Blimey - nobody told me that!

[Warjacqui]

Im a geordie…. In the actual North, we like to believe we are subject matter experts, even if our experience runs to no more than an hour or two on google, so, here’s reflections from a brand new geordie FJR1300AS 2009 expert.

I’ve owned my second hand new FJR1300 AS 2009 exactly 24 hours. It is my first FJR. I traded a Suzuki SV1000S for it, and the garage was about as far away from my home as physically possible. I actually live in rural Northumberland, near Haydon bridge, near Hadrians Wall and Hexham, and the bike was at Davant Bikes, Torquay. 430 miles door to door. This is her

I loved the last ride on my V twin, from my village, along the "the Hartside Pass", voted by the ACDC bloke as his favourite road in the world on Top Gear. It's a stunning ride, from my village, an hour to junction 40 of the M6. It rained however, a lot, so the ride down on my v twin was remarkably unremarkable, she scared wildlife, set off car alarms, produced scornful looks just as she has done for the last 14 years, 25000 miles and 12 countries I've ridden her through.

I hit the motorway at Penrith, into heavy traffic from the Lake District all the way until past Bristol. It took 10 hours to get down to Torquay on Saturday. I set off at 5am, and reached Davant bikes at about 3pm Saturday afternoon. I picked up the FJR, drove to where I was staying an hour along the coast, had a cornish pasty and pint and went to bed.

Davant have the air of assurance that they are the real thing. I am a naive expert and know it. I had a load of questions about functionality, weird nuances (light only comes on when engine is running, not on ignition? etc) but it didnt take long to realise what a step up I have made on my 9 hour, 425 mile ride home in thunder storms on Sunday. I emailed them a few questions yesterday (Monday) morning, they called me within 30 minutes of my email and have called me to coach me through my naivity twice since. Excellent customer service and a lifetime guarantee if I get it serviced with them, which I wont, its too far away.

There are things you dont know that you dont know.....Since when did the world from a bike not look blurred? I cant ever remember being able to read another vehicles number plate without slowing right down!

First impressions? Im in love, however, there are two things which aren’t great, neither of which I could have had the foresight to mitigate before I bought the bike.

Good bits – the gear changing is a dream with the flappy paddle clutch set up, It really helps and aids safety significantly. Riding is a dream. I was stupid enough to think you look through, not over the screen, having never had a meaningful one. I worked out, when I was riding along the M5/M6 motorway looking like a meer cat on acid, that one looks slightly over the screen. I now understand the merits of a screen. I tucked in behind it, and apart from wondering if I was having a stroke when the heated grips kicked in (I didn’t know I had them switched on). It was a thing of great beauty. Thunderstorms, lightening, biblical rain, cars nose to tail driving completely blind at 90MPH past Birmingham and Manchester. I felt in control and aware of everything watching the world go by.

Two bad bits - I’m not used to back boxes and I have to get used to my new one, which is the size of a small caravan, and would be better suited employed as a submarine, taking rich people to the bottom of the sea. I kept getting glympses of it in the mirror and shocking myself – an alien space craft has chosen my pillion seat to land on! Phewf, its only the back box….

I am also an aspiring helmet musician (thats not meant to be a rude metaphor) – a very amateur band member who sings backing vocals behinds his piano. I had always thought I was practically Lady Gaga in my helmet, with piercing vibrato to rival the very best. I now realise that it was the shaking of a v twin that gave me the singing edge. I’m actually quite crap. I think I will soon have to be honest with myself if Im spending time riding the new love of my life.

Being an expert - I dont need any of course - but should you wish to share any advice or thoughts on things I need to check, things I can adjust (apart from making the screen go up and down, I haven't changed a thing) I would warmly welcome them.

Thanks for the add

Dan.

 

[Bounce]

Tip. Tail packs/Trunks/Starship Nacelles are high and usually behind the rear axle. As such keep the load light. Bulky light things only. Heavier stuff lower and more forward (back seat, side packs, etc.). I didn't know that, put some heavy stuff in a trunk of a GL1200 Gold Wing, and spent my first 1500-in-24-hours with a slight weave going down the road. The tail pack had unloaded the front wheel; making it too light. I didn't have time to adjust things when against the clock, so had to deal with it for hours.

 

[RossKean]

How many miles on it?

Ride it
Change oil
Do basic scheduled maintenance (easy to work on, for the most part)
Change tires
Do a valve check from time-to-time
Repeat...

A few things to check:
Clutch/brake fluid flush - I do mine every two years. (Clutch is trickier for the auto-clutch version) The left front brake caliper is bled via the hand brake lever as is the top right bleeder. The lower piston pair bleeder on the right caliper is part of the linked brake system and is bled via the rear brake pedal (and fluid reservoir). Do this one before the rear caliper.

Clean and lube front brake lever/pivot. Normally, the clutch lever is especially important, but not an issue in your case!
Disassemble, clean, lube the rear brake pedal. This tends to get sticky, especially if riding in the wet. (I would say the same about shifter linkage, but not an issue for you.) A stuck brake pedal will wear down pads, possibly overheat/warp rear rotor, hurt fuel economy and your brake light will be on all the time.

Every year or two, it is important to clean/lube the rear suspension pivots in the relay arm. Three separate bearings and all but the front one are easy to access. That one is a real bitch. While you're at it, remove the final drive and clean/lube the drive splines on the drive shaft and U-joint. The one and only time I have disassembled the swing arm to clean and lube (almost 300,000 miles on two Gen II FJRs), I wondered why I even bothered.

Make sure valve check was done (if due). They don't go off quickly but it is a good idea to keep an eye on clearances - Yamaha's schedule is more than sufficient. (I usually change sparkplugs and coolant at the same time.) I use iridium tipped plugs (NGK CR8EIX) and they are good until the next scheduled valve check. I also do a throttle body sync after the valve check - IMHO, it isn't necessary to do more often.

Some of this is a bit dated, but generally very useful with respect to the FJR and maintenance stuff
https://www.fjr-tips.org/index.html
The FJR is extremely robust - I have never had a motorcycle that cost as little to maintain.

Ask away if you have any questions or run into any problems.
Forum search function is pretty good and I doubt that you will encounter anything that hasn't come up multiple times in the past.

Oh, welcome to the forum!

 

[fastpappy]

Welcome again. Good to see you here as well.

 

[JQL]

Areet man,

Canny bike, that, like.

Welcome to the group and an excellent (canny) write up.

 

[torch]

Im a geordie…. In the actual North, we like to believe we are subject matter experts, even if our

...

I actually live in rural Northumberland, near Haydon bridge, near Hadrians Wall and Hexham, and the \

"Actual North"? Northumberland? As in, just below Scotland on the map? Interesting definition. ;-)

One tip: looks like the red key is still on your ring? Take it off and put it in a place so safe you can't remember where you put it when you need it. If you ever lose the other keys, you need the magic red one to make replacements work. Without the red key, you need a whole new ECU.

 

[MotoMike]

Entertaining write-up. I had to Google "cornish pasty". Looks yummy. A pasty is something entirely different on my side of the pond!

Pay attention to the wisdom of RossKean: His is the way.

Welcome to the the forum from Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada!

 

[RossKean]

Pay attention to the wisdom of RossKean: His is the way.

Well, maybe one of the ways! I read a lot and remember at least some of it. I am not afraid to dive in and figure stuff out knowing that there is help just a couple of posts away on this forum - and a couple other places.
This bike is, for the most part, easy to work on and doesn't often present insoluble problems. There is a wealth of information here compiled by many talented and knowledgeable contributors over the years.

 

[Warjacqui]

All excellent advice, thank you.

 

[CollingsBob]

Welcome! That’s an excellent write-up…I’ll be in Edinburgh/Bamburgh/Melrose/Carlisle/Kirkcudbright/Arran/Oban/Applecross in September…

I’ll wave in your general direction when we stop for some scran in Melrose..