"...keep the weight off my wrists..."

Very common complaint among FJR riders! I would imagine among many bike that are not quite upright, and not tank-huggers. The solution is to be sure your back is straight and your body is rolled forward at the hip joint, not your spine curving forward to reach the bars. That lets your legs, not your arms, support your upper body. Google "Master Yoda riding position." The way I explain it to folks is that if you have to shift your weight to let go of the bars, then you're not sitting properly. Hands on the bars work the controls, but they should never be carrying your upper body.

 

Glad you're getting comfortable on the old girl. It's amazing how a few little tweaks can change the dynamic of a motorcycle. Cause if it doesn't feel right in the seat of your pants. You'll never be happy with it. So was it just missing the baffle? Or is this an added thing? I used to take the baffle out of the 4 into 1 "Kerker" header on my buddies 900 Kaw everytime I rode it. Had to be one of the best sounding bikes on the planet with an open header. Bar None! God I miss that sound. My Dad always said it sounded like an "Offy". Which was a 4 cyl, Offenhauser Racing Engine used in Sprint cars, and Indy Cars through the seventies.

Well now that you got it all sorted. Watch out for Mini Vans! LOL. May the Good Lord Watch Over You My Friend! Amen!

Jack

 

I will look it up and have a read. Thank you.


Took the GPZ600 out to a classic bike track day yesterday, great day out.

 

Before accident and after. 18 months apart.

March 10, 2020. Morning of crash



Today

 

Beautiful. A tweak here, and a tweak there. Now you have a couple fine examples of Both companies modern Flagships. Back when motorcycles were simple, straight forward, and not yet electroniced to death. To the point they take all of the fun out of it.

Jack

The new pipes look way better on both bikes. As we say over here, Keep the Shiny Side Up. and the Greasy Side Down!

 

I also had an FJ1200 -1987 model in red and white, custom Corbin saddle. Wife and I rode all over the Southwestern US with that. What a nice touring bike, but with blistering acceleration! Had Hondas and a Suzuki prior to that, but the FJ was by far the best I ever rode. Dealer tried to sell me a BMW Kbike at the time, let me take it out for an entire afternoon, but that was no comparison. Sold the FJ to go back to school, never got another one.

 

I had an FJ12, it was awesome.


Show some past rides you are not so proud of.

 

I had all 3 running today at the same time. Neil Diamond once said “Beautiful Noise”

 

To compare to the FJR1300, imagine how good the FJ1200 was, then adding that little bit of displacement, and the power you get with water cooling, better weather protection (including electrically adjustable windshield,) side bags standard, and shaft drive for lower maintenance. The engine is derived from the early 2000s R1's engine. Torquey enough to roll on the throttle in top gear at 1000 RPM and it will pull until you get scared or arrested. I bought my '03 in 2007, it's got well over 100,000 miles, and I couldn't be happier with it.

 

I would happily Agree, definitely a beautiful noise. Sad part you couldn't rev all three simultaneously.

Jack

 

“Class of 2021”
I rode four today, turned over the other two. Both had spark.

 

How does a Man find time to ride all those bikes??? They look great, but I haven't figured out how to ride 2 at once, Yet. That last picture looks like you getting kinda close to the house. My wife doesn't worry about my stuff, till I star getting close to the front yard. Then she tells me "Not to Junk up the front yard." I said what do you mean Junk!??? LOL!

Jack

PS Spark is a good thing. LOL!

 

Funny thing is I was asked why all my crappy bikes were outside.
XJR is the commuter, ZRX is the fun bike for riding on weekends with mates because it’s the favourite ( I know we are not supposed to have favourite children)
GPZ and GSX are purely track bikes.
The second GPZ is a parts bike I plan to get running, second GSX (naked one) I plan to put on the road eventually.

 

Just add correctly metered fuel and you are good to go.

 

I finally got the noise out of the NX650. It was the damn automatic compression release made into the cam! I broke down and pulled the cam out and pressed the flange off and threw the mechanism into the scrap bin! Then I welded the 2 exposed holes shut, and Viola quiet as a church mouse! Yippee!!!! Now if Mother Nature would quit throwing tantrums, maybe I could get a chance to ride it! It's been 2 weeks since we've been above the low 30's F for daytime highs. I rode it about 2 miles the day I fixed it. Turned around and went back to the shop. To dang cold for me. God, I hate getting old. But what do I expect it's January in Arkansas. LOL!

Jack

 

Good find and relatively easy fix.

Cold sucks for riding as you get older, but hot weather is not much better. 37c here today, an hour in the riding gear is pretty tough. Grabbed two beers and headed for the pool to cool off when I got home.

 

Decided to retire from track riding at age 66 so I sold my 2018 Aprilia RSV4 RF to a young guy for track use. Picked up this 2021 Aprilia Tuono V4 Factory to ride in my golden years.

 

Uh excuse me for noticing, but that still looks like a "Track Bike" to me??? Am I missing something?
I not fully educated on the bikes of the last ten or twenty years, But if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, has feathers and can fly? It's probably a Futchin Duck! So that taken into account.
If it looks like a Race Bike, rides like a race bike, has slick tires, like a race bike? It's probably "NOT" a race bike???

I wait to be educated, or vindicated which ever the case may be. LOL!

Jack

 

The Tuono is Aprilia's street bike. Yes, you can ride it on the track but it has regular bars and a much more relaxed riding position than the RSV4. I know it is hard to see but it does have treaded tires on it. They don't have much tread on them and I wouldn't advise getting very ambitious withe the throttle in the rain. The Italians have a much different idea of what a street bike is compared to what many Americans have. I will show you the pictures of an RSV4(silver bike) compared to the Tuono(black bike)

 

Oh I see different handlebars, and a goofy assed looking Tail light / license plate holder. Got It ! About a nickel's worth of difference. Back in the day when the GSXR were new. The difference between a track bike, and a Street bike was 2mm larger carburetors, and taking the baffles' out of the mufflers. Guess things haven't changed as much as I thought they had. LOL!

Jack