New FJR Blog

[Sagebrush]

There is something about riding day in day out rain or shine. I have two other fellows at work who ride bikes everyday. Both Harley baggers, and they actually keep them much cleaner than my FJR, lots of chrome must take some effort to keep pertty. I have two bikes, the other is a Dual Sport thumper, sometimes I feel like hitting some dirt roads. I guess you become a two wheel nut when you take the bike instead of the truck, car etc.. My old diesel one ton pulls my toy hauler and thats about it.

It was 39 degrees in Florida this morning on my way to work. Maybe I should add the heated grips...

I enjoyed your blog.... :read:

 

[user 213]

Nothing wrong with bike only mode. BTDTGTTS. Still, when I stopped enjoying the riding, I parked the bike and bought a cage again. Funny thing, I put way more miles on my bike now then I ever did commuting. And I enjoy much more of them. Combat commuting sucks. For me, now, the bike is for rides I want to take, not rides I have to take.

I hope you can continue to enjoy your FJR as long as possible.

 

[mcatrophy]

Just a note that I have started a new blog about my efforts at replacing my car 100% with a new FJR-1300:
fjrlife.blogspot.com

RwP

Just enjoyed reading your blog.

I retired from full time employment in August '07, I now just do two days a week.

We (my SO and I) decided to sell both our cars and buy one that would do for both of us. In practice, that means she has the car and I have the bike. Suits me perfectly, unless there's ice on the road, then I chicken out. Otherwise, come rain, wind, or occasionally sun, it's by bike I go!

In your blog you mention the clutch:

... on occasion when accelerating from a dead stop, the autoclutch seems to engage/disengage a few times in a "chunk-chunk-chunk" manner, as if it is momentarily confused.

Sounds like the "dry clutch plate" syndrome. Many of us, on both conventional and electric gear change FJRs, have found that the clutch plates need a 24 hour soak in oil.

Mine suffered similarly to yours, I got the dealer to do a soak whilst it was in for a service, it improved things immensely. Cost me an hour's labour and a gasket. You should get it done under warranty if you can convince your dealer/Yamaha that there is a problem.

 

[RwP]

Sounds like the "dry clutch plate" syndrome. Many of us, on both conventional and electric gear change FJRs, have found that the clutch plates need a 24 hour soak in oil.Mine suffered similarly to yours, I got the dealer to do a soak whilst it was in for a service, it improved things immensely. Cost me an hour's labour and a gasket. You should get it done under warranty if you can convince your dealer/Yamaha that there is a problem.

Thank you for the advice! I will take it in this weekend and see if I can have it done. Hard to be without my FJR for 24 hours though. ;-)

And thanks to all of you for your kind comments about the blog. They help me stay motivated to keep it up. I currently have a backlog of things I want to discuss, so keep reading!

RwP

 

[RwP]

I officially turned in my RX-8 (cage) on Saturday, so am FJR-only!!! The only downside is that my bike is at the dealer today having the clutch plates soaked in oil. I am really looking forward to a butter-smooth clutch for tomorrow's commute!

Also updated the blog with a few more posts... take a look if you're interested. https://fjrlife.blogspot.com/

RwP

 

[RadioHowie]

I'm about a 95% "bike always" rider. Of course, here in Central Florida, 24/7/365 riding is almost always available.

I keep my raingear packed on whichever bike I'm planning to use for the day, but about the ONLY time I head for my old Del Sol is if it's either already raining or very foggy. I can deal with having to stop and suit-up in the FrogTogs if I'm caught in a downpour, but if it's already raining cats and dogs, I say screw it. As a full-time wearer of glasses, I just can't deal with fogging and not being able to flip-up the visor to clear the glasses.

And foggy days? Forget it. Folks around here will run you down when they CAN see you, much less when visibility is under 100 feet. Riding in fog is the ONLY time I feel at risk for my life.

Ride the bike....and park a beater in the driveway. Sometimes you gotta cage it.

 

[wfooshee]

Ride the bike....and park a beater in the driveway. Sometimes you gotta cage it.

For instance. . . .

Google Street Maps view of my driveway:

The brown Olds no longer exists, and the black car is sold, but the kid went into the National Guard and who knows if he'll ever come get it? The Mercury is full of awesomeness, has power everything, which all works, cold A/C, leather, a veritable Rolls Royce. Patriot and his Gold Wing buddy have had the honor of travelling to a luncheon in this engineering masterpiece while Isabella was disassembled in my garage. (It was either that or ride bitch on the Wing.)