85 Yamaha FJ1100, anyone have experience with them?

[Morphious]

I'm looking at picking up a project bike this weekend, I know that it needs second gear (seems to be a weakness in them), fork seals, tires, and probably rebuilding the carbs on it. It's been sitting in this guys garage for a while, so it's dry rotted some things like the clutch cable and throttle cable. I've got him talked down to 800. 00, my question is, is it worth it or would I be better off looking for something newer. I basically want a cheep bike to get back into the groove of riding after about 5 years of no bike.



Morph.

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

FJ's are great bikes. 2nd gear is the biggest problem I'm aware of with them. They are air cooled so there is of course the potential for it having been overheated but I haven't seen much about that with them. If it's been sitting that long and considering the age of the bike you'll want to replace the brake lines and fluids as well - they break down too. They have a pretty good following because they were such good bikes. It's a porky bike compared to current stuff but I wouldn't let that hold you back.

 

[Morphious]

Thanks Steve, that's what I'd been able to learn about them as well, and had already planned to replace the soft lines and fluids througout the bike. The "porkyness" of it doesn't bother me too much, I'm a little porky myself. I don't like the smaller new bikes, at 6'4" in length, they just don't look as comfortable.



Morph.

 

[daytripper63]

I used to love the fj1100 it was a rocket in its day

But I have always had a problem when I get in or on anything with a motor... I only know 2 positions WIDE OPEN or PARKED

Have fun

 

[scootergmc]

I think $800 is too much for a bike you're going to have to completely tear down and rebuild. I wouldn't pay more than $500, IMO. By the time you've got all your parts and labor built into the bike, your total costs may outweigh the worth of the bike itself. There are a lot of solid bikes in the $1500-2000 range, probably the amount it'll cost you in the initial long run. But that's just my opinion. But yes, the FJRs are pretty much good bikes in themselves...

 

[TowPro]

I agree with Scootergmc. Even if you do the work your going to end up spending more then the value of the finished product if you add your labor cost.



Unless your getting it because it has a nostalgic value to you.

I would not buy it if your expecting to fix it and turn it around for a profit.



The jap bikes are going cheep and there is plenty of them out there for sale.



I just checked out an 83 BMW R100 RS. It was in a condition of "sitting for a couple years", plus it had a stripped spark plug hole.



Using the formula V-R=P I came up with a value to offer the owner.



V=Resale value of bike after I repair or restore it.



R=Price to repair or restore it. This has to be a worse case price. In the BMW case I had to include the price of a new cylinder head in case I could not repair the old one. In this area I have to add my time so I get paid for labor. and don't forget body work (paint) if you want to make it look good.



P= Price I can pay to acquire the bike and still break even.



then I document this all and show it to the seller, he was shocked! He wanted me to pay the R value.

Needless to say he still has the bike sitting there with the rotted rubber,worn out paint and stripped spark plug hole.

 

[TowPro]

Also www.kbb.com has a motorcycle section (lower left corner) but those values are not really real in the private market. They look more like "prices relized on Ebay"

 

[BigPapa]

The FJ's were great bikes. If that's what you want, there are more out there that will not require the major repairs that this one does.



That said, I've made my living with metric bikes for over 20 years and the only time FJ's had any problem with 2nd gear was when they were drag raced or hot-rodded. This came from snatching 2nd under power. A lot of the older liter class bikes had this same situation which gave lots of them a bad reputation. Great bikes like the GPZ1100's, GS1000/1100's, CB900/1100F's, CBX's, etc. could all be said to "have a problem with 2nd gear".



I'd steer away from this one and find me one that hadn't been raw-hided.



Scott

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

Perhaps I have a different perspective. On any used liter bike your likely to be replacing the tires at most in a few thousand miles (I get 2,500 miles out of a set of brand new tires on mine) - so that isn't much of a consideration on the price. Anything older than 8 years I'd be replacing all the brake hoses, fluid, pads - so that isn't much of a consideration either. The carbs will probably just need to be cleaned. I could do all the work on that bike in a couple days and I enjoy wrenching on bikes. IMO if the bodywork is in good shape $800 is a good buy. You'll be putting about $500 into tires and cables/hoses - money you'd be spending on any bike anywhere near that price range. If you have to rebuild the carbs (don't you'll have to) another $100 there for a rebuild kit. Fork seals probably $40. Here's a write up on fixing the 2nd gear - http://artemis.crosslink.net/~gforeman/pages/2ndgear.htm . I saw an estimate of about $300 to have it fixed at a dealer. Cheaper if you can do most of the work yourself - I'd send out the assembly to have the teeth undercut on the new gears. Throw $50 in there for miscellaneous fluids, shop supplies, etc. $990 in parts plus the $800 for the bike and your labor and you've got a great bike that'll give you years of good service and like I said about $500 of that you'd be spending on any bike in the under $2k price range (IMO). My $. 02

 

[BigPapa]

I saw an estimate of about $300 to have it fixed at a dealer.

Steve,



Far be it from me to argue with you, but labor alone would cost you $750 at one of my stores unless you brought me the engine out of the frame. Then you'd be looking at @$300 for labor alone. As far as parts go, I guarantee you'll need both 2nd gears, probably counter-shaft 5th, at least one shift fork, and all the gaskets. Lets say $250-$300(If you get a discount!). That puts it at over $1000 for the 2nd gear repair. That's $1800 and we haven't even gotten to the carbs, forks, or tires. Let's say another $400-$500 for that. I'm going to bet it will also need a battery, chain and sprockets, and rear brakes if not both front and rear.



The bikes average retail in GOOD condition is just over $2200. I'll stick with my recommendation to steer clear.



Scott

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

Hey Morph, don't remember where your living now but take a look at this: http://p090.ezboard.com/ffjownersboardfjownersforsaleforum.showMessage?topicID=1024.topic



On the transmission everything I've seen on the repair says you'll need the 2 2nd gears and if I were in there I'd do the shift fork too because as there were problems they were probably trying to force it. Just looked up on an online parts site, main 2nd gear - $62. 14, 2nd pinion $19. 45, shift fork $33. 45. One thing I'd definately check on is that the 2nd gear pinion and shift fork are both back ordered from the site I looked at - make sure you can actually still get those parts! According to that repair guide he says " After talking to Larry at Niagara Race Crafters (near Niagara Falls, Canada), I shipped him my full drive shaft assembly with the old gears, the shift cam, the shift forks, and the 2 new gears I bought. I should have done this before I bought the new gears, as he said they can sometimes fully recover the existing gears depending on the extent of the wear. He adds 6 (or was that 7?) degrees of undercutting to the 3 dogs and all 6 windows (CDN$85 for doing the pair). " So there's a possibility that they may be able to just fix the existing gears. As I recall Morph enjoys wrenching so he may have a good time with the project.

 

[daytripper63]

Here is a real sweet option

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2002...ryZ50053QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[BigPapa]

As I recall Morph enjoys wrenching so he may have a good time with the project.

Steve,



Didn't know Morph was going to do the wrenching himself. That'll save him the labor. The parts are available, although mainshaft 2nd will have to come from Japan. Takes about a week. I can help you out on the parts, better than the on-line parts site. PM me for a price if you want.



I wouldn't suggest an R1 if you're 6'4".



Scott

 

[TowPro]

Something else to watch out for in these "crotch rocket" type bikes is damage caused by guys ridding wheeles, which can starve the engine for oil on some models. I was reading of one guy bought one on ebay, it was find cold but as soon as it heated up it knocked real bad. Dealer said "to bad, you bought it as is"

 

[Morphious]

Wow, lots of replies. Yes, I'm the tinkering sort of person. This is my major project I'm undertaking over the next couple of years



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I've got it almost ready to pull the subframe and rearend. Currently building a body dolly to set the tub on before I remove the rolling parts, then I start cutting out the floor and rear fender sections.



Here are pictures of the bike taken last weekend by the guy selling it.

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I know I can pick up bikes for around 2k that are running, but like Steve said, I'd still want to go through the components and replace alot of the wearables/fluids as well as the tires. I do plan on doing all the work myself except any machine work that would be required if I can save the gears. Steve, I'd seen that article as well and have it bookmarked. Fork seals shouldn't be that big of deal, I will probably want to upgrade the fork springs once I get it to better suit me. I don't know that the carb's need to be rebuilt, the guy winterized it when it was parked. The only thing definite I know it needs is Tires (dry rotted), fork seals and second gear, the others I'm assuming need to be replaced due to age. While I'm at it, I'll also replace the brakes front and back and anything else I feel needs it.





Morph.

 

[TowPro]

That super trap muffler would give me a headache! Wonder if it was a complete exhaust system he installed? I noticed the rust on the header pipes. I would think the factory would be chrome, but I don't know for sure. Does he have the original exhaust?



I love my QUIET Bmw K100!

 

[Morphious]

The supertrapp muffler doesn't bother me, have had them before on bikes or no muffler at all on some of my off-road bikes. From what I've read, the factory exhaust pipes had a problem with rusting on the 1100's, so I'm betting that the pipes are factory and just added the supertrapp as a slip-on change. Will know more Sat. when I drive over to look at it.



Morph.

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

The factory pipe on the FJ was a 4 into 2 so that's an aftermarket pipe.

 

[Morphious]

Thanks Steve, forgot the factory pipes were two into one jobbers. So I guess the aftermarket pipes had a rusting issue as well. This is a very humid state, with salt water in the air off the ocean as well.



Morph.

 

[Morphious]

Man, does time fly, hard to believe I haven't been on here in so long. I started a new Job in Feb and have been on the road for six weeks and only home on the weekends. This is my first week actually at home for the full week and then back on the road for another 6 weeks.



Thought I'd give an update on the bike. I ended up buying it back in November, original asking price was 1050, and ended up talking the guy down to 750. 00. It is now on the road. Over the winter, I tore it down, fixed an electrical problem and cleaned all the connections. Rebuilt the 4 carbs, and got the bike running. I was about to do the fork seals and clutch when I got the new job and suddenly didn't have time to work on it much and was jonesing for a bike to ride, so I took it to the shop to finish out the fork seals, tires front and back, new front brakes, rebuilding the clutch slave and rebleeding it, and adjusting the valves. That bill was about 1100 bucks with parts included. So for about 2000 bucks, I have the bike on the road.



I took it out this past Saturday for a 3 hour ride with some of my neighbors (we looked the motley crew with a harley, a v star and the fj), overall it did really well, except for a few problems with it dieing on me. This was the first tank of fuel I'd run through it and had also added in a can of Sea Foam to help further clean it out after it had sat for 2 years. I filled it up again at the end of the ride (about 3 gallons) and took it out today for about 2 hours of around town and interstate driving and didn't have one problem with it.



I'm very happy with the bike now, have bought a tank bag, as well as my riding gear, and need to get some soft bags for the back for some longer trips I want to take this summer with a friend.



Morph.