What makes the 1984 FJ1100 so special/desirable?

[indyblue]

I've owned mine for almost 15 years now.  Love riding it and runs perfect, but realized that I don't really know much about it other than how to work on it and ride/enjoy it.

Other than some minor road rash on right scoop it's in near mint condition.  44K mi on it now.
Just put the new tires on it since I've owned it.  The decade old Dunlop Sport Elites just weren't safe of fun anymore but as we FJ'rs know finding good 16" rubber is harder these days.  I opted for a set of Pirelli's.   WOW what a difference new tires make, it's a whole new bike and I replaced the cush dampers with new oem rubber inserts, drive and driven sprockets and o-ring chain.  No more clunky shifts, much smoother now.

My question is what makes the early FJs so special other than it's fine lines and bulletproof engine?  I get so many high-fives and positive comments on it, like they know something about it that I don't even from younger folks.  Other than the paint job, it looks like a million other mass produced Japanese bikes then and now.

[T Legg]

I think we are in the minority on this forum but I love the 1100's .  I parked my street bikes (CB 750's) in 83 before the fj's came out . When my youngest son turned 18 and wanted to graduate from dirt bikes to street bikes he bought an old V 65 sabre for his first street bike and I started riding my CB's again. His bike had a lot of power but handled like crap. He had difficulty keeping up with me because of that. After a year or two of riding it despite the poor handling he became competitive with the old cb but used his massive power advantage in the straights to do it. I worried he would kill himself pushing that bike so hard so I began looking for a real sport bike for him to buy to allow him to safely express his need for speed. I found an 84 fj1100 for a thousand bucks. I didn't know much about them at the time. When we went to see it I fell in love with it but he told me it was too old he wanted something newer. I couldn't pass it up so I bought it for myself. It wasnt running so I bought it for myself. I didn't know at the time it wasn't stock. It had RS-36 flatslide carbs and a Penske shock amongst other modifications. After fixing a problem with the carburetors I got it running and we went out for a ride out on the freeway he opened up his mighty V-65 and I rolled on my throttle and blew his doors off . That finally convinced him it was time for him to get a new bike .
  The 1100's were the lightest and in my opinion the best handling(many disagree there is any difference in handling between fj's). As you have stated they are sleeker and more sporty looking. I now also have an fj1200 but I have received many more positive comments on the 1100's I have than the 1200. Younger riders are always amazed when they find out how old the bikes are and love the styling. My son ended up buying a zzr1200 . He did not want his dad's motorcycle leaving him in the dust.

[T Legg]

Pictures of my first black fj1100. I only have one picture on this phone and a picture of my yellow fj1100.

[Urx]

The speedblock paint is a nice look
How practical do you find the fairing lowers on th pe black one?

[Motofun]

The FJ1100's were the original sportbikes in the FJ line.  In '86 Yamaha started to migrate the FJ's towards being more touring oriented until they were eventually officially sport-tourers.  Sorry but you can't have a true sport bike with rubber mounted engines....Truth be told, the FJ's were late to the party regarding being true, track oriented, sport bikes.  The GSXR's of the time quickly showed the way forward in this regard.
No matter what, the FJ line up hit the sweet spot as far as being easy to maintain, street friendly, touring friendly yet still fast as hell when kookaloo was demanded.

[T Legg]

The speedblock paint is a nice look
How practical do you find the fairing lowers on th pe black one?

       The full bottom fairing doesn't make much difference in handling or high speed performance but it does keep some of the wind pressure and rain off of your legs . If you do cold weather riding it directs a decent amount of warmed air across your body but can be a little much in very hot weather at low speeds. You have to pay a little more attention when coming to a stop to clear your feet. Its easily removed but must be to do clutch work or to change your oil.
       I was surprised when I got my 86 fj1200 that the upper body wind protection from the bigger upper fairing was not as good as that from the fj1100 fairings.

[Urx]

Thanks for the info :-)
I think one colour matched to my midnight blue and gold 3cv would look really nice
Ah so many things to tweak and so little time

[Waiex191]

The FJ1100's were the original sportbikes in the FJ line.  In '86 Yamaha started to migrate the FJ's towards being more touring oriented until they were eventually officially sport-tourers. 

Are the earlier 1100s any sportier than my '89?  It's still chain drive and a solid mounted engine.  I like the look of the old red and white 1100s.

[Pat Conlon]

The FJ1100's were the original sportbikes in the FJ line.  In '86 Yamaha started to migrate the FJ's towards being more touring oriented until they were eventually officially sport-tourers. 

Are the earlier 1100s any sportier than my '89?  It's still chain drive and a solid mounted engine.  I like the look of the old red and white 1100s.

No...Not really....both are 550 lb motorcycles with excellent mid range roll on power (aka Kookaloo zone)

The difference was in '82 when Yamaha designed the FJ1100 for introduction in '84, they mistakenly thought the FJ would be the competitive track bike...oops, not gonna happen, about 100lbs too heavy....so Yamaha quickly countered in '85 with the 5 valve FZ750 which proved to be a much more formidable track bike followed by the FZR in 1987.
That said, the early FJ's did make a good showing in the endurance races (Suzuka, etc) Japan's big 4 heavily invested in during the eighties. Shame the races were discontinued, they really improved the breed.

By 1989 Yamaha had no delusions of the FJ1200 ever being a race bike so an advertising pivot to sport touring was made.

[Waiex191]

I have the original brochures and the magazine ads that were running back in '89.  They were definitely pitching it as a sport touring bike. The FZR1000 was the boy racer bike. 

[Millietant]

That said, the early FJ's did make a good showing in the endurance races (Suzuka, etc) Japan's big 4 heavily invested in during the eighties. Shame the races were discontinued, they really improved the breed.

Endurance racing is still going strong on this side of the pond Pat - and Suzuka is still a big event for the 4 Japanese factories. A couple of pals (one an ex National 600cc champion) regularly race in 4 and 6hr endurance races here in the UK and the French still run major events throughout the year.

I recall the 6hr and 12hr Endurance races in the USA in the mid 70's - 80's being really great events, with RD 400's racing against 4 stroke 750's (and occasionally winning outright) and then the GPz 550's coming in and stirring things up. I seem to remember even the GS 450 claimed a couple of Endurance Race class wins.......Great days !!!!

[Motofun]

Endurance racing is making a come back in the USA.  N2/WERA is sponsoring a 5 race series that is attracting a full field of competitors including Danillo Petrucci, Josh Hayes and many others.  It's not quite the spectacle that it once was but the recent race at Pittsburgh drew quite a big crowd of spectators.