Hello all –
Last week I purchased my first FJR – a 2006A model with 10,000 miles on it.
One thing that attracted me to this particular bike was the fact it still had its stock tires on it – and they still had some wear left on them! This bike was at a dealer and they provided me with the name and phone number of the previous owner so after speaking with him I learned he used the bike during the first year for two trips out west and the bike pretty much sat in the garage for the next five years. He was good with oil changes and removed the battery to put in the house every winter (still good). He also mentioned if you keep the bike around 60 MPH on the freeway you get really great mileage. No wonder the stock tires lasted so long.
All in all – in my mind this was the used FJR for me. After a day spent getting to know the bike up the freeway and on a variety of backroads I am encouraged by the prospects of this platform. Step one will be a new set of Pilot Road 3’s which I ordered last week. The front came quick and the rear will be here the day after tomorrow. The front wheel came off fine, although this is my first bike with anti-lock brakes – it was no big deal. After getting the new tire mounted/balanced and putting it back on I attempted to pull the rear wheel and the axle wouldn’t push through - it moved over less than an inch and just refused to go any further. It would spin easy but not slide through the differential and swingarm. The day was getting late so tools got put away and I sat down with the service manual the dealer generously let me borrow. I figured something had rusted to the axle and didn’t want to force anything so I put a little penetrating oil on what could be reached before closing the garage door. The next day I tried using a hammer with a brass drift and gained perhaps another half inch but that was it, another application of oil and close the garage to think this over a bit more. While sleeping last night the vision of using my air hammer to get that axle out came to me and today I used that hammer against a 12” long ¼” socket extension up tight to that axle and it buzzed it right on through. The problem was the sleeve the fits over the axle inside the differential – it was pretty much rusted to the axle. I was able to clean them up nicely and they will be coated in grease when the wheel goes back on. This experience has me thinking of where else could things be rusting – perhaps the shock linkage – steering neck? Living in N Michigan there will be 6 months of downtime arriving soon (too soon) so these components will be coming off for inspection, are there any other areas where rust can sneak up on me?
Thanks for the help – this seems like a good source of information from an enthusiastic wide ranging customer base.
Last week I purchased my first FJR – a 2006A model with 10,000 miles on it.
One thing that attracted me to this particular bike was the fact it still had its stock tires on it – and they still had some wear left on them! This bike was at a dealer and they provided me with the name and phone number of the previous owner so after speaking with him I learned he used the bike during the first year for two trips out west and the bike pretty much sat in the garage for the next five years. He was good with oil changes and removed the battery to put in the house every winter (still good). He also mentioned if you keep the bike around 60 MPH on the freeway you get really great mileage. No wonder the stock tires lasted so long.
All in all – in my mind this was the used FJR for me. After a day spent getting to know the bike up the freeway and on a variety of backroads I am encouraged by the prospects of this platform. Step one will be a new set of Pilot Road 3’s which I ordered last week. The front came quick and the rear will be here the day after tomorrow. The front wheel came off fine, although this is my first bike with anti-lock brakes – it was no big deal. After getting the new tire mounted/balanced and putting it back on I attempted to pull the rear wheel and the axle wouldn’t push through - it moved over less than an inch and just refused to go any further. It would spin easy but not slide through the differential and swingarm. The day was getting late so tools got put away and I sat down with the service manual the dealer generously let me borrow. I figured something had rusted to the axle and didn’t want to force anything so I put a little penetrating oil on what could be reached before closing the garage door. The next day I tried using a hammer with a brass drift and gained perhaps another half inch but that was it, another application of oil and close the garage to think this over a bit more. While sleeping last night the vision of using my air hammer to get that axle out came to me and today I used that hammer against a 12” long ¼” socket extension up tight to that axle and it buzzed it right on through. The problem was the sleeve the fits over the axle inside the differential – it was pretty much rusted to the axle. I was able to clean them up nicely and they will be coated in grease when the wheel goes back on. This experience has me thinking of where else could things be rusting – perhaps the shock linkage – steering neck? Living in N Michigan there will be 6 months of downtime arriving soon (too soon) so these components will be coming off for inspection, are there any other areas where rust can sneak up on me?
Thanks for the help – this seems like a good source of information from an enthusiastic wide ranging customer base.
