angrygirafe

Just spent a couple days in So Cal visiting the wife’s family. I was twitching looking at all the places I used to ride around there.

I hope a heat gun makes an appearance soon ETA: And a dremel. I knew a Kiwi who could ruin anything with a dremel

I still need to disassemble the ECU connector. At this point its a loose connection (likely) or a bad sensor. But with temps close 100, and a list of other home projects, my willingness to sweat in the garage is lacking.

On the occasion I can get the FJ running, the first thing I notice now is the vibration. I keep wondering if it was the same before my maintenance debacle, but I guess the 50k miles of good memories on it didn’t notice the vibration. It’s a great machine, and I wouldn’t change anything about it. Except to have it working reliably again. 😄😭

I thought it was smooth until I got a Zero. Turns out the FJ is actually like riding an overloaded washing machine JK. I think the FJ is fine, compared to my limited experience with other bikes. I will admit my dad’s GSX1100G inline 4 was exceptionally smooth compared to the parallel twins and triples I’ve ridden.

43mpg is the sweet spot for me. But like Wintersdark and Betoney, I bought it for fun, not fuel economy. That’s just a bonus 😁

And I thought I was lucky for just getting yelled at for doing 85 in a 55 construction zone while lane splitting at night.

There’s a Tortilla Flat ride east of Phoenix here that’s pretty nice, but it gets busy and turns into dirt road halfway through. No badass here, I just hate being in a car. I’d rather cook lol

I ride year round. Warmest I’ve seen the FJ claim was 124F while sitting at a red light. It was a little toasty. I haven’t explored too much to the south; I usually head towards the mountains in the north for some cooler weather 😂

I’m in Phoenix. There’s good riding in Arizona, but you have to make a day of it to get the good stuff, and it’s still not as good as what you’ve got 10 minutes away 😂

You live a great place for riding. I don’t miss much about California, but the riding there is second to none

Ha! Malcom Smith did a lot of my maintenance when I was in Cali. Heading south go up to Lake Matthews, and take Gavilan Road and Santa Rosa Mine Road to the 74, 74 to I5 and home. It’s a longer route than it needs to be, but those first few roads are quiet with a few twists in them. You’ll enjoy the bike without having to wring out the throttle

Whelp. I made it 3/4 of a mile before the engine died, light came on, and fault 60 was displayed. Fortunately it’s a little hazy, so only 92 degrees pushing it home. Cold shower time. I’m convinced it’s a loose connection on that YCCT sensor circuit. Or I should say “more convinced”, since Skipper basically narrowed it down to that already. I’m guessing a shorted ECU would not let me get out of the neighborhood and up to 4th gear before remembering it’s broken. Will pull apart the ECU connector next. After a beer. Or two.

Omg you guys, it lives! So, I’ve had a bit of a hiatus. Starting to get warm here in Phoenix, and there was some landscaping and attic electrical work I needed to get done before that kind of activity becomes fatal. This afternoon I got back to it. I didn’t remove the suspicious pin from the plug, but I did unplug and replug the YCCT Servo. Key on. NO ERROR?!? Fired it up, and it caught! The idle is a little low, but not bad. The gas in the tank is now 5 months old and the airbox is off, so maybe that’s it. Gonna put it back together, and if it still works, a test ride is in order 🙂

Now THAT is proper use of a traffic circle