Motorcycles. Passion or Obsession?

[I make oil]

Motorcycle.  Just the word makes the heart of a bike person beat a little faster.  Makes their mind drift away to thoughts of open roads, twisty black top or trails through the woods.  The smell of grass, dust and car exhaust.  The roar of the wind and exhaust.  To me motorcycles are a overwhelming mixture of all of these things.  The experience of riding appeals to all of my senses.  I never feel more ALIVE than when I am on a bike.  My wife says I'm obsessed.  Maybe I am but really I don't try to over analyze it I just try to enjoy it.  Every chance I get.

For me it started out watching my neighbors across the street ride around the yard on their Honda 50's.  I would watch, jealous, wishing.  Dreaming about the freedom those wheels could give me.



I have never owned one but I've always wanted one even still.

I worked all summer cutting grass, raking leaves, anything I could do to make money then one day I had enough.  And I bought my first MOTORCYCLE!!!!!  Not nearly as nice as this one but it was mine all mine.



And it was everything I hoped it would be and more soooo much more!  The freedom!  I could go anywhere I wanted!  A lifetime love was born.

Later in High School I graduated up to a well used Suzuki RM 125.



I rode this bike until I graduated and joined the Marine Corps.  My parents wouldn't let me own a street bike.  My Dad's brother died on one and I heard about it all my life.  I still hear about it.  My Uncle David has steered my life around bikes since the first time I sat on one.  Every time I find myself acting stupid or contemplating something stupid I hear my parents telling me about him and think of his son my cousin Richie growing up without his Dad and that gives me pause.

I always dreamed about owning street bikes.  I was never much interested in Harley's they just didn't interest me.  I think maybe a big part of it was the lifestyle so many Harley people portrayed.  A biker with long hair a beard and tattoos and my wallet on a chain just was not who I wanted to be.  I dreamed of sport bikes.  Eddie Lawson.  Laid out on the tank flying down the road.  Leaned over scraping my knee on the road.  Faster, FASTER!  I got all the magazines.  Read all the articles.  Could rattle off specs and models.  I had a sales brochure of a 1984 Yamaha FJ1100 over my bed.  Then when the 1986 model came out I knew THAT was the king of bikes and what I would own.  The local dealer had one on the floor.  I would look at it and drool.  Everyone told me it was to much bike for a kid.  I'd kill myself.  And I believed them.  Hell it probably would have.  But I could still dream.......

I grew up in South Louisiana and could not wait to get out.  I thought it was the worst place in the world and couldn't wait to leave the first chance I got.  The Marine Corps was my ticket.  I went off to boot camp in San Diego and then went to Camp Lejeune North Carolina.  As soon as I go to my first Duty station I went out and bought a street bike.



It was a 1984 Honda Nighthawk 700s.  No it wasn't a sport bike but it was what I could afford as a PFC with no credit and it got me on two wheels.  Looking back that was the perfect starter bike.  Easy maintanence and enough performance to get my blood flowing. I rode the bike for about 6 months then sold it to a friend and bought my first sport bike.



A 1986 Kawasaki Ninja 600.  I wanted the 900 but the dealer wouldn't sell it to me.  I rode this bike back and forth to Myrtle Beach dozens and dozens of times.  One time I rode from Jacksonville NC to my hometown in Louisiana a 17 hour drive by car in 14 hours on this bike.  I could barely stand up when I got home.  I waited until the last minute to leave and almost was AWOL because it took me almost 20 coming back.  Every hour or so I would have to stop to get the feeling back in my hands.  I guess my girlfriend at home was a better incentive than a 6 month Med float aboard ship.  LOL

When I got back from my float I traded the 600 in on this.



A 1988 Honda Hurricane 1000 which I promptly laid over and destroyed the fairings.  Ouch.  Another deployment this time to Okinawa and the Phillipines saw me sell it off.  I was bike less for a while due to deployments and Desert Storm.  When I came back from Iraq I bought this bike.



A 1990 Honda VFR 750.  At the time and probably even today it was the best all around bike made.  I had great experiences on that bike and it will always hold a special place for me.

Life, school, family and kids got in the way and the bike had to go.  I didn't own another bike untill 2004 when I bought my first Hardley.  


I wanted a bike and my wife insisted on one of these so I figure what the heck right.  How bad could it be?  At least I was on 2 wheels right?  Phish.  Turns out it was pretty bad.  I had straight pipes on it and the first time riding with me my wife melted a shoe on it.  The ride was crap and it vibrated like crazy.  She hated it and refused to ride.  I rode it for a few months and decided to try to build a custom.  I went for a Pro Street Soft tail.



Again I was very disappointed.  Looking back I went into the bike with the wrong mindset.  I was trying to make the bike something it wasn't.  But at the time.....  Anyways I sold the bike off and again went for a good while bike less.  Then she came into my life.



And everything was right again.  I got a 2004 R6 and found my passion again.  Only this time maybe I was older?  I finally started to "get it".  Riding bikes is about riding.  Just being on a bike.  I've since developed a taste for all things on two wheels.  I enjoy the art of the motorcycle.  I found a 250 Honda Rebel for a few hundred dollars.  It had been wrecked but still ran great.  I started putting it together with my son.





I don't have any finished pics of it.  I will have to get some.  I gave him the bike and he has started riding too.  He is fortunate in that he had someone to develop his interest in bikes.  He enjoys all forms of two wheel travel.  Building that bobber with him made me want one again too.  So I built this one for myself.



It's a shovel head on a hard tail chassis.  Beautiful bike and something I'm very proud to have.  It also is fun to ride.  

I am now in my 40's with a nice income and can afford basically any bike I want now.  I don't have to sell a bike to buy a bike.  One day while cruising Ebay I looked up FJ's and the old feelings I felt as a kid in highschool came flooding back.  I wanted one.  I found this site and eventually found the bike I have now.





And it's all I ever thought and more.  Is it as responsive as a modern bike?  No.  Is it the fastest thing on the street?  No.  But it speaks to me.  The torque the roll on power.  The riding position. It is everything I ever dreamed it would be.  I have a long list of modifications I want to do to it.  Not so much to make it a modern bike but to make it mine.  And to make it something I will enjoy for a long time.

So what's next?  I think about having a garage full of all the bikes I've ever really wanted but never owned.  Here is a list of  what I want someday.



The Kawasaki ZX-11 D.  This Motorcycle was the KING!  I still get giddy remembering the first time I ever rode one.  It seemed like there was no end to the acceleration!  I will own one.  



The Suzuki Hayabusa.  This bike toppled the King and changed the game.  I think to have these two bikes together would be pretty cool.  



The ZRX 1200.  A beautiful bike with the heart of the King.  Awesome bike and a blast to ride.



The TL1000R.  One of the sexiest and best sounding bikes ever.



The Honda RC51 a beautiful bike.

Other than the Hayabusa I don't think there is a single bike being sold today that interests me.  They all look the same.  I have trouble telling a Honda from a Suzuki from a Yamaha.

What is your story?  What bikes have you owned?  How have they shaped your riding history?  What do you want?  Why?  

[andyoutandabout]

Now this thread has real potential. Where are those old bike pictures taken with mum's poleroid?

[I make oil]

Nah some are mine scanned from old pics and others are from the web to fill in where I didn't have pics.

[Firehawk068]

Awesome post!!!!!!!!! Thank you for sharing

[fj11.5]

not just me that has a bike fetish then 

[yamaha fj rider]

That is the thing that makes motorcycling so different than anything else. It's personal and and yet there is a draw that brings us together. Here all or almost all have the FJ but we still like other bikes or appreciate different brands/models. Maybe they aren't the style we would want we can see beauty in them. A motorcycle is more than the sum of it's parts. Riding can't be explained it must be experienced. When you do most get it but some never will. It's this wonderful work of art that gives you that experience. When I am ridding life, time, the world is different. Driving a car or truck isn't like this. You sit in a car but a motorcycle it's like your part of it. Nothing else is like this atv, boat, snowmobile, watercraft, dune buggy, maybe a fighter plane like used in WW2 is close. I have heard some old pilots talk about the P51 they get it. Still not the same. It's something that starts when you are small and grows from there, It gets in your blood. I like all forms of motorcycling. They are different but all are good. Fj isn't my first bike and wont be the last but it will have a place in my garage for a long time. If I don't buy a second FJ then something more on the touring side but not like a goldwing. Maybe a BMW. Still in the wind.

Kurt

[I make oil]

That is what I was trying to get across.  The FJ is NOT a squid bike.  Never was.  It is more of a affcianoados bike.  A motorcycle for someone who loves motocycles.  What else would cause someone to put so much money, time and effort into riding, modifiying, reading about, talking about and thinking about a 20+ year old motor on 2 wheels?(And a wonderful one it is!)  I get why Harley guy's go on about the 1940 so and so or the classic bike guy's go on about the triumph/Norton/Ducati whatever.  They feel it in their soul.

Words fail me.  What I started this post for and shared my two wheeled history for is because I want to see what brought YOU here.  How did you end up on a FJ?  What bikes started you and formed the rider you are now?  What do you get out of riding and what do you ride now?  What other bikes do you own or would like to own?  I've seen tons of posts on how do you fix this, modify that or go there.  I'd like to read about why you do it and what got you here.  I've seen a few stories here and there on the site and have enjoyed them very much.

[tmkaos]

My riding history is not rich - but it's the world to me..

I started with rides around the paddock next door on the back of Dad's '85 Honda FT400

Then the rides as pillion on the roads when I was old enough.. I'll never forget dad buying me my first helmet. When i was 14 Dad started teaching me to ride it, and as soon as I could save all my paper-run money up, when I was 15 I bought a '87 Honda VT250FG, God was I proud of that bike. Dad wanted me to get a Suzuki GN250 but I dug in my heels, I wanted a bike that looked fast even on the side-stand, and damn me didn't it look good parked at school next to the scooters and push-bikes.


There was big gap after that, and then I needed cheap transport and along came another Honda, an '83 VT750S Sabre

She was a dog of a thing, but it awakened the rider in me again and i knew I'd never lose a 2-wheeled toy in the garage again. After the Honda's shortcomings got too much for me I saw a FJ for sale at a dealers, at a steal of a price, I did some research, which told me they are bullet proof, and the deal was done.. The rest is history and I've fallen bad for the FJ, it ticks all my boxes.
It keeps up with my sportsbikes mates, it takes me and the wife for weeknds away, and it gets me to work and back. It sounds great, it still looks good, I can ride for 4 hours straight no worries then get off take a piss and get straight back on while my mates are still trying tpo straighten their spines.

It does everything a bike should, and a lot that others can't. It's not the quickest nor the turniest, but by God when I twist my wrist in 5th gear and watch my mates fall away behind as they frantically drop cogs and the horizon approaches at something that feels like lightspeed, I know I'm home, and everything is right with the world.

Kookaloo!!!!

James

[The General]

It does everything a bike should, and a lot that others can't. It's not the quickest nor the turniest, but by God when I twist my wrist in 5th gear and watch my mates fall away behind as they frantically drop cogs and the horizon approaches at something that feels like lightspeed, I know I'm home, and everything is right with the world.

Kookaloo!!!!

James

JAMES!  You should jump the ditch next March and come to Bellingen. (you`d be great around the campfire and I`ve been looking for an excuse not to sell one of three FJ`s.) I`m down in the shed right now patting them. This is a great thread and a great excuse to start digitising some old pics- might take some months but i will eventually confirm FJ`s are indeed an obsession. Not sure about passion.........though I have sacrificed a fair bit of it for my obsession.      A few hours ago my darling wife of 40 years made the unromantic statement - "You`ve got 4 bikes and one arse WTF!!!". 
My reply was an impolite narrative about her arse that also needs to be accomodated occasionally ................................................................that`s why I`m in the shed!

[1tinindian]

Here is an older thread with alot of pictures of some of our members old bikes, including mine.
http://www.fjowners.com/index.php?topic=2761.msg22240#msg22240

Leon

[I make oil]

Great pics guy's.  tmkaos you must have played Rugby.  Your a big ole boy!  Thanks for linking the other post Leon. 

[tmkaos]

Great pics guy's.  tmkaos you must have played Rugby.  Your a big ole boy!  Thanks for linking the other post Leon. 

Unfortunately to play rugby it helps to be agile - and I am much like my FJ before it got new fork tubes and RT gold valve emulators and 1kg springs - unwilling to turn.  It was always more a case of like the big green guy,  "Hulk SMASH!" until they got enough guys on me 

I am 6"2' and 120kg so what does that work out to lbs? Anyway, in those pics on the VT remember it's only a small bike - I was 6"2' by then just didn't have quite as many kg's to my name.. Ahh, sweet youth...

Anyway the FJ is more my size although with myself, the missus and some gear onboard we're knocking on 470kg all up.. But that's what I love about the FJ, shovel some coal into the furnace, the torque kicks in and before you know it I can hear Fleur giggling away behind me when we slow down and that's when I know she's been having as much as me..

As an aside it wasn't til after I bought the bike we realised it was our initials, my wife's name is Fleur and I'm James.. FJ... Go figure, huh? 

Cime on guys lets see some more pics and stories.. This is a good thread!

Happy riding,

James

[Harvy]

Great stories!

My 2 wheel obsession started when a couple of mates and I used to build motorised push bikes fitted with lawnmower motors in my early teens. Then followed various pieces of junk for riding in the bush around home.
My first legal street bike was a Yamaha YDS5 in 1969. (see one here http://rd350.motormuizen.nl/inhoud/historie.php on this Dutch website). This was my transport for about a year while I was at boarding college. Got me from college to home and back to college every weekend and was a very reliable little 250 2-stroke with oil injection so you didn't have to use pre-mix.
I graduated to this:

Nothing I have ridden since could come near the handling that this thing was capable of BUT it VVVVVVIBRATED! and it only had a 6 volt electrical system.
In the bit over a year that I owned it I replaced I don't know how many headlight and tail light globes, a zenner diode in the charging system, 2 batteries (one of which split and splashed acid all over the rear of the bike), both registration plates cracked and fell off, and both rear shocks seized.
When it was going it was great to ride. I rode from Melbourne to Bathurst for the Easter races in I think 1971 and rode it around the Mt Panorama circuit - what a blast!

I finally gave up on the little Ducati when the rear shocks seized - it was getting too expensive to keep on the road.

I bought a car (BMC Mini Panel van with a 1275 Cooper S engine) and owned a lot of bikes intermittently over the next 10 odd years including:
BSA 441 Victor Special
BSA Rocket 3
Triumph Trident T140
Kawasaki GPZ1100
Norton ES2
AJS Model 30
Yamaha SR500

Then came marriage and kids and there were no bikes in the garage.

17 years passed, divorce and other shit happened and I decided it was time to ride again.

I had watched bikes increase in engine capacity and power over those years and in particular liked the look of the FJ when the police (they used FJ's for a few years in QLD) pulled me over for committing heinous crimes on the road. So 2005 came and my mum fell ill an passed away. She always wanted me to get another bike as she had really enjoyed pillioning with me all those years ago. Well she left me some money so it was time to get that FJ!

$5500 for a '91 with 24000 Kms on the clock was a pretty good deal back then.

Since then I've high-sided, repaired and re-painted.
Spent much more on mods and now just waiting for the engine to need a re-bore so I can spend a heap more on a big-bore.

In the mean time I ride every day too and from work, and most weekend. And when I do go on holidays I do long multi day trips too!

The FJ is the ideal bike for all my riding requirements. My mods include:
FZ1 front and rear ends
R1 gold spot callipers up front
R1 front brake master
YZF750 clutch master
Digital dashboard
Cut back fender and re-positioned rego plate
Mini rear indicators.
Custom luggage rack on the back
Tranzac FJ1100 exhaust headers
Micron exhaust can.
Spin-on oil filter adapter
Dyna 2000 ignition
Sargent seat.
UNI dual pods
re-jetted and replaced Emulsion tubes with FP items.
Eagle screen

Harvy

[yamaha fj rider]

Harvy great post. 

Kurt

[Mark Olson]

interesting topic,  I saw the fj in the dealers back in 85 but I bought the v-max.   

too many bikes in between to name them all .fifteen years later, The 86 fj is the one that I kept and should

have bought in the first place.