On Saturday I got a new motorcycle. Yes, another one. This makes five currently.
It’s a 1990 Yamaha FJ1200 with 93,000 miles on it. And it was free. Free motorcycles are the best.
My new FJ1200 with my 1998 Dodge Neon R/T behind it.
There is a story about this motorcycle.
About two weeks ago I was at a poker party with some friends. (No I didn’t win it in a poker game, but that would have been a good story.)
At one point, Al asked if anyone wanted his FJ1200 for free, as he hasn’t been riding it at all since he bought his BMW K1200LT. Of course I stuck my hand up and indicated that I would love to have it. Then I mentioned that I might want to use it for my Electric Motorcycle project.
Then Charles and I made a deal where he would take Al’s FJ (which is a 1989, but only has 30,000 miles on it and looks brand new) and I would take Charles’ FJ (which has 93,000 miles on it and doesn’t look so new) since I was thinking about ripping the motor out anyway.
On Saturday Charles was done transferring his Givi bags and other stuff from his FJ to Al’s old bike so I got to take Charles’ FJ home.
Charles had even cleaned the carburettors for me. What a guy. Unfortunately, the carbs still need some work, all four of them have holes in the diaphragms. And the diaphragms only come mounted to the slides and cost about $110 each. Ouch. That’s going to have to wait for a while.
It also is leaking oil from the valve cover. This is fortunately easier and cheaper to fix. It needs the valve clearances checked so I’m going to get the gaskets and do that right away. That’s only about $30.
I have to say the FJ1200 is a pretty nice bike. It’s got a hellofa motor. I’m going to like riding this thing around.
Now begins the shell game to get all the bikes fixed up and sorted out. But that’s for another post.
