Greetings, first post from me. I’ve been toying with picking up an FJR for several years now. Sold my ‘08 VStrom DL650 about two years ago and have been in-between bikes ever since. I’ve kinda had the bug lately, specifically for something that needs a little TLC. There’s an ‘05 local to me with 136k miles on it that I think I can pick up relatively cheap (listed at $3k right now, which is a bit high, hoping for $2k or less).
Everything that I have read convinces me these are high mile bikes and that, if cared for properly, 200k isn’t impossible. So I’m not asking if it’s safe to buy a high mileage bike. I’m curious though what I should look for in a high mileage FJR. What typically fails at 100k+? Should I have a local shop do a compression/leak-down, or are the failures more around transmission, etc.?
I anticipate immediately having to service the front forks (10w, possibly .94kg rated progressive springs), an Ohlins rear shock, all the fluids. There’s a crack in the plastics which I’ll repair and, for this season at least, I’ll probably just plasti-dip the thing with a unique color while I decide on what to paint it. Oddly enough, PO just installed new tires, so there’s a savings there! I understand the cam chain tensioner can be iffy, so I may do that if the PO hasn’t had it done recently.
Thanks in advance, looking forward to picking up some new knowledge. And I’m not afraid to wrench a bit on my toys (I leave my primary vehicles to a trusted mechanic), so it’ll be nice to get into some of these projects—yet balancing that with getting some miles behind me again, finally.
Everything that I have read convinces me these are high mile bikes and that, if cared for properly, 200k isn’t impossible. So I’m not asking if it’s safe to buy a high mileage bike. I’m curious though what I should look for in a high mileage FJR. What typically fails at 100k+? Should I have a local shop do a compression/leak-down, or are the failures more around transmission, etc.?
I anticipate immediately having to service the front forks (10w, possibly .94kg rated progressive springs), an Ohlins rear shock, all the fluids. There’s a crack in the plastics which I’ll repair and, for this season at least, I’ll probably just plasti-dip the thing with a unique color while I decide on what to paint it. Oddly enough, PO just installed new tires, so there’s a savings there! I understand the cam chain tensioner can be iffy, so I may do that if the PO hasn’t had it done recently.
Thanks in advance, looking forward to picking up some new knowledge. And I’m not afraid to wrench a bit on my toys (I leave my primary vehicles to a trusted mechanic), so it’ll be nice to get into some of these projects—yet balancing that with getting some miles behind me again, finally.