2015 FJ-09 reliability

[gus898]

Greetings!

I have been considering an FJ-09 for some time now. 

A 2015 just became available. It only has 5029 miles.

I don't know anything about the FJ 09. Is it a reliable motorcycle I can use for daily commute? My commute is only about 120 miles round trip.

Any and all information will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

-Gus

[Heli ATP]

Yes, it should be very reliable as long as maintenance is up to date. We have a couple of 200,000 milers on the forum.

 

[betoney]

6 hours ago, gus898 said:

I don't know anything about the FJ 09. Is it a reliable motorcycle I can use for daily commute? My commute is only about 120 miles round trip.

Any and all information will be greatly appreciated.

The '15 model has been around for many years so there is a ton of good info available here, the search function is your friend. 

Pretty much any and every quirk the bike had has been addressed in one way or another.  An ECU flash and suspension totally transform the bike.

If you keep up on maintenance, the bike should be very reliable.  My '15 FJ has almost 77,000 miles and I'm going on another road trip in 2 weeks and no worries about breaking down or being left stranded.

[knyte]

7 hours ago, gus898 said:

It only has 5029 miles

So - just broken in   That's VERY low miles.  You've got a long ways to go before you're up against the first valve adjust.

[gus898]

Thank you all for your input. I have decided to purchase the bike. It is being shipped to me and should be in my possession in about a week.

 

KNYTE mentioned doing a ECU flash- what does that do for the bike and how do I do that? Also, what do I have to do to transform the suspension?

I've had other bikes in the past and am excited about riding this bike.

 

-Gus

[betoney]

23 hours ago, gus898 said:

A 2015 just became available. It only has 5029 miles.

With only 5k miles on the bike, chances are that it has sat around a lot and chances are that a lot (or maybe all) of the fluids have never been changed, maybe still on the original tires and battery as well. 

Are you getting this bike from a dealer or a private seller?  At a minimum, I would flush the brake fluid and carefully inspect the tires. 

[gus898]

I'm buying it from a local dealer. I was told they have gone through it and have replaced the tires and all fluids. Once it arrives, I will purchase extended warranty.

I'm currently riding a 2022 KLR650 but just landed a job about 60 miles away from home and the KLR is not necessarily fast on the interstate and that is why I'm going to purchase the FJ. 

[HGP61]

On 8/3/2023 at 5:47 PM, gus898 said:

KNYTE mentioned doing a ECU flash- what does that do for the bike and how do I do that? Also, what do I have to do to transform the suspension?

The early bikes had a very abrupt throttle response going from fully off to partly on and this made the bike surge forward. It only caught me out a few times before I got more familiar with the bike. It was more noticeable in A mode and to be honest has only concerned me once when part way through a  U turn the bike surged forward towards the opposit kerb and I had to stand the bike up and stop. (might have been a bit of target fixation that caused that) The ECU can get re-mapped by an engine tuning guy to eliminate this issue. 

I'm still on the original suspension but the stock setup is a bit on the cheap side. I do feel it sometimes on particularly bad surfaces but I had tweeked the suspension pre-load and damping and found it's sweet spot for My weight and riding style. After 25,000 miles i'm thinking I should upgrade to an aftermarket setup and this is on the cards for later this year.

Enjoy the bike when it arrives and sometimes best to use it for a while before you decide what it really needs to make it yours.

[gus898]

Thank you for your input. I am excited about going from a slow KLR to the Tracer and agree with you that once I ride it for a while I'll know what changes I need to make.

Have a great day!

-Gus

[Heli ATP]

On 8/3/2023 at 12:47 PM, gus898 said:

KNYTE mentioned doing a ECU flash- what does that do for the bike and how do I do that?

-Gus

The ECU flash will not only fix the snatchy throttle at low speeds, but can allow some standard parameters to be adjusted on the motorcycle.

Some of us have had great success with The BoosterPlug. It takes care of the snatchy throttle for less cost than a flash and is easy to remove anytime.

I find doing slow speed maneuver practice so much easier, with a Boosterplug installed on my Niken. Do a search on this site for those that have used it on the FJ-09.

https://www.boosterplug.com/shop/yamaha-800-900-73c1.html