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[ELIMINATOR]

 

Only ridden it about 600 miles a year over the last four years. Prefer riding my BMW 1150 GS, had this 17 years, ridden 102,00 miles on it. & Guzzi California 3 LAPD.  Had a Yamaha 900 xjs Diversion, rode 60,00 miles on that, great bike ,but lacked soul, kept the FJ in preference. Neck problems and its riding position on the FJ, don't do me any favours, feeling sad though. As it's the bike I've spent more time on replacing parts, that, err, didn't need replacing. Love this forum.

Amusing moments:

Wondering why at night, riding down a motorway, why people were driving so slow! The small speedo and poor illumination and glasses meant that I couldn't look at the speedo too long! Looked at the rev counter... I knew that at about 4,000 rpm, the bike would be at about 80mph, realised the rev counter was reading 6,500... My sprockets are geared to reduce rpm. Probably doing about 125. Speed limit on a motorway in the UK is 70mph

Having my girlfriend on the back, she loved going fast. she was impressed at 145mph.

I enjoyed giving money to RPM. A joy to find someone providing upgrades to FJ's.

I bought: fork brace. spin on oil filter adaptor. clutch slave cylinder..... inevitably, lol

Fork springs & cartridge fork conversion.  

Bar risers, to compensate for a comfort seat, that raised the seat height.

Had a guy at work challenge me to a burn up with his 1600cc car... WTF, KIDS HAVE NO IDEA.

People on here are so helpful, thank you guys.

[fj1289]

Always sad to see an FJ go .... but stick around yourself!

[ELIMINATOR]

I'm sure I will, this site is addictive.

[red]

Eliminator,

Before you go . . .       

Amazon has about twenty pages of GPS Speedometers, in all prices, with some decent units starting around US$30 (thirty bux, no typo).

Mount the display somewhere handy, plug in a USB cable for power, done deal.  Smaller than a deck of cards. 
You can read this gadget: big clear numbers, and some other features also.  Works on any bike or vehicle.  Rapid updates, amazing accuracy.
Check it against the roadside radar read-outs near schools, et c. (usually spot-on).  I seldom even glance at the stock speedometer any more.

Go to the Amazon site and Search for:

VJOYCAR C60 Hud Car GPS Speedometer

to get you started.  HTH.
.

[Pat Conlon]

Hey Trev, yes please, stay in touch. Check in from time to time.

Ride Well

Pat

[ELIMINATOR]

Thanks guys

[Millietant]

I usually ride with my Garmin GPS unit on my handlebar, in between the 2 risers (I have a FZ1 tubular handlebar).

I use it  for 2 reasons - 1) to have an accurate speed reading (I now know my speedo reads 5 mph fast at 70 mph and around 7-8mph fast at 140 mph) and 2) to record my ride routes (it makes keeping track of new great bits of road much easier).

It's such a small unit though and sits low down, that it's no more readable than my speedo !

[ribbert]

I usually ride with my Garmin GPS unit on my handlebar.....  It's such a small unit though and sits low down, that it's no more readable than my speedo !

It’s an interesting point you raise Dean. I have for years found the speedo difficult to read accurately, which here unfortunately is necessary with a tolerance of only a few kph and the world’s highest concentration of speed detection equipment. Aging eyes don’t make it any easier either and the speedo is mounted low enough that the straight ahead view is momentarily lost from peripheral vision when checking speed.

If you were to swerve around an obstacle or stop before hitting something by 100ft, you’d think you’d missed it by a mile, but that’s about how far you travel at highway speed in the time it takes to glance at your speedo and refocus on the road ahead and take in any changes since you last looked – a second ago. It's also common to see riders allowing less than that for a buffer.

To this end I fitted a HUD / GPS speedo. The digital speed is displayed on my screen about ¾’s of the way up and just below my line of sight. It can be easily read in the brightest sunlight but is not distracting. It is far and away my favourite mod, and there are plenty, it was cheap and only required a power supply and heavy duty velcro. It’s been on there a very long time and probably done 100k.

The HUD only works on the 3XW finned screen but you can easily plonk a digital GPS speedo about the size and shape of a matchbox on top of the instrument bezel for the same effect (just no quite as cool looking) and very little money.



From where I sit, the display is just below the bend

Noel

[Millietant]

Nice set up Noel 

I tend to only need to use the speedo at slower speeds, to help me keep under the 20mph, 30mph and 40mph limits in towns and the 40. Out on the road, I'm happy that I've got my speed pretty much spot on by the "feel" of the bike/engine once I get above 50/60 mph!

Our average speed camera systems mean I never push it these days on most motorways anyway.

[Millietant]

Apologies for the apparent thread hi-jack.....could the Mods please move the relevant comments to a more appropriate spot if necessary.

This is my little Garmin unit in place. It twists into a mounting in about 1-2 seconds - it's just a standard rubber-band fixed cycle-handlebar mount.