This is not really a "modification", but I wasn't sure where to put it so I'm posting here.
When the 84 first came out, one of the things (as well as the rest of the bike) that got my "lust" going was the chin fairing. It was a relatively new thing on bikes back then and the FJ had one. Proper thing for the top of the line, $6000 bike in those times. But it was small (only as wide as the frame rails) and the proportions fit the bike perfectly (IMHO).
As the years went on and the FJ moved from "top of the heap hyper-bike" to sport tourer, the chin fairing started to grow. More protection for the rider, better aerodynamics and (if you believe the ad material) increased engine cooling.
I don't particularly mind the one on my 89 and it's in good shape (other than a crack or two on the bottom from someone bitting something) but it's always looked rather "big" to me.
With the FJ on the lift table and various modifications going on lately, I've had the chin fairing off for a fair bit of time now.
And honestly, I'm starting to really dig how it looks without one at all:
(http://fjowners.com/gallery/11/4839_20_03_19_2_25_30.jpeg)
It gives the whole bike more of a race-y "forward lean" feel. It looks more early/mid 80's to me being able to see the frame, engine and header pipes.
The upper fairing looks a little bigger without the larger chin fairing down there, but the whole bike just seems to have a lighter/leaner and more "sporting" look to it.
The lower fairing has always been a bit of a "signature piece" of the FJ's, but I'm really digging the look without.
Thoughts? Issues? Potential problems?
An FJ requires a chin fairing, IMHO.
(https://i.imgur.com/o1hsQcg.jpg)
GW, I know what you mean. Having been a young man in the eighties, I saw many bikes that did not have chin fairings much less front plastic at all. However, I'm with Rick here. The FJ should have it's bodywork to maintain it's identity.
Joe
I've never run mine with a chin fairing.
I've never run a chin fairing on my 85, but that was just because I simply didnt have one. I grew to love the bike, without the fairing, because that's what it was to me. However, buying a new 84 later this week, it has the chin fairing, and I fully intend to keep it, because its a part of that bike. I really like the look, both with and without. IMO, you're correct, and it is a much sportier look without.
Personally I am with your first statement. loved it when it first came out and a big part of why I loved and and love it.
Quote from: ryanschoebel on March 20, 2019, 05:07:15 PM
I've never run a chin fairing on my 85, but that was just because I simply didnt have one. I grew to love the bike, without the fairing, because that's what it was to me. However, buying a new 84 later this week, it has the chin fairing, and I fully intend to keep it, because its a part of that bike. I really like the look, both with and without. IMO, you're correct, and it is a much sportier look without.
Please tell us you got that creampuff in Torrance...
Quote from: ZOA NOM on March 20, 2019, 05:29:14 PM
Quote from: ryanschoebel on March 20, 2019, 05:07:15 PM
I've never run a chin fairing on my 85, but that was just because I simply didnt have one. I grew to love the bike, without the fairing, because that's what it was to me. However, buying a new 84 later this week, it has the chin fairing, and I fully intend to keep it, because its a part of that bike. I really like the look, both with and without. IMO, you're correct, and it is a much sportier look without.
Please tell us you got that creampuff in Torrance...
You're damn right I did Rick
Quote from: ryanschoebel on March 20, 2019, 06:00:47 PM
Quote from: ZOA NOM on March 20, 2019, 05:29:14 PM
Quote from: ryanschoebel on March 20, 2019, 05:07:15 PM
I've never run a chin fairing on my 85, but that was just because I simply didnt have one. I grew to love the bike, without the fairing, because that's what it was to me. However, buying a new 84 later this week, it has the chin fairing, and I fully intend to keep it, because its a part of that bike. I really like the look, both with and without. IMO, you're correct, and it is a much sportier look without.
Please tell us you got that creampuff in Torrance...
You're damn right I did Rick
I swear to God I was gonna take up a collection to make sure you got that thing. Can't wait to see it!
I ran my '89 3CV for a couple of years without the chin fairing and thought it looked much "sportier" - but, when I put it back on, I must admit I thought it made the bike look more of a "whole" than a collection of parts, as it looked without it.
Love the upper fairing, love the chin fairing.
Absolutely HATE HATE HATE the aftermarket center fairing! It covers up that beautiful motor.
Way too much plastic. Looks like a Hurricane
(https://opimedia.azureedge.net/-/media/images/mcc/editorial/articles/magazine-articles/2017/03-01/1984-yamaha-fj1400/yamaha-3-jpg.jpg)
She just looks "right" with a chin fairing.
(https://opimedia.azureedge.net/-/media/images/mcc/editorial/articles/magazine-articles/2017/03-01/1984-yamaha-fj1400/yamaha-1-jpg.jpg)
Yep... Im with the chin on... its what makes the FJ an FJ... very cool... :biggrin:
Although a full fairing would be great... but I think it hides all the good bits... (popcorn)
Some nice FJ porn there.... more please... :crazy:
Eric
I think you should go with your first thought and convert it back to the best looking FJ built, '84/'85 paint and fairings. Keep the better looking 1200 tank
and paint the rest red and white or silver and white. By far the best looking FJ's produced. :bomb:
Regards, Pete.
Quote from: Pat Conlon on March 20, 2019, 08:03:18 PM
(https://opimedia.azureedge.net/-/media/images/mcc/editorial/articles/magazine-articles/2017/03-01/1984-yamaha-fj1400/yamaha-3-jpg.jpg)
She just looks "right" with a chin fairing.
(https://opimedia.azureedge.net/-/media/images/mcc/editorial/articles/magazine-articles/2017/03-01/1984-yamaha-fj1400/yamaha-1-jpg.jpg)
Definitely the best colour scheme and only looks "right" with the chin fairing in place. :yes:
IMO... definitely with the chin cowling. I really liked the look of the over sized FJ1100 Lockhart Phillips lower cowling that I used on my 89. Unfortunately you can not use the Renntec crash bars.
Fred
Gah.... very sexy!!!
The bikes Fred.... the bikes... :sarcastic:
The Japs have got a pretty good eye "most of the time" and have designed some great looking cars and bikes over the years. I reckon they did a great job on the look of the FJ, it's got a style of its own and every time I walk away I can't help but take a second glance at it and to me they just don't look complete without a chin fairing.
Guess I'm too much of a throwback to the late 70's - early 80's superbike look where it's sans extraneous bodywork and lots of mechanical bits in full view, because I'm still digging the sans chin fairing look........
I prefer the chin fairing look and my FJ's all have it. I also don't like the full fairing look covering up that great looking motor. I have had a chin fairing for decades but it has changed color from black to grey and doesn't look as good as it used to.
Dave
Quote from: TexasDave on March 21, 2019, 12:54:06 PM
I prefer the chin fairing look and my FJ's all have it. I also don't like the full fairing look covering up that great looking motor. I have had a chin fairing for decades but it has changed color from black to grey and doesn't look as good as it used to.
Dave
Yah Dave my chin fairing is turning grey too.
Well, what we're talking about here is personal preferences. With personal preferences, no one is right.....and no one is wrong.
I'm digging the FJ without it's lower fairing right now. I might have a different feeling on it if it were the earlier, smaller fairing. But the 89 is just plain ol' BIG and that spoils the look for me. I've never been able to put my finger on it until I pulled it off to do some work on the bike. It just looks kind of "frumpy" with that big bulbous plastic thing wrapping around the frame and up the sides. Not that it's a horrible look, it just seems a bit "out of place" to me.
I think the FJ looks pretty good with a chin fairing (earlier models) but I also think they look good without:
(http://fjowners.com/gallery/11/4839_21_03_19_5_31_02_9.jpeg)
(http://fjowners.com/gallery/11/4839_21_03_19_5_31_01_2.jpeg)
(http://fjowners.com/gallery/11/4839_21_03_19_5_33_59.jpeg)
It definitely changes the "flavor", but that's not a bad thing either.
You can think they look cool, or you can think they look like they're missing something. Both are OK, because both are simply personal opinions on what YOU like.
Personally, I'm digging them and all black is beginning to look pretty jammy to me as well:
(http://fjowners.com/gallery/11/4839_21_03_19_5_31_02_7.jpeg)
(http://fjowners.com/gallery/11/4839_21_03_19_5_31_02_6.jpeg)
And.....I know that technically this isn't black, but I'm also starting to groove on a black and gold paint scheme without the chin fairing:
(http://fjowners.com/gallery/11/4839_21_03_19_5_31_02_8.jpeg)
:good2:
Black and white is also running around in my brain. A PO had bolted a rack to the original tail fairing, making holes in it and causing it to crack in several places:
(http://fjowners.com/gallery/11/4839_21_03_19_5_58_05_0.jpeg)
I swapped it out for a good one, but it was primed black:
(http://fjowners.com/gallery/11/4839_21_03_19_5_58_05_1.jpeg)
Sitting there looking at the black tail and the white side panels got my brain going on some type of variation on an original FJ paint scheme in black and white. That's still "percolating" though..... :biggrin:
Clearly incomplete. All of them.
I want the all yellow one with speed blocks and megaphone muffler. That's the one Yamaha should have built. Chin fairing or not.
Dave
Quote from: ZOA NOM on March 21, 2019, 06:41:17 PM
Clearly incomplete. All of them.
your opinion.... :hi:
Well, it's actually a fact. They are incomplete.
ChINny CHIN CHIN -- fairing -- all the way -- It doesn't look complete without it. and the motor must be seen so no of this aftermarket fairing stuff --- the fins must be seen ---
full fairing are for the liquid cooled motors that really have nothing to look at --- FJ motor different story
I have spoken...................
Quote from: ZOA NOM on March 21, 2019, 08:33:59 PM
Well, it's actually a fact. They are incomplete.
I restate: your opinion.
;)
Turned out a hot thread.
What luck I have to own a red and white with a chin and a black and beige without.
I've no intention of removing the one that is on the red and white and equally no intention of adding one to the black and beige unless it appeared for free, which I suppose nudges me into the 'with chin' camp.
Thanks Yamaha designers for making it an easy affair to add or remove, thereby giving us owners the all important illusion of choice. Maybe I'll run a chin during the week and take it off for the weekends.
I rode honda cb 750's from the mid seventies until the early eighties when I paused riding street bikes to raise a family.I started riding my cb's again in 2006 when my youngest turned 18.In 2016 I decided to look for something more modern and powerful and found my first 84 fj1100.It was light years ahead of my cb's.It had a full fairing and was painted all black with a corbin seat I hadnt ever seen an fj before and was impressed by how modern it looked.I also saw how unsuitable (ugly) the frame was for a naked bike they require a fairing to look good.I agree the chin fairing enhances the look of the bike but I don't see much practical use for it the full fairing on the other hand does a great job of deflecting air around me (not the head area though)and for all year round riders it directs a nice stream of warm air across me during cold to moderate temperature riding.I like the modern look of my bike few guess that it is thirty five years old,most are about twenty years off.When I want to ride something nostalgic and naked with lots of chrome and a kickstarter I ride my cb-750.The fj does have a nice looking motor but not much chrome to show off.Obviously I am in the minority.
Quote from: great white on March 21, 2019, 10:08:48 PM
Quote from: ZOA NOM on March 21, 2019, 08:33:59 PM
Well, it's actually a fact. They are incomplete.
I restate: your opinion.
;)
For clarity - As pictured, they lack all the parts with which they were designed and manufactured, therefore they are, by definition, incomplete. In YOUR opinion, they are desirable in their incomplete form.
Quote from: ZOA NOM on March 22, 2019, 09:38:25 AM
Quote from: great white on March 21, 2019, 10:08:48 PM
Quote from: ZOA NOM on March 21, 2019, 08:33:59 PM
Well, it's actually a fact. They are incomplete.
I restate: your opinion.
;)
For clarity - As pictured, they lack all the parts with which they were designed and manufactured, therefore they are, by definition, incomplete. In YOUR opinion, they are desirable in their incomplete form.
Oh I did understand what you meant, but it depends on how far back you want to go.
The designs originally did not have a chin fairing when Yamaha conceived it. I've got them in a magazine somewhere in my massive wall of 80's bike magazines somewhere. They're probably on the internet somewhere these days, seems like everything is on the internet these days....
As the design evolved, they tried variations on a theme (at one point they had a seca turbo style lower fairing in the drawing) until they settled on a design and went to production.
So in the design, the chin fairing became an ADDITION to the original design concept.
Now, as manufactured? Sure. No argument there. when I drooled over the first 84 FJ1100 to hit the showroom floor, it was manufactured with the chin fairing.
You can debate back and forth where you want to put the time stamp for "designed", but that's just where argument lives and I've got no interest in that.
Like most things in life, it's always a matter of OPINION as to where "truth" lays and it's almost always somewhere in the middle.
If you can't accept that, that's fine. We can leave it as "We agree to disagree" and go on about our respective business.
:hi:
This definitely became a little bit hot button haha. Chin fairing or no, I think it doesn't really matter,because it only matters that you run what you like, on your bike. Think it looks nifty without the chin GW? Cool, run it without. Think it MUST be there, Rick? Cool, run it with. Everybody only has to ride their bike at the end of the day.
Quote from: ryanschoebel on March 22, 2019, 11:28:52 AM
This definitely became a little bit hot button haha. Chin fairing or no, I think it doesn't really matter,because it only matters that you run what you like, on your bike. Think it looks nifty without the chin GW? Cool, run it without. Think it MUST be there, Rick? Cool, run it with. Everybody only has to ride their bike at the end of the day.
Not a hot button for me at all. If it came across that way, that was not my intent.
:good2:
I had it explained to me that the chin fairing design was originally a function of an oil sump, used to capture leaking oil, required by certain racing organizations. For track safety in the event of engine failure, they required a oil sump equal in volume to the crankcase oil volume.
Doc Hacker talks about it here on his FJ Racer web site: http://fjracer.moonfruit.com/ (http://fjracer.moonfruit.com/)
A FJ without a chin fairing looks just like any other UJM 70's-80's sport bike. Yawn
No worries, I like my race car without all the parts that came with it too. :hi:
Id say there's no right answer. I've run both on and off for different reasons and different looks.
That is one sexy bike Bob!! :hi:
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/5w_gGaa9viUgHZ4jBt8CfJ5bmNRPbTdjq0DusNicTY1EwDlqCozuQ-bSBGZPrnwTwo7d4VDYGAPqTmRS8UUkofMtzioOO79-Fx6yShNkdyx5LNWX0jpZzLY1OnP-ft3YwIWK6MQIr52Hn_-wQ9I0Vq3n_MxI3FW7BtuBEJO1IhaWgYko11XBCV27Az2OHtfQN_sCRjOpEAn24iJSnABAI2W_FRUWS1k7YnobFvVQyS-UFgWMSRo1TRGmvr3Hcae-Gyijh4aLL5Sbv8CJ2I7WLM0q3xtCwylsfjg82GUEo8y-tMQgtzk25F8uESKi7COEhXF8skMcFpJqxO6WkLm0gQ_A4WatBfIZCarmgqfsKp394JC0v7nxAkYf8j9mljsxTXP-QBxG_VgFAiQ9pzoGQyTKmq1AibrnsfJM1GViGVPMYGUSb9bJi1Ga2azu9Ig_TO0YFYxP0k53Nyyi5D9mUcIKmmOd8lk9SLs0Y6a6Sw3tZJJYoBSc3CaDLqCY-aHAijLBzLhFAJK2cCgqImrBCehBOMEfQzAguObGJ30XAv84q7HpUVvb5wmi9qzdOMzaRIyU6MxvSLjT6osiu0kVv0a9f0Rar2avxzczs2tsAuUze0JKu-KDlx_zDBj6xrdsTuUD3vx3RrcLXw4993LAcUUY1_AFftg=w1090-h613-no)
I think my 86 ambulance needs a chin fairing.....bikini??? :blush:
Jake..