Joe's FJ1200

[hauen]

Late '80's-early 90's VFR...Honda V-4 power, torque everywhere, sporty without being monkey-f*cking-a-football-racebike uncomfortable, probably why they tweaked it a little and made it into more of a sport-touring thing later.

[mike343sharpstick]

Hauen, right on about the VFRs, amazing engineering, and great bikes. My faves are the RC30 version, next would be the 86 VFR. The newer generation VFR is good at everything, great all around bike.

Wife loves the HD lifestyle? Must be all the bedazzled and fringed out motorcycles reminding of of those pretty pony horses she played with as a young girl :D
Living an hour away from Milwaukee I've had 20+ years dealing with people who think I don't ride a Harley Cruiser cuz I can't handle it, or can't afford one or ?? One word from those types and I show no mercy. Cool bikers are into all favors;)

[mike343sharpstick]

If you want to get something a bit more upscale or newer or just unique and interesting, Look into a Ducati ST2 or ST4, not real desireable bike from the ducati faithful so getting into one may be reasonable. They have detachable hard bags, and a nice comfy large chassis, while still feeling like a Ducati in the corners.
I had one for two years, put lots of street miles on it, but it was a bit to practical for me.

...Or just keep putting miles on that FJ!

[JOES66FURY]

Wife loves the HD lifestyle? Must be all the bedazzled and fringed out motorcycles reminding of of those pretty pony horses she played with as a young girl :D
)

DING DING DING DING! We have a winner folks!

That Ducati is a sharp looking bike, much like the FJ1300 I want....

I'll be racking up the miles on the 1200 for a while to come....I just ordered a set of R6 front calipers and am shopping for a GSXR rear wheel assembly...this will give me a nice fat rear tire, and much better stopping power...I will swap to a R6 master cylinder later when I get some more cash.

[JOES66FURY]

Went home at lunch today and installed my new to me "blue dot" calipers from a 96 Yamaha R6. They are a direct bolt on and are light years ahead of the stock FJ1200 calipers in terms of clamping power. The lever feel is much firmer now and the bike stops on a dime. Stopping before was scarry at times...if you needed to stop and stop in a hurry it was a gamble....I did some "panic stops" from about 45mph and my confidence in this bike has grown ten fold...I cant wait to get it on the twisties and see how it performs....40 bucks seems down right cheap to achieve this type of performance upgrade! Win!

[mike343sharpstick]

Great upgrade!
Do you have stainless braided, or Kevlar lines to the calipers?

[JOES66FURY]

Great upgrade!
Do you have stainless braided, of Kevlar lines to the calipers?

Steel braided lines from the master to the block and steel braided to the calipers....I will swap master cylinders at a later date which, by all accounts should improve stopping power even more.

Now to find a GSXR Rear wheel, brake and axle....

I found that a fender from a RV250 or RZ500 will work as well...the ones for the FJ are two piece and expensive as hell if you can find one....I found a carbon fiber RZ500 fender for 140 bucks....

[STINEY]

Ooo...this isn't good for my budget.....or maybe it is good for my budget.....aargh!!!

(Loving the bike upgrades)

[JOES66FURY]

I just found a Suzuki Bandit 1200 rear tire assembly for 80 bucks on CL.....it will fit a GSXR, and if a GSXR wheel will fit and FJ one could assume....the Bandit would fit an FJ....researching now to be sure....if it will fit I'm going to snatch it up.

[JOES66FURY]

Spent all my fun money for the month on a Suzuki Bandit 1200 rear wheel assembly last night. It (in theory) should (again...SHOULD) be a pretty easy swap.

This will give me a like new caliper (mine is shot) a 6" wide rear tire (mine is 3.5") and much better rear brake caliper.

Looking at my bike, the new parts and reading about similar swaps performed by FJ owners I need to hog out a hole in the frame to accomodate the brake support rod relocation. I may or may not need to fabricate a new brake support rod as this one mounts under and the stock FJ caliper is mounted ontop the Bandit rod is kind of short and the FJ's is longer...but I dont think it is long enough.

Pics to come.....cant wait to see how it handles and stops.....

[JOES66FURY]

Moving along on this modification...3.5 inch wide 16 inch rim to a 6 inch 17 inch will not olny help with overall handling of the big ass 520 pound bike but it also opens up a wider variety of tire options as well.





Comparison photo of the stock wheel vs. the wheel from the 97 Suzuki Bandit




I lucked out and was able to use the Bandits brake line. That alone saved me a lot of cash. Steel braided banjo lines are not cheap!



Here is the left side clearance...quite a bit of wiggle room.



This is a bit of a bummer. Because the caliper is mounted under I cannot use the stock caliper stay bracket. I cant use this one either because there is no mount for it.
This will be solved by running a longer rod from the caliper to a point further up the frame.



This will be the new mount for the caliper rod. I will remove the bottom bolt, hog out the hole and mount the new longer rod to the inside of the frame.
Before anyone says it. It doesnt matter if it mounts to the frame or the swing arm as long as it can articulate with the swing arm without any interfearance.



This is the inside of the frame where the new rod will mount.




This is the last piece of the puzzle. The stock FJ wheel had massive spacers to fill in the gaps and they wont work here. There is about 1/4 inch gap here so I need to find two 4mm washers with a 20mm hole to fill in on either side of the rim.

overall this was a pretty easy modification that did not break the bank and shout improve the safety and ride quality of the bike for years to come.

[mike343sharpstick]

So the axle diameter is the same?

[JOES66FURY]

yup, 20mm....I verified by looking up the wheel bearing specs for both my bike and the Bandit and GSXR


--- I picked up 2 4mm thick 20m washers and 4 foot of steel box tube....might just be going on a test ride this evening.....

[JOES66FURY]

Wheel is on and the bike rides amazing....still less than 2000 in the bike including purchase...

[JOES66FURY]

I noticed that on left turns the bike kinda pulled a bit more than it should....I decided to align the rear wheel using the "string method" simply wrap a piece of string around the rear tire and run it up to the front of the bike and tie the string off to something. In this case I used jack stands. Once that is done you move the string so that it does not touch any of the bike and just touches the rear tire on each side.

Once that is done simply measure the distance between the string and the tire on each side. I found that the right side measured 2.75 inches and the other side was 3.25 inches. I was able to get it to within a 1/16th of an inch centered.

I took it for a ride and man, I gotta say that the bike is really amazing now. It turns so much better, it rides better.....I am very happy with it...

so, to tally up the cost of putting together a bike that is reliable and fun to ride

1600 for the bike
40 for the R6 front calipers
160 for the rear tire and brake assembly
17 to make the custom dog bones
13 to make the torque bar and misc hardware
25 for a new 38 tooth rear sprocket

not bad IMO