FJ at Motorcycle Live UK Bike Show

[Millietant]

For my first proper day out since surgery, I went to the National Exhibition Centre yesterday to visit the Motorcycle Live show and to see my FJ displayed.

After the little incident while the bike was being trailered, a new mirror was put on and the scrapes cleaned up, but left unrepaired. Fortunately they're not really that noticeable.

The Show itself was great, but the highlight for me was that the FJ was a big hit with Show-goers, having an almost constant stream of viewers and I spent a good couple of hours there talking about the bike, it's history and its modifications.

What a great boost for my recovery 

[fj1289]

Very nice!  It displays well!

[Pat Conlon]

Wonderful Dean, a beautiful display! Well done!
 I'll bet a few folks commented something along the lines of... "I remember those FJ's, my ___________ had one, they were great bikes"....or, "I had one of these FJ's, I wish I never sold it..."

Heal well amigo.

Pat

[Millietant]

Thanks guys and............... absolutely spot on Pat 

[fj1289]

When I first got my FJ (in 2000) it was always "I used to have one ..." then at some point it turned into "my dad used to have one ..." 

[giantkiller]

Your bike looks great. I had a guy come up to me at a gas station. And say "fj1350r must be the new model. I have last years fjr1300." It does have inverted gixxer 1000 forks. So it throws people off.

[Millietant]

Yeah Dan, I think you're right-on with the upgrades.

The 3CV model styling in particular does seem timeless, add in some more modern bits and it could easily pass as a relatively new model.

Most of the responses and questions at the Show from non-owners were based around "is it really 35 years old? It can't be!"

[giantkiller]

The best compliment I ever got. Was when I put it in the "rocker box" bike show. And a guy was looking at my bike and saying really loud. "I don't understand why people go buy a new bike off the showroom floor. And put it in the show!" 
Made my whole day.
Heal well and fast my friend.

[Millietant]

Well, it looks like the old girl was popular all the way through to the end of the show !!

A bit of feedback from 3 guys from the Midands who were there on the final day, day 9.  

[Millietant]

Error removed

[81Delorean]

Millietant, newbie here but was wondering if you had a page somewhere talking about your bike and everything you've done to it? Just curious. Good looking bike. I've got an '89, same color that I just picked up a couple weeks ago.

[Millietant]

Millietant, newbie here but was wondering if you had a page somewhere talking about your bike and everything you've done to it? Just curious. Good looking bike. I've got an '89, same color that I just picked up a couple weeks ago.

I don't have a page on the bike myself, but it's been featured in a couple of articles/magazines where most of the modifications I've made are highlighted/described.

The first one was in Practical Sportsbikes Magazine in 2020 and I've tried to attached the pages of the article here, but failed at the moment (will keep trying) and it was featured in the FJ Journal. The most recent one was the Forever Bikes feature by Bikesure, which you can get to using this link

https://www.bikesure.co.uk/forever-bikes/yamaha-fj1200/

There were little bits that weren't mentioned in the features that I can describe in more detail if you need it (like the LED headlight and other bulbs, the shorter rear suspension dog-bones, the anti-buzz foam washers on the instruments/bodywork etc) and I can provide full details of all of the other modifications if required, but the headline details are in both articles (the mirrors were done after the 2020 article).

Just let me know if you need anything.

[Millietant]

Sorted it,

I've often told people that my main aim with the bike is to bring it up to date, but keep it looking like it's stock. I wanted it to be what Yamaha could have bult, just using parts from newer Yamaha models.

The other thing is that every modification is totally reversible, with basically no work (just unbolt the new and bolt back the old). Each modification has been done without sacrificing the original FJ parts - if at any point I wanted to take the bike back to bone stock, I could do so in a few hours (not that I ever will  ).









This is the magazine cover (Dec 2020 edition)

[81Delorean]

Thanks for the info, can't wait to check it out. I've started replacing the washers on the body work with rubbers ones just to help with the vibrations. I have a really annoying vibration coming from the instrument panel but haven't had it off yet to figure it out.

[Millietant]

The most annoying buzz I had was when the anti vibration weights in the mirror came loose - that's why I ended up with the 2001-2005 FZ1 mirrors - the extra benefit was the better visibility and less helmet turbulence