Premium Member jimf Posted March 21, 2015 Premium Member Share Posted March 21, 2015 Ok, maybe not as bad a problem as many other people I know, but still. I'm here because hopefully in the next two weeks or so I'll be buying an FJ-09 to replace my 2007 Daytona 675. I love the Daytona, which won my heart with the sound of its triple and the look, but it turns out that it's not actually a good touring machine (who knew?). I'd been looking at a Street Triple R -- same motor, more palatable package for touring -- but the Yamaha's factory option set is just too compelling, the price is very nice too, and the motor even more tractable. If only they had put on decent suspension (that's one thing the Euros really do better than the Japanese) it would be perfect, but if I'm going to have to fix something then adding good aftermarket suspension will be a pleasant upgrade once I'm thoroughly familiar with the bike. Prior to the Daytona I had an SV650S that I'd rigged for touring. Great little bike, that. I wish I could have kept it but the ethanol gas really made a mess of the carbs and I just didn't have time for that. I found out about this forum from deerSlayer, who's part of my extended riding family. I see he's pretty active around here :-). Hopefully in a couple of weeks I can post a pic of me and the new bike. It's so close I can practically taste it, and I plan to do a hell of a lot of riding this summer now that I'll have a bike that's not a certified torture instrument again.... 2015 FJ-09 (Mary Kate) 2007 Daytona 675 (Tabitha, ret.) 1998 Vulcan 800 (Ret.) 2001 SV650S (Veronica, Ret.) 2000 Intruder 800 (Ret.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member jimf Posted March 21, 2015 Author Premium Member Share Posted March 21, 2015 Thought I'd post a bike pic. Here's the butt-end of the Daytona on a dirt road last fall, not exactly prime Daytona riding, but it was a nice road: And here I am in my Stig-ness before commuting to work: (That suit was awfully white then. Maybe not so much anymore.) 2015 FJ-09 (Mary Kate) 2007 Daytona 675 (Tabitha, ret.) 1998 Vulcan 800 (Ret.) 2001 SV650S (Veronica, Ret.) 2000 Intruder 800 (Ret.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracerforme Posted March 21, 2015 Share Posted March 21, 2015 Welcome Jim! I too was looking at at STR prior to ever knowing the FJ-09 was being released at Eicma. But, when I looked at the numbers, it would have cost a lot more to turn an STR in to a weekend touring machine from the great commuter machine it already is. So, it lost out..... I was told by a local that suspension upgrades for the FJ should only cost around AUD$600 (you do the conversion math)... This includes setup costs for you the rider.... Going aftermarket will become expensive and negate the initial lower cost of purchase. Good luck and congrats on your purchase, more importantly, stay safe & have fun! Cheers, Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaxn Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 Hi Jim, The first bike I viscerally fell in love with was a 1989 Honda Hawk GT. A 650 V-twin original naked sport bike (before the genre existed) that I still believe Suzuki ripped off to build the SV650. The SV was a great bike in its own right. I had that Hawk 14 years. Still my first real motorcycle love but I'm hoping the FJ helps me finally forget that Hawk in a more mature and modern, usable fashion. I get your situation. Looking forward to hearing about your new two-wheeled relationship. Hopefully it's the same as mine! Jaxn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member jimf Posted March 22, 2015 Author Premium Member Share Posted March 22, 2015 The first bike I viscerally fell in love with was a 1989 Honda Hawk GT. The Hawk is quite a bike. I have a couple of friends with them and have taken one out for some play time. It's so flickable and light, like a 250. I just giggled the whole time. I can completely understand falling in love with it. 2015 FJ-09 (Mary Kate) 2007 Daytona 675 (Tabitha, ret.) 1998 Vulcan 800 (Ret.) 2001 SV650S (Veronica, Ret.) 2000 Intruder 800 (Ret.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member jimf Posted March 22, 2015 Author Premium Member Share Posted March 22, 2015 I was told by a local that suspension upgrades for the FJ should only cost around AUD$600 (you do the conversion math)... This includes setup costs for you the rider.... Going aftermarket will become expensive and negate the initial lower cost of purchase. I figured the upgrades would more or less bring them to equivalence cost-wise, but on the other hand I can buy it perfectly set up. I used to run a Penske rear set up by Traxxion Dynamics on the SV650S and it was brilliant, I will probably do that again. I can certainly do that for under US$1000. I don't see anything obvious for FJ front-end upgrades yet, other than springs, but I figure I'll ride it a year on the stock suspension and by then there should be the typical options like Race Tech Gold Valves. I gotta believe that the FJ will be super popular, and shares so much with the highly popular FZ too, so there should be plenty of aftermarket support over time. In any case it's probably not much worse than the 2014 Versys I rented in California last fall and while it wasn't too hard to get that all wonky I still had a hell of a good time with it. 2015 FJ-09 (Mary Kate) 2007 Daytona 675 (Tabitha, ret.) 1998 Vulcan 800 (Ret.) 2001 SV650S (Veronica, Ret.) 2000 Intruder 800 (Ret.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bmidd Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 I was told by a local that suspension upgrades for the FJ should only cost around AUD$600 (you do the conversion math)... This includes setup costs for you the rider.... Going aftermarket will become expensive and negate the initial lower cost of purchase. I figured the upgrades would more or less bring them to equivalence cost-wise, but on the other hand I can buy it perfectly set up. I used to run a Penske rear set up by Traxxion Dynamics on the SV650S and it was brilliant, I will probably do that again. I can certainly do that for under US$1000. I don't see anything obvious for FJ front-end upgrades yet, other than springs, but I figure I'll ride it a year on the stock suspension and by then there should be the typical options like Race Tech Gold Valves. I gotta believe that the FJ will be super popular, and shares so much with the highly popular FZ too, so there should be plenty of aftermarket support over time. In any case it's probably not much worse than the 2014 Versys I rented in California last fall and while it wasn't too hard to get that all wonky I still had a hell of a good time with it. AK-20's for the front end Jim. My bike is @ Traxxion right now getting the R&D done, forks are completed and waiting on the rear from Penske to ship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member jimf Posted March 22, 2015 Author Premium Member Share Posted March 22, 2015 AK-20's for the front end Jim. My bike is @ Traxxion right now getting the R&D done, forks are completed and waiting on the rear from Penske to ship. Thanks for the tip. There's probably not going to be the budget to do that this year, not after buying the bike itself and all the typical farkles, but it's good to see that there is already a high quality option. I'd been thinking of Gold Valves because they worked so well on the SV650S's fork (and were pretty cheap, too), although the lack of external adjustment was a bit of a pain. 2015 FJ-09 (Mary Kate) 2007 Daytona 675 (Tabitha, ret.) 1998 Vulcan 800 (Ret.) 2001 SV650S (Veronica, Ret.) 2000 Intruder 800 (Ret.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member hawkeye Posted March 22, 2015 Premium Member Share Posted March 22, 2015 Welcome from another (former) Daytona rider! Traded my D675 in for an FJ 2 weeks ago and have no regrets. As much as I loved the Daytona, I found my track days to be to few and far between to justify the discomfort during street riding. The FJ is a joy to ride. Did 200+ miles today with no problem. Hurry up and bring one home, you'll be glad you did! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member jimf Posted March 24, 2015 Author Premium Member Share Posted March 24, 2015 I'm doing a bit of a happy dance. The dealer I wanted to buy the bike from has one in stock (although not a red one), offered it to me for a good price, offered more than I expected for my Daytona, and a significant discount on all the options too. Gotta get over there to put the deposit on it in the next couple of days to lock in the deal, but I will probably have it a week from tomorrow. Woot! 2015 FJ-09 (Mary Kate) 2007 Daytona 675 (Tabitha, ret.) 1998 Vulcan 800 (Ret.) 2001 SV650S (Veronica, Ret.) 2000 Intruder 800 (Ret.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member hawkeye Posted March 24, 2015 Premium Member Share Posted March 24, 2015 Nice! Sounds like it was meant to be... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member jimf Posted March 25, 2015 Author Premium Member Share Posted March 25, 2015 The dealer is trying to locate me a red FJ before I come in next week to buy the bike. So, I might even get the fast color. Woot! Meanwhile, I got out on the Daytona for the first time this year -- literally the latest I've ever gone without riding by almost two months. The roads were generally good, but the parking garage somewhat less so: I decided not to pull all the way in like I usually do :-). There's a pretty large ice sheet covering much of the entrance to the covered areas of the garage but as of the other day it had melted enough to give an ice-free travel lane. I'll have to be more careful going home, I'm not sure if it will still be above freezing when I leave and there are often ice-flows across the access road. Riding to work I was looking at the various farkles I'd put on the Daytona over the years and realizing that I should probably put as much of it back to stock as I can. Some stuff, like the Helibars and frame sliders, won't get me anything from the dealer but I can surely sell them on eBay for a couple hundred bucks and a couple of things I can transfer right to the new bike. 2015 FJ-09 (Mary Kate) 2007 Daytona 675 (Tabitha, ret.) 1998 Vulcan 800 (Ret.) 2001 SV650S (Veronica, Ret.) 2000 Intruder 800 (Ret.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest eatpasta Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 dont worry man - you're among friends hell even with a baby, I still have four bikes. Go check out the "whats in your garage" thread over in the off topic section and update us on what else you're riding / playing with. welcome to the site!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member jimf Posted March 26, 2015 Author Premium Member Share Posted March 26, 2015 Dealer just sent me a note, they found me one of the fast red ones. With luck I'll be heading over to put a deposit on it tomorrow or Saturday. Woot! I just saw the "pre recall" notice. I will go insane if my bike ends up being part of that and I can't bring it home for days or weeks. 2015 FJ-09 (Mary Kate) 2007 Daytona 675 (Tabitha, ret.) 1998 Vulcan 800 (Ret.) 2001 SV650S (Veronica, Ret.) 2000 Intruder 800 (Ret.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member jimf Posted March 28, 2015 Author Premium Member Share Posted March 28, 2015 Got to the dealer today to leave a deposit for the bike. He knew I wanted some options and was going to go look them up. Me: "Here's a spreadsheet with the part numbers." :-) The dealer seemed pretty confident that I could have the bike on Tuesday, but I'm still worried about the recall interfering with that. And he's confident that he'll have the options in by the end of the week, too. I'm not, given the stories of backordered heated grips. If I just get the luggage and associated parts I'll be happy, everything else can come when it comes. My wife reminded me that we're supposed to spend next weekend at her parents' house in New York City. That is going to totally screw with my break-in plans.... I feel like a kid a couple of days before Christmas. 2015 FJ-09 (Mary Kate) 2007 Daytona 675 (Tabitha, ret.) 1998 Vulcan 800 (Ret.) 2001 SV650S (Veronica, Ret.) 2000 Intruder 800 (Ret.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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