that site, and put that URL in the image tool on the post editor. POOF! your post will contain an image.
And that's not a fault of the forum software, it's a conscious decision my the admins to not have to store uploaded images forever.
And that's not a fault of the forum software, it's a conscious decision my the admins to not have to store uploaded images forever.
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birkdale10
Well-known member
It is ... interesting, working with a company a world away...
It took from the 8th to the 15th before I got another message. This also said it was shipped - but said there was a DHL tracking number that would be assigned 'When Available". Today, (17th) a number is available. I went to the DHL tracking site, used the tracking number, and WHOA! it is REAL. The shipment has been picked up, and has gotten to a second location in China.
I checked this at 11am CDT, Jun 17. The latest entry on the DHL site is from Jun 18 at 00:01.
I'm wondering...is the next entry going to be the proverbial 'slow boat from China'?
We'll see.
Again, ordered online May 25th. 23 days so far.
birkdale10
Well-known member
DHL called yesterday. I made a few arrangements, and the package was delivered today.
Haven't opened it. I'm going to wait for the weekend to open it. I have no idea when I'm going to have time to actually work at switching it out. Something about a week-long scuba trip coming up...
Haven't opened it. I'm going to wait for the weekend to open it. I have no idea when I'm going to have time to actually work at switching it out. Something about a week-long scuba trip coming up...
Dodahdude
Well-known member
Ok. It's been a month. How did the fit and color turn out?
Northwoods Snowman
Well-known member
Keeping my eye on this.
birkdale10
Well-known member
The bike is put together with the new parts. I am still going to post pics, but first I need to find the time to learn how. (Photobucket: gotcha.) But I thought I would string together a few sentences.
When I refer to YamaParts, I'm looking at this site: https://www.stadiumyamaha.com/pages/OemParts?aribrand=YAM) to get the names.
Is anyone around here old enough to remember the time when anything from Japan was referred to as 'cheap Japanese junk'. Well, those days are gone, and the mechanical stuff out of Japan is some of the highest quality around. The label 'cheap xxxxx junk' label is now available for 'China' to replace 'xxxxx'. I am...not impressed.
The color does not match. It's blue, but it does not match.
If you stand back from the finished product, I think it looks pretty good. I don't mind the tri-color scheme (instead of a bi-color). Purists may balk.
In the large box of parts, there was a heavy package of screws, nuts and interesting star-shaped washers that I was intrigued by. However, almost all the hardare holding on the fairing is 4mm bolts, screws, etc. These are 5mm. Why were they even included?
There are a number of places on the original fairing that use what Yamaha calls a 'nut, spring'. They are the u-shaped nuts that fit on the edge of the fairing pieces, and a 4mm bolt goes through them to attach pieces. On the Yama fairing, there almost always is a place on the fairing that is formed during the molding process to make a 'place' for the spring nuts. There may be a ridge there, to locate the spring nut, but the part of the fairing itself is the same thickness as the rest of the fairing. On the Chinese fairing, the area where these spring nuts are placed is usually thicker than the surrounding fairing plastic. The 'nuts' fit reluctantly, sometimes.
There are a number of places on the original fairing that use self-tapping screws. An example is on the black plastic inner fairing, on each side of the radiator. The Chinese fairing has these same places with a threaded extrusion for a 4mm screw. I actually think this is a better way to do it. IF the threaded extrusions lined up exactly correctly! And IF they supplied new screws! But, they don't. And they didn't. Example - the turn signals. Yamaha has self-tapping screws. Chinese has threads. But getting the three screws in puts a lot of stress on the assembly - and on the threaded extrusions. I got them in, but I wonder if they will simply break sometime from the stress on them. And, as I mentioned before, there are no new screws that fit. So, I needed to replace self-tapping screws with 4mm threaded bolts. A trip to Lowe's. Now I have a mix of 4mm bolts and 4mm 'socket button hex bolts'.
There were pieces that simply did not fit until I got out a file, a saw, or a drill. Again, the inner fairing on each side of the radiator.
The worst fitting part is the instrument console, which is supposed to fit behind what is called the 'body, cowling' on the Yamaha OEM parts exploded diagram. It does not. There is a gap. No matter how hard I tried, I could not get the cowling to fit over the console.
I rode it to work today, everything is there and it is all tight. I'll write more later and definitely get the photos. But I'd say the fairing is 90% accurate. The problem is - for it all to fit correctly, it needs to be 99% accurate. In this case, I gave it 90% - but I have to give it a D-minus as an overall grade. I will be looking for a better solution in the months to come.
One last note - I NEEDED to replace the fairing. As I was taking it off, I found at least 7 places where the original had a tab or extension or something that a screw fit into, and that 'something' ... was broken. The screw still held it in, but it wasn't attached to whatever it was supposed to be HOLDING! The worst of these is the headlight assembly. I have screws with nowhere to screw, because the plastic extrusion that is supposed to be screwed in to...is broken off. I do need to fix that - and as far as I can tell, that is what Yamaha calls a 'headlight assy', and the individual pieces are not for sale. A $234 item. So, anyone that is reading this far - a question: are there sources for used parts out there?
More to come. Promise.
When I refer to YamaParts, I'm looking at this site: https://www.stadiumyamaha.com/pages/OemParts?aribrand=YAM) to get the names.
Is anyone around here old enough to remember the time when anything from Japan was referred to as 'cheap Japanese junk'. Well, those days are gone, and the mechanical stuff out of Japan is some of the highest quality around. The label 'cheap xxxxx junk' label is now available for 'China' to replace 'xxxxx'. I am...not impressed.
The color does not match. It's blue, but it does not match.
If you stand back from the finished product, I think it looks pretty good. I don't mind the tri-color scheme (instead of a bi-color). Purists may balk.
In the large box of parts, there was a heavy package of screws, nuts and interesting star-shaped washers that I was intrigued by. However, almost all the hardare holding on the fairing is 4mm bolts, screws, etc. These are 5mm. Why were they even included?
There are a number of places on the original fairing that use what Yamaha calls a 'nut, spring'. They are the u-shaped nuts that fit on the edge of the fairing pieces, and a 4mm bolt goes through them to attach pieces. On the Yama fairing, there almost always is a place on the fairing that is formed during the molding process to make a 'place' for the spring nuts. There may be a ridge there, to locate the spring nut, but the part of the fairing itself is the same thickness as the rest of the fairing. On the Chinese fairing, the area where these spring nuts are placed is usually thicker than the surrounding fairing plastic. The 'nuts' fit reluctantly, sometimes.
There are a number of places on the original fairing that use self-tapping screws. An example is on the black plastic inner fairing, on each side of the radiator. The Chinese fairing has these same places with a threaded extrusion for a 4mm screw. I actually think this is a better way to do it. IF the threaded extrusions lined up exactly correctly! And IF they supplied new screws! But, they don't. And they didn't. Example - the turn signals. Yamaha has self-tapping screws. Chinese has threads. But getting the three screws in puts a lot of stress on the assembly - and on the threaded extrusions. I got them in, but I wonder if they will simply break sometime from the stress on them. And, as I mentioned before, there are no new screws that fit. So, I needed to replace self-tapping screws with 4mm threaded bolts. A trip to Lowe's. Now I have a mix of 4mm bolts and 4mm 'socket button hex bolts'.
There were pieces that simply did not fit until I got out a file, a saw, or a drill. Again, the inner fairing on each side of the radiator.
The worst fitting part is the instrument console, which is supposed to fit behind what is called the 'body, cowling' on the Yamaha OEM parts exploded diagram. It does not. There is a gap. No matter how hard I tried, I could not get the cowling to fit over the console.
I rode it to work today, everything is there and it is all tight. I'll write more later and definitely get the photos. But I'd say the fairing is 90% accurate. The problem is - for it all to fit correctly, it needs to be 99% accurate. In this case, I gave it 90% - but I have to give it a D-minus as an overall grade. I will be looking for a better solution in the months to come.
One last note - I NEEDED to replace the fairing. As I was taking it off, I found at least 7 places where the original had a tab or extension or something that a screw fit into, and that 'something' ... was broken. The screw still held it in, but it wasn't attached to whatever it was supposed to be HOLDING! The worst of these is the headlight assembly. I have screws with nowhere to screw, because the plastic extrusion that is supposed to be screwed in to...is broken off. I do need to fix that - and as far as I can tell, that is what Yamaha calls a 'headlight assy', and the individual pieces are not for sale. A $234 item. So, anyone that is reading this far - a question: are there sources for used parts out there?
More to come. Promise.
Yes, headlight assembly is expensive. I have no idea where you can get one for $234. Best I could find for a new one was ~ $270 and that was fraught with bad service from Partzilla (aka Boats.net). I ended up paying almost $350 for a second one so that I could be assured that I got the damn thing before CFR and then of course the cheaper one showed up on the same damn day.
Murphy's law rules,
Consumers like us drool.
Murphy's law rules,
Consumers like us drool.
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Chuck35
Well-known member
For things that I need to get around to sometime, I save a search on ebay and every now and again a great deal pops up.
leedavis
Well-known member
My experience with the Chinese plastic mirrors yours though as a former modeler I'm used having to do a little work to get parts to fit correctly. I thought the color mismatch is what will be the deal breaker for most people. There's no easy way to fix that.
wfooshee
O, Woe is me!!
I don't think they were ever intended to be a color match. They are just available in come random colors.
leedavis
Well-known member
The FJR sets I've seen are gen I and almost always pictured in what could be interpreted as gen I colors, silver or blue. Granted, the ads don't say they're OEM colors but they never say they're not either. It's misleading and I think people would order assuming an color match. I contacted the vendor to ask about the color before I purchased mine so I knew they weren't OEM and would need to be painted.
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wfooshee
O, Woe is me!!
I'm not sure how not claiming something is misleading.
Dodahdude
Well-known member
I bought headlights from Boats.net for $264.10, shipped free. Took about 6 to 7 day to receive. No problems for me. As far as used parts there are several motorcycle recovery companies but they have not sent a reply to my request yet. It's been two weeks now. I think they sell from ebay. That's were I found them. The only one I remember is Greentownmotorcycleparts.com. Go to ebay, find a dealers name in the "Seller information" block, cut and paste into a search engine and see if they deal in salvage.
birkdale10
Well-known member
I have a more specific question about the headlight. I should have looked when I had the fairing off, but I didn't.
The entire headlight assembly was one big mass of plastic. There was the headlight, and the mount, and it all was one hunk.
Is it possible to take it apart? To explain the question: if a rock hit the bike at just the right angle, shattered one of the lenses, didn't even scratch the fairing or break the bulb... would you have to replace the entire headlight assembly?
(Yamaha part# 5VS-84300-20-00: $270.93) Seems excessive. Is it possible to take it apart, seperate the headlights from the plastic mounting bracket?
If so, is it possible to find someone that HAS had to replace the headlight assembly - because of broken lenses - but who still has the entire assembly, with the mounting screwholes still intact? Because, my headlight are fine. There are at least two of the mounting brackets - that you screw a screw into - that are broken off. I would just like to replace the housing, not the headlights.
AFAIK. You replace it as a whole. If it's just a couple of mounting brackets and if it otherwise doesn't affect the sturdiness (it probably doesn't, but may depend). I wouldn't worry about it, but that's just me.
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Warpdrv
Well-known member
Birk, if you would like I can host the pics for you.....
PM me and I'll send you my email address you can email the pics to me, I'll upload them and post them here for ya.....
Shouldn't take me but a few minutes.....
PM me and I'll send you my email address you can email the pics to me, I'll upload them and post them here for ya.....
Shouldn't take me but a few minutes.....
