What did you do to your FJR today?

[hppants]

I've got my new set of PR2s mounted this morning. My front wheel take a 1/2 oz of weight in the same location, plus or minus about an inch. The rear takes only 1/4 oz (a stick on weight), again in the same location, plus or minus about an inch. My tire guy says the imbalance is usually in the rim, not the tire. I'm inclined to believe him on this.

Flushed the clutch and brakes while I was dirty.

I'm ready to go anywhere I want to now. Unfortunately, I've got to wait 7 more weeks for the next tour.

 

[PhilJet09]

I just installed a PR4GT on my spare rear wheel the other day. Tried balancing it and it was going to take almost 60 grams of weight. I've never needed more than 20, usually 10-15. Tried spinning the tire on the wheel some, not easy even with lube because of the MojoBlocks and stiff GT sidewalls, still taking a lot of weight. Removed the tire to find the heavy spot of just the wheel, then discovered my old sharpie markings already there, but faded. Now the heavy side is marked with a dab of silver paint. Remounted the tire and it balanced using about 40 grams, which is still a lot more than normal, but the best I can do with this particular tire. We'll see how it wears.

 

[petey]

Shouldn't make any difference how much weight you need, as long as the tire/wheel is balanced and the weight stays on.

 

[eflyguy]

Sounds like a defect. Since determining the wheels on my bikes were "close enough" (on a balancer with no tire), I haven't bothered to balance any tire for the last few years. I've only had vibration issues after significant wear.

 

[Bill Lumberg]

Rode it to the store. Took it back from dealer since it's going to be weeks until the part assembly is in for warranty repair and they've been leaving it outside all day every day. Got it home and realized the gas filler/cap assembly was left loose to the point of bouncing around, which had allowed water to get in to the point that the collar of the tank was rusted. Put clp on that, tightened assembly, called dealer regarding a variety of missing fasteners...noted cut in the seat.... blah blah blah.... Then I rode it. Since plugs were just replaced (again) as a heck-let's-try-it directive from Yamaha, it turned the warranty problem back to herky-jerk instead of dance with death. Over the course of the next month, it will progress, if ridden regularly, back to dance with death. But it is very very nice to ride. Hoping the throttle body assembly replacement at the end of the month puts the problem to bed. LAAM arrives Wednesday.......

 

[eflyguy]

That's how a DEALER treated your bike??

 

[RaYzerman19]

I just installed a PR4GT on my spare rear wheel the other day. Tried balancing it and it was going to take almost 60 grams of weight. I've never needed more than 20, usually 10-15. Tried spinning the tire on the wheel some, not easy even with lube because of the MojoBlocks and stiff GT sidewalls, still taking a lot of weight. Removed the tire to find the heavy spot of just the wheel, then discovered my old sharpie markings already there, but faded. Now the heavy side is marked with a dab of silver paint. Remounted the tire and it balanced using about 40 grams, which is still a lot more than normal, but the best I can do with this particular tire. We'll see how it wears.

On both my '07 and the '14, there is a very light spot at the valve stem hole...... Mama Yamma installed 40-50 grams of clip-on weight....... if you balance your wheel first, you'll see if you have this issue. So, first I added (steel) T-stems and TPMS sensors, which helped some. Then I balanced the wheels first and put clip-ons and leave those alone permanently. Balance tire and wheel assembly and I usually don't add much (stick-on) weight for the tire. Maybe try that next time.

 

[PhilJet09]

I've mounted and balanced dozens of tires, but this is the first PR4 that's taken this much weight.

 

[Queensland Ken]

Started most of my bikes today, first press of the starter buttons.

Maybe the 3rd time in 11 months, I can walk to the garage now and without a walking stick.

Have a buyer for my 08 project bike, yahoo. Selling it at cost price to me, no profit at all.

The guy is getting a real nice FJR. I bought it to tinker on, therapy and something to do, get me off the lounge.

Installing a PC3 on a Gen1 on Friday and some specific service items, great therapy for the mind and body.

He's riding about 1000 kms for the job.

Pushed a few tools recently and it was nice.

Aim now is to get back onto a bike and eat more take-a-ways, Doctors orders.

No Bull, the doctor said it's the first time he has ever told a patient to eat more junk food, lol lol.

A day working on the FJR's tomorrow, love it.

 

[Fred W]

Michelin claims that the reason they do not balance mark their tires is that they are so close to perfect they don't need any. Yeah, right... My experience with most Michelins has been that they are close to being balanced, and that you are just balancing out the wheel imbalances. But not all of them.

I had a PR2 that I mounted twice, once on MEM's bike, then took it off early and threw it on the spare pile. Then we mounted the same tire on ionbeam's bike when he was in need of a rear tire ASAP. Both times that tire was mounted it required 70 grams of balance weights, and that was after we located the heavy spot and put the tire on the wheel with the heavy spots opposite each other. I never rode either bike with that tire on there, but I'm inclined to believe there was something wrong with it.

I've checked a good number of bare FJR wheels for balance, and they have all been off by about 21 grams (3 sticky weights) +/- without any TPMS installed. What's even more surprising is that the heavy and light spots are not always in the same spot from wheel to wheel. In a couple of cases the lightest spot was at the valve stem, which is contrary to conventional wisdom.

 

[Bill Lumberg]

Yep.

 

[PhilJet09]

Yep, my light spot is about 90 degrees off the valve stem.

 

[bigjohnsd]

Checked all the bolts and Fasteners, changed the oil and rear drive lube, washed her and generally got ready for my ride to La Pine next week. I've been quite busy farkling and riding the KLR which is a joy for shirt jaunts around town. Wishing the Gray Ghost was going to Inuvik with me next summer, but, I know the KLR is the more sane choice. Still need a KLR seat, Seth or Seat Concepts are my choices.

 

[Morecowbell]

Today I finally got the bike put back together after a three month stint in rehab (the bike was in rehab, not me!). It hit 30K miles at the end of May and it has been in various stages of disassembly ever since. Much of the country does their motorcycling in the summer. Here in the desert, it's way too hot to ride...so summer is when I get the big maintenance items taken care of. I do most of my miles from fall through late spring.

When it hit 30K, it was due for a lot of items: changed engine oil & filter, changed final drive oil, cleaned air filter, forks to Race Tech for rework and Gold Valve kits, lubed/torqued steering head, pulled swingarm to lube bearings, installed new Gen III shock, pulled centerstand to lube pivots and suspension link bearings, lubed u-joint splines, lubed pedal/lever pivots, installed Galfer s/s brake/clutch lines, filled/bled the new lines, tested the ABS pump, checked valve clearances, installed WynPro PAIR plates, replaced the CCT, replaced spark plugs, flushed/replaced coolant, TBS, and last but not least...new Pilot Road 2s. I spent way too much time on the floor under the bike in 110F temps fighting those centerstand bolts. Not my idea of a good time.

Next week I'll take it out for a post-rehab test ride. I can't wait to see how the new suspension works out. I'll put about 200 miles on it to make sure everything works, and then park it until Oct 31 when we head east for Texas Hill Country and the Ozarks. I want to save as much tire life as possible for the road trip.

 

[hppants]

Smart thinking re: tire life. When you hit those chip seal roads in Arkansas, with new suspension and some cooler temperatures, your right wrist is going to get itchy. Bye bye PR2s!!!!!

 

[El Toro Joe]

This...



New PR2's going on, in preparation for EOM.

 

[hppants]

Well Joe, you made those stock BT023s go away pretty quick, no?

Which front wheel "lift" did you get? Is it pretty sturdy? I am assuming that you can use that when taking the front wheel off?

On Saturday, I used my "floor jack under the header" method for changing my own front tire. Like you, I had the center stand on top of a piece of 1 by wood for the rear tire. Done it this way for years. After putting the front tire back on, when I lowered the floor jack, I opened the lowering valve a little to aggressively. The jack ran toward the floor and the bike fell off the center stand with no rear tire on!!! I **** myself a little and then realized that the bike was still balanced on the floor jack. By the grace of God, I was able to re-lift the bike without it falling, but that was a wake up call. Time for something different.

 

[El Toro Joe]

6400+ miles on the 023's...most of the miles were just commuting to and from work. The front fork lift is a "Handy" that I got from my brother, when he sold his Hayabusa and moved away (free is always good). It has worked well for me, when changing tires, and washing the bike (makes cleaning the front rim easy, when it can be rotated).

 

[creg-ny-baa]

Well Joe, you made those stock BT023s go away pretty quick, no?Which front wheel "lift" did you get? Is it pretty sturdy? I am assuming that you can use that when taking the front wheel off?On Saturday, I used my "floor jack under the header" method for changing my own front tire. Like you, I had the center stand on top of a piece of 1 by wood for the rear tire. Done it this way for years. After putting the front tire back on, when I lowered the floor jack, I opened the lowering valve a little to aggressively. The jack ran toward the floor and the bike fell off the center stand with no rear tire on!!! I **** myself a little and then realized that the bike was still balanced on the floor jack. By the grace of God, I was able to re-lift the bike without it falling, but that was a wake up call. Time for something different.

EEKEEKEEK! Knocked a GS off some combination of the centerstand and jacks once...hadda have a couple of oversized friends come right the ship. I have a Pit Bull front stand, but can't use it with the centerstand, as it lifts the bike enough to unweight the centerstand. I have a HF lift that I'll try the next time.

 

[Solomookie]

Stopped by the Yamaha shop to get them to replace the "YAMAHA" chevron that fell off the right side case of my one month old bike.



They are going to replace it under warranty, but here's the whack part... Yamaha does not supply the YAMAHA badge separately; the whole plastic strip with the the chevron has to be ordered (to the tune of $70). How stupid is that? It's not going to cost me anything because they are covering it under warranty. But I would be seriously pissed if I had to spring $70 just because their parts system sucks.