FJRiders.com

bigjohnsd wrote: ↑Thu Feb 27, 2025 7:46 pm

Toter wrote: ↑Thu Feb 27, 2025 6:05 pm

bigjohnsd wrote: ↑Wed Feb 26, 2025 2:47 pm I removed the OEM hand guards from my new Suzuki DL800 and replaced them with Barkbusters and associated hand guards/wind deflectors. I remembered that Suzuki hand guards were a "thing" on the FJR, I think I had a set on my '13. It only took a little bit of fiddling and McGyvering to get these to fit. Bar end handlebar weights are at a machinist friends to have the appropriate grooves machined in to accept the Suzuki end.

Interesting. The ones for the GS come with the appropriate spacers and washers to bolt right up. Not so for the Zuke?

McGyvering was required on the Suzuki handguards I installed on the FJR, the Barkbusters fit on to the DL800 just fine. The FJR has no mirror mount on the brake cylinder and the Suzuki Guards use that as an inner attachment point. I used an aluminum Ram Ball Brake Cylinder mount with the appropriate slots and spacing. I ground off the Ram Ball and then made the remaining aluminum round, threaded it 10MMx1.50 pitch and used an aluminum spacer, and a Stainless Steel nut and washer to affix the handguard to the brake master cylinder.

I'm with you now. The 2014 Suzuki handguards mounted to the lever pivot bolts and was easy peasy.

bigjohnsd wrote: ↑Thu Feb 27, 2025 7:46 pm

Toter wrote: ↑Thu Feb 27, 2025 6:05 pm

bigjohnsd wrote: ↑Wed Feb 26, 2025 2:47 pm I removed the OEM hand guards from my new Suzuki DL800 and replaced them with Barkbusters and associated hand guards/wind deflectors. I remembered that Suzuki hand guards were a "thing" on the FJR, I think I had a set on my '13. It only took a little bit of fiddling and McGyvering to get these to fit. Bar end handlebar weights are at a machinist friends to have the appropriate grooves machined in to accept the Suzuki end.

Interesting. The ones for the GS come with the appropriate spacers and washers to bolt right up. Not so for the Zuke?

McGyvering was required on the Suzuki handguards I installed on the FJR, the Barkbusters fit on to the DL800 just fine. The FJR has no mirror mount on the brake cylinder and the Suzuki Guards use that as an inner attachment point. I used an aluminum Ram Ball Brake Cylinder mount with the appropriate slots and spacing. I ground off the Ram Ball and then made the remaining aluminum round, threaded it 10MMx1.50 pitch and used an aluminum spacer, and a Stainless Steel nut and washer to affix the handguard to the brake master cylinder.

WTF??? I have installed V-Strom handguards on FJRs more times than I care to remember. I have never had to jump through all those hoops. Perhaps it's some new version from that POS Zuke you bought?

SkooterG wrote: ↑Thu Feb 27, 2025 9:34 pm

bigjohnsd wrote: ↑Thu Feb 27, 2025 7:46 pm

Toter wrote: ↑Thu Feb 27, 2025 6:05 pm

Interesting. The ones for the GS come with the appropriate spacers and washers to bolt right up. Not so for the Zuke?

McGyvering was required on the Suzuki handguards I installed on the FJR, the Barkbusters fit on to the DL800 just fine. The FJR has no mirror mount on the brake cylinder and the Suzuki Guards use that as an inner attachment point. I used an aluminum Ram Ball Brake Cylinder mount with the appropriate slots and spacing. I ground off the Ram Ball and then made the remaining aluminum round, threaded it 10MMx1.50 pitch and used an aluminum spacer, and a Stainless Steel nut and washer to affix the handguard to the brake master cylinder.

WTF??? I have installed V-Strom handguards on FJRs more times than I care to remember. I have never had to jump through all those hoops. Perhaps it's some new version from that POS Zuke you bought?

As I recall the Suzuki handguards I mounted on my '13 attached to the pinch bolts, these attach to the Mirrors on the DL800 the 10x1.50 pitch threaded hole works great on the Clutch side of the FJR but there is no similar attachment point on the Brake side, hence McGyver.




I've got a set of GSA Handguards if anyone is interested?

Schew! I think I am finally done getting the '09 FJR I've been working on up to speed.

Installed new RoadSmart 4 tires front and rear. Installed blue reflective rim tape. All new front brake pads. Flushed brake and clutch fluids. Oil change. Final drive oil change. New air filter installed. She's like a brand new (16 year old 41k mile) FJR!!!

And the two most important farkles finally installed:

Replaced the brake light bulbs with some led bulbs with load resistors, fixed the horn (wire came off the relay) and fixed the broken windshield trim mounting tabs, and removed the windshield angle kit. I didn’t like the windshield angled back toward me so much, I prefer it more up and down.

JustinNck1 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 28, 2025 6:20 pm Replaced the brake light bulbs with some led bulbs with load resistors, fixed the horn (wire came off the relay) and fixed the broken windshield trim mounting tabs, and removed the windshield angle kit. I didn’t like the windshield angled back toward me so much, I prefer it more up and down.

That's the tallest windscreen I've ever seen. Do you clear going through low bridges?

Toter wrote: ↑Fri Feb 28, 2025 7:56 pm

JustinNck1 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 28, 2025 6:20 pm Replaced the brake light bulbs with some led bulbs with load resistors, fixed the horn (wire came off the relay) and fixed the broken windshield trim mounting tabs, and removed the windshield angle kit. I didn’t like the windshield angled back toward me so much, I prefer it more up and down.

That's the tallest windscreen I've ever seen. Do you clear going through low bridges?

Yeah, it’s pretty darn tall from what I’ve researched, it is a Rifle windshield, not sure on the specs of it though.

It's not a Rifle. Rifle for Gen II had two 'tuning blocks' that screwed into normal windshield screw locations. And windshield was screwed into those. So, on a Gen 2 Rifle screen you can't screw it into the stock hole locations as yours shows.

Windshield has a Naca vent in the front.... Cee Bailey's???

Cal Sci.

I had a medium with tuning blocks on my 04. Smooth and quiet up out down, all speeds. i can't imagine getting a better windshield setup than that

bungie4 wrote: ↑Sat Mar 01, 2025 9:17 am Cal Sci.

I had a medium with tuning blocks on my 04. Smooth and quiet up out down, all speeds. i can't imagine getting a better windshield setup than that

Yes it is very smooth, no buffeting. I always ran a Yamaha touring shield on my Gen 3, this definitely has more wind protection. Here are what the spacers I removed look like.

Nice day here in central NC so I texted BigOgre. We met up about an hr southeast of me and headed east for a couple-3 hrs for some down east NC bbq. Fine day tho it did get "a little breezy" . 353 miles and a couple killer sammiches for me!




<iframe title="vimeo-player" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/68061674?h=86df32b443" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

edit - updated to embed vs link.

Snow in the driveway is all but gone. Melted snow is ice rink on curve of driveway. I took it out of the maintenance area, pointed it to the garage door, saddle bags on, warmed it up, quick dusting, key in the ignition. I am in escape mode…i just need 30 minutes of nice weather. Supposed to get over 40 this week but calling for rain..snow next weekend…not sure I will get out but I am ready

Houston, we have a problem...



I carved out some time to continue the pre-season routine. Today's tasks included flushing fork cartridges and reassembly, changing out spark plugs and maybe a coolant flush and fill. I pulled the tank and removed the spark plug wires, blew off the top of the valve cover to keep the garbage out of the cylindars. Pulled the plugs with no problem. Prepped the new ones with anti sieze and removed the end caps. #4 & #3 went in smooth as butter. #2 when in, then something felt "off". A subtle pop, or slip - like the ratchet skipped a tooth. I slowly backed out the spark plug. I cleaned the anti seize off it, and it looked fine - no visible indication of something being off. I thought that maybe there was something in the threads of the cylinder - so I hit it with the shop vac to make sure; visually, it looked clear. I took a new spark plug and ran it into #2 - butter smooth. I took that last spark plug and threaded it into #1. It snugged and as I put a bit of torque to it with my stubby ratchet, it popped and the ratchet spun freely. Rut-Roh...

I lifted the socket out and found the broken spark plug.



This was a brand new NGK CR8E-IX. It's not like I was using a 20v Dewalt Impact driver or 1/2" breaker bar to install them. I took a walk to the corner store, grabbed a snicker's bar (you're more angry when you're hungry...) and a can of coke.

Comfort food ingested, FML texts sent - now let's get serious...

I took one of the old spark plugs and cut it at the base of the threads. That let me test fit extractor bits on the bench to confirm exactly which size to use. The straight flute 1/4" extractor seemed to fit best; A 1/4" drive extension end if on it perfectly, allowing me to rotate it with a 1/4" wrench. I gave it 2 firm taps and put the wrench on it. I use anti sieze on the threads every time, and that broken peice backed out smoothly.

Holy crap - That could have been so much worse! But why the hell did a brand new spark plug break so easily? You can see the stubby ratchet I was using - I've always done spark plugs this way; snug them with that stubby, then tighten with my regular 3/8" ratchet.

Forkin' hell, what the fork was that!! Jeez.... match up the pieces, see if there was a pre-existing crack there before you even started. I can't imagine anything but broken during the threading process..... might wanna bring that to the attention of NGK...... ????
Damned straight use anti-seize. Torque only 1/4 turn or so after gasket seats (by hand). Yammy says 13 ft. lbs., which I tested seems about right after 1/4 turn..... certainly not your fault!!! Glad the crisis was avoided.

Where did you buy the NGK spark plug? Widespread reports of counterfeit NGK spark plugs being sold on eBay and Amazon.

That could have been a lot worse. Glad you got it out.

This set was ordered from Amazon; same as the set from 2023, and 2018 before that. Picture below is 2 of the old ones and the 4 new ones (right before I removed the caps).

N4HHE wrote: ↑Sun Mar 02, 2025 8:20 pm Where did you buy the NGK spark plug? Widespread reports of counterfeit NGK spark plugs being sold on eBay and Amazon.

Glad I could help.

Lol

extrememarine wrote: ↑Sun Mar 02, 2025 9:49 pm This set was ordered from Amazon; same as the set from 2023, and 2018 before that. Picture below is 2 of the old ones and the 4 new ones (right before I removed the caps).

N4HHE wrote: ↑Sun Mar 02, 2025 8:20 pm Where did you buy the NGK spark plug? Widespread reports of counterfeit NGK spark plugs being sold on eBay and Amazon.

The next question, "Was it 'Sold by Amazon', 'Fulfilled by Amazon', or a 3rd party via Amazon?"

There are a number of websites with information on how to distinguish genuine from counterfeit spark plugs. This is one:
https://www.ngkntk.com/newsroom/blog/emea/fake-or-not/