Warhorse Has A New Home

[CutterBill]

Some of you may have seen in the Bikes For Sale forum where I bought Jon Fife's bike.  I hired a bike moving company to get it from Seattle to my house in SoCal, and it showed up yesterday morning, right on schedule.  Having bought this bike sight-unseen, I was astonished at how good this bike looks.  Something like 65K miles, and it looks like I rolled it off the showroom floor.  It's amazing.

I didn't have time to do anything more than stuff it in the garage and then head to work.  But last night I shuffled a few bikes around in the garage and made some proper room in there.  I was sitting on it, just admiring the new toy and thought, well why not... Turned the key, gave it a second to let the pump build pressure, pulled about half-choke, then hit the button.  It fired up immediately and fell into a steady idle. Another 10 seconds, then very gently gave it a touch of gas. The engine responded with no hesitation at all.  Pushed in a bit of choke, still steady, pushed again... pure awesomeness.  Shut it off and smiled.  Yeah, this is gonna work.

Actually, it's worse than that.  Talking to Jon, it turned out that he also had a matching parts bike.  He said it was rough but it was all there. And a box of spare parts.  $600?  Yeah, load it on the trailer.    So I bought TWO FJ's.  This now brings my total FJ count to 5; do I win?   

See you guys in Ouray...
Bill

[CutterBill]

Wanted to take it around the block today, just a quick spin.  And it's raining.  Just my luck...   

Just off the trailer... parts bike in the foreground, Warhorse in back.

[Pat Conlon]

Good for you Bill! I'm glad Jon's bike stayed in the family. I know you will take good care of her.

Have you ever spent time on a rubber mount '91-'93 gen 4? If not, you are in for a treat.
Smoothest of all FJ's, hands down.

[CutterBill]

Pat, I haven't ridden ANY FJ for about 18 years. And that was my 85 Ambulance which at the time, I thought was pretty smooth.  So this will be a whole 'nother thing.  I know that just sitting on it is a lot different than my Suzuki V-Strom.

[racerrad8]

I was sitting on it, just admiring the new toy and thought, well why not... Turned the key, gave it a second to let the pump build pressure, pulled about half-choke, then hit the button.  It fired up immediately and fell into a steady idle. Another 10 seconds, then very gently gave it a touch of gas. The engine responded with no hesitation at all.  Pushed in a bit of choke, still steady, pushed again... pure awesomeness. 

Bill

You just gotta love those RPM built & supplied carbies.

Randy - RPM

[CutterBill]

Yep!  Jon told me all about how you did the set-up on those carbs.   

Thanks Randy...

[Mattman]

Hi Bill,
I was thinking of getting Jons bike but got the 92 ABS one from Boulder creek instead. I knew Jons bike is the best deal around but Wanted the Ca. Bike and close to me in no. Ca. This bike is a very good 19 K low mi. bike and runs pretty good. Ill need to go thru the carbs and then she should be perfect.  Do you have a lower fairing with all the xtra parts you have?

Matt

Some of you may have seen in the Bikes For Sale forum where I bought Jon Fife's bike.  I hired a bike moving company to get it from Seattle to my house in SoCal, and it showed up yesterday morning, right on schedule.  Having bought this bike sight-unseen, I was astonished at how good this bike looks.  Something like 65K miles, and it looks like I rolled it off the showroom floor.  It's amazing.

I didn't have time to do anything more than stuff it in the garage and then head to work.  But last night I shuffled a few bikes around in the garage and made some proper room in there.  I was sitting on it, just admiring the new toy and thought, well why not... Turned the key, gave it a second to let the pump build pressure, pulled about half-choke, then hit the button.  It fired up immediately and fell into a steady idle. Another 10 seconds, then very gently gave it a touch of gas. The engine responded with no hesitation at all.  Pushed in a bit of choke, still steady, pushed again... pure awesomeness.  Shut it off and smiled.  Yeah, this is gonna work.

Actually, it's worse than that.  Talking to Jon, it turned out that he also had a matching parts bike.  He said it was rough but it was all there. And a box of spare parts.  $600?  Yeah, load it on the trailer.    So I bought TWO FJ's.  This now brings my total FJ count to 5; do I win?   

See you guys in Ouray...
Bill

[CutterBill]

Sorry Matt, but right now my plan is to rebuild the parts FJ into a running bike.  So... no parts for sale.
Bill

[CutterBill]

After several days of cold and rain, today was sunny and warm.  I texted a friend to tell her that I was headed her way, to show her the new bike.  Got my gear on, walked into the garage and fired up Warhorse. From 20 years ago on my FJ1100, I remembered how cold-blooded these beasts are, and just took it easy... settling in, feeling out a new bike, unfamiliar, everything felt so very different than my VStrom 650.  At walking speeds, the 650 is light and nimble; standing on the pegs, I can maneuver it like a trials bike.  But the FJ felt heavy, sluggish... slow.  A few turns later and I headed down a very long straight and boring road towards my friend's house.  Bike ran perfectly, of course.

After visiting with Sheri for a few minutes, I headed back home down the same road.  It was New Year's Day and I guess everybody else was either hung over or watching a ball game.  The road was empty.  The engine was fully warmed up.  I pulled up to a stop sign, looked both ways and eased across the intersection.  But once I had it rolling, I twisted the throttle hard... 2nd gear, 3rd, 4th, 5th... wherethehell is 6th... as fast as I could shift.  I rolled off at an indicated 105mph and held it there.  She felt like she could run at that speed all day, wasn't even breathing hard.  Just effortlessly floating over the road.  Then, just to see how much she had to give, I pinned the throttle.  She instantly jumped to 120 and was still accelerating when I rolled off back down to 105. 

The road ahead made a sweeping bend.  I kept my speed up and arced thru the turn like the bike was on rails.  Ok, I get it now... THIS is what the FJ was made for, not parking lots.  Kookaloo, indeed. 

Damn, this is gonna be fun...
Bill

[Mattman]

ok have fun! Looks like a fun project.

Matt

Sorry Matt, but right now my plan is to rebuild the parts FJ into a running bike.  So... no parts for sale.
Bill

[ribbert]

The road ahead made a sweeping bend.  I kept my speed up and arced thru the turn like the bike was on rails.  Ok, I get it now... THIS is what the FJ was made for, not parking lots.  Kookaloo, indeed. 

Damn, this is gonna be fun...
Bill

Yep, it sure is.  FJ's can easily be made more nimble and are a lot of fun in the twisties but linked high speed sweepers always puts a smile on my face. 80, 90, 100mph corners one after the other, the FJ loves it.
Sounds like you have its measure, have fun Bill.

Noel

[Dads_FJ]

I was sitting on it, just admiring the new toy and thought, well why not... Turned the key, gave it a second to let the pump build pressure, pulled about half-choke, then hit the button.  It fired up immediately and fell into a steady idle. Another 10 seconds, then very gently gave it a touch of gas. The engine responded with no hesitation at all.  Pushed in a bit of choke, still steady, pushed again... pure awesomeness. 

Bill

You just gotta love those RPM built & supplied carbies.

Randy - RPM

Randy, is there a flat rate or "typical" rate for your carb service? 

[racerrad8]

I was sitting on it, just admiring the new toy and thought, well why not... Turned the key, gave it a second to let the pump build pressure, pulled about half-choke, then hit the button.  It fired up immediately and fell into a steady idle. Another 10 seconds, then very gently gave it a touch of gas. The engine responded with no hesitation at all.  Pushed in a bit of choke, still steady, pushed again... pure awesomeness. 

Bill

You just gotta love those RPM built & supplied carbies.

Randy - RPM

Randy, is there a flat rate or "typical" rate for your carb service? 

$166 For dis-assembly, inspection, cleaning, and replacement of all the o-rings minus the throttle shaft o-ring. If any parts are necessary they are additional.

Robert

[Dads_FJ]

I was sitting on it, just admiring the new toy and thought, well why not... Turned the key, gave it a second to let the pump build pressure, pulled about half-choke, then hit the button.  It fired up immediately and fell into a steady idle. Another 10 seconds, then very gently gave it a touch of gas. The engine responded with no hesitation at all.  Pushed in a bit of choke, still steady, pushed again... pure awesomeness. 

Bill

You just gotta love those RPM built & supplied carbies.

Randy - RPM

Randy, is there a flat rate or "typical" rate for your carb service? 

$166 For dis-assembly, inspection, cleaning, and replacement of all the o-rings minus the throttle shaft o-ring. If any parts are necessary they are additional.

Robert

Thank you Robert

[racerrad8]

Yep!  Jon told me all about how you did the set-up on those carbs.   

Thanks Randy...

Bill,

One thing not to forget now that the bike is in Cali...

If you are going to store the bike for more than a couple of weeks without running it, it needs to have fuel treatment added to the tank.

Or, you can do as Pat does, go to a speed shop and buy race gas that does not have any methanol and put that in the tank and run it through the carbs.

Randy - RPM