Tag: fjr

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Tire Changing, what fun

OK so yesterday I pulled the wheels from the FJR and tossed them in the back of the Excursion.

Today we broke in the new No-Mar Tire changer.

Dad had already unpacked it an put it together by the time I go there. We have it temporarily mounted to a 3/4 sheet of plywood and that worked out pretty well.

If we ever figure out a permanent home for it we’ll permanently mount it 😉

We started with the rear tire and took our time. I brought my laptop so we could watch the DVD as many times as needed.

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And we needed too…

This tire changing thing is an art, that’s for sure, there are tricks and stuff to getting it just right.

We struggled quite a bit with the rear. Mostly because (a) we didn’t use enough lube, and (b) the FJR’s rear rim is very shallow. But none the less we did get it off without breaking any knuckles nor a single cuss word was uttered. That’s a good thing.

The front came off and went on very very easily.

So far this no-mar thing is a good thing, today I saved between $50 and $100 by mounting my own tires. It won’t take too many times to cover this cost of the machine 🙂

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Time for tires…

I ordered up a set of Avon Storms to replace the original Metzler Z6’s about a month ago, but the weather has been too poopy to get out there and get anything done.

I did get the bike out Friday and commuted to work, made a lunch run, and made it home.

I got 7857 miles out of these original tires, although you can certainly say I pushed that rear a little far. It wasn’t showing treads when I left work Friday and I almost went for a ride today. Good thing I didn’t.

Dad purchased a no-mar tire change for us since we tend to go through some tires and paying someone else to change them is getting old.

First order of business, remove the wheels from the bike. I put the FJR on the center stand then with the help of my daughter Maggie, I ‘rocked’ the center stand up on two 2×4’s to get more clearance.

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I then removed the rear tire first. Paying special attention to the ABS sensor. I found an old sock in the tool shed and put it in that to keep it covered and off of any other metal parts.

After removing the rear tire I pushed down on the bike and had her stick a 2×4 on top of the two stacked 4×4’s under the header to get the front off the ground.

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I needed to put the front ABS sensor in something and couldn’t find another sock so I used a plastic bag that I had laying around. That should work just as well.

Here are the stock Metz’s after 7857 miles.

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There’s still some life in the front, but I’m going to replace them both.

The back is SHOT… Ack!

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More fun tomorrow with the No-Mar as we figure out how to get that thing mounted to something… Dad was right we should have just bought the hitch mount thing and I may order that in the future.

 

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2007 Polar Bear Ride

Gar started this mess two years ago and it was supposed to be an annual thing.

I don’t know what happened last year. The first year there was snow on the ground but it wasn’t as cold as today.

When I lift the house this morning it was a tepid 42 degrees. It had to warm up right? Yesterday the weatherman (first mistake was believing them) was that it would be a high of 50.

It just got colder as the day wore on.

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We hooked up at the gas station in front of the drawbridge inn around 10am. Pat then took us on a quick ~30 mile ride around the Rabbit Hash area. We stopped at the country store (same as last time) and warmed up by the stove.

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Then off to the Hofbrau House for some good eats. My hands nearly froze on the ride to the Hash, but then I wised up and put on my heated gloves. Once they were in place all was well. I think everyone had electrics so no one froze to death.

We left the hash and headed straight towards the Hofbrau for some good eats.  Good ride, good time, good company, and good food.  Can’t ask for any better than that.
For the ride home it was a balmy 36 degrees and the wind was brutal, but I was as toasty as could be.

Thank you Mr. Gerbings 😉

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Indiana Ride

grouppic

Saturday C and I took our first all day ride on the FJR. A little late in the season but there was an organized ride over in Indiana to “Beat the Gawkers” on a great route through Brown County. The plan was to enjoy the day riding and check out the beautiful scenery before the leaves turned fully and the roads were clogged up with old folks gawking at the trees.

The biggest issue was the temperature. It was a lovely 37 degrees when we left at 6 am. The day before I tried to prepare Claudine for just how cold that was going to be and gave her an out but she wouldn’t take it. It was supposed to be a couple’s ride, but a number of the wives opted out because of the temperatures. The cold doesn’t bother me because I have heated gear.

She said she would just layer up. OK.

I lost count of how many shirts and layers she put on but she did have two jackets. One of the biggest issues was gloves. But we worked it out.

The other excitement was installing a new intercom on the motorcycle which would allow us to be able to have conversations as well as allow us to listen to music. This didn’t work out as well as planned as we didn’t have enough time for testing and tuning.

We met a friend at 6:30am about 10 minutes down the road at McDonalds. At that point Claudine said it’s not that cold. I told her you haven’t spend 15 minutes at 65 or 70 miles an hour yet, hang tight.

We left there to meet up with other folks in Columbus Indiana. It took us about an hour and a half to get there. We hit some fog, which only made it chillier. But it was pretty sweet riding through the sunrise with a full moon in sight.

We hooked up at the Columbus, IN Denny’s and had to thaw out. Neither Claudine nor Kyle had heated gear and with a low of 37 on the way, perhaps lower at times, that’s down right cold.

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At Denny’s we met up with others from the FJR Forum including the ride organizers and had breakfast.

From there we took some pretty tasty roads around Brown County and ended up in Nashville, Indiana where we had Pizza and some stuffed breadsticks at a pretty decent Italian restaurant.

After lunch we all split up and wandered our way home. 12 hours and 350 miles later we were whipped. 350 miles isn’t very many for only 12 hours but we ran a nice pace and enjoyed the surroundings. It was a long day but well worth it.

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FJR Maintenance Day & Barbarian Modification

Well at just over 6400 Miles and a weekend of hard riding last weekend it was time to look things over and do a little maintenance.

At the very least we needed an oil change though 3,000 miles is pretty short for today’s oils. The Yamalube was a little dirty but not bad at all when I drained it. I opted for 10w-40 Castrol this time. It was one of the few oils I could find without the friction modifiers so I thought I’d give it a go.

Also figured out that a FRAM PH7317 will fit my bike as well. That too will save me some dough, all though I do think the Yamaha/Denso filters are probably a little better filters overall, the FRAM should be just fine.

On tap for changes this time was the Barbarian modification.

For the 06 model it’s pretty simple. You peel off some plastic on the left side of the bike, expose the main wiring harness.

Unplug the big connector, push the plug out of pin location 25, remove the wire from 23 and move it over into 25, insert the plug into 23 and put everything back together.

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This is all sounds pretty simple and it was until you break that orange/yellow wire. Grrrrrr….

Anyway we’re fixed and we’re good to go.

What this is supposed to do, is expose the CO level adjustment interface in the diagnostic menu. Then you can adjust the CO levels for each of the cylinders, giving you smoother (richer) off idle throttle response, and potentially, perhaps a cooler running bike too.

I haven’t taken it for a ride yet, but did adjust the levels +7 across the board as recommended. (Remember all manufacturers set everything lean as can be from the factory to appease the EPA).

My values were:

INITIAL Change to +7:

C:01 5 C:01 12
C:02 18 C:02 25
C:03 18 C:03 25
C:04 21 C:04 28

I wanted to resync the throttle bodies today as well but ran out of daylight. Will do that maybe tomorrow or on an upcoming weekend.

Total cost of today’s maintenance? Oil: $12 (on sale) Filter: $4.50 (already had the crush washer) Barbarian Mod, FREE.

For more information on the Barbarian Mod check out this resource.