New Old Rider gets an FJ! Woo Hoo!

[Jakester]

Hello FJ owners,

My name is Jake and I am tha happy new owner of a 1990 FJ1200 (pics will follow after I get it back from the shop).  I was a full-time rider in my youth, having owned four different Suzukis over a fifteen year period.  Recently got bit by the riding bug again and always wanted an FJ so I got one.  I live and work in SE Washington state.

I have a tire question that I'll post in General Discussion.

Looking forward to chatting with y'all.

Jakester 

[jscgdunn]

Welcome Jake....can't wait for the tire question....you'll see

[Jakester]

Hmmm...better get a bucket of popcorn, eh?

[aviationfred]

Welcome to the group Jake. Questions are good...... Tire questions are ok  ...... Oil questions, not so much. 


Fred

[movenon]

Welcome Jake ! We are getting enough NW riders to start some kind of ride.. I also have 1990. Glad you got the bug again. I don't think it ever go's away for some of us. I tried for 10 years, but here I am also... You say it's at the shop, whats the problem ?  You will find lots of help and information here. Don't be shy....
George

[jscgdunn]

Welcome Jake ! We are getting enough NW riders to start some kind of ride.. I also have 1990. Glad you got the bug again. I don't think it ever go's away for some of us. I tried for 10 years, but here I am also... You say it's at the shop, whats the problem ?  You will find lots of help and information here. Don't be shy....
George

Hey George,
We are just further north but still west...how about Idaho,Washington, Montana, Oregon?, BC, Alberta....meet somewhere in the middle?

Jeff

[movenon]

I am fine with that  . Be a good mid to later summer run. darn, we need some heat !...  I am tired of the cool weather. Anyhow open to all suggestions.
George

[big r]

Yep, we need a n/w rally . I think It would great.We could meet in the Okanagon, say around Kelowna. I live about 2and half hours from there. Lets start thginking about it men. Big R

[Jakester]

Gents, thanks for the warm welcome.

Nice to know there are some other FJ owners in the Pacific NW.  A rally would be cool!  Kelowna is about 6 hours for me but it's mighty pretty up there and it would be a fun ride.  I'm with George, we need summer to get here, temps hit 19 degrees F (-7 for our Canadian riders) here on Monday night.  Brrrr!

[racerman_27410]

Welcome to the group Jake,

Good to have you here with us!


KOokaloo!


Frank

[Jakester]

You say it's at the shop, whats the problem ?  You will find lots of help and information here. Don't be shy....
George

George, here is the answer to your question.  Sorry it's a bit long-winded.

I found this bike on Craigslist at a dealer in Tacoma WA, remember I'm in the Tri-Cities area in SE WA.  I called them and talked at length with a saleman named Kevin.  I bought the bike over the phone because it was $1K less than any other FJ I had found and I didn't want to lose the opportunity.  When I went to get it I discovered Kevin had misrepresented the condition of the bike.  Not horribly but I realized I had a few things that needed attention before it is road worthy to drive the 242 miles home.  Tires are checked and worn, brakes too with the rear disc well grooved.  Riding it from Tacoma to a friend's in Mukilteo, ~63 miles, it burned almost a half tank of gas, so the carbs needed attention too.  The original plan was to store it with my friend until the temps warm up, especially over the mountain passes, plus I had no one to drive my car back home.  Needless to say, I will not be recommending Redline Powersports to anyone I like.

My buddy has a connection to a factory trained mechanic that previously worked at Aurora Suzuki for 15 years before opening his own shop.  He's just getting started and is charging about half what the other shops do so I left it with him to bring up to snuff for the ride home.  When it's done I'll take Greyhound over and get it.

OK, so it's off the Motorcycle Hall of Shame for me for my impulse buy.  In my weak self defense it looked good in the photos and I could afford to plunk down the cash on this one.  All other issues are minor cosmetic ones that are fairly common for 20 year-old bike.

Ther are those that would ask why buy a 20 year-old bike over a gaggle of newer ones (OK, no one here).  I just can't stand the stying of most of the bikes produced after 2002 or so.  Plus the FJ's were a dream bike for me when I was tooling around on my Suzuki GS750E back in the late 80's and early nineties.  Now I own one and after that ride from Tacoma to Mukilteo, and with the issues known, and with the temps in the mid 40's I had really big smile on my face in the end.

And thanks, Frank!

[crzyjarmans]

welcome, Glad you made here, And I'll agree there is plenty of great help here, on the oil question?, I made that mistake not to long ago, I think the "oil war" is still going ,but winding down, I just recently purchased my first FJ1200 about a month ago, here a pic

mine had a couple of issues but nothing major, Loss fuel line, Horn nor working (dirty connection), And needed tires, On the plus side, I found the bike on Craiglist also. but for $500., hope the cost wont dig into your pockets to much, Shawn

[fj johnnie]

  Nice bike Shawn!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[movenon]

Sounds good Frank. Any bike 20 years old probably needs a little TLC. Sounds like your stuff is minor. Most dealers can't relate to the FJ, it is off there "radar" / before there time / mechanic's not trained or any experience working on them. This is where this site really shines. It will enable you to do most of the work yourself or be put in contact with someone that knows what they are doing.

I am very familiar with Mukilteo, I use to fly out of Whidbey Island. Beautiful country up there.
Except for the tires all the other issues mentioned are not a show stopper's for riding it home then look into fixing or replacing items. Lots of variables with the fuel economy issue.

FJ make lots of power via lots of fuel  . The accuracy of the gauge ? Yes the carb's might need to be rebuilt, not just cleaned. The emulsion tubes in the carbs could be worn. But if it were me I would get it home as is (with  new tires) and go though it myself. I think most FJ riders usually stop at 150 - 200 miles for fuel.
They are a fun ride and bit of a classic. Check out the "Files" section. I think there is a down loadable service manual there which is a good start plus lots of other information. In the "Yamaha FJ1100 / FJ1200 Running Problems" section up at the top there is "Trouble shooting FAQ" with an excellent how to on rebuilding your carbs.

There is a rally in Petaluma the last of May. Check out the rally section and the video's. Keep us informed and ask questions. Also feel free to PM me. 
George

[baldy3853]

  welcome aboard Jakester great place to be lots of really good info here tyre questions mmmmm oil no way, people get their knickers in a twist over them  so long as it has some its good  just kidding 
If you get a chance get to the WCR it was a blast last and was my 1st rally in the US of A and will be back this year, I was lucky enough to have Randy pick it up and check it over for me before I arrive if you need any thing at all for your bike buy it here  http://www.RPMRacingCA.com

baldy