Tag: fjr

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2013 Trip out west

I am currently out riding out west, in somewhat of a repeat of the ride we did in 2008. Riding with Dad, Kyle Hayes Sr, Joe and Steve. We’re traveling a more northernly route, and Joe and I will turn around somewhere after Montana, while Dad, Steve, and Kyle Sr. will ride out to Salem, Oregon to the BMW MOA Rally.

I”m not blogging and posting like I used to but our location should be tracked below using my iPhone and Google Latitude which is about to be kicked to the curb by Google in August. Which is sad.

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As I write this we’re in day two of 10 or so days. Currently in Buffalo, MN.

We’re headed to Bismark, ND then on to the good riding.

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Avon Storms

At the last tire change I put on a pair of Avon Storms.

I decided to try the Storms because many folks claim the are “the @#$@$”. Outstanding handling and performance as well as reasonable life.

I had to replace the first rear right at 6k, which considering I got a good 7k out of the previous Metzlers wasn’t what I had in mind. The front still looked ‘great’ although the handling was starting to deteriorate. I mounted a new rear and marched on.

We’ll 5000 miles later I was very sorry. The front went to hell at about 8000 miles total, but we were on our way to the Void Rally and didn’t have time. The tread still looked good but it had started to wear really lopsided.

After the rally I ordered up a new set of Pilot Road 2’s. Now weather and other factors meant it would be about 3 months before I’d get those mounted.

The following are photos of the Storms:

2nd Rear after 5k miles. Well into the wear bars but probably has another 2k left in it. Somewhat flat spotted in the middle but I’d venture out of those 5k miles, only 1200 are slab, so I’m not impressed.

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The front:

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I didn’t like the Storms and won’t buy them again.

  1. They took a crap load of weight to balance.
  2. I didn’t like them on tar snakes and painted lines. Very, very slippery.
  3. I felt their wet weather performance was only mediocre, not outstanding.
  4. Life is poor in my opinion. To me there were a step backwards from the Metz Z6’s
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Let the fun begin [FJR 1300 Final Drive Seals]

This starts back here at “My FJR thinks it’s a Harley”, or better yet a BMW.

I received all the seals that I ordered from University Motors in Fargo, ND. (Whom I highly recommend. They saved me almost $40 in parts after shipping.)

Tonight I started tearing into it. I drained the final drive (oil was still pretty clean), then proceeded to remove the rear wheel and take the pumpkin off.

Since it was leaking from the weep hole, I really expected to see a LOT of fluid in the swing arm. I at least expected a good amount. I didn’t find that. I know for a fact it was leaking from/through there as it was dripping.

Grr….

I also expected to see the inside towards the final drive at the end of the drive shaft good and lubed. It was, but not as much as expected.

It almost looked like it was leaking between here as the bottom of the entire final drive was pretty nasty too, but I think that’s only because it ran to the bottom.

You can see the bottom half (not on the towel) is dirtier around the plastic shield but it’s not as nasty as I’d expect if it was leaking from here.

I’m a little torn at the moment as to which seals to replace. I have them all 🙂

Seal #34 is easy, #12 not so much, as I’m going to have to find that ‘special’ tool.

I’m going to post up on the FJRForum and see what the consensus is.

Update: Well, after inspecting all the parts, I can’t really see where it’s leaking from.  I still think #34 or #12, others on the board thing I have an issue with O-Ring #20 but I’m not convinced.

#34 was ‘dirty’ so I cleaned everything backup and reassembled it.  Did the normal maintenance for this time of year, greased the splines and changed all the fluids.  We’ll see if it continues to leak.

After putting it all back together I came in to find that I’d received the ECU recall notice.  So if I’m taking it in for that, might as well have them fix the seals under warranty at the same time.

We’ll see how it goes.  I really haven’t had the altitude surging issue that others have noticed or had issue with.

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Run for the hills…

This morning I had to run down to La Grange, KY to meet a fellow FJR rider. He recently put in a bulk order for oil filters, crush washers and spark plugs. I needed to meet with him and pickup the stuff that I ordered.

$11 for a Yamaha oil filter is obscene, $6 from University motors is much closer to reality.

I left at 0-dark thirty and hit the slab. Riding through a sunrise is still one of those simply awesome things you have to experience to understand.

After the I-75/I71 split I got off the highway and hit some of the more fun roads on the way down.

We met for breakfast at the Cracker Barrel, then proceeded to wear out some of Southwestern/western Kentucky’s better roads.

380 miles later and I’m home, with parts in hand.

Twas a good day.

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A Day at Kil-Kare

A buddy of mine that I’ve known for 30+ years is a die hard motorcycle drag racer. A privateer on a budget, runs what he’s got and gets the job done.

I hadn’t seen him race but one time before and something broke or it rained, I can’t remember but I didn’t get to see him make more than one pass. I talked to him earlier in the week and found out that he no longer races at Edgewater. In fact very few bikes do anymore because the owner is an asshat and doesn’t much care for his customers so they’ve moved to Kil-Kare in Xenia Ohio.

I rode up, on the FJR and planned to take some pics. I got there in time for his second practice run, around 2pm. I was able to snap pics of that run, and his dial-in run before the camera battery died. It would have lasted all day had I charged it the night before but I wasn’t sure I was going to go.

In any event, it was a long, blistering hot day and stupid me wore jeans so I was mostly uncomfortable all day. (I wouldn’t ride in shorts but was too dumb to wear shorts and toss some riding pants on over them just to get there. Man I wasn’t thinking straight today.)

If you haven’t been to Kil-Kare, it’s a good time. There is absolutely no way to get out of the sun though unless you bring an awning or something. Did I mention it was hot?

After his second test run he had to replace his clutch. 2 of the plates shattered into about 2 dozen pieces each. That took about 40 minutes.

Butch was on today, hitting his dial in numbers, making good lights and slaying folks left and right.

He took down quite a few high dollar bikes and made the finals before his clutch came apart again in the final run of the day.

He was hitting 9.69, 9.68, 967 all day long like clockwork. His luck or rather his clutch didn’t hold together in the final run, or I think he would have taken that too. He was spot-on all night.

Photos in the Gallery here.

 

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