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- Thread starter Yowie
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fastpappy
Well-known member
Welcome from the Big Apple and congrats on your new ride. Enjoy! 
roger dodger
Well-known member
Y, Please fill me in.... I thought the FJR started in Europe in 2002, and landed in the US in 2003.
Pics too please! Congrats on your new ride!
Pics too please! Congrats on your new ride!
G'day Fast and Roger,
As far as I know they went into production in 2000 and the first to hit Australialand was in 2001.
I'll check the VIN a bit later and see if I can get more info. This one is registered in Queensland and they've gone over to paperless vehicle docs there, so I have no real papers for her.
I'll see what I can find online a bit later.
As far as I know they went into production in 2000 and the first to hit Australialand was in 2001.
I'll check the VIN a bit later and see if I can get more info. This one is registered in Queensland and they've gone over to paperless vehicle docs there, so I have no real papers for her.
I'll see what I can find online a bit later.
roger dodger
Well-known member
Y, She's a Beautie!!! Looks just like my son's 2003 (but a lot cleaner) and boy are they FAST!!!
Yeah, she's very straight.
Moved to a small coal mining town here in Aus. a few months ago after losing EVERYTHING (three nice bikes, small 'truck', tools etc etc etc. in a major flood on the coast. Drive road trains full of coal here. I'd been looking (online) at FJR's which were all hundreds of K's from here and then noticed this one for sale right here in town! Not only was that lucky but the owner turned out to be a chick I drive trucks with!
Why do I mention that? Well turns out she's worked for various bike shops, as have I, and has kept the bike very well.
A very lucky score!
Have decided to mask off the hard cases and spray the plastic trims with gloss black enamel. Work is off due to flooding out this way (&^%$# I HATE FLOODS) so I have a bit of time to get a few things done. Also on the 'to do' list for today is resurfacing the screen and headlight covers.
Cheers folks and thanks for the welcomes.
Moved to a small coal mining town here in Aus. a few months ago after losing EVERYTHING (three nice bikes, small 'truck', tools etc etc etc. in a major flood on the coast. Drive road trains full of coal here. I'd been looking (online) at FJR's which were all hundreds of K's from here and then noticed this one for sale right here in town! Not only was that lucky but the owner turned out to be a chick I drive trucks with!
Why do I mention that? Well turns out she's worked for various bike shops, as have I, and has kept the bike very well.
A very lucky score!
Have decided to mask off the hard cases and spray the plastic trims with gloss black enamel. Work is off due to flooding out this way (&^%$# I HATE FLOODS) so I have a bit of time to get a few things done. Also on the 'to do' list for today is resurfacing the screen and headlight covers.
Cheers folks and thanks for the welcomes.
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RossKean
Well-known member
Not sure what you mean about resurfacing. Some clear plastic bits might be polycarbonate with a hard coating. Any abrasive polishing compound may remove the coating and probably ruin the shield. I think you will be OK with acrylic but worth checking. I would try a small corner first...
Beautiful looking bike and you appear to be very pleased with yourself! How many miles/kilometers?
She has over 100,000 on her. The pic doesn't show it but the 'glass' areas (screen and lamp covers) need some fairly heavy abrasion to level out stone craters. Pretty confident all will work out OK, but won't get rid of some crazing in the screen. If not, I'll fork-out for a new screen.
Right now masking off the trims on the hard cases. Long job. Then solvent clean, 800 papering, plastic adhesive coat and finally a nice black enamel.
Right now masking off the trims on the hard cases. Long job. Then solvent clean, 800 papering, plastic adhesive coat and finally a nice black enamel.
Ridelikethewind
Well-known member
That looks super nice! Congratulations. Looking forward to seeing the after pictures!
norcal rider
Well-known member
Looks like my 2002/2003 US version. Same silver, blue front calipers, bug eyed front blinkers, bodywork decals. Bonus is the radiator screen protector.
Curious, why the hard case repaint?
torch
Well-known member
Looking at the front fender, I would say you are correct, that is an 01 model.
While it is true that Yamaha called the 02 model an 03 in North America, there was an even earlier version elsewhere in the world. The trailing edge of the front fender did not extend as low as the later 02 and fender extenders were a popular accessory to protect the radiator from stones. IIRC, they were available in a choice of black, blue or silver.
Not repainting the entire cases, just some trim attached to 'em. The trim had aged and looked shirty. Painted those trims today, but not sure I like 'em - even with the new 'refreshed' black look.. Will give it about a week and see how I feel.
Another day off out here 'cos of more flooding. Good reason to go for a more extended ride tomorrow - keeping my fingers crossed the waters don't rise while I'm away and stop me getting home! Fun fun fun - but not if I have to find floaties.
Yes indeed. It's a 5JW3.
But it has heated grips. I thought they only came with later models.
A bit over 100,000K's, so she's well and truly run-in.
Apparently the US was a year late getting 'em. Same as many other bikes. Some don't even get there (sunken ships? lolol) like the Suzuki Freewind (no, they don't run on baked beans).
Thanks, Cycle. Nice forum
torch
Well-known member
A bit of further history: After failing to break Honda's Gold Wing dominance with the Venture series coupled with lackluster sales by BMW, the Connie, etc., Yamaha felt that the FJR would not sell well in North America -- their stated position was that there was only sufficient demand for cruisers and full-on sport bikes in this market.
The rave reviews of the 01 FJR on the then-new internet led to a grass-roots clamour and write in campaign to bring the FJR to our side of the pond. It was only when Honda finally announced they would bring the Pan-European 1300 here that Yamaha finally relented -- sort of. They wouldn't stock the FJR here, but would allow us to order one sight unseen if we plunked down a $500 non-refundable deposit for delivery in time for summer of 03 (the infamous "Priority Delivery Program").
Rumour was that they anticipated N.A. sales would only be a few hundred units and so failed to set a limit on the number available. Surprise! When the flood of orders started rolling in from the dealers, they discovered the demand exceeded expectations by a factor of 10. Yamaha had to limit the number sent elsewhere and start shipping orders in 2002 in order to supply the pre-sold units to us.
Hence the practice of calling the same bike sold as a 2002 elsewhere an 03 model in North America. And while Yamaha originally planned to bring over a limited number of additional units for showroom floors, the shear number of pre-sold units precluded that from happening. Dealers had waiting lists of people who missed the PDP cut-off date hoping for a chance that someone might back out of their deal.
Yamaha still didn't believe the success, and the PDP program continued for several more years. For 2004, some dealers were ordering bikes in employees' names so they would have stock for the showroom floor, but Yamaha -- in their infinite wisdom -- actually tried to stop the practice! It wasn't until 2006 (IIRC) that Yamaha dropped the despised PDP.
The rave reviews of the 01 FJR on the then-new internet led to a grass-roots clamour and write in campaign to bring the FJR to our side of the pond. It was only when Honda finally announced they would bring the Pan-European 1300 here that Yamaha finally relented -- sort of. They wouldn't stock the FJR here, but would allow us to order one sight unseen if we plunked down a $500 non-refundable deposit for delivery in time for summer of 03 (the infamous "Priority Delivery Program").
Rumour was that they anticipated N.A. sales would only be a few hundred units and so failed to set a limit on the number available. Surprise! When the flood of orders started rolling in from the dealers, they discovered the demand exceeded expectations by a factor of 10. Yamaha had to limit the number sent elsewhere and start shipping orders in 2002 in order to supply the pre-sold units to us.
Hence the practice of calling the same bike sold as a 2002 elsewhere an 03 model in North America. And while Yamaha originally planned to bring over a limited number of additional units for showroom floors, the shear number of pre-sold units precluded that from happening. Dealers had waiting lists of people who missed the PDP cut-off date hoping for a chance that someone might back out of their deal.
Yamaha still didn't believe the success, and the PDP program continued for several more years. For 2004, some dealers were ordering bikes in employees' names so they would have stock for the showroom floor, but Yamaha -- in their infinite wisdom -- actually tried to stop the practice! It wasn't until 2006 (IIRC) that Yamaha dropped the despised PDP.
You have to marvel (^%$#@) at the Japanese corporate mentality. But it works, in its own weird way - if you are patient!
I went looking for a pushbike tire at a DIY store there once. An assistant got on her radio and then the store manager rushed out, eager to help. Then other workers started turning up. Maps came out, phone calls were made while I stood there at the help desk surrounded by a cast of about ten! About an hour went by and my western patience expired. I politely thanked them all, rocked out to my pushie, wheeled off down the road and found a pushie shop about 300 metres away with the exact same racing-type tyre I was after.
Another time (completely unrelated to bikes or much else for that matter - except Japan) I mucked up badly with language issues. I went to a DIY store to get some rat poison. I told the girl what I wanted in my very bad (at that time) Japanese. She looked at me with a very troubled face. I started making choking gestures with my hands around my throat as though I were strangling, and other stuff I thought she would understand as meaning I wanted to kill some small animal. She just seemed to get more and more troubled - even took a couple of steps away from me!
Well I was bloody lucky she didn't call the police! Turned out I had mixed up the Japanese word for mouse (nesumi) with the word for daughter (mesume). She thought I wanted to poison daughter, 'cos that's what I had been telling her in verbal and even somewhat theatrical fashion!
lololol, and another time ......
I went looking for a pushbike tire at a DIY store there once. An assistant got on her radio and then the store manager rushed out, eager to help. Then other workers started turning up. Maps came out, phone calls were made while I stood there at the help desk surrounded by a cast of about ten! About an hour went by and my western patience expired. I politely thanked them all, rocked out to my pushie, wheeled off down the road and found a pushie shop about 300 metres away with the exact same racing-type tyre I was after.
Another time (completely unrelated to bikes or much else for that matter - except Japan) I mucked up badly with language issues. I went to a DIY store to get some rat poison. I told the girl what I wanted in my very bad (at that time) Japanese. She looked at me with a very troubled face. I started making choking gestures with my hands around my throat as though I were strangling, and other stuff I thought she would understand as meaning I wanted to kill some small animal. She just seemed to get more and more troubled - even took a couple of steps away from me!
Well I was bloody lucky she didn't call the police! Turned out I had mixed up the Japanese word for mouse (nesumi) with the word for daughter (mesume). She thought I wanted to poison daughter, 'cos that's what I had been telling her in verbal and even somewhat theatrical fashion!
lololol, and another time ......
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fastpappy
Well-known member
Definitely a beauty and FYI there are quite a few Aussies on the FJR Owners forum and another Aussie Forum just incase you need more local support although local is kind of a relative thing given the scale of the land down under.
