Yamaha FJ1100 & 1200

This month we’re going back in time to a point where the liquid cooling of motorcycle engines was the exception rather than the norm.

Following some rather stinging criticism about its larger four-strokes, Yamaha knew they had to come up with the goods and pronto if they were to be seen as a creditable force. Having formerly been arch exponents of two-strokes, the company’s previous poppet valve offerings had been rather hit and miss. In fact it was only their 1970-1985 XS650 parallel twin that had really captured the bike buying public’s eye en masse; something had to be done. The early 1980s saw the R&D teams working hard on a large capacity four-stroke motor that played to the company’s strength and learnt from its previous failures.

What the teams delivered was a machine that was, at first glance, only one extra cam away from Honda’s seminal CB750 of 1969. Yet the new FJ1100 was something way, way, better than anyone else had managed in terms of air-cooled fours up to this point. This was, arguably, the first large capacity Japanese four pot fourstroke that really handled in anything like a modern manner.

The super torquey motor was capable of cracking 150mph while the steel frame kept everything neatly in check. Knowing from the off that a bike like this was never going to be a svelte athlete, Yamaha concentrated on keeping the bike’s mass low down where it would have minimal impact upon the handling. The frame was constructed from high tensile steel and built to ensure maximum rigidity of both the headstock and the swing arm pivot. Fitted with the then fashionable 16in wheels the FJ was able to accommodate even shorter riders. Equipped with a well-designed fairing, a decent comfortable seat and an ergonomic riding position the FJ1100 was an instant success becoming a long distance tourer straight out of the crate.

What the FJ wasn’t was a direct threat to Kawasaki’s GPZ900R Ninja which unquestionably robbed some sales from Yamaha; that said both bikes shared one key facet. The two machines had been designed with the engine as an integral part of the chassis; prior to this manufacturers had essentially wrapped frames around whatever the engine designers had thrown at them! Just two years later the bike had been revised with subtly upgraded suspension, a lightweight stainless steel exhaust, revisions to the transmission and an overbore bringing the engine up to 1188 delivering an extra 5bhp with the motor now being rated at 130bhp.

Period road tests ran the new FJ1200 against the likes of Suzuki’s GSX-R11000, Kawasaki’s GPZ1000RX etc. and concluded the Yamaha wasn’t up to the job. But what they’d all so studiously missed was that the FJ was never designed to compete against full fat, out and out, arse-in-the-air sports bikes. The big capacity Yamaha was built to eat away the miles away hour after hour with little impact upon the rider… something that could never be said of the contemporary race replicas. It was almost a veiled threat to the might of BMWs even if Yamaha hadn’t consciously intended it to be.

So why would you want an apparently dinosaurial air-cooled old shonker after all this time? Well for starters it’s bum-basic and without any of the modern tech.

That 16-valve, DOHC, motor is readily serviceable by any half competent home mechanic with the hardest part of the job being the removal of a few panels. Seriously high mileages don’t seem to be an issue to the bike and some have even been raced with a surprising degree of success.

Perhaps one of the best things about the FJ series is that they are so readily upgradable. Many owners have fitted later rear wheels greatly enhancing tyre choice (and grip); brakes can be updated running more modern Yamaha calipers and the FJ owners club has a raft of other crafty upgrades that leaves you spoilt for choice.

You can pretty much guarantee the old models are as sound as a pound.