‘I wanted to see if it would hit 100,000 miles – it’s nearly 200k!’
Yamaha FJR1300 200k miles, still going
“I HAD OWED two FJ1200S and so the FJR1300 was a natural progression. The FJS were solid bikes that were great for churning out miles on but they had a chain-drive whereas the FJR came with a shaftdrive. I hoped the FJR would be everything the FJ was, with more power, better handling and less maintenance. As it turned out, it was more than that.
“The FJR is a big bike but back in the 2000s I was doing a lot of camping and touring around Europe with my wife. Loaded up with gear and two-up you need a big bike and the Yamaha easily shrugged off the weight while still remaining fun to ride. I tend to avoid motorways wherever possible and the FJR’S handling is good enough so you can enjoy the ride and not just use it as a straight-line mile-munching tool.
“I was expecting the FJR to be faultfree but in under 1000 miles the front wheel bearing failed, which was down to the factory not greasing them enough and the replacement lasted over 80,000 miles. Some owners moan about
Yamaha being stingy with the grease but that’s the only problem I’ve had.
“The FJR isn’t a hard bike to work on once you get the hang of locating the hidden fasteners that secure its bodywork and I do a lot of homemaintenance. I change the oil every
2000 miles and have also recently stripped and re-greased the suspension linkages. You need to keep on top of these as they do seize and can be tricky to remove unless you change the direction of the front bolt, which means you can gain access to remove it without the exhaust blocking you. I have never had to touch the shaftdrive and now, after nearly 190,000 miles, the original clutch is just starting to slip.
“Despite its weight it isn’t too bad for suspension wear. At around 100,000 miles the OE shock was dead and so I swapped it for a Nitron unit, which I’ve just had rebuilt. When I replaced the shock I also put Hyperpro progressive spring in the forks, which are excellent.
“When I bought the FJR I hoped it would see 100,000 miles. Then it was 150,000. Now it is 200,000 and I can’t see it ever stopping.”
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