What did you do to your FJR today?

[fjrob1300]

Installed new front rotors today. Bike has 204000km (126000mi) . Took it for a little spin.

 

[Niehart]

Installed new front rotors today. Bike has 204000km (126000mi) . Took it for a little spin.

And has seen a lot more unpaved roads than 90% of the BMW GS's.

I installed PR4's [thanks escapefjrtist], clean rear break caliper, cleaned and lubed foot brake shaft and bled the brakes. Got to clean the rest of the dirty pig today today.

 

[rbentnail]

I started it up for the first time since last December!!
It has sat, since then, in my unheated attached garage in the frigid northeast. Since I planned on replacing the battery this year (10 years old and 163,800 miles), I didn't have it on a tender (never use one anyway) all winter and did not do my customary every-two-months top-up trickle charge. Battery was connected to the bike the whole time so there would still be a (very small) parasitic draw to keep the clock and computer alive. This is in addition to the natural self-discharge for any AGM battery. Just for fun, I thought I would see if there was ANY juice in the battery after almost four months of unattended cold storage. Turn key, dash lights up, needles sweep. It cranked a little slower and longer than I would generally prefer but it fired up after maybe 5 seconds!! I'll have it on the trickle charger for a few hours tonight.

The use of battery tenders is way overrated!! Never understood why people seem to think the bike has to be plugged in after every ride (or even if they aren't riding for a week). More likely to damage the battery by overcharge if you are not using a temperature-compensated charger or if voltage calibration and cut-off voltage are not correct. (Does anyone check theirs regularly???)

I am still going to swap out this battery this year. The old one can produce the volts OK while cranking but I suspect that the ampere-hour capacity is well down from new. I wouldn't want to get stranded somewhere remote (I do a lot of motorcycle camping) and have a starting problem. (Will probably pick up one of the Lithium emergency starter batteries in case of primary battery problems and to charge electronics - cell phone, tablet, Bluetooth speaker, Sena etc.)

Something different about the batteries that were put in the '07s. I'm still on my original, too! Only time I used a Battery Tender was a little last winter and about two days before bringing it out last month. I have a MotoBatt waiting to go in and an XP3 under the seat, just in case.

 

[HotRodZilla]

I started it up for the first time since last December!!It has sat, since then, in my unheated attached garage in the frigid northeast. Since I planned on replacing the battery this year (10 years old and 163,800 miles), I didn't have it on a tender (never use one anyway) all winter and did not do my customary every-two-months top-up trickle charge. Battery was connected to the bike the whole time so there would still be a (very small) parasitic draw to keep the clock and computer alive. This is in addition to the natural self-discharge for any AGM battery. Just for fun, I thought I would see if there was ANY juice in the battery after almost four months of unattended cold storage. Turn key, dash lights up, needles sweep. It cranked a little slower and longer than I would generally prefer but it fired up after maybe 5 seconds!! I'll have it on the trickle charger for a few hours tonight.The use of battery tenders is way overrated!! Never understood why people seem to think the bike has to be plugged in after every ride (or even if they aren't riding for a week). More likely to damage the battery by overcharge if you are not using a temperature-compensated charger or if voltage calibration and cut-off voltage are not correct. (Does anyone check theirs regularly???)

I am still going to swap out this battery this year. The old one can produce the volts OK while cranking but I suspect that the ampere-hour capacity is well down from new. I wouldn't want to get stranded somewhere remote (I do a lot of motorcycle camping) and have a starting problem. (Will probably pick up one of the Lithium emergency starter batteries in case of primary battery problems and to charge electronics - cell phone, tablet, Bluetooth speaker, Sena etc.)

Something different about the batteries that were put in the '07s. I'm still on my original, too! Only time I used a Battery Tender was a little last winter and about two days before bringing it out last month. I have a MotoBatt waiting to go in and an XP3 under the seat, just in case.

Now that you mention it, I had my '07's battery in my bike for 6 years. I think the only reason it started to crash was because I think I cooked it with a trickle charger. This forum had me all paranoid about my battery dying and I was using something I wasn't sure how to use. Lol.

Maybe it would still be going, maybe not, I'll never know. What I do know, is the battery I replaced it with is still going strong, and it was that super cheap one a bunch of us jumped on. I can't even remember what brand it is. Lol...

 

[El Toro Joe]

Took it out for a little 175 Mike ride, to test the new spot tracker.

 

[petey]

Changed the low beam headlight bulb...this was the first time in the last 43 years and 16 bikes that I had to replace a headlight bulb. It had to happen..right?

 

[El Toro Joe]

Changed the low beam headlight bulb...this was the first time in the last 43 years and 16 bikes that I had to replace a headlight bulb. It had to happen..right? :grin:

Those damn German machines...LOL...hope it was easier than changing the headlight bulbs on the FJR.

 

[s.ga.rider]

Took an overnight trip to St Augustine Fl. 465 miles round trip.

 

[Kelvininin]

My shift linkage was squeaky, so I took it all apart, cleaned it up, greased, and reassembled. whoever last installed the pivot bolt last used enough blue locktite for the whole damn bike. I had to use an impact to get it out.

 

[Fontanaman]

Delete due to html insert when using phone to quote.

 

[Fred W]

Going shopping tomorrow for vintage 2007 batteries.

Then I'll put a Crags List ad up for my battery tender cause it's useless.

I'll probably wind things up with a 175 Mike ride.

 

[petey]

Changed the low beam headlight bulb...this was the first time in the last 43 years and 16 bikes that I had to replace a headlight bulb. It had to happen..right?

Those damn German machines...LOL...hope it was easier than changing the headlight bulbs on the FJR.

15 minute job...

...probably less if I ever have to change one again

 

[RossKean]

Going shopping tomorrow for vintage 2007 batteries. Then I'll put a Crags List ad up for my battery tender cause it's useless.

I'll probably wind things up with a 175 Mike ride.

I'll sell you the one I just took out of my bike - $80.00 + shipping

Battery tenders are not useless - just not needed the way that many people use them. At least not on an FJR with its low parasitic draw.

And with modern AGM batteries with low self-discharge rates.

... Nevermind

I did manage my first ride of the season - 80 miles or so.

 

[creg-ny-baa]

I'll give ya $10 for the Tender. If ya ship it...

{running and ducking}

 

[Kelvininin]

If battery tenders are useless and I didn't own one, come spring time my camper batteries would be dead, and my lawn mower wouldn't start. I only use the tender if it was going to be a month or more between uses.

 

[AdamK]

Took a 175 mile loop around the interior of the Hood Canal yesterday. Tested out the new Sena with the group. Nice not having wires and the music sounds WAY better than through my ancient Autocom system. Still need to build an interface cable for the HAM radio and give that a whirl through the Sena.

 

[08FJR4ME]

I wish I had nice places to ride.

It takes 2 hours of slab to get to any fun riding places. So that's 4 hours of boring roads just to have fun. I did take the 2008 to work today and I have the rest of the week off. I may squeeze in a day hopefully. I need it.

Dave

 

[Pterodactyl]

I wish I had nice places to ride.

It takes 2 hours of slab to get to any fun riding places. So that's 4 hours of boring roads just to have fun. I did take the 2008 to work today and I have the rest of the week off. I may squeeze in a day hopefully. I need it.
Dave

That must really blow. I live in the middle of a motorcycle Nirvana.

 

[El Toro Joe]

Rode it to work...again

 

[BkerChuck]

Saturday - 200+ miles to get the PA Merci train for the Team Strange Love and Merci tour

Sunday- 140ish miles to visit a Tour of Honor memorial in MD then washed the filthy pig

Today - rode it to work, day 22 consecutive in my 2nd attempt for a perfect year.......