phpaul

@betoney Good to know your reputation is intact! Life and weather have NOT been cooperating lately, hoping to get one more (hooliganesque) ride in before hibernation.

I can relate as well. The engine in these things is intoxicating. I'm nearly 70 and this bike brings out the 19 year old hooligan in me like nothing I've ever owned. It's purely dumb luck that I haven't had a major ticket because I just can't resist the urge to dip into triple digits every time I ride the bike. And I probably shouldn't even talk about my passing technique...

Any chance it's ignition knock from too much advance? I don't know but I'm wondering if the ignition advance curve is mapped separately for each mode.

Well, if you insist... "Go ahead. Mess with me. I dare ya. In fact, I double-dog dare ya!" Here we see Marlin Perkins' new sidekick, Izzy, feeding the vicious Lupus Canis Familiaris We always had dogs, but several years back my wife developed serious pet hair allergies and we had to give them up. These are my daughter's Akitas. The big white one is a male, the black and gray is a female. The female is technically "mine" but lives with my daughter. When I went with her to the breeder to start socializing her new pup, the female (8 months old at the time) attached herself to my leg and just generally made it obvious to everyone that she was MY dog. The breeder was very surprised and said "She's always been neutral or even negative about people which is why we hadn't placed her!"

Wow! I do recall being called "rational" once in the dim, dark, distant past (I think the speaker wanted something...) but cool? NEVER! Now I'm going to have to go buy all new hats...

I patted her on the butt. Another month or six weeks, I'll drag her out of hibernation and have a wash and wax day. Been a VERY mild Winter, but I know Maine too well. We'll get whacked before March is gone and April will be cold and windy.

Yes, Winters in Misawa are pretty brutal. Winds and snow off the Sea of Japan, 1.5 meters per month in December, January and February was not unusual. I belonged to the base motorcycle club (Misawa Dusters) and we had a pretty good sized building we stored them in over the winter. I googled Misawa not too long ago and could identify the base housing we lived in. The base itself has changed tremendously. The command I was attached to was completely disbanded a few years ago.

We were indeed. I was there from January 1972 to June 1973 and then re-enlisted for orders to go back to Misawa from February 1976 to November 1978. The second time, I was married with 3 children and the whole family has fond memories of our time in Misawa. My daughters were lucky enough to go to the Sapporo Ice Festival with a Japanese family. We also went to the Hirosaki Castle Cherry Blossom Festival a couple times. We'd practice what little Japanese we knew and the Japanese families there would practice their English with us. We got by quite well that way and were always warmly received. My favorite motorcycle ride was from the base in Misawa to Lake Towada. Quite hilly and a very nice twisty road. The speed limit of 60 KPH got very badly bent a few times. 😉 The bikes I mentioned are long gone unfortunately. Youthful attention span and the urge for something new and different. Wish I had both of them (and some others from over the years) back.

Konnichiwa and Welcome! I was stationed in Japan for several years back in the 1970's at Misawa Air Base near Aomori. Loved the country and the people. It's also where I got hooked on Yamahas. My first new bike was an RT360 and I shipped an RD350 back to the States with me when I rotated out. I'm a little surprised to hear about an FJ in Japan. When I was there, bikes over 200cc's were VERY expensive for Japanese to register and insure and were very very rare to see on the road. Has that changed?

Well, I guess I'm guilty to some extent. I'm damn near 70, I don't do trips any more and even my day rides are 2-3 hours max. Not much worth posting about or taking pictures. My '16 FJ is as farkled as it's going to get and most of that is your standard, boring stuff. Corbin seat, ECU Flash, suspension upgrade, bar risers, crash bars (LOVE those blurple Higgies!) tail tidy and a radiator screen. Whee... Plus, I'm a fair weather rider and we haven't had any of that since last September (October, which is usually my favorite month, was a HUGE disappointment) and won't again until probably the end of April, so there's that. I'm a world-class picture whore, but with my boring rides they're mostly about my hobbies, dogs and my great-granddaughter. I guess I could post up some in Fireside Chat just to see if it generates any traffic.

Digging back through this thread I have to say "plastic yarmulke" is the funniest (and truest) thing I've read in a while! 😁

Oddly enough, I had a dream about a big touring bike just before I work up this morning. Remember thinking "Ooooooo, big ol' comfy heated seat, heated grips, full fairing!" Then I woke up thinking "Big, heavy sumbitch, and stupid expensive." I haven't put as many miles on the FJ this year as I usually do, but I'm still in love. I don't see any 1000 mile days or even 500 mile days. I think my record is just over 200 miles. Probably due more to my wore out old bod than anything about the bike. I do LOVE that engine tho. Makes the whole bike. Close second is handling. The word "flickable" was coined to describe this bike. I'm sure people wonder what the hell is wrong with me when they see me cutting esses in my lane just because I can. There's seldom traveled road here where I can slalom between the gaps in the centerline. I've glanced at the speedo and seen numbers in the neighborhood of 45mph while doing it. Try that on a Goldwing...

Timely question. I rode mostly in STD until I got the ECU flashed, then I used B for rough roads (most of them around here unfortunately) and A for the highway and tending to my inner hooligan. I've noticed this year that I've been leaving it in B mode a lot. I suspect that's for a couple of reasons: 1. The roads I used to play on have gotten so rough they're darn near unrideable at all, much less with "enthusiasm". Even in B mode I have to pay attention to keep inputs smooth as the bike bounces around over the frost heaves, pot holes and broken pavement. 2. I ain't getting any younger and most days I just don't feel I have the chops for spirited riding. I will snick it into A mode when I come up behind a ($#*%ing tourist and know that opportunities to pass will be few and far between. I like to be prepared to take off like a big-@$$ed bird when the opportunity arises. 😁

Made it to the Vintage Motorcycle show at Owl's Head Transportation Museum in Owl's Head, Maine (Just outside Rockland). Perfect day for it, 215 miles round trip. Couple hundred bikes, took some pictures of the ones that stood out for one reason or another. Kawasaki GPz550. Not terribly unusual, but immaculate. Nice old Beemer with a sidehack. Honda Hawk Jawa 2-smoker. Morini (Moto Morini?) I'm thinking the 3-1/2 means a 350? 850 Commando...slobber...drool... RD350. Had a '73 back in the day. Quick little thang. Appears to be an inline 2 cylinder 2 stroke. Guy had loaded up and was leaving before I could ask. Tank badge says "Sunbeam"

Hi, Frank Nope, never felt the need to put it back on. Like it fine just as it is.

Got a note that roadrash83 liked this post which brought it back to my attention. Oddly enough I made a portion of that ride again today, 3 years and a few days from the original post. Unfortunately, in that time the roads have deteriorated to the point that it's actually painful to ride them. Route 9 is still good, but 179, 180 and 181 are falling apart. Just the facts of life for secondary roads in Maine. Winter frost raises hell with them. They'll repave them again in a year or two and all will be well for a couple years, but right now they've been crossed off my list.

Yup, me too. Kid giving me the "new owner orientation" looked at me like I was from Mars or something.

I know exactly what you mean! I went from a 1979 Yamaha XS650 to the FJ. Amazing! More power, better brakes, better suspension (especially with a little tweaking) no ignition or carburetion issues to deal with ever, instant starts, better instrumentation. About the only down-side is the "Transformers" styling. If they could package this level of performance and convenience in a traditionally styled machine, that would be motorcycling perfection IMHO. On the other hand, it's pretty much ruined me for anything less...

Thanks, I paid a little extra for the blurple from Higdonian just for that reason! I get a lot of complements on them.

The Cortech bag came in today. Mounting it over the Corbin seat took a little head-scratching and there's about 2 feet of extra strap to deal with, but it fits well and looks good. It's roomy enough that I think I'm gonna lose the tank bag which was getting pretty worn anyway.

In older engines with rubber (or other non-metal) components not designed for ethanol, yes, it's a problem. Mine sat from September of last year until April of this year and started right up, no issues. Do I wish I could go back to straight gasoline at normal prices? Absolutely. Do I worry about E10 in modern machinery? Nope, not a bit. BTW, the 91 octane non-ethanol fuel I burned a couple of tanks of made absolutely no discernable difference in performance or mileage. The only difference I saw was the dent it put in my wallet. YMMV of course (arrrrrr.....humor!)

There is only one place in the county (that I'm aware of) that you can even GET non-ethanol fuel. Plus the owner's manual specifically says E10 is acceptable fuel for the bike.

I've been running 87 in mine since the day I bought it, with ZERO issues. I tried some 91 non-ethanol once and could not detect any difference at all.

And perhaps the odd six pack of dinner rolls!

Perfect. Thanks very much for the detailed pictures and explanation. I'll be ordering one of those.