Can't poke fun at Harleys anymore

[Aasland]

And a quick towing tip: if you join the AMA for $39 per year you'll get towing for not only your bike, but all your vehicles that anyone in your family is driving. Killer deal on towing, plus you'll help protect your right to ride!

The AMA towing benefit only covers the first 35 miles, you get the rest of the bill. That may be sufficient based on where you ride, but for me it wasn't. If I had a breakdown in eastern Oregon that wouldn't be enough, so I chose www.rvroadhelp.com - more expensive ($120/year) but has unlimited towing, higher trip interruption payments, etc. The KOA membership doesn't hurt either ;-)

EDIT: In fact we just used our service last week to tow our Audi across town (second Audi we've owned, and the only cars we've had to tow have been Audi's ... this will be our last Audi). Called them, they sent a trcuk out, asked "where do you want to go", took us to the dealership, dropped us off. No bill, no paperwork, no waiting.

 

[ffejtable]

Wow... So I got around to removing the tank and getting to the likely failed junction, and sure enough it was left side, under the tank, near the front of the bike. Not very easily accessible, I have no idea how anybody was able to strip those wires, wrap them up and solder them together... Mine didn't look nearly as bad as the one above. With the bike <1yr old, and only 5000 miles, Mine failed fairly quickly. I was able to pry the metal insert out, spin it around and get the bike started. My dealer is <2 miles away, so i will be dropping it off later this week. it was really hard to get a good shot of the connector, but you can see what happened to the metal insert...

 

[RadioHowie]

Crap in a hat!

These things are "going off" like bottle rockets at a summer picnic!

There aren't any of these bastards on a Gen I, are there? I don't remember seeing any during my "Frankenbike" adventure.

 

[Grumpy]

Nah Howie, another reason to own a Gen I.

jim

 

[S76]

I think anyone that is not taking care of this problem is making a big mistake. Do something! Solder it, Brodie it, Wire nut the thing together, just do something.

Yamaha is light years from doing anything on this issue, (I don't know that for a fact but it is reasonable to assume.)

You're gonna get bit if you do nothing and it will ruin a trip, or cost big money, hopefully not worse.

Spider Bites are a Gen II disease. They are all going to do it sooner or later and age has not proven to be a reliable indicator as to when it will happen.

Just my $.02

 

[phroenips]

I think anyone that is not taking care of this problem is making a big mistake. Do something! Solder it, Brodie it, Wire nut the thing together, just do something.

This was enough to make me finally get vaccinated. To make it easier for others to find, here's the link to Brodie's solution in the vendor section

 

[xharleyrider]

After all those years of making fun of H-Ds, I am the one getting towed home.

I have owned two Harley's without any problems at all!!! The old unreliable HD's are a thing of the past when AMF sold it back to HD. In fact I have to say I am more confident to do a long vacation on one due the support if you should need it! I had the bad experience of breaking down on the FJR last year and of course no support, so I had to figure it out on my own. All bikes no matter what kind, break down now and then!

 

[dcarver]

I hear you barking xharleydoode. My Ultra at 149k has never let me down. But enough FJR bashing for now, eh? They all have fragile egos..

I would take the FJR to a trusted dealer. Have them inspect and replace wiring harnesses as found bad on Yammies dime. After they are done, buy a Brodie harness. Don't even mess around with the stock spiders. Cleaning, lubing, praying just don't compensate a bad design.

My bet is is Brodie stock is going to increase significantly when Yamaha buys out his design(s) that fix their failures.

Hugs n' Kisses Yamaha.

 

[Khunajawdge]

Rain/moisture go away,

I own an FJR, so come again another day.

My spider is vunerable to corrosive behavior,

The Brodie fix will be the savior.

 

[dustyrains]

Your dealer may want to order and install a new main harness as a fix, which could put you weeks away from having your bike back. I told my dealership that I would rather they do a solder repair and inspect and shoot some dialectric grease into the remaining spiders. The mothership ok'd this fix in lieu of a new harness, so my mechanic did it, and did a fine job. But he did tell me that he had to remove most of the plastic on the left side of the bike to expose the wires enough to do a good solder job. My repair was covered by YES. YES is a good thing for GEN II bikes.

 

[ffejtable]

Replacing a wiring hirness with a flawed design with the same exact harness with the same design flaw is not an option.

Soldering the wires together will be an acceptable TEMPORARY fix for this issue.

I am not letting this issue get swept under the rug. I am a little disappointed at the folks who have not at least tried to deal with yamaha on this issue warranty or not. I think we all recognize the seriousness of this issue, and the potential consequences here. Doing nothing to prevent this from happening again (to myself or somebody else) is not an option. Sure, recalls cost a lot of money, but only a handful of FJR owners even read this forum, and even a smaller percentage actually keep track of all of the issue. I myself wasn't aware of it until after it happened. If Yamaha doesn't pay for this financially, somebody could very well end up paying for their mistake, and subsequent lack of action with their life. Stopping at fixing only my problem hardly seems adequate enough and selfish. It's likely going to take some time to speak with the right people at Yahama, but I am a persistent son-of-a-bleeep.

There really should be only two criteria for a mandatory safety recall. 1. The problem, if not fixed can result in (serious) injury or death. 2. The root cause is known, and could potentially exist on any bike (or identifiable subset) of a given make/model/year.

 

[Greb]

If this happens to enough of us with no response from Yamaha couldn't we consider a class action suit? where's the lawyers with pro bono time?

 

[Zorlac]

"Soldering the wires together will be an acceptable TEMPORARY fix for this issue."

Why do you say that?

 

[ffejtable]

"Soldering the wires together will be an acceptable TEMPORARY fix for this issue."
Why do you say that?

Because I doubt they have a real permanent fix other than to replace the wiring harness, which has already proven itself time after time to be a flawed designed. The proper solution needs to be researched and the grounding on this bike needs to be correctly redone. While soldering the wires together like so many have done might be the long term solution, this really needs to be researched properly as far as I am concerned.

Basically band-aid fix vs re-engineering. Band-aids are fine to get me back on the road, but I won't sleep well as night until I know this was taken care of properly.. Again, not just for myself but every FJR owner out there who will run into this issue sooner or later. Recalls are really the only way to ensure every registered FJR owner is notified of the problem, as they should be.

 

[ffejtable]

I think anyone that is not taking care of this problem is making a big mistake. Do something! Solder it, Brodie it, Wire nut the thing together, just do something.Yamaha is light years from doing anything on this issue, (I don't know that for a fact but it is reasonable to assume.)

You're gonna get bit if you do nothing and it will ruin a trip, or cost big money, hopefully not worse.

Spider Bites are a Gen II disease. They are all going to do it sooner or later and age has not proven to be a reliable indicator as to when it will happen.

Just my $.02

The problem is this issue is just as serious as the ignition switch, which a recall was issued for. Sudden and complete loss of power with no warning. Only a fraction of FJR owners are on forums such as these (imaging that!), and even those that are on here, not all are aware of the issue. I didn't read the thread on this issue until after it already happened and I posted my symptoms up. Heck, I even did a search, expecting to find my symptoms in the list for the ignition switch, but came up empty. With so many symptoms and different ways to describe each condition searching for it isn't easy, but dustyrains knew right away. A recall is the only proper way to address this issue for the sake of all FJR owners.

After all those years of making fun of H-Ds, I am the one getting towed home.
I have owned two Harley's without any problems at all!!! The old unreliable HD's are a thing of the past when AMF sold it back to HD. In fact I have to say I am more confident to do a long vacation on one due the support if you should need it! I had the bad experience of breaking down on the FJR last year and of course no support, so I had to figure it out on my own. All bikes no matter what kind, break down now and then!

Yes, I've heard in the AMF days, they really went downhill, but everything I hear is second hand from a bunch of "sportbike" guys, so I know not to take everything as truth, but it used to be so hard not to take a jab when I could..

Your dealer may want to order and install a new main harness as a fix, which could put you weeks away from having your bike back. I told my dealership that I would rather they do a solder repair and inspect and shoot some dialectric grease into the remaining spiders. The mothership ok'd this fix in lieu of a new harness, so my mechanic did it, and did a fine job. But he did tell me that he had to remove most of the plastic on the left side of the bike to expose the wires enough to do a good solder job. My repair was covered by YES. YES is a good thing for GEN II bikes.

Fortunately I have a very good relationship with my dealer. I actually do track days with both the sales and service manager, and the owner even makes it out a few days a year. I trust them to do the right thing, and with these forums as a resource, I already have a pretty good idea of what should and shouldnt be done.

 

[TheAxeman]

I think anyone that is not taking care of this problem is making a big mistake. Do something! Solder it, Brodie it, Wire nut the thing together, just do something.

Easily said for someone who is as mechanically savvy as you are Bob, but since many of us are mechanically inept, that means I am now going to have to spend a shitload of time that I don't have to try and convince a totally uncooperative dealer to even take a look at the spider issue.....good luck with that.

I'm just trying to figure out why I have to rewire a $13K motorcycle just to feel safe in the first place. I've already been down the stalling-in-moving-traffic highway with this thing. I can't get on this thing without constantly thinking its going to break down in the middle of nowhere again and cause me all sorts of grief or that I'm going to end up with a semi shoved up my ass. I just feel this bike is going to hit Craigslist sooner than later.

 

[luvtoride]

Chris, buy yourself a gen 1.

 

[wheatonFJR]

Chris, buy yourself a gen 1.

Gunny.

 

[charismaticmegafauna]

After all those years of making fun of H-Ds, I am the one getting towed home.I have owned two Harley's without any problems at all!!! The old unreliable HD's are a thing of the past when AMF sold it back to HD. In fact I have to say I am more confident to do a long vacation on one due the support if you should need it! I had the bad experience of breaking down on the FJR last year and of course no support, so I had to figure it out on my own. All bikes no matter what kind, break down now and then!

Yes, and the difference can be: the mechs in the back-room of the H-D dealership will probably be intimately familiar with a Milwaukee V-Twin -- while the guys in the back-room of many Yamaha dealers around the country only (usually) see Quads or UTVs... :blink:

(may have only un-crated, or not-even-seen, an FJR...)

Knowing-of (or finding) a back-room capable Yamaha shop may be, part of, the solution...

 

[cota95]

Chris, buy yourself a gen 1.

Chris, have I got a Gen 1 for you...

The Axeman's new bike