Five-O Feejer

[rPGoatBoy]

Has anyone figured out whether the '13 bikes are susceptible to the ground spider issues of previous model year bikes? I'm wondering if these guys did any online research on it prior to taking the plunge; police bikes having a high electrical demand and all:

https://www.government-fleet.com/news/story/2013/04/idaho-dealer-offers-yamaha-police-motorcycle.aspx

Particularly since it sounds like Beaudry has been burned in the past:

https://www.government-fleet.com/channel/safety-accident-management/news/story/2012/08/kawasaki-suspends-shipments-of-concours-14p-motorcycle.aspx

Thoughts?

 

[FJR-RemingtonRider]

Since Yamaha has addressed the Spider issue in a recall; Don't see them shipping 2013's with the same repeat issue.

With the extra 5-10k the companies are charging, I have to believe they are increasing the ability for the electrical to support the additional items.

Good article though, thanks for posting.

 

[Greg 03]

Damn I wish my chain of command would get one of these for me!

 

[bramfrank]

Yamaha addressed some of the problems in the 2006-2009 models by their recall - but we see periodic lighting failures reported here and elsewhere because they company only fixed the most common issue - over time I would expect that earlier Gen-II machine owners will report an increasing number of failures in the S6/S7 spiders - I do not believe that Yamaha dealt with those spiders in later (2010-2012) Gen-II machines either.

I have not looked at the 2013 bikes, but would expect that the main harness will be just fine - and since the nacelle has been redesigned there is, of necessity a new harness up front. Is it susceptible to corrosion-drive failures? I don't know and I have no plans to check because I'm not in the market for a new ride - it WOULD be nice if I could get my main harness replaced under the recall, mind you. For whatever reason, my dealer has been unable to get Yamaha to ship the part.

A police bike based on the latest FJR is likely a reasonable purchase - with the longer service intervals and lower acquisition costs, it is likely a better choice than the Kawasaki. Can they break the BMW and Harley hold on the US market? Beaudry and BMS sold very few of the Kawasaki bikes (less than 300 units overall) up to mid 2012.

But it could happen.

 

[Yroundrdn]

The article below discusses Kawasaki dropping shipments of the P14 due to a fuse blowing and stalling the bike.

I built a Super Tender into a police bike because of our of road needs. Never had a problem. It was a great bike. I'll try post a pic from this phone.

 

[Makuna]

That's one way to fix the mirror issues, put on some police lights

 

[deanw]

Note that FJRs have been used as police bikes and medical fast-response units in Europe since the word "go". Also note, as far as Kawasaki Japan is concerned, there never was a police version of the C14, which, when all the bells, whistles, and gongs are going, can pop the main fuse. That's a bad thing in a corner. Other than that, not a few C14-P riders I talk to aren't going to miss them. The bike handles like a dream at speed, but is a cast iron bitch at slow speeds- and they have to qualify on a traditional cone course, which the C14 doesn't have the turning radius to do gracefully. (Complicated by the fact the crash bar setup takes away quite a bit of lean angle.)

The first one to build in this adaptation will get attention locally:

That unsightly bulge securely houses an AR-15.

 

[Yroundrdn]

Here are some photos. Great bikes, unfortunately no longer my ride.