Welcome Brian,
Great intro and welcome. First and foremost thank you for your service. I am glad that you are giving her another chance to let her service you again, you will find this forum to be very informative and friendly. I have received so much advice over the past 2 years on my '85. Please post some pics when the old girl is presentable
Hello all, just joined this forum yesterday, I'm almost 40, I live near Omaha, NE and I am a recovering FJ addict... that just fell off the wagon.
I'm a long time FJ owner, I bought my first, and current '87 FJ in 1990 when I was 16 years old. It was my dream machine, I sweated it out on the farm for 2 years at $3.25/hr to save the $3,350 it took to buy it from an Army Sargent that was headed over-seas to desert storm. The bike had 5,000 miles on it at the time, and I rode the hell out of it but Barney Fife took my licence before I was 17! I think I signed 7 tickets in 6 months. Looking back, no 16 year old in a small town should have a bike like that, but I'm lucky I did. The FJ was my only means of transportation until I was 18 and went overseas with the Air Force myself. My Dad kept careful watch of her until I came back from my tour in Japan and Saudi Arabia. When I got back, I took the bike on a 2 week, 8,000 mile "find myself" trip and stopped in Utah. There I met my wife, had kids and picked up the responsibilities of college, a family and a job. I stopped riding it completely in about 2002, but I kept the bike. It had about 54k miles on the clock by then. As I've grown, I lugged that damn FJ around with me, never riding it, but never parting with it. She has been stored in a garage her entire life.
During the time that I was actively riding it, I put every penny I had into the thing. I put a Wiseco 1mm over piston kit in it, larger stainless valves, heavy valve springs, back cut & magna-fluxed the transmission, Barnett spring clutch, Vance & Hines Exhaust, installed stage 3 jets & filters. The plastic and paint are cracked and brittle now. A thick layer of dust was protected her paint until this morning.
Lately, I have been thinking of selling her, not for the money but for the space in my garage. I still ride, but mostly offroad with my 12 yr old son. I was planning to post a craiglist ad this weekend but... this morning, when I woke up I felt a since of sorrowful regret, that I had been neglecting her, and hadn't given her a chance to serve me again. Laying there in bed, thinking about motorcycles, I remembered that no other bike struck me as profoundly as the FJ did. So I got up and went to youtube to see if I could remember what it was all about. Right off, I found this:
. Watching this video, I realized had forgotten how pretty the red and white FJs really are. This video re-ignited my excitement about the old girl. Watching it, I could smell the exhaust on full choke as I first start it up, I could feel the vibration through the bars as she revved and I even squeezed my mental clutch when it was time to shift gears. I needed to give her a chance, but I'd need more information about where to find parts etc.
I used to participate heavily on the
yamahafj@netpath.net mailing list
http://fj1200archives.com/ back in the late 90s. It doesn't hold a candle to the information on this forum, but hey, it was all we had! I kept digging. I found this forum and the rpmracingca.com site. What amazing resources. So, I went outside with a pad and paper and started writing down every defect I could find on the bike. I counted 51 things that needed to be replaced or repaired. None too serious, much of it was cracked & scratched plastic, some of it was wear related, but nothing serious. I built a shopping list, then scoured bike bandit parts fiche, amazon, ebay, and the rpmracingca.com site, I figure it's about a $1200 job to make her mechanically and cosmetically sound again.
So, I think I'll start a project to get her running again. It just wouldn't be right let such an old member of our family go to the junkyard.
I thought you guys might like some vintage photos of my early days with the FJ.
This is me right after I bough the bike, going to high school in the morning. Notice the football jersey, oh to be 16 again! (1990)
Here is me working on the bike in our shop after I lost my license. I took the down time to strip it bare, paint the frame and engine. (1990)
Installing and balancing some new new Metzler tires. I think they were ME1F. I loved those things! (1991)
A trip to Brainard, MN superbike races while in high school (1991)
This is a photo from my 8,000 mile trip to the NW coast after the military (1995)
I was always working on the darn thing. This was in Port Angeles, WA. I was getting water out of the ignition coils this time (1995)
A trip the Glacier National Park (1998)
This is in 2002, about the last time I had her out on the road
I'm not going to post a picture of her today. I'd be embarrassed. Well guys, see you around!
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