chitown

texscottyd's solution is pretty common, sometimes you can find coupling nuts that make decent substitutes at a local hardware store, but a decent hex socket set is worth the investment once you start putting wrenches to bikes.

This. If I'm going to the trouble to yank the wheel I want to check brake pad wear and clean any crap from the sensors. The rear sensor in particular is pretty easy to hit with hard parts in ways road debris won't. Ymmv.

Thank goodness Kawasaki hasn't got the news that the 600s are dead. That new 636 kicks serious butt and they lowered the price. I lust after one. The more practical side of me would probably wait for the new Gixxer 750 to come out then snatch up a used one for a lower price. The slow bike thing is fun and instructive. My SV650 with Gixxer front end was a ton of fun on the track, super inexpensive, cheap to operate, and taught me a lot.

Life happened so didn't get out riding to test or take measurements but I have very toasty grips in the garage. One thing wanted to pointed out before others go there... there is no yellow & blue wire to the factory connectors. Believe the places above where this is referenced need to be updated from y & b to y & r. Double check me but the service manual wiring diagram agrees. Also bought the barrel connectors on fleabay. Search "yamaha turn signal connector".

What Betoney said. The spacers are about as much fun as most bikes. Keep the sensors away from magnetic objects and don't let them get whacked. I usually use some painter's tape or similar to put them firmly out of the way. If you haven't done wheel install on an ABS bike there are often locating posts for the spacer on the sensor side of the wheel to make sure it's in the correct position. These are pretty obvious on the FJ-09/Tracer models, not so much on older bikes. Like Betoney I've always pumped my fork legs before tightening the front axle to make sure nothing is binding. It's actually called out in the FJ-09 shop manual. Some folks reported stripping the front sensor bolt early on. The manual says 5 point something ft -lb iirc (I don't use torque wrenches on wheel installs).

Even among the same models I see different error reported online so always do my own check with GPS or phone across the range of speeds that cover majority of my riding. All of my Japanese vehicles have had slight speedo optimism with stock gearing. The only motorcycle I've had that was near-perfect out of the box was a KTM. Must be Austrian precision?

Ah, that will likely put me over the hump this evening, thank you. Also mentioned this to my buddy that is the best driver and rider I've ever followed and was designing circuits in grade school. Had to talk him down from converting a Bronco he's restoring to an EV last week. He's going to come by this weekend to help me ou... er to drink my beer, and has all the good tools and scopes and such. If there's anything you would like to know, or might be helpful to others, that we can measure/observe about the Yamaha grip setup before I sell them please let me know.

Having a difficult time reconciling your diagram to using the factory connectors. My grasp of this stuff ends at the diagram on the back of a standard relay.

Got menu but had to stop for the evening. For reference the heaters I'm using are Heat Demons with the same model as yours. Haven't had to deal with resistance much but assuming I'm to measure red+blue to white, 5.2 for one grip and 3.5 for the other. Wiring each grip to a factory connector got the menu. Suspect this is the the first configuration you mentioned but will test for heat before making any changes.

That sounded good but was unable to get my heat demons to be recognized by the bike.

Another topic where there's very little in the way of objective measurement. One rider's twitchy is another rider's "you just need to not put the death grip on it" lol. The first 09 based bikes got panned for their fueling. The FJ-09 was supposed to be better, and the GT better yet, but other than my bike have only reviews and subjective descriptions to go by. My stock FJ-09's fueling was abrupt compared to say, my '05 FJR, '09 Versys, or pretty much any of my carb'd bikes. But no worse than my KTM SuperDuke. SuperDuke owners online were about 50/50 on whether it was twitchy or not. Never flashed the SuperDuke and it was a track bike so if throttle control was an issue a high side was always standing by to let me know. Was a flash required to enjoy my FJ-09 ridden rather aggressively? Nope. Did I flash anyway? Yes, eventually but smoother fueling was only one factor in that decision (you may want to flash for exhaust change, removing restrictions, other features etc). Did the flash make fueling buttery smooth? Nope. Better but not butter. At this point I question whether Yamaha can do FI as well as other manufacturers.This probably won't be my last Yamaha but if they don't improve it will be a factor in my next buying decision.

Policy on all bikes is to do it at first service, after any fueling related changes, and any time I'm doing other maintenance in that area. Doesn't take long at all provided you've stripped away all the stuff to get at it. Track it in my maintenance notes and adjust schedule depending on how out of sync it gets between checks. The FJ thus far hasn't needed much adjustment but I've seen owners of the same model and mileage report different results so I let the bike tell me. There are youtube videos showing the process for more info.

While very limited, you can still find it at some pumps even in Cali. Usually it's high octane and expensive. VP Racing branded stations, some Unocals, Love's (mostly truck stops in the hinterlands), etc. See sites/apps like pure-gas.org. In some localities you can buy small expensive cans of it where lawn equipment is sold (Lowe's, HD etc) but with electric and living in a condo these days don't know if they still do. There's always avgas but it has lead. But none of this makes no nevermind to me. I'm still maintaining cages and bikes that have run fuel containing ethanol for 15+ years and things mentioned above have been non-issues for me. My only issue with Cali gas over the years is that in carbed bikes it's easy to have passage issues when it turns. Aggressive jet cleaning has been required in those cases but learned my lesson and will add stabilizer if a vehicle is expected to sit for long periods.

Might add that If you have access to a rear stand you don't need to remove the center stand. The headers only need to be rotated out of the way, which can be done without pulling the cat through the center stand. When dealing with springs and no spring tool there's the penny trick too. Coins/washers/etc inserted between coils.

Both of his accounts left some question marks for me. Haven't been gentle with mine. About the same level of concern as with the FJR.

Bummer. Swapped mine before any damage and the only parts needed were the Strainer Cover Assy, and Gasket, Strainer Cover. Pan came with a new drain plug and drain plug gasket. All other parts were reused -- tho I'd have ordered exhaust gaskets as well if I hadn't done this pretty early on. (11.38 + 131.44) - 5% Time To Ride coupon + tax/shipping from yocracing.com.

Thanks. I've run the same grip heaters you linked on a half dozen bikes and this will save me drilling on something for the switch install. In the middle of spring maintenance as well as flipping the handlebar clamps around and narrowing the bars. Pulled the Yamaha heated grips off yesterday and was contemplating installing the set of heat demons laying in my parts pile so I can go back to the old throttle cable housing that was skinnier and worked with my throttle lock. It's not a full range troller but so nice of Yamaha to provide a cleaner switch and a whole nuther setting for Heat Demons

@Duke nice work and informative write up. One thing I'm not clear on is whether you are able to use the menu controls for low/med/high and get varying amounts of heat on the fly?

Don't know about the Yamaha case. Dimensions won't tell you the entire story because of the curvature of many luggage cases. Looks like it would need to be angled at a minimum. Can say a Givi E460 (46L) holds a laptop backpack designed for up to a 17" and a few other items nicely. Been using it for 10+ years on various bikes and now on the FJ. Locking, waterproof, storage on the bike is a must for me when commuting.

Have had helmet speakers but never enjoyed them. If you do stick with earbuds, took some trial and error but the Etymotic MC5 come with a variety of washable rubber and foam tips and one of them works great for me. All day comfortable, good quality, can still hear emergency vehicles. Been using them (and the ER6 model that preceded them) for ten plus years.

Did LA to Prudhoe round trip on an FJR with PR4s in 2014. If anything more of the Dalton may be paved by now but there is the seasonal flooding that damages the road that I haven't tracked. Check the Milepost. It is your friend. As mentioned above the only other non-paved roads on the my route (Alcan) would be construction zones. The tires could have made it but I ended up with a slow leak I couldn't locate in Whitehorse on the return. It was a YT holiday and I had to catch the ferry in Skagway (a great way to do the return if you're just going to retrace route IMO) so grabbed a can of Fix a Flat at Wally, pumped it up, and made it to the ferry. Ended up replacing when I was back in Washington. If you really want to swap I'd arrange it well in advance in Fairbanks. Get a fuel can in Fairbanks. Remember, it's not "enough fuel to get there" it's "enough to get to the point of no return and get back to fuel". For us that was Atigun Pass. Enjoy

I don't know what the used market is like there but this doesn't have to be a forever decision. For someone of your level of experience, whom I haven't watched ride, my advice is always going to be: buy a used dual sport. You can learn a lot by riding it in areas of questionable traction and when you drop it there will far less regret. When you feel yourself getting "ahead" of the bike it's time to upgrade. That said I've owned both a Versys 650 and FJ-09 as my primary bikes. Sold the Versys when I bought the FJ. Both fantastic. A used Versys around here is way less expensive than a GT. You might consider a used Versys for a time and as your ability/confidence increase so might the number of used GTs. ABS, TC, and modes aren't purchase decision points for me until everything else is more or less equal. The Versys has less leg room but that's more an issue for folks with bad knees than a matter of height as my 6'7 buddy also had one and wasn't uncomfortable.

It's a sealed unit thus no testing procedure. But others have cut them open and there's a standard thermostat inside that you can test in the traditional way. Course if you cut it open you'll need to seal back up in a way that doesn't make you wonder if it's going to leak. Or drop 45ish on a new one from a discounter I think these digital readouts make folks obsess. Reminds me of the story, probably just net folklore, that when Kawasaki introduced early temp gauges they were flooded with complaints so they added a resistor to make the gauge read lower. Complaints dropped lol.

Thus far I've only added Powerlet in the front panel. Were I to add one for gear the various chassis mount kits Powerlet offers should provide inspiration.

Bear in mind that swapping fuses to allow for more draw may require replacing the wiring. Not saying it is or isn't in the cases mentioned above but if you're new to adding electrical accessories to a bike your default policy should be to avoid swapping fuses for another with a higher amperage rating until you've determined the draw needed and consulted a reference to determine the appropriate gauge wire. /Nanny