jojosz

Hi John, I had it installed at my shop. It’s a while ago, but I think they said they had too loosen the radiator. To me it looked like you’d could pull the magura line with the old cable, but not sure. In any case, it’s been a great improvement. good luck. Joachim

Zero oil consumption in 110000 miles - no matter riding in the city, highway or backroads and temperatures from 10-100F. Coming from a KTM 990 which quickly started to leak an burn a liter every 1000 miles the Yamaha was a delight in the oil department 😉 But I also had the oil sign coming on a few times for 30 sec to 2 min at start up, but always disappeared when the engine warmed up. It happened usually soon after oil changes, thus maybe some bubbling at the sensor...

Amen. On the other hand, looking back on my FJ gravel rides (after switching to a BMW GS), I must admit that the FJ is not the bike for 100s of miles of forest and dirt roads. It’s just not much fun 😉

No mods required or useful for the FJ. It’s possible to fill the tank to the rim without any mods, but this is not advisable as the fuel will spill if you put the bike on the side stand. My initial post was not advocating for overfilling the tank, just noting that the Yamaha spec of 4.8 gallon is really conservative + that filling on the center stand makes a difference.

I was also surprised by the tank capacity - found it out by accident (closed fuel station). The trick to get the extra .3 seems to be filling the tank with the FJ on the center stand. 260 miles on one tank is surely an outlier - on a flat straight backroad at steady 60-65mph, and probably with a slight tail wind. My regular range (outside the city) until fueling was 200-210 miles at around 45mpg. Maybe I had a very frugal FJ or I am just a geezer 😉

Rode the FJ for 110k miles (traded for BMW GS last August) and thought that was useful info. When the reserve light comes on, I got at least 30 miles @ 60mph steady. Most I rode on reserve was 35 miles.

I noted that fueling the FJ on the center stand get you at least an extra .3 gallon/.5 liters. The most fuel I got into the tank was 5.1 gallon/19.3 liters - never ran it dry 🙂 The little extra fuel has been very useful on my long-distance travels. The largest distance on one tank was 260 miles (on a sunny day heading East through Kansas into Wichita).

I fully agree with betoney! The ground clearance and 130mm suspension travel puts the FJ in the sport bike department. The skid plate is great for potholes, bumps and the occasional unexpected drop-off (quite a bit of that to be found on NY quality roads), but this doesn’t make the FJ an adv bike. Anything other than the occasional well-maintained dry dirt road is just not its purpose. That’s the main reason I switched to a BMW GS...

I had the sw motech on the FJ for 100k miles. Quite a few parking tipovers - zero damage. They are designed perfectly.

Congrats to the FJ - great bike. A skid plate is a good idea. The ground clearance on the FJ is limited and the stock suspension undersprung. Easy to crack the oil pan - I cracked one and bent a cheap skid plate. Finally got a sw motech plate which held up fine (the sw motech crash bars are great as well). Here the link to the post with my experience with the FJ09 (traded her recently at 110000 miles):

It’s one of the few badly designed parts on the FJ09. Mine broke at 60k miles - costly repair...

I am 5’11 and riding year-round in the North East US. My screen setup: v-stream tall with MRA x sport deflector - it’s been absolutely great for 110000 miles. The only problem with a tall screen is the flimsy front cluster mount on the FJ - it’s not really suitable for tall screens if you ride bumpy roads (the mount on my FJ broke at 60k miles). Re deflector: there are now cheaper knock-off deflectors available - I got the MRA in 2011 and it’s still fine after 200k miles ago. Lastly, mounting a deflector on the stock screen is not a good idea - the screen has too much flex.

I have used various 90/10s on my FJ09 and rode a few 1000 miles on dirt roads with mixed success. I found myself avoiding longer dirt trails and turning around many times in front of a puddle or hill climb with a few rocks. Also cracked the oil pan and a bent a bash plate. So I eventually bought an BMW GS to have more ground clearance and suspension travel, and better dual sport tire options...not that I am suggesting you get another bike 😉 Here my take on the issue - just my 5cents: 40/60 Tire: TKC80 - great off-road, but that will come with limited mileage and poor wet performance 50/50 Tires: Nothing available in FJ sizes unfortunately (I am using MitasE07+ on my BMW GS - it’s an excellent dual sport tire) 70/30 Tires: Pirelli Scorpion Rally STR - not ridden yet, but reviews praise the performance on and off-road, though millage will be limited. It’s stock on the Yamaha T700. 80/20 Tires: TKC 70 - Only ridden on a test bike. Good, proven tire - unfortunately no block pattern, thus limited on soft surfaces ( I used a rear of the new Michelin Anakee Adventure with block pattern on my GS on snow and grassy trail climbs - it would be a great touring option for the FJ, but unfortunately not available in 180/55/17) 90/10 Tires: Metzler Tourance Next, Pirelli Scorpion, Conti Trail Attack - great on road and on dry well-maintained forest roads, but not of much use on any soft surface, especially on an incline. As a bit of additional grip goes a long way (literally), my choice for an extended trip on the FJ with dirt roads would be the Pirelli Scorpion STR. And hope you got a bash plate...

Traded the FJ at 110300 miles for a BMW R1200GS to add a bit of off-road capability on top of great road manners. The FJ09 has been a great and reliable ride, but not comparable with the Bavarian rocket ship 😉

My 110000 FJ09 miles with 25 rear and 15 front tires recently included a set of Angel GT2s - it’s a weird tire with some strong and one extremely weak point. They are somewhat sluggish to turn-in, but excellent in full lean with fantastic feedback and grip. The wear is good and very even - I changed the rear early after a flat at 5500 miles, the front made 10000 miles. The main downside of the GT2s is that the front tracks every groove and track in the road surface - it may be due to the strange double parallel thread on the centre of the front tire. My favorite tires are Dunlop Roadsmart3 (best grip and handling, great in wet at pace), followed by the Conti RoadAttack3 (great grip and handling), and the Michelin Road5 (best wet).