What did you do to your FJR today?

[Fred W]

I guess FJReady lives where it is just a little cooler than where we live Howie.

Not last weekend it wasn't. It reached the mid 90's with high humidity all over New England at the end of last week and through the weekend. Made me (almost) want to not ride, but I did anyway, just getting out for a few hours early on Sunday before it got really bad. Luckily a cold front moved through Sunday night and got rid of that non-sense, and we are now back to our pleasant spring time temps.

 

[Fred W]

I finished off the PRIII at 2,750 miles.....ordered a set of Angel GT's ("A" Spec) next. Still looking for the appropriate balance of wear and grip. I believe my front brakes are going to need pads, will inspect closely when I remove the wheels.

I know you take great pride in that achievement, but aren't those 1/2" wide chicken strips on the sides?

To finish off a tire that fast you must be running at pretty low pressures or drifting the ass end through the corners.

 

[hppants]

Well, one does learn something every day. Turns out that most brake cleaners are alcohol based and most carb cleaners are petroleum based solvents. I think I'll be ok (I just sprayed a little carb cleaner on the tooth brush to moisten it as I cleaned the exposed pistons of my calipers. I don't know if the caliper piston dust covers are neoprene or not. Time will tell, I guess.

However, I'm going to add a can of Brake Cleaner to my repitoire of solvents/lubricants/etc. for future reference. Thanks for the tip!

 

[clocklaw]

I finished off the PRIII at 2,750 miles.....

Wow. That's unbelievable. I wonder if that's a new record for wasting a PR3. You obviously are one AGGRESSIVE rider, sir. Ever consider darksiding that thing with an Exalto? You'd save a fortune on rear tires.

Gary

darksider #44

I'm just not sure a darkside is right for my riding style....I would just wear the sidewalls off of it. Can you get one with raised white letters for extra traction???

 

[clocklaw]

I know you take great pride in that achievement, but aren't those 1/2" wide chicken strips on the sides?

To finish off a tire that fast you must be running at pretty low pressures or drifting the ass end through the corners.

I have to admit, I do not reach FULL LEAN every corner. But I do however get my butt off the seat....it's not like I live in the mountains, I live in the semi flat lands of Middle Tennessee. I ride 95% or more 2-up so my wife is "on my ass" all the time, I run consistent 42psi but the next tire I am planning to MAX OUT the pressure...what ever the max on the sidewall of the tire is will be what I put the tire at.

The PRIII did "float" more in the corners but I didn't mind it, only when my wife complained about the rear end sliding out was when I would back out a little.

 

[Fred W]

I know you take great pride in that achievement, but aren't those 1/2" wide chicken strips on the sides?

To finish off a tire that fast you must be running at pretty low pressures or drifting the ass end through the corners.

I have to admit, I do not reach FULL LEAN every corner. But I do however get my butt off the seat....it's not like I live in the mountains, I live in the semi flat lands of Middle Tennessee. I ride 95% or more 2-up so my wife is "on my ass" all the time, I run consistent 42psi but the next tire I am planning to MAX OUT the pressure...what ever the max on the sidewall of the tire is will be what I put the tire at.

The PRIII did "float" more in the corners but I didn't mind it, only when my wife complained about the rear end sliding out was when I would back out a little.

Yeah, I was just teasin' you. But you really must have been getting some side slip to eat those tires so fast at normal pressures.

PS going much higher in pressure may be counterproductive if it reduces your contact patch lessens traction you may end up slip slidin' around even more.

 

[08FJR4ME]

Hell I can get another 6K out of this tire here in the flat lands of taxachusettes.

Oh and by the way I have nearly 10k on my PR2's and I haven't hit the wear bars yet.

Dave

 

[clocklaw]

I've been thinking about that, I wonder if I should keep it and send it to someone out in the flatlands to finish it off for me. I have friends in Kansas, their idea of good twisties is the on-ramp to the interstate!

Hell I can get another 6K out of this tire here in the flat lands of taxachusettes.

Oh and by the way I have nearly 10k on my PR2's and I haven't hit the wear bars yet.

Dave

 

[NBB]

I did the FZ mirror upgrade on Sunday, and after riding a couple of days, wish I had done them sooner.

Now, I need to get the horns and Realtime saddlebag reflectors installed, as they were picked up over the winter and don't need to collect to thick of a layer of dust b4 install.

-K

 

[Fred W]

Sonofabitch!

This afternoon, things were relatively quiet, so I decided to (finally) pull the fork legs off my FJR and install the upgrade goodies that I bought this past winter from GP Suspensions during their winter group buy. I've got a new set of their springs of a known weight (1.05 kg/mm) to replace the Sonic springs I have in there now (of unknown weight rating) plus a set of the GP suspension compression and rebound re-valve kits.

I had already stocked up on all the required necessities...

2 liters of my chosen fork oil plus a small box full of replacement parts for inside the forks (upper and lower bushings, seals, etc.)

Forks came off easy enough. And dismantling the forks was fairly intuitive, which is a good thing because GP doesn't supply any DIY instructions with their kits. Got the left fork pulled apart and the cartridge disassembled, ready to install the new valve bodies, when... WTF? The old spring and needle from the old rebound valve adjuster does not fit into the smaller diameter bore of the new GP valve body!

Phone call to GP informs me that I am supposed to have received new needles and springs with the new valve kit. They will gladly ship them out to me gratis. Arrrrgh!!

So I buttoned everything back up putting all of the old parts back in and didn't touch the right fork leg at all. All in all it cost me a couple of hours and a liter of fork oil.

One nice thing that I found today was that, contrary to all the reports from 2nd genners who have found that their fork innards were all worn and trashed after 25-30k miles, my forks which have almost 80k miles on them (with only 2 oil change/services in that time) are pretty much fine on the inside. The bushings still had the teflon slider coating intact, not worn through, and the seals look pretty much pristine after cleaning them up. With only two bushings you don't have to trash any of them when you disassemble the upper and lower fork legs and pop the oil seal out. See, those 1st gens really are superior!!

I had no guilty feelings about putting the fork leg back together with the old saved parts (and new oil), at least until I do it all over again to get those fancy new damping valve bodies installed sometime in the future. Unfortunately, that may have to wait until after CFR now.

 

[CheesyRider]

I just placed an order for a new Sargent seat and MV risers. Next upgrade will be a new GPS, then cruise control, then a rack for my trunk, then exhaust, then...

By the way, if anyone knows where I can get a new Sargent seat for less than $454.86, let me know before they ship it on Wednesday so I can cancel my order.

 

[TouringRider]

I just placed an order for a new Sargent seat and MV risers. Next upgrade will be a new GPS, then cruise control, then a rack for my trunk, then exhaust, then...
By the way, if anyone knows where I can get a new Sargent seat for less than $454.86, let me know before they ship it on Wednesday so I can cancel my order.

Very good price for the Sargent, I got the front seat only at that price.

 

[MrM0t0]

New shoes installed (PRIIs)

 

[Fred W]

I opted to reshod my front hoop with another BT023GT yesterday. The old GT had another thousand or two left on it, only down to the wear bars but well scalloped so some spots were near treadless. With CFR coming up soon if I didn't put a new skin on there it would rain the whole week for sure. Plus our state inspection is due this month, and they would never have passed. This always seems to happen to me. I've got a whole stack of old tires with about a thousand or two miles left on them.

Since I already had the wheel off I decided to go ahead and change the fork oil in the right fork leg (the one that I skipped the other day.) It's just a quart of fork oil, after-all. It'll make me feel better until I get a chance to get back in to upgrade the valves and springs.

 

[Bungie]

Treated the Russel Day Long, changed air filter, plugs. Did a TBI sync. Odd, my number 1 cylinder required the air screw to be closed to mach the others (no vacuum leaks on the boots.)

 

[Dodahdude]

I've been thinking about that, I wonder if I should keep it and send it to someone out in the flatlands to finish it off for me. I have friends in Kansas, their idea of good twisties is the on-ramp to the interstate!

Hell I can get another 6K out of this tire here in the flat lands of taxachusettes.

Oh and by the way I have nearly 10k on my PR2's and I haven't hit the wear bars yet

Ha... funny.

 

[rbentnail]

Went to the darkside

https://www.fjrforum.com/forum//index.php/topic/141913-going-to-the-dark-side/?p=1074488

 

[Bungie]

Washed it, and gave it it's once per year ghey'ifing.

That 04 really cleans up nice.

 

[hppants]

My father's retired and has been a freelance photographer for a while now. The man's got mad skills. Today, he gave me a pretty nice father's day gift. This is a photo I bought from a Dragon vendor when I was at Deal's gap last month. My dad photoshopped it really nice - the color is fantastic on my bike (even though it's kind of dirty). He gave it to me in a nice 8 x 10 frame - it will look real cool in my office.

 

[Redfish Hunter]

Wow. It is so dirty it almost looks as though you rode it in the rain.

Nice pic and nice gift by the way.

Dad came in from the Coast yesterday and saw his FJR with the MondoMoto LEDs on the forks. I had the GoPro3 Black mounted to the left frame slider and showed him how it worked and how to control it with the iPhone. He rode it around the yard for our very first motorcycle video. Good Times. He was very pleased with how I have been spending his money.