adjuster

I'm more than 400lbs riding all the time, and I've found the following works okay for me for now: Hyabusa rear shock. Has compression/rebound adjustment, and of course spring pre load adjustment with two ring collars v/s the stock stepped design. The shock body is threaded, so there is quite a bit of adjustment possible, but I'm running it "Stock" how it came off the Hyabusa, and it's worked great so far. Same stock Hyabusa spring too. I was lucky, and found a shock from a very low mile wrecked Busa, I think it was under 3000 miles, so it's basically new. It was stock, and I've not even tried playing with the compression and rebound settings, they worked great as is. I might try backing it off slightly, but it's nice and firm in the corners, while not too harsh on bumps going straight. For the forks, I've just cranked the preload down to where they are flush with the top cap. No rings/lines showing. Full on preload. This has helped to cure the dive when hard on the brakes, and really I don't find the stock forks to suck as much as they did on the FZ09. (2014 model I owned for 3200 miles.) The suspension on the 2015 FJ09 is much better for two up, or large riders than the FZ by a long shot. Future mods will depend on what sort of riding I'm doing, and how things go health wise. I've lost 50lbs since I bought the bike, and plan on more reduction, so perhaps I'll just soften up the valving, and leave it alone. I've considered Matt's mods, to add a compression valve set in the left fork, and re-valve the right rebound set in the right forks, using stock caps of course, for the lowest cost, but very effective changes I've read/seen/reported here. Changing over the rear shock to the Busa unit was a huge improvement. The stock shock was harsh, did not really feel in control over bumps in corners, and while not the pogo/pony wallow the FZ had, was still lacking the control feeling I was after. The less than 100.00 spent on the used low miles Busa shock, I think it was a 2006 or 2010? That is the range of years IIRC.. Anyway it's a good upgrade, and there is the ability to rebuild the Busa unit later If I wanted to make it even more custom, something not easy to do with the stock welded shut steel shock. The only down side is I had to cut some of the "underseat" plastic tray. It's no big deal, I'm running a WPS lithium battery, and it's smaller than stock, lighter too, but with me riding, that's a hoot! LOL Is if it matters!

Be careful drilling into plastic, it can and does crack very easy. A grinder tip on a dremel works better in some cases. Also, attaching screen, or open cell foam across the holes will allow air in while limiting both dirt/bugs etc from hitting you in the face. The ram air effect is nice, but most leave out the reality that a negative air pocket exists at the rear and sides of most helmets at speed. The faster you go, the lower the pressure, it's what causes helmets to buffet. Some holes added or enlarged to existing points in the rear of the helmet will improve the air flow of any front vents in a huge way. If you can remove the plastic covers over the rear vents, and enlarge them, then pop or glue the vents over the new larger holes that might be a good modification as well. In the past, on various lids use in hot weather, a few moments with a dremel grinder/cutter after pulling the liner and any EPS foam possible has been a great way to mod. You can enlarge, clean up and even add some channels to route air up over your skull, or around your face. I've also removed material from the chin area to give more room not just for comfort, but also you can add microphones and speakers etc. Route the wires in the channels used with air, and some hot glue holds it in place just fine. Just keep in mind the EPS foam is there to save your life, so don't remove too much, but air really does not need that much space to flow, to add cooling for your noggin. Also noticed on most helmets, even the expensive ones, that the "work" quality for the holes, and how they line up can be downright terrible. The hole in the EPS liner being off set nearly blocking the whole vent for example, can be cleaned up quickly, and air flow improved significantly without really effecting the safety of the design at all. (Had a helmet that had terrible cooling and air flow, would fog up in the winter, and was hot, even with the face shield up in the summer. Open or closed, the vents did not seem to matter.) So, I finally pulled the liner to wash it, and found the EPS was glued into place shutting off all the upper vents to about 10% being open. No wonder the little plastic outer doors/flaps/vents made no difference. I did not have a dremel, but used a file and xacto knife to trim the foam, and there you go! That helmet became a favorite from a total flop. It was comfortable, but had terrible air flow. With the ports cleaned up, it was slightly louder, but actually could be worn in hot or humid/cold weather.

It's tempting to get a full set from Ebay. Comes with both sets of levers, the slave for the clutch, and some designs appear to be copies of radial brake/clutches, so they should provide as good, or even better feel/control than the stock Brake setup, along with the ease of a hydraulic clutch. 40.00 shipped or less.

Some blue 3M painters tape, your time to pull the parts and prep them, and then re-install them... And two cans of spray paint.. Red metallic and clear. Done, and you can paint the rear "fender" hugger that should have come red from Yamaha too. I'm going to be different. Painting the front fender, side panels and some after market hand guards Plasti Dip Orange. Yes, orange. Very bright, nice to see, and it's not so different from the red 2015 I have that it looks weird. (Okay, weirder than it could be?) I don't want a low profile motorcycle. I want to be seen.

I'm sure that's only to remove the axle. Not as a fix while riding it. On topic, many of the tourqe values seem pretty crazy for the fasteners in my opinion.

I have a hyabusa shock with the nitrogen tank facing up towards the fuel tank. To get it fit correctly, you have to un-plug all the wires around the plastic in that area. Pull them back out of the way, and you can tape them back for clearance to work if you want. Then using a high speed dremel type tool, and cutting bit, I zipped the plastic out of the way so the new Hyabusa shock fits fine. Then since I had the lower linkage from the Huyabusa shock, I just slipped the bore out of the bearing, and used the smaller diameter bolt that came with the Busa shock and linkage. My used shock was nearly brand new, the Busa had 1200 miles on it when wrecked. Then zip tied off the wires after plugging them all back together, and as a side note, it REALLY helps to have a friend around to help move the swing arm up and down while you fit the shock. I used a combination of blocks, paint sticks, center stand and a buddy to get my shock into place with minimal lost skin and combinations of swear words. Result is a much more adjustable shock, higher rate spring than the stock FJ09, and for me that's just fine. I'm like two up riding all the time. Really have not moved the adjustment needles around however. The stock Busa setting has worked really well for me, the shock is not as harsh, but works great in the curves, and does not beat me up on long broken pavement bumps.

Yamaha designed this for the stock windscreen. It is not National's fault that the stock bracket is failing. Their product did not fail right? Mods to the stock mount are common. I have the GIVI and I've added washers, spacers and changed it to fit my size/riding etc. I do wonder about the flex of the entire cluster/screen mount, and your thread shows it fails over time. Some simple welding and gussets added will cure this. And will make the entire mount bomb proof, while only adding a few ounces to the weight. I'd like to see a better way to mount lights under the stock head light too, Yamaha sells a kit, and there is a vendor here to sells a very nice bent bracket as well. If you hang a light (s) under the stock ones, and add a larger screen, you are going to put stress on the stock Yamaha mounting system. Mods to that mount are good insurance to avoid future failure, and being stranded like you were. Also have to add, that based on your photos, this has been cracking for awhile. look at the rust, and then the fresh clean metal where it finally failed. Had you looked it over prior to your trip, you might have caught that it was failing, and fixed it before your trip, avoiding the whole mess, and allowing you to add the gussets you are talking about, while avoiding the cost of a replacement bracket from yamaha. (I would just fix the one you have, since you are going to weld on it anyway, sand blast it, weld it, sand blast again, and have it powder coated the color of your choice. )

Nice responses! I don't really know if two pounds of lead shot will do it, did not measure it the last time around, but I did used #7 lead shot. It's like little bb's and you can compress them slightly. The bar is heavy with the lead in there compared to without, so it might be more than two pounds? It was just a guess. I filled a protaper bar on my FZ1 with lead. No PC police came to stack up at my door, kick it in, and arrest me for violating lead laws. (But it was not in CA, where everything is known to cause cancer if you feed enough of it to rats in a laboratory.... And last, I love the idea of selling lead shot with fancy advertising for inflated prices! I could be the next Donald J. Trump that way, with my own private plane and all? (Actually I really like Trump, but making a few million selling lead shot is a nice fantasy right?)

SO easy to fix. Grip Puppies. Check. Make sure the bars are tight. Check. Handguards tight. Check. Now, hit up WalMart and buy a medium sized bottle of copper coated BB's. (For airguns, cheap and easy to find, you can get the nickle plated ones too, but I like copper.. LOL) With your bike on the kick stand, turn the wheel/bars so the bar end is as high as you can get it. remove the end of the bar, but leave the guard bolted to the inner mount. Just push the guard to the side. Get a paper funnel, or make one with cardstock and tape. Or a plastic funnel if you have one that fits. Carefully pour in BB's till the bar is full of them. Put a few more in for good measure, and use the bar end to push them tight into the bar. They will settle as you ride, so don't worry about this too much. Now don't smile too hard, you might break your face while you enjoy your VIBRATION free ride. Cost is about 5.00 and your time. (And some of the BB' bottles have a funnel tip, but I found them mostly useless...) Another option that works even better, but is more expensive, is LEAD SHOT. If you reload shotgun shells, you might have lead shot, about #7 or so.. keep it small, but not so small it's powder.... Fill the bars with lead shot, again pack it with the bar end and there you go, even better than BB's. (But about 30.00 if you go buy a bag of lead shot, and then what do you do with the remaining 28lbs of lead you just bought?)

A flash for CC, and remove the speed limiter. Smoother fuel map would be cool, but I'd like to keep the O2 sensor with Kevin's deal, it's pretty smooth and it adjusts to changes in weather etc. (Where the flash is set, and that's it.) I don't need the wheelie controls and all that drag racing stuff. I like the idea of no extra buttons needed.

If/When Yamaha comes out with CC for the FJ09, and IF they use the same ECU format, plugs etc.... That will make this a very easy swap/upgrade for anyone who wants it. Wrecked bike, and you get the wires/switches and ECU you need to "retrofit" your FJ09 to the "new" standard with CC. And if it's just software, and the "tuners" can see it, and just "flash" your existing ECU with the new software? All you need is the wires and switches, since the CC will most certainly use the same sensors the ABS/TCC uses now. (And the older FJ's already have all that stuff ready to go, just need the cruise control buttons, and wires to hook them up. (Assuming they are not already there? I have not looked to see if the harness has them already, that would be the ultimate planning ahead for Yamaha from the start.) They have this same set of switch gear on other bikes with cruise control. Why not just replicate the wire looms from those bikes v/s re-inventing the whole thing?

Oh yeah, I slap a few magnets on the outside of the filter, and it traps any steel particles that might happen to be in the oil. When you change the filter, you just pop the magnets off, and onto the new filter again. (Don't put them inside the filter, that's a mess, and not needed, the metal will be "stuck" to the inside of the filter body, if you wanted to cut it open and see what's there.) I use cheap "cow" magnets that are super strong. Farmers use them to trap barb wire and other metal the cows eat, and could then damage them from the inside out. The magnets sit in their gut, and so does the metal stuck to them, no harm to the cows. I use three of these. They are high quality, chrome plated, and don't corrode or rust at all. They also don't ever fall off the filter, and I use three of them per filter. Just stick them on the underside, and you are done. Use them on your cars too, they work excellent. https://www.ebay.com/p/?iid=272594848278&&&dispItem=1&chn=ps Here you go, they have improved the design, and it's black, so you guys who want a black filter, you can have black magnets too. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Master-Magnetics-COW-CP6X4BX-New-Ferrite-Cow-Magnet-0-625-Diameter-3-New/382081197907?_trksid=p2047675.c100009.m1982&_trkparms=aid%3D888007%26algo%3DDISC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D40130%26meid%3D3d1ee3d43c724413ab16d6f609faae52%26pid%3D100009%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D2%26sd%3D120759338622

Purolator changed the mounting flange on the "lower" quality filters, and they will no longer fit the FJ09. However, the Pure One, and BOSS filters as noted, fit just fine. (And the BOSS is about the best depth filter I've seen yet, from a proven quality filter company, Purolator.) No Fram crap on anything I've owned since I was a kid and bought one just because it was orange, I thought it was cool. My dad had me pull it apart when I changed the oil the next time, and finding cheap cardboard and ripped pleats that leaked oil right past the media without ever even filtering it was proof positive that Fram was a one time deal for me. Period. I've run Wix, Champion, ST Tech (WalMart) and AC Delco, and they are all pretty well made as are Denso, and some Japanese filters. Canton makes the best quality filter I've ever used, but you pay for it. In the "spin on" disposable realm of filters, the best right now is the Purolator BOSS. Thicker metal housing. Depth synthetic filter media, silicone anti-drain back and real metal springs on the bypass valve. (Not an issue on the depth filter media, it should not clog up in normal use, so the bypass valve will likely never open.) The PLB14610 Too bad I don't get paid for promoting their filters, but this is the best spin on filter at this time. Period. The only better option is the Canton "spin on" adapter setup, and it's expensive. (And really, this new BOSS filter uses the same idea of depth media, just in a throw away spin on design v/s a housing that you then change the filter out of every 25,000 miles just because you can, not because it's really needed.

Only if he's going to use Yamaha approved oil breather line cleaner...... It's right next to the blinker fluid and muffler bearings on the shelf at my local dealership... It's an oil level sensor, like your fuel tank, with a float and it reads how much fuel, or in this case, oil is in the sump. If it was an oil pressure warning light, that would be totally different. Keep it near the full side of the marks, and it should never come on. As for the breather hose from the crank case to the air box? It's just a hose with no "valve" in there that I have seen. Nothing to clean, it just allows the air box to draw off any vapors from the crank case, and burn them in your engine. (Fuel vapor, oil vapor and mostly water vapor.)

Here is a question for you guys out there on coolant. My opinion is if your cooling system can handle the load with a mix of water and ethyl glycol based coolant, why can't it handle just pure coolant? There is no water in the system then to cause corrosion, and that's fine by me. Question is, does it get too hot and boil off? Water is a better coolant but it causes corrosion and allows electricity to break down the metals and really screw up your engine. I've had great luck just running pure coolant. No water. No corrosion. No worries. I will say on my Audi's that running the right coolant has proven worth the trouble. But even then, I just have always used pure not pre-mixed coolant. I think it is a pentosin branded product too IIRC.

Very interesting stuff. The FJ09 has the "Cruise" housing, but not the switches. Appears it has the ECU that can handle it as well, but not the software in there to just be plug and play. (Shame on Yamaha.) And I expect that soon, perhaps next year? The FJ and FZ's even will all have factory cruise control using the existing controls, or ECU's just with the software activated/added to the bikes. Consider that the FJ has everything you need sensor wise to run CC, and the new FZ's do as well. No new expensive sensors with ABS, and E throttle. No additional boxes to install, heck, even the wires should be setup already. (IE: The switches on the FJ are not there, but the wire loom should have the wires and the plugs ready to go if Yamaha was thinking this through.) At the very worst, a wire loom change, or additional wires would be needed to add the switches to the FJ's controls. Or if you have a momentary switch that's not used while riding, such as the "Mode" button, then use that like Tune Boy is proving possible. I'm interested, but going to wait and see what Yamaha does next year CC wise.

All my Yamaha's have liked the oil level near the full mark on the sight glass. The photo shows it in the middle range. As you added some more oil, it's up near the top, or slightly over full. I don't personally think being slightly over full is ever a problem, on any engine that is using a wet sump like this. And as noted, oil moves around constantly while you ride the bike. Colder oil is going to move around in the sump slower, so it might give a false reading for level as noted unless it's slightly over full. Are you running synthetic oil? They are affected less by colder temps for pour point, and that can allow them to "slosh" back into place faster even when cold. Let's face it, gravity is going to pull the oil to the bottom of the sump, but if you create forces that move the oil to the rear or front of the oil sump/pan, it could give a false reading to the sensor. As long as you are NOT uncovering the oil pump pick up for extended periods of time, you should be fine. And it is in a baffled location to limit sloshing oil away too easy. (Look at the design of the oil pan and pick up.) On my last Supra, I put an accusump from Canton into the system. It held 3 quarts of oil under pressure with a sensor and valve that monitored the oil pressure all the time. If the oil pressure fell below 30 psi, it would open the valve, and force oil into the engine. A one way valve then allowed the engine oil pump to re-fill the tank when oil pressure was restored. A cool feature of this system is you can switch it off before you shut down the engine. When you go to start back up, you turn on the ignition, and flip on the accusump. It forces oil into the engine BEFORE you even crank it over, and your pressure gauge goes up to 30psi and THEN you start the engine. This reduces wear on the engine in a major way. Canton sells a small 1 quart system you could fit to a bike, and just have a manual ball valve, and the one way valve so you constantly have a quart of oil in reserve to supply pressure to the engine regardless of what is going on in the wet sump system. And you just close the valve before you shut off the engine, then you can pre-lube it before you start up again too. Just turn on the bike, open the valve, give it a few seconds to pressurize the oil galley, and then start it up. Over kill for most street machines.

I'm not a tech, but this is how it works on many engines/vehicles. AIS, or the air injection system, adds extra air to the atmosphere side of the engine exhaust, to help promote more complete burning of hydrocarbons that made it past the combustion chamber. It also helps the catalytic converter to heat up and become more effective sooner, by adding extra oxygen to burn off fuel/hydrocarbons trapped there. They burn, and that heat makes the unit self cleaning, and more effective at converting the exhaust gas to remove oxides of nitrogen and other causes of "SMOG." The reason you don't get the burble on the stock exhaust is not the baffles, but the CAT in the system. If you put a cat into your AM exhaust, it will also trap and heat up, and burn off the hydrocarbons too. With no cat, raw fuel at times can pass right through the engine, out the exhaust, and as IT HITS OXYGEN AT THE EXIT OF THE MUFFLER, it lights off in popping noise and blue flames shooting out at night/day. The fuel will not burn well in the exhaust pipes prior to that due to lack of oxygen.. Thus, AIS adds that oxygen when needed, mostly on deceleration, into the exhaust, and that helps to burn off the fuel that's NOT been burned up in the combustion chamber when the throttle was closed, but the residual fuel in the intake/engine is still pulled in, not fully burned and then passed out into the exhaust. The reason that the "modified" fuel maps that get flashed into our ECU's shut it off is that some folks don't like the noise, and the raw fuel burning off can do damage to the muffler in extreme cases. (Lots of chemical energy in fuel. Add the oxidizer, and limit how fast the pressure can escape? And you get a bomb..) Also the O2 sensor really only is there for closed loop operation of the engine. In closed loop, the fuel is trimmed to meet emissions requirements at the expense of power and driveability in many cases. Changing those fuel values makes the engine more responsive, but less friendly to the environment as it will put out illegal levels of NOX etc. When you go to wide open throttle, the fuel map is determined by the program in the ECU, and the O2 sensor on this system no longer is going to trim fuel. (The system then depends on AIT, TPS, MAP and in some systems a mass air flow meter. (Not on this bike however, no MAF.) Coolant temp is also a factor. The ECU will not allow you to damage the engine until it's up to operating temps first. The "Best" system would use a wideband O2 sensor, MAF, MAP, AIT, TPS and base fuel map that can be adapted to the changing conditions that the engine experiences. This system would be in closed loop from idle to redline, and trim fuel based on engine loading from the feedback loop constantly. But it is more expensive, and the wideband sensors are more expensive, and can fail at a higher rate. Anyway, nice detailed write up! If I ever pull my AIS, I will flip the reed valves to assure they are closed. For now I like the burble. Might experiment with some hoses to limit air flow however if I put an aftermarket exhaust on the bike.

There is a much more simple and easy way. It takes marbles, ball bearings, or other suitable plug type device. I once used a short, about one inch long, section of wood doweling. You do the following: It's really complicated. Seriously. Find the hose leading to the AIS system from the air box. (It is the larger of the two breather hoses, it appears the PCV hose is smaller ID than the AIS hose. When you remove the air box lower, you will use pliers to release the hoses from the box fittings. Insert the proper ID sized plug. Put it in there a inch or so. If you are worried about warranty, just use a wood plug, and put a simple wood screw into it, so you can pull it back out again later if you needed too warranty the bike... Put the hoses back on the lower air box. DO NOT PLUG THE PCV hose. Ever. You could add a cheap gauze type filter, to catch any oil vapor, it will condense on the filter, and then drip back down the hose into the valve cover, but the cover has a vapor trap built into it already, but the much cooler air box will condense the oil better, so you run less oil vapor back through your bike... Just saying... Put it all back together. No need for JIS screw drivers, yoga moves to get at the covers and the reed valves are there doing what they do best with no air flow into the exhaust.. Absolutely nothing. I sort of like the burble however, so putting a calculated "leak" plug into the AIS hose would be a cool mod. Say you want some burble, but not as much as stock with the AIS working and a catless exhaust? Put a short section of rubber hose into the AIS hose. This would remove some of the air flow, and it's super easy. You don't even need to pull the lower air box this way. Experiment with various sizes of scrap hose, and you can get the exact amount of burble you want.. Or just put the hose in, and stick a bolt in the end, and plug it that way. Even less work. And easy to remove should you need that YES product they sold you. Belt, suspenders and concealed carry holster.

The 2014 FZ09 I first had was a wheelie machine. Nearly any time you tried to get going in a hurry, the FZ09 would loft the front wheel, especially in first, second and even third gear. But, that was with NO traction control or ABS system. On the 2015 FJ09, it's been more fun to ride really. I don't have to worry about it due to TC. And ABS has saved my butt from at least two situations where I would not want to find out what happened if the front tire had slipped. Wheelies look cool, and can be fun when pulling away from traffic, but really? They are dang dangerous and I've seen very skilled riders who can and have ridden wheelies for miles and miles and miles... CRASH. And go down hard at speed too. It never is fun to see your friends wipe out a nice bike, and get their gear/skin/lives all scraped up and injured.

Stainless hardware would be nice. Use the factory bolts if you replace the CCT. They are better looking and don't rust as easy. The only fix I'd be willing to try on the APE unit is to nickle plate the adjusting bolt/rod/foot. Or just replace it with a correct threaded stainless unit and lock nut. I suppose you could try and coat it with paint, but they are all just band aids over using the correct anti corrosive metals/materials.

I bought some Autolite Xtreme Sport Iridium plugs for my 2006 FZ1. Never installed them. But they are #XS4302 Says the replace: Champion G57C, 8654, NGK CR9E and CR9EIX. I figure they fit the FZ09 and FJ09. Does not look like Yamaha changed the plug size/model much over the years in various engines just like they use similar Oil Filter sizes.

Still have not done it. Need to get it done before April, when I can ride again. I've decided to keep it simple. Cut off the entire "bulb" area at the can housing. Cut the inner "S" pipe from inside the tail pipe. Slip the "outer part" off, and this will leave the "S" pipe mostly intact, but only sticking out less than an inch or so. Drill a series of 1/2" holes along the "X" formed into where the Cat exits. This should allow plenty of exhaust flow, and more sound, but since they are only 1/2" in diameter, not too much sound. Leave the cat alone. It has just the right amount of back pressure for better low end power/Tq. Fit the cover, and the "crushed slightly" for an Oval shape exhaust tip. I have some 4" ID pipe, and I think that will work great. The stock trim cover hopefully will just fit, and I will trim the "end cap" to fit as needed for a nice oval slash tip. Tack weld it, check for final fit, and weld it all up closed. Then paint the entire exhaust with Techline "Turbo Black" ceramic coating, wrap the headers with Ti colored ceramic weave, not the fiberglass stuff, and then seal the wrap with more turbo black to keep it from taking up water. (and it holds the fibers together better over time too.) Should be not too loud, flow great, and yet still have the stock low end power that most "full" exhausts lose in favor of better top end peak power. (That I don't use as much as the low end on this bike.)

The Gold Scotchbrite pads will have the same effect on gloss plastic as steel wool. (And they can be used for all sorts of stuff later too.) But the steel wool is fun with batteries.. Use the gold pads to blend clear coat paint as you can buff out the scratches pretty quick, but not burn back the edge of the clear you just laid down into the blend area on the paint. (And yes, it's not a lifetime fix, but most folks own their cars for how many years?) Sorry about the hyjack. But I totally agree not to paint the KTooM' knuckle busters, just take the gloss down/off and enjoy being able to do that any time you want again. (OR just leave them glossy.. and ride the faster red bikes...) Speaking of that, anyone painted the front fender red yet? My FZ09 had a red fender, and I liked it. The tank was red, with a black stripe, but that would not work so well on the RED FJ09. But the red fender would be nice. Might do something fun with the KTooM guards, fender, metallic red and masking tape.

Yes, do both. Beak and Fendaextenda. Problem is, the beak goes right were I want to put a wide driving/spot light bar.