Winter Farkles Finally Tested and Reviewed

[desertfjr]

I finally had some time to really get out and ride the FJ for an extended period and get a definitive final result for all of our farkles we installed over the winter. Overall I am as pleased as I can be.
 
I will give the folks at MCCruise kudos for their implementation of the cruise control unit on the FJ. Coming from the FJR I am very pleased with the SuperTen control implementation. Everything feels right at home. Cruise performance is about as close to the FJR as one can imagine. The install time afforded me a fun father son day!
 
The Pro-Oiler is still a work in progress. It is doing its job exactly as advertised. I am still working on dialing in the "perfect" oiling rate. I have the slightest spotting of fling off on the rear rim after my longest run on the FJ so far this spring, about 110 miles at one stretch. The chain is "glistening." I am reducing the rate by 1 on my controller to see if I can get to the "haze" on the rim and "satin" look on the chain. I am still on the default "rate page" that Pro-Oiler shipped by oiler in. I will go down if needed. I think am very close at this time. I will shortly be at the forget it except to refill the oil bottle pretty soon I think.
 
We installed a Garmin 390 GPS with TPMS. Once again, I have the same unit on my FJR. Works as advertised. I actually prefer the mounting location on the FJ-09 over my FJR.
 
The big ole JMV hugger we installed is nice. Things are tad cleaner in the undertail area just because this thing covers so much area.
 
The VStream tall windshield is awesome in my case. My head sits in a nice calm bubble. Helmet noise is minimal. Air flow on the edges is perfect so far. Not sure if I will need to implement any airwings at this time. We will see as the temps get warmer.
 
I ordered a customized Corbin seat. I went with the "softened" version as my historical experience with Corbin was that of a seat a little too like a park bench for me. The seat delivered this time feels great! A comfortable, broad, flat surface yielded no hot spots. Should be a SaddleSore 1000 capable seat without leaving one in discomfort at the end of a long day. The seat totally removed the tilt into the tank that I experienced with the stock seat.
 
The FJR bags and factory luggage rack appear to have not altered things in any derogatory ways. The bike has plenty of carrying capacity without altering air flow or inducing any angry feedback from the rear of the bike. The bags are in the slipstream as witnessed by the fairnumber of dead 6 legged creatures smearing the leading edge. I haven't loaded the rack, but keeping the load low will keep things calm I believe.
 
The FendaExtenda is keeping the front of the motor pretty clean. Nothing large is reaching the radiator from the tire. The ebay radiator guard has deflected one stone so far. It took the hit. Radiator is unscathed. The mirror extenders have been what I was looking for. I can see something behind me besides my elbows now.
 
As for the other bits, we hope to never test the Givi crash bars. When we stopped we had a few folks note how clean the bike looks with the pumpkins off and the LED lighting installed all over. The boys wheel stripes were a hit with the younger crowd. I think we will end up covering the a large portion of the fork legs with a bit of carbon fiber wrap at the boys request. I think that will complete the look he wants.
So that's my farkle review in one swoop. I will add an update come August post our Utah/Colorado trip we have planned. About 4,000 miles total planned, 1K in one day hopefully! We will see how everything holds up on a pretty intense, extended trip.

[sk8nsanta]

Appreciate your write-up! Can you provide any additional info on the mccruise? I've been poking around on their site, and I'm a little confused as to which control switch one would choose to get the factory look -- would either the FJR1300 or XT1200 Super Tenere options work? You mentioned the SuperTen control implementation, did you buy that switch block from a local dealer or online somewhere? From reading their descriptions, they sound almost identical even though they were worded differently, and I couldn't tell what differences there really were. Lastly (last one I swear!) how difficult was the install process? Thanks a bunch!

[desertfjr]

I went with the SuperTen control as it was closest to the FJ control set and Tony had a harness ready to go for me. They did their early development on the SuperTen switch. I had both the FJR and SuperTen switch gear at the time. Sans the MCCruise harness I was going to build out my own solution utilizing the factory controls. I didn't know which would work best so I bought both. In the end it was a good idea! I had one!
 
As for the install, I think it ends up taking about the same time as the Brandon install. It's just a different exercise you go though. My install thread is here with a few pics.
 
Cruise Install
The biggest difference is the use of small picks to take apart a few connectors and re-orient them vs strip and solder. We spent the better part of three hours on the installation. Another hour getting things buttoned up and running. Knowing what I do I now, I could probably get the entire thing done from start to finish in less than 3 hours. I know the routing paths and the couple of tricks on a couple of connectors that slowed us down, positioning of computer, etc.