Fella came down to buy some bits off of me (yes it was you Paul Robinson) and commented on what a heap of sh*t my bike was. At first I was deeply offended and was tempted to 'release the hounds'. Then I realised he was in fact absolutely correct. Though I'd swapped forks, wheels, swingarms etc, I'd never done anything cosmetically.
She'd been used for three years at over 10,000 miles per year in all weather and it had taken it's toll. So I decided to give the old girl a makeover.
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First was all new plastics. The fairing had been damaged in an accident sometime ago. I had acquired some parts from someone on the FJ list selling some surplus panels. They were in Yamaha 'Shiny Black' rather than the 'Midnight Blue'. However following a fortunate mishap by a passing truck, an insurance claim ensued that covered everything including the previously damaged items. I ordered this lot in 'Shiny Black' too.
The exhaust, though functioning perfectly, was a little tired and I fancied a change. I spotted a Devil 'Kenny Roberts' 4 into 1 high level exhaust for the XJR1200/1300 and decided it would be pretty simple to fit. I'd long since finished taking passengers on the FJ, so the rear footrests were sacrificed. The quality of the system is very good, the front pipes and collector are a work of art. The rear brake master cylinder had to be mounted directly on the subframe as their previous mounting position , on the footrest plates was no longer there !
I went for a full race carbon can this time. The sound is very deep and probably a shade louder than the Renegade I had before. But not too much. Well okay it's not legal.
Took her on the Hamburg run like this and she performed pretty well. Unfortunately some pitting in the fork legs blew the fork seals, so this winters project is a front fork rebuild. It never ends !
