'Afternoon from Chester

[narp]

This place is such a good resource I thought I should add just a little input and say hello from Chester, UK.

I've had the FJ since September - bought it as an abandoned project from it's previous owner, who did enough of the work to be able to sit on the bike before telling himself he was too short of leg to ride it comfortably (I pass no comment on the truth of this or any options that might have been open to him), and more pressingly he had a Gold Wing in bits he wanted to fund the reassembly of in time for summer.

He had treated it to a powder-coated frame, painted engine, new brake pipes, tyres (tires), caliper rebuilds, changed fluids, new front and rear suspension and bushes, cleaning and servicing the carbs etc, and then thrown it back together when he decided to sell, so leaving me to learn my way around the bike, fixing detail items and getting it through an MOT.

28 years and 36,000 miles into it's life and I have the bike I wanted when I was 19 - I actually switched to cars when a friend significantly shortened one of his legs in the crash he had on one of these.

Time and slowly increasing wisdom taught me it was him, not his FJ1200 that had the crash, and I'm careful not to refer to it here as an accident, because that would suggest he played no active part in the mess.

Anyway, it spent this past winter in my shed, while I sorted a few niggles:

tidying the wiring loom and improving a few electrical connection issues
replacing lots of bulbs (dash, mostly)
cleaning the dash 'glass'
repairing the cracked and holed air-box (and re-fitting the wayward breather tube)
new battery
re-riveting the chassis plate back on
tightening and loosening numerous fiddly things as required - reserve switch, choke cable, earth connection

Nothing earth-shattering, but I've now got a bike I'm confident to ride and pleased to see in the garage, and I'm so old and trustworthy that insurance was not a challenge, and I'm looking forward to a long summer of bimbling about.

[Urban_Legend]

Welcome from Australia.

As you say with accidents, many would be pilot error and not the bikes fault. I am gald the you were able resurrect someone elses project. Happy motoring.

Mark

[Millietant]

That's the way it's starts Narp - just a bit of tidying up and then get out riding..........but, we all know how it ends up  

17" rear wheel, 17" x 3.5" front wheel (maybe even USD forks), proper radial tyres, better rear shock, upgraded front suspension, blue-spot/gold spot calipers, braided brake hoses, FJR/Fazer master cylinders...........exhaust.....etc...etc....

It's like a disease, you just can't stop it......fortunately for all of us  

Welcome to the mad-house !!!

[krusty]

Another welcome from Oz. Chester is a nice "neck of the woods" in UK. I have walked the city wall and cruised the canal.

[Millietant]

That's the way it's starts Narp - just a bit of tidying up and then get out riding..........but, we all know how it ends up  

17" rear wheel, 17" x 3.5" front wheel (maybe even USD forks), proper radial tyres, better rear shock, upgraded front suspension, blue-spot/gold spot calipers, braided brake hoses, FJR/Fazer master cylinders...........exhaust.....etc...etc....

It's like a disease, you just can't stop it......fortunately for all of us  

Welcome to the mad-house !!!

Oh - I forgot to say, with those mods done, the FJ is as good as anything you'll ever need for road riding and IMO, still better all-round than most of the new bikes available today.

[Pat Conlon]

Dean speaks the truth!    Even with money spent on the mods, our FJ 's are a great value.

[aviationfred]

Welcome to the forum 



Fred