Recent FJ activity

[Millietant]

Well, not all FJ activity......

About 10 days ago, a guy (Simon) where I live asked locally if anyone had a bike trailer or van he could borrow as he was going to pick up a bike he was thinking of buying.

It was a  2004 VFR 800 that hadn't been run since 2012/2013. The long and short of the story is that I loaned him my trailer and found out from him about the bike, and that he hadn't ridden for 18 years.

When he got the bike home, it was very dirty/dusty, with surface corrosion on the aluminium and some surface rust on the rear subframe and various nuts/bolts etc. He also then let me know he was a mechanical novice and was going to take the bike to a dealer to "re-commission" it.

Well, I couldn't let that happen, so armed with a Haynes Manual, my tools and a bit of guidance, he put on a new battery, drained his fuel system, changed the oil and filter, replaced the tyres, cleaned and bled the brakes and went through all of the basic service items listed in the Haynes manual. Luckily the bike had had a dealer service only 1000 miles before it was parked up, so all of the major things had been done beforehand. After a good scrub and polish, the bike was ready for its MOT test and it sailed through with no advisories or faults.

With the bike ready for a shakedown ride, I helped Simon get kitted out (he bought new helmet, boots and gloves and I donated some decent Fieldsheer leathers that I used when I "weighed a bit more" and we were set to go.

All of that set up a nice Sunday ride out, up to Rutland Water (again) over some of my favourite roads in this part of the country. We had a great ride out with a couple more friends, doing about 100 miles with a lunch stop at Rutland and lots of corners. Despite having aching wrists, Simon loved the ride, scrubbed in his Michelin Pilot Road 5 tyres nicely and I now have another companion (and new friend) for my FJ day-trips.