FJR's and cost of operations?

[HotRodZilla]

If someone would have a tech-day within a couple hundred miles of me, my life would be way easier.

I am in Albuquerque, just rolled over the 50k mark and will be doing my valves in the near future. You are welcome to watch. PM me.

Sweet!! PM sent. I'm at something like 51,400 miles. That 52k valve check is coming up fast!!

Tires; I've got Michelin Commander II on my XJ1100 and XJ700 Maxim-X, Dunlop 404 on the 650 Maxim. The Commander II are getting 25K in reviews and after 8K on the 1100 I see no wear. O'course there's wear but it still looks like the original tread depth. The 1100 is about 100 pounds lighter than the FJR.

This is worth responding to. You will not get anywhere near the same tire mileage on an FJR as you have been experiencing. Not just because the FJR is porkier (which it is), but also because the tires you'll be buying will not be Michelin Commander II type high mileage tires. In fact, they do not even make those sort of tires in the "Sport Touring" sizes that fit the FJR. Pretty much any of the moto tires of the appropriate size and speed rating for the FJR will be about shagged by 8k miles (more so the back one than the front).

You see, the big pitfall of the FJR is that it has this twisty thing on the right handle bar that makes your taint feel funny when you crank it 'round. Most mature adult men cannot resist that feeling, and so naturally they want to do it again and again. And then you learn the fun of pushing these big girls around tight corners and learn to vaporize the sides of the tires even before you can wear out the middles with the twisty thing.

These completely addictive habits cause the tire rubber to disappear faster than on any other bike I've ever owned. I tell ya, this bike is a tire glutton.

AND...According to other sources, a fat guy riding the bike fast in the heat is Hell on the tires too. I have never gotten more than about 7500 miles out of a set. I guess I could try, but as Fred points out, that would be absolutely no fun at all.

 

[KA1J]

I have to tell you, I'm appreciating this forum. My two current forums are XS11.com & XJbikes.com with a strong attachment to micapeak.com which is an ace mailing list. These help incredibly & with great passion the bikes I currently own & love. I appreciate the decency and straight answers I'm getting here.

I called the local yama dealer about what they have in stock in the FJR line and the guy said they've never had one in that he can remember (they are fairly new). Sounds like Yamaha is not carrying the ball or this dealer isn't catching it. I'm calling a dealer in Rhode Island tomorrow to see if they have one for me to ride and if they do, I'll do that & see how these old bones like the ride. I'm amazed at the number of positive comments here and the high mileage numbers people are getting. This sounds like it is a worthwhile bike for me to migrate to and though I genuinely love restoring & riding old Yamahas, it would be nice to be back to doing only regular maintenance. That said, with few exceptions like a new clutch & front strut oil seal, my major work on these is done.

I'm still interested in any opinions on the FJR, especially the negative ones but more & more it's sounding like this probably is my next bike.

 

[ionbeam]

It would be a hike for you but I saw a '05 at Plaistow NH Powersports this afternoon (near the NH/MA border right off of Rt 495). Use the interwebs and you should be able to find a FJR fairly easily. Tis the season to buy.

 

[BobbyBlue]

Just a big fat DITTO ! ...70K so far and bought as a last ever bike...******* will outlive me !.... you cant go wrong with the fjr.

 

[08FJR4ME]

Mom's in Foxboro MA should have something on the floor. They ar right off of highway 495 also. No affiliation they just usually have a lot of used inventory of all makes. There is another Yamaha dealer that moved into the same area as Mom's which use to be right next to me. I don't get up there much but you could easily hit both within minutes I am sure. I would try to get an 08 or newer if possible. It had a few more bugs ironed out from the 06 & 07 GenII's.

Good luck,

Dave

 

[CA G-Man]

Double Ditto! Mine is still very young at 7500 km (that's about 4700 miles, for you southerners) but it's been awesome so far and I'm looking forward to many more on it in the future.

 

[fjrbird]

I have to tell you, I'm appreciating this forum. My two current forums are XS11.com & XJbikes.com with a strong attachment to micapeak.com which is an ace mailing list. These help incredibly & with great passion the bikes I currently own & love. I appreciate the decency and straight answers I'm getting here.
I called the local yama dealer about what they have in stock in the FJR line and the guy said they've never had one in that he can remember (they are fairly new). Sounds like Yamaha is not carrying the ball or this dealer isn't catching it. I'm calling a dealer in Rhode Island tomorrow to see if they have one for me to ride and if they do, I'll do that & see how these old bones like the ride. I'm amazed at the number of positive comments here and the high mileage numbers people are getting. This sounds like it is a worthwhile bike for me to migrate to and though I genuinely love restoring & riding old Yamahas, it would be nice to be back to doing only regular maintenance. That said, with few exceptions like a new clutch & front strut oil seal, my major work on these is done.

I'm still interested in any opinions on the FJR, especially the negative ones but more & more it's sounding like this probably is my next bike.

Wouldn't be better to spend more time to ride than to wrench the bike That is what FJR is about. More riding and less time repair.