New guy from San Diego - 85 FJ1100

[fadingfastsd]

Hey guys,
I'm Evan. I live in San Diego, and have a pretty serious motorcycle addiction. I run RaceTech Electric (www.racetechelectric.com) out of Ocean Beach here in SD. We manufacturer high quality & high power motorcycle/powersports stators, voltage regulators, and other electronic components.  I'm a degreed electrical engineer and used to run the R&D department for Electrosport Industries. I aim to make the best stators & regs in business!  I've been in the industry for awhile, done alot of consulting work for Baja Designs, designed most of their latest dual sport kits among other things.  Ok enough about me...

I sold off my last bike at the start of the year to get my business off the ground, and have been going nuts without a street bike. I've had a couple 80's sportbikes (mainly oil-cooled GSX-R's), and always had a soft spot for 80's Yamahas. My last one was a FZ750, which I absolutely loved. I recently came up on a great deal on an 85 FJ1100 in excellent condition. Bought it from the second owner, and it's been well maintained. Absolutely flawless paint, tank, plastics, and many aftermarket parts. Full SuperTrapp exhaust, stainless brake lines, K&N filters, Stage 3 jet kit, probably more I'm forgetting.  About 30k on the clock. Runs perfectly, and it's a beast!

The guy I bought it from gave me a lot of spares, my favorite being a beautiful set of Tarozzi rearsets. I just swapped them on tonight after bringing the bike home, and I love it even more.
After my first spin on it this afternoon, I think I'll be hanging on to this thing for awhile. It handles well, has an absolutely insane amount of power (in a very friendly and useable powerband, which is my favorite part), and is very comfortable. I'm planning a week long road trip, camping and cruising, in January, and I think this thing is perfect for it.

Here's a couple pics:





Evan

[racerman_27410]

nice find! 

Welcome to the group!


KOokaloo!

[Harvy]

Evan.....welcome here.
Plenty of good info here for you to digest.
Your electronics will be a useful addition to the group!

Looks like you have or have had a clutch slave leak on the FJ - give away being the lack of paint on the oil filter housing. Keep an eye on that.

Cheers
Harvy

[tmkaos]

The guy I bought it from gave me a lot of spares, my favorite being a beautiful set of Tarozzi rearsets. I just swapped them on tonight after bringing the bike home, and I love it even more.

Welcome Evan,

Nice looking bike mate... 

I was wondering if you could post a pic of the rearsets when you get a chance, I have what another member reckons is a Tarozzi set (he's more than likely right) on my FJ and just wanted to find out for sure...  Cheers mate..

Happy riding,

James

[FJmonkey]

Welcome, sounds like you need to attend the West Coast FJ Rally in 2012. I might get lost in an ocean of Red & Whites with my 86'.

[Pat Conlon]

Welcome Evan! Kudos for a very nice find.
Before the upcoming summer West Coast Rally, we will get together for a ride thru Mt Laguna, Julian and down to Borrego....
Also..Check out some of our mods. Some light(er) weight dancing shoes with good soles will help the old girl around the dance floor.
You undoubtedly will join our select pool of experts we have here on the FJ forum.
Hey gang...Now we have a EE to guide us....cool.
For example: Intermittently our oem voltage regulators go wacky and overcharges our batteries (>15v) Boils them dry. We install the Transpo regulators to get around the issue. Check out our Files Section.

Cheers and again welcome!   Pat

[terryk]

Welcome, I have an 87 and live in North County. Ride out to Palomar and the Borreggo all the time. Most Saturdays in fact.

[fadingfastsd]

Thanks for the welcome guys! I'll be glad to help out with electrical stuff, just ask.
Not trying to advertise here, but I'll offer 15% discount on parts to forum members.
(I don't currently have anything for the FJ's, but can develop if necessary). We have tons of fitments for other bikes.

Pat - what is the transpo regulator you mentioned?

What are common electrical issues with these bikes? Mine's in great shape, original harnesses and connectors are solid.
It charges strong, and has a new Yuasa battery in it, so I don't forsee any electrical issues soon.
Although, the gas gauge is pretty unreliable. Needle bounces all over the place, and the backing of the gauge cluster is cracked around the fuel gauge needle.
Is this a common spot to break?

Also, I'll go take some pics of the Tarozzi rearsets and post them soon.
I put them on last night, and I like them much more than the OEM parts.
They up and back roughly 2" each from the stock pegs I think. I can take pics of them side by side if anybody wants to see.

I went for a long ride last night, and the clutch slowly went out. After sitting overnight I had no pressure in the clutch lever whatsoever.
No leak though anywhere.  I went through the bike today and flushed ALL the fluid. Clutch, front & rear brakes had chocolate milk in them haha.
Must have been really old.  Flushed and bled all three, and the clutch is dialed in and brakes are firm. 
I'm really stoked on this bike. It's comfortable as hell, and has power for days. I think I'm gonna like this one

Evan

[fadingfastsd]

Tarozzi rearsets:













Any other angles?

[fadingfastsd]

more pics of the bike:

[tmkaos]

Cool thanks for the rear set pics - they are similiar to what I have but not the same.. The mystery deepens..

[SlowOldGuy]

Don't be too surprised if your clutch problems show back up.  Sounds (and looks) like your slave cylinder needs a rebuild.  Very common and easily fixed up with new seals (Randy/RPM has the seal kit).

Bike looks in excellent shape.  If you're going to do serious mileage on it consider a Corbin seat and start planning to upgrade the front wheel to the later model 17 inch.

DavidR.

[fadingfastsd]

Clutch problems showed up already! After bleeding the clutch system yesterday and getting all the junk out of it, it felt great on the ride home. However, I noticed brown sludge dripping all over the left fairing above the air intake.
A short investigation when I got home showed the rubber seal around the piston is shot and leaking. There was my problem!  Talking to Randy, gonna get new master/slave rebuild kits on the way.  I want to keep riding in the meantime, so a rag tied around the master cylinder should suffice for now.

I would love a Corbin seat for this bike. I was also wondering, is there any aftermarket rear seat cowls for this bike? Just to cover the rear half of the seat, make it look a little sportier?

[rktmanfj]

I would love a Corbin seat for this bike. I was also wondering, is there any aftermarket rear seat cowls for this bike? Just to cover the rear half of the seat, make it look a little sportier?

You could get a Corbin Gunfighter instead of the Gunfighter and Lady... it has a seat cowl shape to it.

http://www.corbin.com/yamaha/8493fj.shtml

[Travis398]

(I don't currently have anything for the FJ's, but can develop if necessary).
Evan

It's necessary