redfjniner

HUGE pain in the ass. Bikes with chains are dirty bikes. I spend 1/4 the time on cleaning the FJR. But that is what you have to put up with to ride this triple. It seams to be worth it in the long run, I think, but then I only have 34K on it.

Put on my 6th rear tire today. It was sad to remove a T30Evo with only 4910 miles on it with 3mm of rubber to the wear bars for a 5,200 mile ride coming up this weekend. Appears the mileage will be around 10,000 for the T30Evo as compared to two Dunlop Roadsmarts that got around 8K each. The one Michelin PR-4 rear I had on the bike is still on the used shelf with 8,000 and yet 1.5mm of rubber good for 3000 more miles(=11,000).

Where are they supposed to stick? There are no places on the cases where they look like they would fit. On the FJR, they would be applied to the rear fender Body work, which is painted the color of the bike. They put them on the FJR so when you are fussing around trying to line up the bags in the upper mounting slots you don't scratch the paint.

Those look like the vinyl stick on protectors supplied or already installed on the FJR to protect the paint. I got some with my replacement bags, many years ago.

What do they look like?

Decorated my FJR blue top box for the red FJ. Supporting the Red, White and Blue. Just in time for 4th of July.

That is almost the same route I would have taken, but I would have taken just east of Cedar City Hwy 148 then 143. Some spectacular views there.

Now all you need to do is a write up on those PR-4's.

It does look like a good location to scan easily while riding, without having to look away from the road....just too far for me to reach with my digit to tap the screen shoul I need to. I saw a post or two on here with nifty bracket ideas for this setup. I just bought an automotive Garmin unit with a Trip Planner and will be putting it in a Ram aqua box. Fraction of the cost of a Zumo.Zip Lok bag is even cheaper, if you are looking for savings.

Do you still feel you get more vibration through the heated grips? Does anyone else notice this? Never.

If I were to invent a backrest w/o top box, I would invest in two 1/8" x 2 ft x 1" flat bars, then I would bend them in a vise to an L shape. Make a pad to mount to the ends sticking up. I would loosen the rear hand grabs bolts above the tail light and then place these bars under the grab bar's bolt location, with the other ends slightly placed under the seat. Get wife to sit on the bike and adust location of back rest. Drill holes, bolt on pad, etc. etc., adjust, adjust. take apart, paint, put back together. Work done. Remember, you don't look at it when riding, but if you what to look at it, do a good job on it.

I use the stock 12V outlet to power up my tank bag. From the tank bag I power up one or two GPS units, R D, phone, auto com. The only other outlet I need is for my heated gear. I wire the heated gear directly to the battery with a in line fuse 7.5-10 amp, all under the seat. I feed the little round plug, which comes with the heated gear, out under the seat on the left side. I installed a modified plastic wire clamp to the side panel and coil the wire from under the seat to that location. The wire clamp allows the plug to be removed so you can plug in your gear. I like this location as when I get off the bike and forget to unplug it will unplug without any issues. I can also plug in on the go, with care while riding of course. Tank bag plugs into 12V at dash. Aux. plug for heated gear at left side.

I ended up tightening them to 30ft lbs yesterday so they should be good to go (added loctite too). I also had one of the button heads on the tank trim was a little loose. I tried to remove it and it went immediately to swiss cheese ;-| . I ordered 4 extras PN 90111-05007-00. Luckily my local dealer was able to order them with their regular order as it is a part number that has been used on motorcycles and boat motors for years. Good learning technic. Trial and error. Good luck, keep up the good work.

Picked up my FJ from the mechanic. Had the Valves adjusted, swingarm lubed, fork oil changed & new bushings, air filter, spark plugs and cables lubed. Checked valves before adjustment: 0.0102-.0118 good. Note those that are lower, are way to low and only two close to being in spec. Will write Yamaha and advise of this condition at only 26K. The intake valves were all in spec. so mech. didn't write anything down. Even with the tight valves, plugs still look good and are only a little out on gap. 26K All the way thru Dec. I was getting 48+ mpg. A good indication the valves weren't causing too much problem. I didn't notice any difference in performance. Sure was nice to ride it home. The bike is just so inspiring to go fast and leave the traffic behind you.

How about a write up on the Cruise Control. (to get us ready for when Cruisin gets our deal done).

I was unhappy with my Shorai. Unless they have made some changes that make the battery work better, I won't buy another. Due to the slow warm up and having to start the FJR two - three times to get the bike to start. The first crank was very slow, the second not much better, the third would spin it so fast, of course it would start. My problem was that it caused a situatiion that was wearing out the starter motor, starter motor gears and fly wheel gears. After two years, the battery sits in my garage with a full charge because I don't want to prematurely wear out engine parts.

Water. I installed day before leaving on Colo. ride. Painted afterwards so it looks like this now:

I thought I would follow up on this thread as I have removed most of the vinyl wrap and painted the remainder of the bags. Here is what I did: first I took an exacto knife and slightly cut into the vinyl and peeled it off. Then I took some kind of solvent and removed the glue (Goof Off). Knowing that I had sanded the bags before installing the wrap, I didn't sand them again but just used solvent to clean them up (Acetone). I found a rubberized paint at OReilly's, Dupli-Color. The kind of stuff you put on plier handles. Since I wanted a color to match the front fender, I had to buy two, black and silver and try to mix them out of the shaker cans. So I put down two coats of black to cover the blue paint, then on the third coat, I over sparyed the Graphite Metallic silver while they both were still wet. Kind a worked. I could get a good match by spraying the two onto the top of one of the can caps and did that for touch up. I let dry overnight and the next day sprayed over the final colors with three coats of clear satin. New design below: I didn't like that finish as it changed the red to a flat color and the carbon warp lost the carbon look. So I peeled off the clear satin coat from the red and carbon wraps and used a clear coat gloss over that portion of the bags. At this time I noticed that where I had cut the carbon wrap, that some of the corner edges were pulling back (orignally streached and now nothing to hold it), so it was leaving a gap between the painted sections and the wrap, leaving the blue paint showing below. I installed a red pin strip surround the wrap. Kind of worked. I also mix the paint on a cap to match the grey color and touched up using my finger to apply the paint. It worked. New design no. 2: After my laydown (Crash) in Colorado, the right bag was scrapped up a little. I cleaned off the mud and peeled off some of the clear coat to get rid of the loose stuff. I then sparyed on a cap some clear coat and applied with my finger to get rid of the edges, then after drying, I clear coated the sides, but only where it was scrapped. Finish looks ok. I'm starting to like this kind of paint, as it allows you to touch up and most don't notice (you are really the only one that looks real hard at the bike). Bags now look used, and that may be a good thing? Still look better than aluminium adventure bags, IMO. That's my update. I still may strip every thing and do over after one more year of riding.

Edited: The FJR bags on the FJ are 1" narrower than on the FJR. I have both and measured last year. The width is more like 38". FJ handlebars are 38" wide with handguards. You may want to remove them. I don't think you can find the unpainted sidecases anymore, and that is too bad as they would be excellent on the FJ.

Somebody should write a good condensed letter and post it. Someone with skill in doing this kind of letter writing.

Sean I just went to a Buell site and read up on drain plug problems with over tightening the plugs. Seams to be the same issue that we have experienced with Yamaha's spec. of 31 ft. lbs. In short some were recommending that 16 ft. lbs be used on the Buell while using the stock set up of bolt with rubber O-ring. Note that if you use any thread sealant and tighten with a torque wrench, that you will be tightening more than the torque is showing on the wrench. Also (for others) note that by not cleaning the oil off the threads in the pan and on the bolts that you will over tighten the bolt if you use the Yamaha spec of 31 ft. lbs. 26-27 would be safe and more accurately in line with Mfrs recommendations of 31. I repeat this every chance I get as it seams to be a continuous problem, and new people to these bikes, end up stripping out the aluminium threads in the pans by tightening with a torque wrench to mfr's spec of 31 ft lbs.

HD suggests using LOCTITE 565 THREAD SEALANT and torque it to 26 to 29 lbs. Saries: Please clarify on the HD drain plug. Are you refering to a plug that uses an rubber O-ring glued to the bolt? I would use 26-29 on an compressible washer or copper or alum. normally. I would think that that torque high of torque would be too much on an O-ring and make it un-servicable later. I currently have it installed on the FJ and it seams to be working and holding just fine.

Nice write up Com3. Added this to the How To Index.

You know that nobody can help you, right? I can't address the Shoei as I have only been using Nolan's for the past 18 years. (5) I just picked up a Schuberth C3 at Revzilla, because of that great deal. My first helmet I haven't had to use earplugs in 20 years, but, I still use earplugs anyway. Now I don't have to pull over one or two blocks from the house to put them in, but I have gotten used to them and when you go over 65 it does get a little noisy. Around town, no need. But, also, I have a DIY windscreen that does a good job, lots better then OEM.

Depends on how you ride your bike and what you do during your bike rides. If you like going hiking and such and ride your bike to those locaitons, get a good leather hiking boot, try Danners Crater Rim boot. I used Danner Rainforest boots for 150K and they are still like new, and can be rebuilt if needed. Worth it if you hike. If you ride all day, get a touring boot. I currently ride with Cycle Gear's Pro Tourer Boot. They are short and fit just about better then any other boot I have put on, with double zips in the front. Waterproof (?) and cheap too. A good boot should last more than 100K, My Alpinestars are going on 200K, still useable but the soles are almost gone. I was out washing the car yesterday, breaking in the Pro Tourers and they feel great. I expect to get 3-4 years out of them (75-100K). You can spend more 150-350 for a Touring boot, and it just depends on what your expectations are. There are many boots much better then the Cycle Gear's and they will last longer too. You have to ask yourself, how much are you going to use them and way it out for how much do you want spend. Good Luck.