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Pointing a new member to a manual is all well and good and of great benefit to the new member. When it is appended to the simple answer to a simple question it encourages further participation in the group. Dismissing a new member by telling them to read the manual instead of giving a simple...

Loose valves are happy valves. Tight valves cause damage. Err on the side of loose.

That's a 92 to 96: FJ1200A (with ABS). Probably a 92 because it was dropped from the US lineup in 93.

Yes. On both counts. :D The Dutch, traditionally a trading nation, developed a reputation as being tight with a guilder. But also a reputation as engineers and builders -- heck, a quarter of the nation's landmass is below sea level. A pretty impressive accomplishment when you consider my...

It may not be as far out of line as it seems at first blush. There's a lot of lines to change with the ABS system and SS braided lines are not cheap, the routing is buried and the required bleeding is extensive. That said, I'm Dutch so I'd do it myself. Edit: Spiegler's website lists the 8 ABS...

I have a helmet with bluetooth connectivity to music, phone and rider. Works with any bike. I have grip heaters that can be applied to the bars under any grips. I come with built-in adaptive cruise control but added a throttle lock to ease the tension on the actuator mechanism on long rides...

Ok, since we are wandering off topic a bit here: An interesting study published on ieecars.com looked at the cost of various vehicles based on purchase price and reliability to rank them by cost of ownership per mile for the remaining estimated lifespan. While foreign marks did tend to dominate...

Just to clarify: I was referring specifically to an engine design and tune specifically aimed at taking advantage of E85's strengths, and a price specific to the end user of E85. You are correct, it is not a blanket solution or application and the pricing is subject to a lot more factors than...

Interesting discussion. In point of fact, while E85 has less energy by volume, it can allow an engine -- particularly a boosted engine -- to be tuned to make more power than straight gasoline. If it's dry, correct proportions, etc. etc. That's why it is popular in the racing world. And while the...

The bike will get it's best fuel economy on the highway in 5th gear, but accelerate to pass best if you downshift. Other than that, the bike doesn't really care -- the torque curve is extremely flat, pulling well at anything over 3,000 rpm; the balancing shaft is very effective. I still...

Ross is correct, Ivan flashed my immobilizer-equipped Canadian ECU. During my research before the flash, I came across info suggesting that US ECU's are a popular European import. Possibly to remobilize stolen bikes (not just FJRs).

Yes, you can have a constand dim setting with LED turn signals to have a "marker" mode. Use PWM control. I did just that in my Givi brake light mod. Pulse Width Modulation means applying full voltage for brief pulses. In my case, I found about a 20% duty cycle was ideal. The lights are switched...

There were some early 04's reported to suffer from the dreaded valve tick, but it was primarily 03 (and older in other parts of the world). The tick was almost universally the result of excessive valve guide wear in the #2 cylinder. Yamaha tried a few things, starting with new valve material...

Ross' list reminded me of a couple I missed: Fork seals (once). Bushings were also replaced since I was in there, but weren't really worn down. Brake and clutch lines were replaced with braided stainless after a few years to restore the feel permanently. Several batteries, before I figured...

Ok, just to clarify: If we are talking MILES, then the recommended valve check is around 25,000mi. If we are talking KILOMETERS then the recommended valve check is 40,000kms. I'm in Canada (as is Ross, above) so I'll talk kilometers. Yamaha's recommended intervals are very conservative. In...

In Ontario. I believe this mirrors the CMVSS and FMVSS, and in fact the odd metric dimensions are due to conversion from the US standard. I added the conversions back to feet and inches in square brackets after the metric values: "2. (1) Subject to section 3, the headlamps on a motor vehicle...

Wow. An 18 year old thread, come back to life! Well, it does show you are doing your research before asking questions, so kudos to you! As Ross says, that doesn't sound unreasonably low. The GenII has twice as many bars as the Gen1, but it's just a finer granularity -- the range is the same...

All those fancy electronic systems to ride your bike for you -- What could possibly go wrong?

To overcome the inertia, they use stiffer springs, and/or reduce lift, and/or reduce duration. It's a complex dance to wring out every last possible bit of HP.

Inertia. Shim-under-bucket design is lighter than shim-over-bucket design. Less prone to valve float at high rpm, all else being equal.