News:

         
Welcome to FJowners.com


It is the members who make this best place for FJ related content on the internet.

Main Menu

2016 year in review

Started by aviationfred, November 26, 2016, 10:16:47 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

aviationfred

As 2016 is nearing the end and the majority of owners are putting their FJ's to bed for the winter. The Aussies are getting their season started with a Manshed event as we speak.

January started out as time for an experiment into the unknown. With the fridged temps, I attempted a DIY cylinder and piston enlargement.

The engine build was complete the last week of January. The month of February was a very warm month as February goes. I was able to get the initial 500 mile breakin period accomplished.

As March rolled in and having 500 miles on the engine. I was ready to begin to really see how much more fun the engine could be...... But that was not the case....due to an error in assembly, the engine needed to come apart to change out the offending wrist pin clip. Now we have another 500 miles initial breakin and then we are off to riding with full power.

April and May goes by quickly. My annual Ride-To-Eat at Eskimo Joe's in Stillwater, Oklahoma, officially kicks off the riding season. A ride up to the Kansas Motorcycle Museum was great and saw some really old and interesting motorcycles. Some of which I never heard of.

Whoo Hoo......Central Rally time. 5 days of riding the Colorado Rocky Mountains with my fellow FJ owners. I was able to get a Bucket List item in during the Rally. A ride to Mesa Verde National Park and the Native American Indian Cliff Dwellings. A wonderful time was had by all.

Marked off another Bucket List item over the July 4th weekend. I met Alan (Firehawk068) and Kurt (Yamaha fj rider) in Denver during Kurt's and mine Iron Butt rides. 1108 miles (1783 Kilometers) ridden in approximately 20.5 hours.

August brought in some serious long distance riding under not so good of reasons. My mother got deathly ill and was not expected to make it. Due to Delta Airlines computers crashing at the same time. All flights out of my area to Savannah, Georgia were booked for nearly 48 hours. The option.....jump on the FJ and ride as far as a I could and hope I got back to see my mom before anything really bad happened. 16 hours and 976 miles, I called it a day and crashed for the night. A quick 260 miles the next morning got me into Beaufort, South Carolina. My mom was hanging tough and over the next week did an absolute amazing recovery.

The ride back to Wichita was done at a bit of a subdued pace. The second day on the road started in steady rain.....oh joy. 6 hours of slabbing in the rain is enough to last the full year. As the rain stopped, I was close to 'The Pig Trail', Arkansas Hwy 23. Enough slabbing, let's get some twisty road time. Stopped at The Cave Bar and Grill in Langen Missouri for a very late lunch. Very neat place built into a natural cave. An uneventful run home through Joplin and South Eastern Kansas, approximately 2500 miles ridden over 4 days of travel.

September found me going back to Arkansas to pick up Joseph Berk's (Country Joe) 1990 FJ1200 that had been crashed 2 years prior. A perfect candidate for the 'European modeled' spare bodywork set.

October had the last major ride of the season, down to the Seaba Station Motorcycle Museum for a swap meet. A ride over to Pop's Soda Shop on Historic Route 66 made for a good ride. October also brought in the sad news that 2 of our members passed away. Randy T and Cash. I was looking forward to meeting Cash at the 2017 WCR and drool over his FJ streetfighter. I got to meet Randy T and Susan at the Central Rally in Colorado. Randy was a true asset to the FJ community. He will be missed by many.

I can't wait to see what 2017 brings.

Fred
I'm not the fastest FJ rider, I am 'half-fast', the fastest slow guy....

Current
2008 VFR800 RC46 Vtec
1996 VFR750 RC36/2
1990 FJ1300 (1297cc) Casper
1990 VFR750 RC36/1 Minnie
1989 FJ1200 Lazarus, the Streetfighter Project
1985 VF500F RC31 Interceptor

Firehawk068

Good Stuff Fred!  :good2:

Thanks for sharing the stories and pics.
Alan H.
Denver, CO
'90 FJ1200

aviationfred

A few added photos of Pop's Soda Shop in Oklahoma.


I'm not the fastest FJ rider, I am 'half-fast', the fastest slow guy....

Current
2008 VFR800 RC46 Vtec
1996 VFR750 RC36/2
1990 FJ1300 (1297cc) Casper
1990 VFR750 RC36/1 Minnie
1989 FJ1200 Lazarus, the Streetfighter Project
1985 VF500F RC31 Interceptor