What did you do to your FJR today?

[bill lumberg]

I considered the strap-on snow claws from aerostich at one point. They’d have been great insurance last Friday. A set of claws was dirt cheap when I looked at hem a while back. Their price on the site has increased exponentially, from less than $50 a set to $150 a set. Wow.

[BkerChuck]

Rode to work again, in the snow this time. Okay, not really but it did snow last night and was flurrying on my ride in. Roads were clear but wet. Left a little early and kept speeds down just in case. Day 270 in the books in my attempt at a perfect year.

[Poolboy2]

!Trailer lights work again!

So I thought I would give closure to the Trailer lights that RedfishHunter, Cav47, Natehawk, half the attendees of SFO, and Myself were not able to figure out why they wouldn't work.

So the story goes.... I bought a trailer just before CFO, wired it to the bike, lights work great. I pulled it around town, highway, interstate, got a Idea of how a trailer pulls behind a motorcycle. Hey, this thing pulls really nice...

Paige an I attend CFO, come home and I did some more research and found a trailer light isolator kit for the FJR. Install the isolator and used a test light to verify I had power to pins for the trailer plug on the bike. Hey, that wasn't so hard,LOL. I start getting ready for the couple weeks I would be away from home before and after SFO.

New, instant set up, tent, air mattress, borrowed my buddy's generator, (1000 watt) just in case I had to do some primitive camping, BIG bottle of Jack Daniels Honey ..everything but the kitchen sink..Get all this crap in the trailer take off and do couple days in Arkansas, work my way up to meet Cav47 at Hillman Ferry Camp ground, Land between the Lakes, Kentucky.

We made our way to SFO and pull up to the drive and there is a car?suv? front wheel drive half way up the driveway and can't get traction, Josh and I stop, I block traffic and Josh goes up and sets himself on the hood and is instructing others to put ballast weight on the running boards and low and behold they start moving and at the precise time Josh jumps off and instructs them not to stop until the top. Mean while a couple bikes pull up behind us and Griff tells me,"Hey Poolboy your trailer lights aren't working" We get up the hill and say hello's ect... Start having a good time and Pants comes drinking around the corner and surprises us and we start having a great time.

I think it was saturday afternoon when GPRider and I returned from Barber museum that I pulled the trailer into the shed and started to diagnose the lights. Many people threw in there two cents, Redfishhunter threw in 6 cents and a muti-meter. This checked out ,that checked out, tore the lights out, checked the fuse??? YES, the fuse is blown, new fuse and we have power to the pins at the back of the bike. Ground pin to the chassis, check, turn signals, running,brake lights!! Bike checks out, trailer checks out as far as we are wiling to pull the thing apart. I make the call, "Were are done spending time on this thing" We didn't come here to spend all night working on this trailer....Redfish says well wait lets try this ,and this. Finally we conceded and put it all back together and took it off the saw horse's and used it for a table.

I'm not sure when the big bottle of Jack Honey came out but the band was in full swing with uncle huds Banana suit and helmet in the back ground. I made my way from the back of the crowd offering a taste or more of, Jack Daniels Honey , from the BIG bottle to everyone, all the way to the empty seat beside Pants in the middle of the crowd. I offered him a taste or 3 and then the rest of the crowd all the way to the band and all the way to the back again and then it went into turks hand and then the decision was made " This bottle cap is going in the fire" well evidently they missed the fire because the next morning Jana, with the good lords help no doubt, had some how pried that devil juice from turks grip and had the bottle, the cap and the last two shots sitting on the counter the next morning.

Were am I going with this story? Oh yea,

SFO-Sunday morning everybody packs up takes off i go to start my bike It is f-ing dead. Turk to the rescue, jump start it and off I go to birmingham, buy a new battery and take it to huntsville where my nephew lives and install it and tear the freaking lights out of the trailer trying to find a cut wire, anything. Getting dark starting to sprinkle I gave up this trailer is going back to the dealer and they can deal with it... Fast forward past Turk and I's two day trip and my way home Via Shady Oaks Camp Ground in Arkansas were i decided there should be a " I'm drunked up in a camp ground in ________no picture camping report" to a couple weeks ago ......

I pull the trailer into my shop and start tearing into the trailer lights saying to myself, "this thing is not going to kick my ass" but got to the point I would have had to pull the loom out the back of the trailer, which would be a REAL PITA. I'm thinking if I do this does it void warranty and took it to the dealer fifty miles away and left it in there hands. Called them a week later and they said they would work on it first thing in the morning and let me know. COOL! Called me early the next day "your trailer lights work just fine. He says "I put power to all the lights and there is nothing wrong." .....I'm thinking me pulling on these wires has unshorted a wire or something???????

He says we think it is probably the ground on your bike. I said ok, if you say they work I'll come get the trailer and figure it out.. I test the ground from the battery to the ground pin at the back of the bike and its good! I ride the bike there hook up the trailer and Walla ! ...No lights... I said can we take two minutes and check for power at the plug on my bike... Sure no problem.. So he checks from the battery tender ground to the ground pin at the back of the bike and says Nope - no ground.

In my defence I was smart enough to bring the bike and the diagram of how I had the plug wired... I said which pin are you on, cause I checked my ground before I left home and it was good, along with the fuse. I look at where he has his meter lead and said, that is not the ground pin this is....and we recheck and sure enough we had tone/continuity... He says well according to the trailers wiring diagram this should be ground, and this should be this ect... Ok, l'll take it home and check out the bike wiring... So I do, and I compare where the trailer wanted power and ground and where I had everything at the plug and Son Of a Biker! nothing is where it is supposed to be??? WTF!!!

I had trailer lights to CFO and back. I installed the trailer light isolator and checked for power at the pins at the back of the bike, I had a ground, turns signals, running lights, brake lights, all good to go right?

Evidently, during installation of the isolator, I mixed up the wires going to the pins at the back of the bike. I'm having a hard time swallowing the fact that I checked power at the back of the bike and didn't plug the freaking trailer in to see if they worked. I had power to the pins, the trailer worked to CFO!! So from the time I plugged the trailer into my bike, (which blew the fuse) to the time I got to SFO There is no way I had trailer lights.. Finished the trip with no trailer lights.

Took the trailer home rewired the plug at the back of the bike to match what the trailer required and faster than you could say, WHERE THE HECK DID I GO WRONG,...............THE LIGHTS WORK>>>>Hallelujah!!! ...........If that didn't work I was going to install a new thermocouple. (some will get that joke some won't)

Thanks to all that tried to help See you next year

[Uncle Hud]

Glad the lights are working. "... the big bottle of Jack Honey ..." <--- there's your problem. (a) Jack Honey, and (b) BIG.

By the way, using my Poolboy2 beer coozie with great pride.

[Hppants]

I'm glad you got it figured out.

I'm also glad that I didn't jump in there and try to help with the diagnosis. Pants can drink. Pants can (sometimes) fix things. Pants CANNOT drink AND fix things.

Man, I got lit up that evening. Trying to keep up with you bunch of alcoholics.... sheeesh!

[Hppants]

Took a break from painting inside my house today. Rode the bike about 425 miles. Nothing out of the ordinary, just ran in and out of the national forest. Weather was nice - dense fog early this morning, but sunshine and about 70 during the mid-day, giving way to clouds later this afternoon and I got just a few sprinkles on the slab about 10 miles from home. For Dec. 21, I'll take it.

Fuel mileage today was about 45, indicative of my easy right wrist for a change. the roads were a bit gritty and damp from the fog, so I pulled it back a notch or two.

Back to painting tomorrow. (sigh)

[bill lumberg]

Rode it for about an hour just wandering. It’s cool to see everything closed. Except for two gas stations, one rite-aid and one cvs, not a single thing open. Merry Christmas, hosers.

[raYzerman]

I found out that fairing pieces for the Gen3 FJR are not all that expensive, and that they sell saddlebag lids separately now....... ordered a couple of parts for the damaged ones on mine. Still not real cheap, but within my comfort zone. Kool, Christmas present to myself.

[bill lumberg]

Switching topcases to take the wife to Helen, Ga. Will be hitting Hofbrauhaus, Hofer’s, the Old Bavaria Inn, and taking the wife shopping. If you haven’t been, you need to go to Helen.

[wheatonFJR]

Have a great time. I've been to Helen...I was disappointed by the all the fake German schtuff.

[bungie4]

I found out that fairing pieces for the Gen3 FJR are not all that expensive, and that they sell saddlebag lids separately now....... ordered a couple of parts for the damaged ones on mine. Still not real cheap, but within my comfort zone. Kool, Christmas present to myself.

Hey, lemme know if swapping the lids are a serious pain in the ass to change. I've gotta paint/replace one... feckin' VT guardrails.

[Uncle Hud]

Have a great time. I've been to Helen...I was disappointed by the all the fake German schtuff.

It's not fake German schtuff. Bump your drunk-ass head into one of them and you'll know that shit's real. DAMHIK.

[Hppants]

Bungie - it's not hard at all to remove and replace lids on the saddlebags. You will need a rivet gun and the correct rivet (I have some and can offer the size if you need to know).

[griff]

Put a Frankentank on the hussy for BMR riding this year. Yea haw.

[bill lumberg]

There's a lot a real german stuff in Helen if you know where to look, but you have to drive past a few buildings painted up like a joke (the convenience store at the edge of the strip, for instance, is hilarious). The sketchy places tend to change ownership regularly. The good ones have remained unchanged for I don't know how long. You have to like that the police cruisers say Polizei on them. Rode back Saturday. Wife (this trip, without my heated gear), got really cold on the way back. So there was a fire in the fireplace all night.

Today, rode in temps that held steady at 12F the entire commute. Jacket liner almost on high, no discomfort except my hands. I have tourmaster gloves arriving today or tomorrow, and will see how they do behind barkbusters. Trying to avoid ordering replacement heated glove liners.

[Uncle Hud]

Where did you find that tank; how many gallons; and what bike is it intended to fit?

Jeez. It's big, alright.

[griff]

Where did you find that tank; how many gallons; and what bike is it intended to fit?

Jeez. It's big, alright.

9 gallon tank from Harry Slaughter in IA, flattracker? I think is his forum handle. He has made a bunch of these tanks for FJRs. This is the first one he made. Most of them are 10 or even the IBR limit of 11 something gallons. Eric Bray has a 10 gallon I think. The bigger tanks cause problems with full handle bar turning. I neede one inch bar risers for tank clearance. It really isn't that much bigger than the normal tank, just a little bit higher.

[bill lumberg]

Well it's pretty damn cool. I'm still trying to figure out MSR fuel bottle mounts to work with my t-rex bag guards. For insurance on long distance rides, and for in-flight refueling for some work buddies who have lower capacity bikes so we can play it closer to the edge if they go with me on some longer rides.

[bungie4]

Put a Frankentank on the hussy for BMR riding this year. Yea haw.

Just how tough is your ass?

[wheatonFJR]

Put a Frankentank on the hussy for BMR riding this year. Yea haw.

Just how tough is your ass?

Don't test him. He's a competitive sumbitch.