FJR Buying advice - thanks

Thanks (among others) to Mark Olson, Jeremy Robinson and Thomas for
the buying advice on Pans and FJRs. I've agreed a price on an 04 FJR.
I didn't even prompt for the rear linkage greasing, seller said it had
been done by the FJR owners' club guys. Looks very well looked after
and low mileage for the year.

Picking it up on Saturday. Fair to say, I'm quite happy.

 

A mate of mine has an 08 FJR and indeed the owners guys did the rear
linkage for him, well satisfied he was, and he owns his own garage
business but these guys know there stuff.

A

--

 

I'm sure you'll like it. Welcome to the wonderful world of
liter+ sport-touring bikes.

 

I did 360 miles and 8 hours on my lardy sports-tourer over the weekend.
And now my neck is monumentally fucked.

I'm going to have to get some serious practice in before the long haul
to Brno. Round trips to Caudebec-en-Caux and Chimay ought to do the
trick.

 

Well, thanks for advice. Particularly the swing arm issue. I've looked
at 3 seriously over the past few weeks and this was the first seller
that proffered the info of when and where it was done, unsolicited.
Whilst the other two I rode were good bikes, this one is very good for
its age and comes with the bits that make it suit me.

I also couldn't really justify the extra for a decent Gen II. It'll be
an everyday workhorse (replacing the GSX750F that I've had for 9 years
and 40k miles) and may get an occasional holiday/road trip and I
wanted one that had already lost most of its value. I was looking at a
couple of Pans too, but they were 1300's and were silly money in
comparison.

 

The FJ/FJR owners club (the one near Bristol) is well worth joining as they
can supply OEM and aftermarket parts very quickly and they give good advice
over the phone if you get a problem. They did my valve clearances the first
time. They let you watch too which is great. Good luck with your new bike.

 

As he say: Phil Hacker and his guys *know* FJ/FJRs. I've saved a fortune on
discounted genuine parts from there too.
www.fjclub.co.uk

JB

 

Thanks. I've never really seen myself an an "owners' club member"
sort. In your opinion, is it worth it for technical advice and a few
discounted spares alone? I can't see myself going on FJR rallies etc.

 

I feel the same way, it seems that the two FJR forums I subscribe to are the
primary focus of some of the members' social lives. But the accumulation of
technical knowledge makes it worth the effort to wade through a fair amount
of useless chatting. And of course just for signing up to the forums there
is no fee required, but I suppose some folk do chip in to keep the websites
running.

 

Sir obviously needs something more luxobarge. Or some Gilles clip-ons,
though TBF a new bike is only marginally more expensive.
www.motorcycle-road-and-race.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=820_655_660&products_id=406689

 

I joined a US-based K1100LT forum when I first bought the K, and gleaned
a lot of useful info from it. Haven't posted there for years, though.

 

I joined a UK-based SV forum when I had one, and learned that a lot of
SV owners see the Busters catalogue as a to-do list.

I joined a UK-based GSXR forum when I got one, and learned that a lot of
GSXR owners are dickheads.

 

you had to join an online forum to realise that?

*boggles*

 

I also joined an SV forum and mailing list when I had one. What I discovered is
that many owners on those forums are victims of a group-think mentality, and if
one of the so-called gurus proposes a modification, everyone wants to do it whether
it is a good idea or not[1]. So being able to sort the wheat from the chaff is an
essential skill. When I bought the first of two EX500s for my son, I signed up
with a forum dedicated to that bike. The top of the pack there is well respected
for having owned and modified plenty of that bike, including for racing, but in
almost every case when I asked a specific technical question I was ridiculed for
disagreeing with him, even though it eventually turned out due to my investigation,
that I was right and he was wrong. So there was a definite case where going with
the group consensus would lead you to the wrong conclusion.

[1] drilling holes in airboxes is one of the all-time favorites for this

 

Depends how much fettling you see yourself doing I spose. I'm in Ireland so
I never do the Club run type stuff. I do use them for parts and advice from
time to time. I used them for the valve clearances but I wanted the guys to
hear my bike running cos at the time I thought it was a ticker. Now I just
buy stuff off them for non-routine servicing. They are very fast sending
stuff out and they hold odd stuff that could be hard to source otherwise.

 

a social life that revolves around a specific make/model of motorcycle
<shudder>

 

Worse, I've always though of litre-plus sports tourer owners as old,
fat, bald twats ... Oh hang on ...

 

2 out of 4 aint bad. Not fat or bald (yet)..

 

The problem wit the USA bike forums is they are all retarded fuckchops that
just want to mod bikes with three foot swingarms....

 

You forgot to crosspost