What did you do to your FJR today?

[Bungie]

I'm at home and not at EOM (FECK!), so that means I'm at work. Ergo, the FJR is in the garage and the little 2-fitty is out in the parking lot.

Tonight, I'll wipe it down and give it the once over in prep for this weekend. Colors are just bursting up here, and, the the forecast calls for low 70's and sunny for the weekend. Likely the last 'warm' weekend until next year.

Chores on the list. Don't care. I'm riding.

 

[08FJR4ME]

I took the bike to VA and back 1,600 more miles added to the ODO. Rode every day this week also. I never get tired of riding it.

Dave

 

[lnewlf]

Finally got the Rosta cruise dialed in...flawless on any uphill grade, very good on the flats, some surge and occasional drop out on steeper downhills...holds 100 steady..haven't tried faster yet..overall-works well..

 

[LKLD]

Oil/filter on my bike, and chain clean/lube on my daughter's Ninja. Man, was that chain filthy!

 

[airboss]

Did 9 hours riding home from NAFO,

By the time I got home my butt was telling my brain, dude you got to do something this seat is dead. So by this time next week Laam will be building the FJR a new seat.

 

[supertankerm60a3]

I put the spring and fall 'screen back on, found the rear fender and got it ready and made sure the hand protectors had not been lost. getting it ready for a hopefully wet winter.

 

[mcatrophy]

Removed my road tax disc from the bike.

(Click on image for larger view)



Background: The Powers That Be in the UK have decided that we no longer need to display our vehicle tax discs as from the 1st of October, and they will not be issuing any from that date.

The good news is that my brake calliper bolt no longer has the extra stress of carrying the tax disc holder around.

The bad news is that it will be even easier for the ungodly to clone vehicles simply by putting on someone else's number plates. It also means we no longer have a quick and easy visual method of determining when we have to re-tax our vehicles, so there will probably be a significant increase in people forgetting to do so, and suffering the automatic fines that such an omission will incur.

 

[Fred W]

Road taxes...

The way it is done in most states here in the Yoo Ess is to collect the taxes (excise, property, whatever) during the registration / renewal process. Your registration (plates) are good only for a finite period of time, after which the need to be renewed. That is their opportunity to grab a little more of your money for whatever the state deems it needs it for. Here in New Hampshire we need to renew vehicle registration every year on the month of the owner's birthday. That makes it easy to remember.

There is usually a small, colored sticker on the plate that denotes what year and month the plates were renewed. They change the color here every year, and have the month as a large character, so a passing constable can quickly see when you have gone past your due date, another source of quick cash for the municipality when they slap you with a violation.

Like your MOT, we have state "safety" inspections here, as many (but not all) other states do. Ours is due annually within 10 days of the end of the month of registration. That's another ~ $45 you need to pay at a qualified State Inspection Station which is usually a garage or repair facility, to have them look for any problems they can find with your vehicle.

Of course that presents no minor conflict of interest, since it is in the inspection station's best financial interests to find stuff that they can then repair for a fee. You do have the right to go elsewhere to get it repaired, but once it has been identified you do have to fix it to get an inspection sticker. Finding an honest inspection station, one who will not try and make stuff up, is like finding gold. But I digress...

The point was that you have to have already renewed your registration to get an inspection. And the result of the inspection is a big 3" square sticker placed on your windshield (or smaller one on your MC fork leg) of the same color as the little sticker on your plate, and with a bigger number denoting the month of registration, further making it easy for a LEO to weed out those procrastinating miscreants and give them an award.

But that is not the end of the taxing, of course. The largest part of our "road use taxes", including federal, state and certain municipalities, are collected right at the gas pumps. That is the only one that I am somewhat in favor of, since the amount of tax you pay is directly influenced by how big of a gas guzzler you drive (bigger vehicles tend to use up a roadway more than smaller, lighter ones) and how many miles you drive, hence it is a "road use" based tax. I am generally in favor of having user fees (as opposed to broader income or property value based taxes) as that appeals to my libertarian, financially conservative nature.

 

[Geezer]

If all your vehicle registrations renew in the same month, and inspection is immediately after renewal, then all of your vehicles have to be inspected at about the same time. That sounds like a real pain.

This is interesting to me right now because my FJR was due for state inspection in September and I have to spoon on new tires before it will pass. So I can't legally ride until I get it inspected, and the new inspection month will be October, or later if it takes me that long to get the tires on.

In NY registration comes due when a vehicle is purchased, and renewed on that month thereafter. Inspection is annual, based on the month the previous inspection was done, which is typically the same month as registration renewal, but not necessarily.

 

[Fred W]

If all your vehicle registrations renew in the same month, and inspection is immediately after renewal, then all of your vehicles have to be inspected at about the same time. That sounds like a real pain.

It can be, especially if you are a collector.

The one wrinkle up here is that all motorcycles, regardless of the month of registration (which is still your birth month) need to be inspected in the spring by July 1st. The MC inspection has no emissions requirement, so it is a much quicker deal, and only costs $20. As I mentioned they just put a little sticker on the bottom of your folk leg. And yes, those inspections have caused me to have to replace lots of perfectly good tires with another thousand or two miles left on them.

The stickers look like this:

Look worth $20 to you?

 

[mcatrophy]

Our registration number stays with the vehicle for the life of the vehicle (there are exceptions, you can pay to have a particular valid number, and can transfer that number to another vehicle, but that's not the norm) There is no requirement to change the physical plate.

The vehicle tax has to be renewed by the end of the month in which the current tax expires. When this is done, the authority checks that the vehicle is insured, and has a current MOT test certificate (if the vehicle is three years or older). This information is kept in a central database. The maximum period for the vehicle tax is one year, but you can tax it for six months except for small motorcycles.

Driving without tax, insurance, or MOT test certificate is immediately an offence, with the exception that you can drive a vehicle to an MOT test station without a test certificate or tax provided you have a previously arranged appointment and you have insurance. You can also drive it after the test back to the keeper's address provided that the test didn't show the vehicle as unroadworthy. You can never legally drive without insurance (though a significant proportion of drivers do).

Cost of the tax varies depending on type of vehicle and its emissions. Motorcycles range from £17 ($27.40) to £80 ($129) for a year (my FJR is £80 for a year, or £44 ($70.80) for six months). Cars vary between zero and £1080 ($1740). Cost of the MOT test again depends on the vehicle, for my FJR it would be £29.65 ($47.70), but it's only two and a bit months old, so no test needed for nearly three years. By that time the fee will have gone up, of course. (Maybe I'll be unable to ride then anyway due to my having aged yet another three years

.)

From this month onwards, the only check that a vehicle has its appropriate taxes and test certificates will be done on line, usually from an ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) camera. ANPR cameras are installed in police patrol vehicles, mobile road-side units, and possibly some fixed locations. Even the paper insurance certificate is not worth anything as far as validity is concerned. If you are stopped or investigated for any motoring offence, whether by a human or a camera, the police will check that you/your vehicle have valid insurance cover on line, or will check with your insurance company by phone if the on-line check fails.

Insurance requirements are that there must be insurance that covers one or more drivers for a particular vehicle. If that insurance doesn't cover another driver, (s)he must have separate insurance that allows him/her to drive the vehicle (not necessarily specific to that vehicle).

There is now no physical evidence on the vehicle that any of the legal requirements have been met.

 

[kurt]

Added bar risers, footpeg extensions, highway pegs and a Zumo 590LM on a Techmount stem nut mount. After one ride I removed the peg extensions. Touring screen is en route and the seat is on its way to Russell.

 

[Bungie]

Delivered my 04 FJR to it's new owner this morning. First time I've ridden it more than around the block since I got the 13 last July.

Goodbye old buddy, thanks for the memories!

 

[SilverHound]

Swapped from the '08 to the '14...

Russell Seat

2 Bros Exhaust

Ventura Luggage Rack

Installed new...

Cee Bailey's Windshield

Headlight Guards

T-Rex Frame Sliders

Fenda Extenda

Grip Puppies

Will tear into swapping all the electronic farkles sometime this weekend.

 

[tcfjr]

I finished a two-day install of some new LEDRider LR4 auxiliary lights. The actual install time was about 2.5 hours or so, but I took my time and went into the house at regular intervals to escape SoCal's 105F/41C heat.

I had a set of Hella FF50 installed, but the switch setup I installed was half-assed (at best - right, Hal?), and the light output was underwhelming. Last May, on a BBG in central Nevada (at the Team Lyle Silver State Round-up), I had a revelation -- these lights were just not good enough for the appointed task. When I got back home, I ordered a pair of LR4s, along with Justin's dimmer. I finally got around to doing the install starting yesterday on a day off of work.

Removing the Hella's was straight-forward, and I took the opportunity with the B and C panels off to remove some obsolete wiring and clean up the remaining runs behind the dash panels. I chose to hook the dimmer up to my high-beam circuit, which is pretty cool -- when the high-beams are off, the lights use the dimmer setting, and in this mode they work great as conspicuity lights. (My dimmer is set to about 30%)

But when you turn on the high beams, the LR4s go to full, awesome illumination, with a very high lumens-to-power ratio, which is especially helpful on Gen I's with their limited electrical surplus.

Since it's mostly a set-and-forget install, the dimmer sits in the glove box, and per Justin's recommendation I put a 2A fuse between the dimmer and the high-beam circuit, for extra safety.

It's still too hot to close the garage door to do the final aiming, so when it gets darker and cooler I'll make some minor tweaks, and I'll be all set.

 

[Fred W]

That is just what I did to my Gen 1. I too was pleasantly surprised at the luminosity (is that a real word) of the LED lights on high beams, and also how eye catching these LEDs are when dimmed with a PWM dimmer. I really feel that a lot of the eye catching-ness is a result of the pulsing of the lights faster than the eye can perceive, but fast enough to make them "different" from other lights.

I'm still working a scheme to get them on my 3rd gen (removed from the 1st) but fully intend on employing them here as well. When it works, you just have to stick with it.

Thanks for your post!

 

[El Toro Joe]

Added some air to the tires...and rode it to work

 

[TomInPA]

That is just what I did to my Gen 1. I too was pleasantly surprised at the luminosity (is that a real word) of the LED lights on high beams, and also how eye catching these LEDs are when dimmed with a PWM dimmer. I really feel that a lot of the eye catching-ness is a result of the pulsing of the lights faster than the eye can perceive, but fast enough to make them "different" from other lights.

I'm still working a scheme to get them on my 3rd gen (removed from the 1st) but fully intend on employing them here as well. When it works, you just have to stick with it.

Thanks for your post!

Lots of folks don't realize the dimming comes from a rapid pulsing of the lights. It was really visible in this video from SEOR when we made the water crossing. Ken's iPhone video frame-rate was out of sync with the lights causing the pulse to be visible.

 

[Fred W]

Yep. PWM (Pulse Width Modulating) a DC power source is nothing new. It's an easy way to create a variable average voltage with very little power loss. When you drive regular incandescent lights with such a source the filament reacts so slowly to the varying voltage that you end up with a steady brightness at the average.

But the LEDs can actually react quite quickly, going from full dark to full bright in very little time. Your eyes don't really register the fact that they are flashing, but the strobe is definitely there, and I think that strobing is even more attention getting than just the light at 100% bright with no strobing.

 

[Fred W]

Well, tomorrow will be the sad day when my trusty old B4 leaves my garage for its new home in Vermont. Today I have been getting all of its "things" together and tomorrow I will get to take it on our last ride together for a while, up to my son's new place in the VT woods. Luckily the bike has had some quality time with dirt roads during my tenure, because it will be living on one starting tomorrow.

It will have it's own garage (too small for their trucks) and continue the well cared for life that it has led for the past 8+ years here in Cow Hampshire. Heck, 8 years is longer than most marriages these days! The bike may actually become even more pampered, since my son loves all winter sports (skiing, snowboarding, snowshoing, etc.) he probably won't subject the old girl to near as many slushy winter rides as I have these past couple of years.

Yeah, the Blue Beauty never once let me down. Never gave me anything much to complain about. Has been the best damn bike a guy could ask for. We sure did go some great places, have some fun times, and see some fantastic things together. But now its time for the next owner to make some new memories on her. Gosh, I think I got something in my eye...

Thank goodness I'll get to see her on weekends now and then and I already have her younger red-headed sister here to take some of my sorrows away when I get back.