I just got my first. - My dog comes too! :D

[Flyarlee]

Hey all, I just got my first FJ and I'm excited! I got or in PA and now or lives in MD.  What do you think and what do I need to know?

Check out my pickup and review vid.

https://youtu.be/iTkn3Iawad0

[Pat Conlon]

Welcome, nice video, looks like you need one of these:

http://rpmracingca.com/proddetail.asp?prod=M%2FC%3A89-93L%2FSProtector
You will find that Robert and Randy at RPM will be very helpful with your FJ.

Looking at your video it looks like you still have the original rubber brake lines on your ABS.
Here's a solution: http://www.fjowners.com/index.php?topic=19083.0

Take a read through out Files section. With the '91-93 FJ's pay attention to servicing your front engine collars.
http://www.fjowners.com/index.php?topic=594.0

If you want to lose those silly stickers on your lower cowl, there are replica oem decals available:

You want the lower decals for the USA bikes

http://www.fjowners.com/index.php?action=gallery;sa=view;id=11339


Cheers

Pat

[Tuned forks]

Nice motorcycle trailer, cool dog.  Welcome to the forum.  I have one with the same colors as yours.

Joe

[Flyarlee]

Woa, Thanks for the welcome, nice comments and WEALTH of information!  You hit all the things I was looking at!

Welcome, nice video, looks like you need one of these:

http://rpmracingca.com/proddetail.asp?prod=M%2FC%3A89-93L%2FSProtector
You will find that Robert and Randy at RPM will be very helpful with your FJ.

Looking at your video it looks like you still have the original rubber brake lines on your ABS.
Here's a solution: http://www.fjowners.com/index.php?topic=19083.0

Take a read through out Files section. With the '91-93 FJ's pay attention to servicing your front engine collars.
http://www.fjowners.com/index.php?topic=594.0

If you want to lose those silly stickers on your lower cowl, there are replica oem decals available:

You want the lower decals for the USA bikes

http://www.fjowners.com/index.php?action=gallery;sa=view;id=11339


Cheers

Pat

[Flyarlee]

Nice motorcycle trailer, cool dog.  Welcome to the forum.  I have one with the same colors as yours.

Joe

Thank Joe, I really like the bike so far, Uber smooth power, very stable and comfy. I like my dog too lol!

[Bill_Rockoff]

Nice find!

Tires make a big difference, and so does tire pressure. I didn't see what was on there or how good their condition is, but if the tire pressure is <30 psi and/or the tires are center-worn and/or the tires are less than terrific, these bikes Will. Not. Turn. New sport-touring radials make a big difference, although finding something that fits the 16x3.5 rear wheel is getting harder. Tire pressure closer to 40 psi than 30 psi helps too.

Beyond that, it takes a bit of money and tinkering. I found that I *really* liked the way my '89 cornered after dropping the front end 1/2" or so down the fork tubes.

A lot of us here have done rear wheel swaps, installing a lighter 17" rear wheel from a GSXR or something like that. My YZF600R rear wheel is 17x5, so I generally stick with 170/60 rear tires, but a lot of the guys here have 17x5.5 wheels with 180/55-17 or 190/55-17 tires like all the current fast bikes have.

A lot of us have also raised the rear ride height, either with different shock linkage "dog bone" links or with an adjustable shock. Factory suspension is a bit soft front and rear, but there are aftermarket options with better spring rates and MUCH better damping, the kind of thing nobody even dreamed possible when they built these bikes. It may seem ridiculous to you to spend $1,000 on a rear shock/spring assembly and $400 on fork springs and cartridge-emulator damping valves for the forks, but it makes a huge difference. Everyone who has ridden both is certain that they could go faster on my FJ1200 than on my 998, on any track or road.

FJR / FZ1 (and early R1/R6) one-piece aluminum brake calipers bolt right onto your forks in place of the factory calipers, and usually the brake lever and master cylinder will also. The result is the kind of two-finger braking power that lets you raise the rear wheel under braking if the front tire is warm enough, and lets you modulate the braking effort. My original FJ hydraulics never felt good even when new, but the FJR stuff feels and works amazingly well.

Enjoy your new bike!

Bill
Atlanta
'89 FJ1200, not quite 120,000 miles

[Flyarlee]

Bill,
Thank you! It's medium agile IMHO, about what I'd expect for a 530 lb bike. I do enjoy the high speed stability. I checked and adjusted the tire pressure 41 and 40 psi respectively.

Tires were in good shape and good tread. I bet some tweaking will help too.

Tire video
https://flic.kr/p/2i845VB

[Tuned forks]

I will +1 what Bill wrote about the forks and shocks.  I road my 1990 on buggered front forks and a rear shock with a 1300# spring and then switched it all to RPM stuff.  What a difference!!  So much smoother and more confidence inspiring.  After you get used to your FJ's ride and suspension and then ride someone else's RPM equipped bike, you'll feel suspension envy.  Also as Bill stated, 16" rear tire selection is getting really poor.

Joe

[aviationfred]

Welcome to the forum, 

Looks like you found a very nice FJ that will give you years of enjoyment.





Fred

[Bill_Rockoff]

I'll check the video later, maybe the info I seek is on there (reading / posting is something I can do without waking anyone, but watching video content is a different thing entirely. If I click on a news headline and it opens a video of someone telling me stuff instead of opening an article to read, I close the browser window immediately. "I'm reading now, don't interrupt my reading by trying to talk at me."

But even brand new tires properly inflated won't help if the tires suck. People here have spoken well of the sportier shinko tires but I have tried a couple of FJs so-equipped and found them, er, not great. Same with the time I installed a pair of Dunlop 591 "sport elite" tires, and one time I used whatever replaces those (GT501? Something like that.) Even at ~590 lbs(*) I have gotten predictable linear cornering response out of good sport-touring radials, 120/70 on the front and 150 or 160 on the stock rear 16" wheel.

(*) The FJ, like us who ride them, got a bit heavier over the years.  530 lbs is what Yamaha claimed as "dry weight"  Without fuel or oil or a battery. The 1989 Cycle test found closer to 590 lbs with fuel, ready to ride, as a curb weight, for their '89. I thought I recall the final version, with larger fairing and larger frame elements to accommodate the rubber-mounted engine, as being just about 600 lbs with a full tank. not that that's so critical, other manufacturers have gotten the hayabusa and blackbird to be plenty agile at similar weight. But our motorcycles were developed while the Japanese had discovered "power" of the four-valve variety, which is why FJs start to pull hard just when an XS1100 is starting to run out of breath. (They were just learning liquid cooling, which is how newer bikes keep pulling hard just when an FJ starts to run out of breath.)  At the time,  they were only beginning to get around to "brakes" and were still a ways off from "handling" during the FJ's production. The shortcomings are partly geometry and partly springs and damping. I'm sure a true 530 lb curb weight would help, and there are some parts we can swap that would get us closer to that (exhaust is probably half of it by itself.) However, I have probably come close to adding that much weight myself since I first bought an FJ thirty years ago (1990 me in street clothes versus 2020 me trying to squeeze my middle-age ass into 10 lbs of 2005 Vanson riding gear, plus a tank bag full of rain gear and electronics, is probably another 50 lbs total) and I'm pretty sure the weight matters less than the geometry.

If we meet up at a rally, you are welcome to try my FJ (and if I trailer both bikes, you can try the 430-lb 998 as well) and see what you think.

[ribbert]

I found that I *really* liked the way my '89 cornered after dropping the front end 1/2" or so down the fork tubes.

A lot of us have also raised the rear ride height, either with different shock linkage "dog bone" links

All of Bill's suggestions and advice are excellent but the two points he makes above never seem to get the credit they deserve for the difference they make. I've got the flashy shocker, forks, wheels, tyres, brakes, hoses etc but it was finding the sweet spot on those two things that transformed the handling, the feel though the bars was perfect, I didn't even bother with expensive fork brace I'd just bought (although I don't think anyone else here shares that view).

I also have a bog standard FJ which rarely leaves the shed but when it does or when I ride someone else's bike, the first few corners until I get used to it are a bit hairy, it feels like it doesn't want to turn in, cornering is hard work by comparison and a line not as easy to keep sharp.

It's easy to forget in this forum wonderland of mods and Randy's lolly shop that a standard FJ even with only a half decent shocker is still a very rideable bike.

A good rider can ride around most of the FJ's shortcomings, the improvements just make it easier.

I have a modern bike with handling by God. It has wishbone suspension, electronic pre-load adj front and rear, on the fly electronic compression and rebound adj, 320 mm boosted Brembos, auto stability control, traction control, ABS, similar power and more torque than the FJ, same tyres, linked brakes, same weight, more clearance etc.  As you might expect with all that electronic wizardry and modern technology, it is a better handling bike than my FJ  - BUT NOT BY MUCH!!!

I have always maintained the FJ is not a good bike for it's age but a good bike even by modern standards (with a few mods done). The same could not be said of all the "classics" from the same era.

I've put over 220,000 km on mine in 11 years, every one of them out in the country, I don't commute. The list of components that are still original speaks well of the quality back in the day and a great mechanic to maintain it. I love it and finding a modern stable mate for it was not easy. As it is, I still do more miles on the FJ.

They are a truly great bike and every mod you do will only make it better.

Enjoy

Noel