Why are so many 2015’s for sale??

[texscottyd]

20 hours ago, piotrek said:

Hmm... crappy fueling, crappy suspension etc... ya know, all the "bad-boy" stuff. 😏

Crappy windscreen, crappy seat… 🙄

But hey, a few hundred bucks here, a couple thousand there, and now I’m WAAAAY too deep into my bargain sport-tourer.   But it’s mine now, and it’s a keeper. 

[2and3cylinders]

As I bought most of the big-ticket items when I bought the bike and built it into the sale. The most expensive things I did, we're relatively Reasonable because I did all the labor myself and bought the parts as cheap as possible even though they're quality items like the mccruz and k Tech razor and fork damping cartridges.

Things like a saddle and screen you'd probably do it anyway. Same thing with footpags or levers. Brake lines unless they come standard with stainless.

Mine in sixteen was eighty five hundred I didn't know they closed out the nineteens for about that

Plus of course panniers and a flash...

I can't get enough of riding it so it's not going anywhere soon

[piotrek]

4 hours ago, texscottyd said:

Crappy windscreen, crappy seat… 🙄

But hey, a few hundred bucks here, a couple thousand there, and now I’m WAAAAY too deep into my bargain sport-tourer.   But it’s mine now, and it’s a keeper. 

Agree... done the upgrades, feels good to ride it, and I know it very well. Is it perfect?... nope, but it's very much perfect enough.

[piotrek]

A used first generation bike (2015-2017) found in good shape would be well worth it (at reasonable price) in my opinion, BUT... budget to fix the suspension, fueling, seat and screen. (if you do find them bad... not everyone does). There are legions of owners of expensive machines who still manage to complain... and it's often the same types of things that owners found deficient on the factory FJ.

[Brentinpdx]

Bought mine (2015) in November 2022. Came with full Shad cases, a top case, and 3700 miles.

Upgraded the clutch cable as it was a noted issue. Ordered a manual timing chain tensioner as mine began making noise after my 1800-mile trip last week. ( note the dealer no longer has an upgraded model on the OEM parts list.) Upgraded the windscreen to a low one as the OEM and the touring one that it came with were both not working for me.

I was on the fence about doing an ECU flash. However, after the trip. I think it will happen. And I'll upgrade the rear shock and add heated grips.
Since I live in the PNW. I was able to get a custom seat made for my butt. Not a Sergeant or a Corbin. This was Rich's Motorcycle seats.

It's a great bike, but it has some correctable flaws. At 6'2" it fits my frame and I am not uncomfortable on an all-day ride.

[texscottyd]

On 9/18/2023 at 5:12 AM, WIrider said:

I’ve been looking at fj09’s for about year but have yet to pull the trigger on one.  Nearly all fjs I’ve seen advertised over the past year are 2015’s, is there a reason for this?  At any given time I can find a dozen fj09’s for sale on Facebook and Craigslist but they are to a fault ALL 2015’s, is there some problem emerging with the fj09 from 2015?

I know we went a bit off track here, but back to your original question of why the density of 2015 model FJ09s for sale…. 

As mentioned, the FJ09 only existed under that name for 2015-2017, and then morphed into the Tracer 900 line.   I haven’t seen a breakdown of production by model year, but I suspect that the vast majority of FJs are 2015 bikes.   Yamaha produced a ton of them early on, as I believe they anticipated a huge demand… a slightly more practical FZ9, so what’s not to love?    But in reality they were slow sellers originally, and it took awhile (and deep discounts) for the inventory to sell.   I bought my 2015 in July 2016 for $2k off MSRP, and the dealer still had several more 2015s in crates waiting to sell.   They were still available new as late as maybe 2018 if memory serves…. To help clear the backlog, I suspect that Yamaha cut way back on production for 2016 and 2017 models.   Note: I have nothing to validate this other than intuition and common sense, and would love to find actual production numbers by model year.   

The other factor may just be the ownership lifecycle timing.  ‘The Seven Year Itch’ seems real, as owners get the urge for something shiny & new & different.  The early FJs are now 8+ years old, and appearing more & more frequently on the resale market.  
 

[Wintersdark]

On 9/19/2023 at 3:07 PM, piotrek said:

Hmm... crappy fueling, crappy suspension etc... ya know, all the "bad-boy" stuff. 

"Character"

[micah2074]

On 9/20/2023 at 7:00 PM, piotrek said:

There are legions of owners of expensive machines who still manage to complain... and it's often the same types of things that owners found deficient on the factory FJ.

 

Quoted for the truth. As far as suspension goes i've never had a problem with it. That may be because i've never ridden a motorcycle with non factory or high tech suspension. 

Throttle issues. This was my first FI bike. She's different than a carbed bike but i got used to it.

[2and3cylinders]

IMO a well tuned carb(s) is sweeter than the FI bikes I've tried to date...

[knyte]

On 9/19/2023 at 4:10 AM, WIrider said:

What issues are there with the stock cam chain tensioner? What updates are out there?

When I bought my used '15 from the dealership, they told me the bike had the 3rd iteration of the tensioner, all replaced under warranty.  I've heard it rattle a wee bit now and then, but it's always silenced on its own.  No problems here.  Come to think of it, I haven't heard it all this year.

[bwringer]

On 9/22/2023 at 12:01 AM, Brentinpdx said:

...And I'll upgrade the rear shock and add heated grips.

Didn't these all have heated grips from the factory?

Uh, mine did, anyway. Am I special?

Edited September 28, 2023 by bwringer

[betoney]

2 minutes ago, bwringer said:

Didn't these all have heated grips from the factory?

Uh, mine did, anyway. Am I special?

Heated grips were standard equipment when the Tracer GT model was introduced.  Your dealer might have added them to your bike but they weren't a standard feature on the '15 bike.

[2and3cylinders]

1 hour ago, betoney said:

Heated grips were standard equipment when the Tracer GT model was introduced.  Your dealer might have added them to your bike but they weren't a standard feature on the '15 bike.

But well worth every penny...

[bwringer]

Ah, I thought they were factory on mine.

I'm the second owner, and they are the Yamaha grips controlled via the screen, so I'll assume the PO's dealer installed them. That might explain the janky zip ties and slightly puzzling wire routing, or maybe that was a later addition.

In any case, yeah, they work great. In my opinion, heated grips are mandatory for motorcycles that go places, and I agree they're well worth the money.

[dazzler24]

7 hours ago, bwringer said:

That might explain the janky zip ties and slightly puzzling wire routing, or maybe that was a later addition.

In any case, yeah, they work great. In my opinion, heated grips are mandatory for motorcycles that go places, and I agree they're well worth the money.

They still could be aftermarket additions as some of them 'appear' to be Yamaha OEMs if you use the screen menu as a benchmark.

e.g. I used Heat Demons and they're installed to 'fool' the system into thinking they're OEMs.