What we do

[FJ1100mjk]

I've been riding and owning for decades.

Started riding a Briggs & Stratton-powered mini-bike that I bought with my paper route earnings when I was 11 years old. Cut my teeth on mechanical repair with that little thing. Moved on to a 1967 Yamaha 80cc YG-1 (stamped steel frame, anybody remember those?), that was a money pit. Ditched the YG-1, and bought a real dirt bike, a 1974 Husqvarna WR175, and started racing motocross and hare scrambles. During my racing, I graduated to a Yamaha YZ 125, then moved up to the 250 class with a YZ 250. Raced for ten years and loved it. Had to get out of it because of "obligations" (marriage, mortgage, young father, etc., etc.).

In the early 80's, I bought my first street bike. A 1981 Kawasaki KZ550. Owned that for a year or two, sold it, and then bought a 1981 Kawasaki GPz1100. God, what a difference doubling displacement made! Swore that I'd never go back to anything smaller, but did. Sold the GPz, then there was another drought of bike ownership.

I bought a 1997 Honda VFR750F round 2002 with 1,600 miles on it. My first real sportbike. Put 28,000 more miles on it, before selling it a few years back, thinking that I was done with that kind of bike, and could rely upon my 2000 Honda Valkyrie Interstate that I had had for a few years already. Wrong!

I discovered FJ's by accident, never rode one until I got my first one running, then bought another, because they were both good deals, but non-running. I have learned a lot about them through toiling on them, and of course with the advice and knowledge of others on this website, for which I am grateful. Prior to buying the FJ's I bought another 1981 Kawasaki GPz1100 from the original owner. Re-living my youth? It was non-running too, and I spent a lot of time (and money) sorting it out, and getting it back on the road.

Besides the aforementioned paper carrier position, I worked at service stations as a teenager, then slaved as a laborer in a unionized chemical factory for around 14 years, before deciding that I needed an education (hindsight is always 20-20). Starting at ground zero at the local community college, and trasferred to a local university, where I earned my BSME and have been working various positions as a Mechanical Engineer/Mechanical Design Engineer for the last 16 years. Very interesting work along the way. Consulting in heavy industry, designing NASA manned-flight experiments, working on Navy and Army defense projects, and now working on an R&D project for a medical device manufacturer.

Never regret going back to school.

[jamesearthdrum]

            I've been with VDA Productions for 24 years. Started out in 1988 as a production carpenter am now Director of Operations and a Senior project manager. I get to travel to most of the major convention cities in the US. It's tough to explain what we do. Check out www.vdaproductions.com if you want. I started riding at age 43. People needed a reason to believe why I would want a motorcycle at that age so I went with it's a "middle age" thing. Bought a non-running R65 BMW off ebay in 2002. Found the FJ in 2006. It will probably be the last motorcycle I ever own. I commute to work as many days a year as I can. Have made it to December every year which is not bad for living in New England.

james

[CanDman]

Hey Bones.......great thread......maybe should have started it with this

INFORMATION SOCIETY - WHAT'S ON YOUR MIND

Anyway.....all jesting aside......

I love the outdoors....and working with my hands, so I found a career that allowed me to do both....Building houses. I started building them as a labourer back in september of 84. By June of 86, I decided I knew enough to start my own business....I was just shy of me 23rd B-day...and I have never looked back.
 My first bike ever was an 82 Seca Turbo I bought in 85 but after 4 years and too many close calls, I stopped riding. 10 years ago and just around the time I was turning 40, I moved into this place where I am now(photos on the Ont BBQ thread), so I decided it was time to rekindle some passions I used to have, including drumming and of course my baby....CanD. I bought an FJ since the Seca Turbo was considered to be the little brother on the bigger stronger FJ....plus being a proud Canadian, I loved the Red and White. I surffed the web and read atricle after articles of guys around the world who were modding the old girls and thats when I joined this site. Great members......unlimited resorces and smarts in here.....some very very inteligent minds in here........and everybody gets along well .... ...well most of the time   Characters of all sorts.......and likely the most array of colours of any rainbow right here on this site(people as well as bikes)
 Other hobbies for me include golfing,skiing both water and snow,hockey and my 300zx tt (my other disease  )......I love to travel and had in not been for the untimely passing of my wifes mother in January past, I would have been in Australia for the Rally. I do plan to do the circuit of Rallys....All of them.......hope to meet everyone in here.......wouldn't it  be cool to just spin cool to take a globe and spin it and stop it with your finger and then pull a date out of a hat and make that an International FJ Rally.......would be crazy. Ride safe and nice to have you on board .......

CanDman  



 

[JPaganel]

Jeez, with what you guys are posting makes me almost feel under educated.

I wouldn't worry about it. I dropped out of college and went to work in IT, I only got an associate's degree two years ago just so that my resume doesn't get round-filed if I have to look for a new job.

[Mike 86 in San Dimas]

Electrician, Caltech 35 years, van pool, occasionally FJ

[crzyjarmans]

Only had the FJ for a couple of months, But have been riding all my life, I'm a truck driver by trade, but at this moment I'm wrenching on cars with a friend to keep then bills paid until another driving job comes up,I've done the over the road thing, and don't want to go back if I can help it, Local driving jobs are scarce here in Lost Wages, NV

[bcguide]

Ok i'll go next
First bike while in high school a yamha dt 100 followed by a dt 175. After my 2nd winter logging i bought 84 honda 750 shadow had a love hate thing with it. It was to hard on my back traded it for a 1968 amx. After I sold the shadow the new owner lent it to a friend who used it for a get away vehicle in a bank robbery. Next bike a yamaha 650 maxim while been a bum on Vancouver Island. The 85 750 fazer I bought while working as a power enginer in a hospital in victoria sold it  to buy a fj1100 first flat tire at 66,666 while the wife and I were touring  with the fj inMexico. pulled the motor from the fj to fix 2nd gear and to a top end OH Bought the fazer back and moved back north to run a guide outiftting camp with my father. Lost my dad ran the area for 6 more years, worked all summer  and with kids I had no time to ride. Sold out in 06 and got a honda ns400r for summer fun found a street bike did'nt sort the area that I live in so I got a 525 KTM exc.
I now work winters in the oilpatch and fix my house in the summer





Spent a few days in New Zealand


I put up any Kiwi who brings me some Hokey Pokey ice cream, aw hell if any of you find yourself in my neighborhood you can find a couch to sleep on.

[Mark Olson]

wow what a thread.

myself , I currently own and operate a heating and air conditioning , refrigeration company.
Teach it at nights at a local tech school in Sacramento ca.
started as a gas pump jockey,
then a auto mechanic,
then a automotive engine machinist/builder
then a hvac tech
then some process serving on weekends (not as glamorous as tv)
then started my own hvacr bizz in 2008
started teaching on the side in 2010, great way to find quality employees.

high school education with tech school , no time for college .
married for 29 years come this august.
have been riding motorcycles for 40 yrs.
the list would be endless for the bikes I have owned so I won't boar you with it.

The 86 fj1200 I now ride is the result of a test ride of "you break it ,you buy it".
well I broke it , so I bought it.  (blown fork seals had something to do with the high side crash)
I have now had the fj since 2004 and became afflicted with moditis at the 2006 west coast rally.

so that's the short version , see me at the wcr for exciting details of valor and conquest.

[JPaganel]

Retired from the U.S. Air Force in 2009 after 22 years of service.
- C-141 Crew Chief
- C-17 Crew Chief / Flying Crew Chief (favorite job EVER)
- C-17 Maintenance Instructor

Something just occurred to me.

Say, Lots, you didn't by any chance have an Astro van and hang out at Astro/Safari forums a few years ago? Your nick combined with AF service seem familiar...

[winddancer]

As for me this is my first motorcycle and I just started riding 2 years ago I have since put about 12000 miles on it. I know it is a big bike to start out on but it is a great bike I fell in love with it the first time I rode it and it was in my price range. as for what i do right now I am the Parts manager for a electric forklift company for the last 3 years was a service tech for 8 years same company worked on gas turbines in the navy for 4 years and odd jobs here and there before this job 12 years ago. i know i have missed the WCR the last 2 years but it is hard  because of work and my wife mom battle with cancer so I pick up the slack. i am hoping for next year i might beable to got for a day this year but not sure yet. sorry for the ramble

[SkyFive]

When I was 3...no wait...when I turned 10....when I graduated high school jobs were scarce, very scarce and no it wasn't 1929. There just happened to be a new car dealership opening in my hometown and since I was steeped in automotive experience they hired me as a porter. Now this job didn't pay much but money isn't everything. I once saw a woman walk from her bathroom to her bedroom butt naked as I sat on her sofa waiting for her to get ready so she could go pick up her car. That was priceless to 18 year old. I was later promoted to automotive service consultant and after several moves I ended up at a Cadillac dealership making five figures, hooraahh. Then in 2001 I got bored, the wife says mid life crisis and we cashed out the 401k, sold the house, my beloved LongEz project and Corvette. We moved to central Florida and I went thru a airline training program or two. This allowed me to earn all my certifications and tow aerial advertising in Myrtle Beach for a couple of seasons making a very modest $10.00 every hour that the prop was turning. I also ferried airplanes coast to coast in the off season and I parlayed that into a cargo job. As a cargo pilot I enjoyed all the benefits thereof such as flying a $2M airplane with weather radar, staying in $30. a night motels with mold and cockroaches for weeks on end. I was able to go home to visit the wife every three months or so and it was on one of those trips that I had an epiphany; be carefull what you wish for. I decided to reinvent myself (several times), I became a industrial maintenance technician, a machinist, a courier and a underground utility locator. (my resume looks like a train wreck) During this period of psychological uncertainty, I would work on different projects as a means of transcendental meditation. I restored a John Deere riding mower, a pontoon boat and a 1984 FJ1100. I also set up three violins, a electric guitar and built a radio control helicopter. The Fj1100 is my third motorcycle, my first was a 1974 Kawasaki KZ250 and my second was a 1979 Yamaha 750 Special. I think what made the 750 "Special" was the imbalance of the three cylinders and the resulting oil leak. I traded a perfectly good 1972 Olds 442 W30 (all original, 455HO) for it so you can imagine the the pain I felt when the damn camshaft chain jumped and bent several valves. I sold it for $200.

[56 CHEVY]

I started working in a machine shop when I was 17 and 33 years later, I am still in machining. I moved through several different shops over the years gaining experience on all types of cnc equipment. Now I run the shop I work in now as a designer and cnc programmer. I also recently purchased a company that builds headers and exhaust systems for Porsche 911s and 914s which I work out of my shop at home.
My first bike was a 1984 Honda 750 Interceptor. I really liked that bike and I had it for several years before I sold it. Bought my 86 FJ in 96 and have had it ever since. I do still have my 1st car from high school, a 1956 Chevy convertible which is currently under restoration.

[Thmsdoyle]

I started into the working world as a machine repairman in large foundry. Took night classes to get my mechanical engineering degree. Worked my way up the corporate ladder into the world of meetings all day as a manager then into plant superintendent. Got burned out so quit went back to school and I am now a cardiac registered nurse. I worked in open heart surgery for 4 years, and now work on a step down unit for cardiac surgery patients. Really enjoy what I do.
I have rode bikes since I was 14, raced motocross until my head hit a rather large rock that ended my racing career. I didn't ride for 3 to 4 years, then bought my first road bike which was a Honda custom cb750. Rode that bike for 17 years then bought a 98 Harley FLHTC which I still ride. I rode a buddy's Fj in 1988 in which it made a great impression on me. So when able to trade some rebuilt Dana 44 axels for a jeep collecting dust in the garage for my 84 FJ I jumped on it. Only had about $100 in the axels and a few days of my labor. So the price was right. It was a solid foundation bike to restore and to help preserve a little bike history.

[Lotsokids]

Say, Lots, you didn't by any chance have an Astro van and hang out at Astro/Safari forums a few years ago? Your nick combined with AF service seem familiar...

YES!!! The 350-powered Astro. That's me - same name also. Good to meet you [again]. That's kind of bizarre.
http://v8astro.homestead.com/

[rktmanfj]

Say, Lots, you didn't by any chance have an Astro van and hang out at Astro/Safari forums a few years ago? Your nick combined with AF service seem familiar...

YES!!! The 350-powered Astro. That's me - same name also. Good to meet you [again]. That's kind of bizarre.
http://v8astro.homestead.com/

Interesting... I've had a couple of Astros, and always wondered if it could be done.