Rode it....Bike ride 4-21-14

[Yamifj1200]

  Hey folks,  I took advantage of a day off to put some miles on my bike. I took off heading east from Richmond via rt.5 to Jamestown Va. It felt great to be back on the bike and it ran perfectly all day. I stopped for a break at Sherwood Plantation for a bit and took this pic.

  I decided to take the Colonial Parkway to Yorktown Va.

 Then then I rode back to James town and took the ferry across. the James river to Surry Va. and headed back to Richmond via rt.10.I guess it was a little over 180 miles total, with little traffic, great weather and no problems. I had a great day and the old bike still amazes me for how smooth it is.  I will need a few more decent rides to get ready for my ride down to Boone next month. I'm looking forward to them..

Eric M

[Harvy]

Eric, good to be back in the saddle eh! The bike still looks as good as ever too.
Cheers mate
Harvy

[roverfj1200]

I hear ya......

[Yamifj1200]

Harvy,
I tell you, Harvy, this machine continues to impress me. I liked the bike in stock form, but as you know a few well designed mods can improve these older machines so much. I don't know how many more trouble free miles are in this bike but I plan on enjoying each and every one of them. I know Lee has over 200,000 miles on his so I have something to shoot for anyway...

Eric M

[Derek Young]

The FJ is looking good Eric. In your second picture it looks like your dogbones have a bunch of holes in them to match the brake arm. Are those aluminium dogbones?

Derek

[Yamifj1200]

Derek, my dog bones are made out of 1/4'' 316 stainless, flat bar and yes they are drilled to imitate the holes in the brake stay.


Eric M

[Derek Young]

They match up quite nicely.  How did you address the different width of the dogbones mounting point on the swingarm?

Derek

[jscgdunn]

Hi Eric,
Really nice FJ!

What shock are you running?

Thanks,

Jeff

[Yamifj1200]

They match up quite nicely.  How did you address the different width of the dogbones mounting point on the swingarm?

Derek

Derek,
I just used longer bolts and made spacers to offset the difference between the two parts. I feel as long as everything stays parallel the suspension works as designed. The mod was made several years ago and I have not had a problem since.

Eric M

[Yamifj1200]

"What shock are you running?"


I am running a Penske sport shock;.. BTW its some of the best money I have ever invested into this bike.

Eric M

[jscgdunn]

Thanks Eric,

The dogbones look a bit longer than stock...how long is the shock, eye to eye?

Thx,

Jeff

[Yamifj1200]

Jeff, I really don't know what the distance is from eye to eye. I bought the shock for my stock 91 FJ and was able to use it with the swing arm swap. The dog bones are actually shorter than the stock ones IIRC.

Eric M

[jscgdunn]

Ok thanks,

Jeff

[Derek Young]

Thanks Eric. I'm almost done my fz1 swingarm swap. Just a few little details to wrap up.

Derek

[Yamifj1200]

Thanks Eric. I'm almost done my fz1 swingarm swap. Just a few little details to wrap up.

Derek

Good deal, I look forward to your impressions. Let me know if there are any problems. Have you figured out the stock rear brake light switch will not work with the FZ1 swing arm in place???

  Eric M