2006 Yamaha FJR1300A (Sold)
Purchased new in 2006.
I added OEM top case with back pad shortly after delivery.
I added a RAM mount on the master cylinder mirror mount. I’d run my Garmin Vista C. connected to the power outlet in the glove box.
I added heated grips at some point, along with two power outlets for heated vests for myself and the woman.
I added a K&N air filter after a couple years. It was a pain to change out the air filter, so I upgraded.
After the initial break-in period, I switched to full synthetic oil. I preferred K&N oil filters because they we easier to take off.
I usually ran Metzler Z6s on this bike. The OEM Bridgestones were crap. I scalloped them within the first 2500 miles. The Z6s worked great in all conditions. I get fairly good life out of the rears. Usually about 5000 out of a rear and around 8000 for a front. If I did tire changes around 4000 – 4500 miles, it worked out.
I had a few niggles with the locks on the side cases. On a trip to Laguna Seca, the entire lock assembly fell apart on the left side. I was stopped inside King’s Canyon National Park and just happened to notice the problem. I did a crappy field repair and continued on my way. I found a dealership on Valdosta, CA the next day for a longer lasting fix. I had additional problems with the internal slide not working correctly. It would get jammed inside the housing and refuse to slide out. The field solution was to lay the bag on it’s side, move the pin out a bit, then attach to the bike. It sucked, but I never bothered to get it fixed correctly. A bit of lube helped. After a few years, the problem went away.
Added PIAA driving lights around 2099.
My best fuel mileage number was 58 mpg according to the computer. That was two-up and fully loaded on a trip to Ucluelet, BC.
I crashed it once in the snow. I dropped it a few times. Once in a parking lot. Once when I was pulling out from my girlfriend’s place. I had forgotten to unhook the security cable. All forward progress stopped when I reached the end of the cable. Go figure…
I sold the bike in Nov 2011 with 21,612 on the odo with was replaced around 4,000 miles under a factory recall. So the bike had about 26,000 miles on it when it left my world.
Here are a few pics I took when I sold it.
This was a great bike and I was a bit sad to see it go, but it was time. The XTZ was getting all of my attention and I didn’t really have room for everything and winter was coming. It needed to go.
