Yamaha XJ900F

June 13, 2009, 71,500km

2009-06-13T13:10:00.002+01:00

Sold the XJ for 200 euro! After adding a bit of fuel the XJ started, after more than half a year standing still, with one press on the starter button. Good bikes, those XJ's.
I hope its new owner will make a nice bike out of it again. Since he's read this blog he knew exactly what he bought, so the state of the bike will not surprise him.
That leaves me with an empty space in my garage... Hmmmmmm...

THE END

January 31 2009, 71,500

2009-01-31T20:09:00.002+01:00

My little finger has finally healed and I wanted to awaken the XJ from its wintersleep. Very hesitantly and with aid of my car it finally started. To stop running after a little while. As it turned out the fueltank had been leaking and the tank was completely empty. I guess the bike had been running on a little gas left in the carburators. A leaking fueltank is one of the weak spots of the XJ900F, and now it happened to mine. This, together with the extra hole in the exhaust, made me decide to buy another commute bike. I had already been looking for a follow up for a little while and found the BMW R850R a worthy replacement. I knew one that met my demands almost completely: heated grips, ABS, windscreen, hard cases, low mileage.

A small testdrive convinced me even more: nice throttle response, very flickable, comfortable (so far as being noticable in a short ride), stable, gear change quite good. Only negative thing I could find was the rather weak frontbrake. I told this to the shopowner and he promised me he would change the breaking oil and replace the pads. That should suffice. After a week or so I can pick it up.

So the venerable XJ is for sale. Any takers?

January 1 2009, 71,500

2009-01-01T10:50:00.002+01:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

December 12 2008, 71,500km

2008-12-12T19:09:00.002+01:00

As it turned out my little finger still hasn't healed and riding a motorcycle will be impossible for another 6 weeks. That means that I won't be riding a bike anymore this year :(

November 11 2008, 71,500km

2008-11-11T21:37:00.003+01:00

Using my car now for 2 weeks instead of the XJ to go to work. It's getting boring so I've begun a cdrom course Spanish while crawling in the traffic jam. Now I'm for the time being condemned to be a cager I can observe the lane splitting bikers very well too. I always notice them rather late, most of the time they're already within a few meters of my car. And that while I'm more or less on the look out for them. It doesn't matter if they have extra bright lights (xenon) of have a loud pipe: they're invisible until being quite close. I always thought using the blinkers as alarmlights was rather useless, but I experience now that it does help a little bit to notice the biker a bit earlier. Valuable lessons for me when I -at last- can use the bike myself again: as biker you're hardly noticed no matter you do, so stay alert and drop your speed.
On the other hand a lot of my fellow cagers (grrrr...) do try to make way when they notice a biker but some are blind for everything and will block the bikers unintentionally.

October 28 2008, 71,500km

2008-10-28T22:42:00.002+01:00

Darn, tore a tendon(?) in my little finger while playing volleyball. I don't think I can ride a motorcycle now for about 6 weeks :( I'll have to take the car to work and endure the traffic jams, jealously looking at the motorcyclists lane splitting.
The XJ was still going strong. A bit noisy with the extra hole in the exhaust, but for the rest it's fine.

August 16 2008, 69,090km

2008-08-16T12:28:00.002+01:00

Checked the exhaust. It seems the left muffler is leaking where it's connected to the collector. Dunno how to fix this. I'll let it be until the next servicing. That'll be in about 10,000km. Hmmm, I hope it'll keep that long...

August 13 2008, 68,000km

2008-08-13T21:43:00.004+01:00

Found a 3 years old pic of the XJ of the day I first got it. The bike looks very clean and shiny and now I feel a bit guilty because I've more or less neglected the bike all this time. There's rust everywhere and the bike is very filthy now.

Can't promise I'll better my life, but I'll try to take more care of this reliable bike.

July 23 2008, 68,800km

2008-07-23T17:45:00.000+01:00

Exhaust is leaking somewhere from the collector...

July 5 2008, 68,100km

2008-07-05T14:59:00.001+01:00

Nothing much to report actually. Added some air and oil, as usual. Bike is still going strong.

May 31 2008, 66,707km

2008-05-31T13:08:00.002+01:00

Finally fixed the speedo, after almost 3 months. Can't say I've missed it, since I do mostly lanesplitting where the speed is just above falling over. :)

May 22 2008, 66,707km

2008-05-22T18:09:00.004+01:00

Still haven't found the time (or mind) to fix the speedo.
Lately I'm using the iPod for some music during commuting. I like it a lot and I find it not too distracting.

March 28 2008, 66,707km

2008-03-28T21:09:00.003+01:00

The bike got a new rear tire (Metzler 120/90-18 Lasertec RTL, 110 euro). The previous tire held about 15,000km, not too bad.
The mechanic had a look at the speedo too and saw that the stuffies inside the frontwheel were broken. The ordered some new stuff (50 euro) and I think I will fix it myself when it arrives.

March 26 2008, 66,707km

2008-03-26T19:12:00.002+01:00

The rear tire went flat this morning. I guess one of the 3 (...) patches gave in. I had to wait for an hour and a half before the autoclub finally came. They brought me home and I took the Pan to work. I think I'll have the rear tire replaced and not have it patched again ;)

March 25 2008, 66,707km

2008-03-25T14:32:00.001+01:00

Winter still won't budge. Because of snow, frozen roads and lousy public transport I decided to take the day off today. It's expected to be better tomorrow.

March 17 2008, 66,707km

2008-03-18T00:26:00.002+01:00

Hmmm, speedo still isn't working. So it wasn't the cable ;)
I now suspect the construction in the front wheel. But for the time being I don't feel like taking that stuff apart, so I'll use the rev counter as speedo for now :)

March 15 2008, 66,707km

2008-03-15T17:19:00.002+01:00

Replaced the speedo cable (12 Euro). Removed the GPS stuff (wiring and ram mount) since I don't think I will be using this on the XJ anymore.

March 7 2008, 66,707km

2008-03-07T19:30:00.002+01:00

The squeeking has suddenly stopped, and at the same time the speedometer stopped working. Can't be a coincidence, can it? ;) Now I've got to buy a new speedometer cable.

March 6 2008, 66,666km

2008-03-06T19:17:00.002+01:00

Tried the last few days the new Shoei Multitec helmet. I like it a lot: very comfortable and much less windnoise than from all of my previous helmets.
There're coming some strange sounds from the front wheel of the XJ. Seems like it's coming from the front brakes, but I can't find anything wrong with them. Maybe a dragging brake pad?

February 25 2008, 66,100km

2008-02-26T22:11:00.006+01:00

Today I tested the Oregon Scientific ATC2K camera I've bought a while ago. After some experimenting I found a nice spot for the camera on the left handlebar. During the commute to my work I recorded all of my events. Which were about zilch. It resulted in a very boring vid of about 40 minutes and 1.5 GB. When I've downscaled it to acceptable proportions I'll post it here or on YouTube. Could be another YouTube hit :) The quality of the vid is, by the way, not so great. You get what you paid for... On top of this post you'll find a teaser of the complete video ;)

February 15 2008, 65,530km

2008-02-15T20:49:00.001+01:00

Wanted to have the rear tire replaced today, but the garage didn't have one in stock. So they repaired the two leaks, which was a lot cheaper than a new tire: 22 Euro ;).

February 9 2008, 65,000km

2008-02-09T15:27:00.000+01:00

Hmmm, seems I've got a puntured rear tire again. Tire pressure was way too low and I saw 2(!) pieces of metal in the tire. This time I'm gonna have the tire replaced since there not much thread left anyway.

February 8 2008, 65,000km

2008-02-08T18:33:00.000+01:00

It felt like spring today. Very nice.
Can't tell if the yellow headlight bulb has any effect on my visibility. But it can't hurt.

February 2 2008, 64,600km

2008-02-01T18:59:00.000+01:00

Installed the yellow bulb. The light is now exactly as I want it to be. I should be better noticed now when lane splitting...

January 31 2008, 64,500km

2008-01-31T19:12:00.000+01:00

The gloves are working again. I cleaned and rewired the plug that goes into the plug of the battery. It was all corroded and dirty and it looks like this was the cause of the failure.
I'm ready for a real winter now. Just kiddin'... ;)

January 29 2008, 64,340km

2008-01-29T22:51:00.000+01:00

The heated gloves stopped working, right when it starts to get real cold again. Got to fix this asap.

January 28 2008, 64,250km

2008-01-28T18:27:00.000+01:00

Got my yellow bulbs (2 for 18 euro). They're made by Autic and searching on the Web I found that this was a Chinese manufacturer. Well, let's see if these guys can make some decent lightbulbs. I'll install the bulb asap.

January 22 2008, 63,777km

2008-01-22T18:36:00.000+01:00

While starting the XJ this morning the headlight broke. Along the way I bought a new one (Osram Silverstar, 13 Euro) and I replaced the broken one at my work.
Because the kind of light of this bulb resembles that of cars I won't stand out that much anymore when lane splitting so I think I'm going to buy an all yellow bulb asap.

January 9 2008, 63,000km

2008-01-09T21:45:00.000+01:00

Happy New Year!

The XJ got serviced today. Besides the usual stuff (valves, sparkplugs, oil, filters, etc) the rear tire has been repaired and the front brakes overhauled. This all cost 162 euro for parts and 307 euro labour, which makes a grand total of 469 euro. Again a lot of money, but now the bike is ready to do another 20,000km. I hope.

December 29 2007, 62,510km

2007-12-29T15:18:00.000+01:00

Haven't seen my bikes for a week now and decided to check them out today. The Pan was fine, regretfully the XJ has a punctured rear tire which looses pressure and the shaft is losing a bit of oil. Next week I'm gonna call the garage and have it fixed. Maybe let them give the XJ a service job too. It's been a while...

December 21 2007, 62,510km

2007-12-21T18:12:00.000+01:00

Succes! I don't think the more sheltered spot worked, but when I put the choke halfway the XJ started almost immediate this evening. I guess this is the trick to start the bike in cold weather. I'm afraid I'm going to get enough chances to test this assumption...

December 20 2007, 62,420km

2007-12-20T18:34:00.000+01:00

Hmmm, that didn't work either. Had to push start the bike again this evening. Thanks collegues :). Next thing I'm gonna try is to put the bike in a more sheltered place in stead in the open where it catches more cold wind.

December 19 2007, 62,330km

2007-12-19T23:14:00.001+01:00

Yep, that did the trick. The bike started on its own this time. Still a bit hesitant, but hey, the circumstances are pretty lousy: cold and moist.

December 18 2007, 62,230km

2007-12-18T20:09:00.000+01:00

It's been a while since the last entry in the blog, but no news is good news: the XJ did and does it's job perfectly. Meanwhile I've done almost 50,000km on the bike in 2 and a half year. Buying this Yamaha has been a good decision.
Winter has arrived in The Netherlands and temps are around zero Celcius during daytime. When I wanted to leave from work this evening the XJ refused to start and we had to push start it. The battery had enough juice, so I guess it must have been something to to with the mixture. When the bike finally started you could smell the fuel. I guess I drowned the bike a bit. Next time I'm going to start it with the lights off and with the heated gloves disconnected and without using the throttle. That should do the trick to have a nice spark and the correct mixture.
Wish this winter was over...

October 22 2007, 58,888km

2007-10-22T19:41:00.000+01:00

It's that time of year again: it's getting colder and I've put the lining into my textile suit and put the wiring in for my gloves as well. I really do not like the cold but anything is better than public transport ;).

October 9 2007, 58,588km

2007-10-09T17:08:00.000+01:00

Today I had the leaking front fork seal replaced. They did the other one as well, just to be on the safe side. Inspection of the fork leg learned that the chrome coating was badly worn. This will probably lead to another leakage in the near future. When this occurs I think I have the legs replaced (79 euro each), or I'll buy another commuter bike. While they were at it they loosend up the dragging front brakes, replaced the engine oil and fitted a new front tire (Bridgestone BT45). All of this set me back 360 euro, more than half of this was spent on labour.

September 22 2007, 57,600km

2007-09-22T20:55:00.000+01:00

I bought the XJ two years ago because I needed a bike to go to work with in order to spare my ZX-12R. And I wanted a bike with which long trips were possible because we had plans to go to Spain, and I didn't want to take the ZX-12R on such a trip (uncomfortable, short range, problems with luggage). After two years and 45,000km (done by me, added to the 112,000km to start with) the XJ starts to show its age, especially in the handling and brake department. So I'm looking around for a replacement for the XJ. Its prerequisits are: light(ish), maintenance free, shaftdrive, low fuel consumption and cheap (Dutch, you know :) ). It doesn't have to be suitable for touring anymore since I've got the Pan European now. There are not much bikes around that fit these demands. Actually I can only think of two: the Kawasaki GT550 and the Honda NTV650.

Today I went to look at an NTV650 from 1994. It didn't look too bad and I made a test ride. Immediatly I felt the rather heavy vibrations of the V-twin. Handling, braking etc were all just fine, but I didn't like the character of the V-twin: hesitant to rev higher, vibrations. Nope, I didn't think an NTV and I were destined to be friends. So I thanked its owner and went home again. Maybe I'm going to try another NTV to see if these vibrations etc are normal, otherwise I think I spend some money on the XJ and use it just a bit longer.

August 27 2007, 56,100km

2007-08-27T16:40:00.000+01:00

It's been three weeks since I rode the XJ for the last time. I've had a vacation in the mean time and didn't feel the need to use the Yamaha. Today I had to work again, so I used the trusted steed again.
I had already noticed that the front suspension was quite soft again. Today I got my fear confirmed: leaking left fork leg. Again. That's the price you've got to pay when they put a flimsy fork like that on such a heavy bike. Got to make an appointment with my dealer asap.

July 24 2007, 55,555km

2007-07-24T16:57:00.001+01:00

Steering felt heavy again. Checked the front tire pressure and it was again too low. Seems I have a slowly deflating tire. Bummer. Luckily the tire is nearing the end of its thread, so it is no big problem if it must be replaced.

July 6, 54,577km

2007-07-06T15:51:00.000+01:00

Measured the pressure of the front tire. It was the half less as it should be. That could be the reason of the lousy steering lately (ahem). I thought it was the sloppy front suspension. Maybe I'd better give the bike I use almost every day a bit more attention. As it deserves.

July 4, 54,450km

2007-07-04T20:05:00.000+01:00

This evening the red oil light lit up. I drove to the nearest gasstation to buy some oil. They didn't have motorcycle oil, so I bought car oil, expecting this won't be a big problem. I had to fill up for more than half a liter. I check the oil level every week, but I guess the bike isn't level on the spot I check it. Got to be more carefull with this.

June 5, 2007, 52,750km

2007-06-05T19:48:00.000+01:00

Nothing to report actually. Bike is still going strong. Vibrates a bit.

April 20, 2007, 51,000km

2007-04-20T20:06:00.000+01:00

Had the rear tire replaced by a Bridgestone BT45 for 135 Euro.

April 2, 2007, 50,000km

2007-04-02T19:06:00.000+01:00

Today I crossed the 50,000km mark, of which I did 38,000km myself. The bike is still running fine. Vibrates a bit, but not very disturbingly. Now I've got the Pan the XJ won't be necessary for touring, unless we go to Russia after all, then I won't use the expensive luxury bike. But this tour won't happen this year, and maybe never.

March 12 2007, 49,700km

2007-03-27T17:13:00.000+01:00

The rear tire is almost worn and lasted almost 20,000km. That's nice. The distance covered that is, not the fact that it is worn ;).

March 23 2007, 49,500km

2007-03-23T15:47:00.000+01:00

The XJ will soon be accompanied by the Honda St1300 Pan Europena Deluxe I've bought today. I decided to not wait for the Kawasaki GTR1400 and get myself a decent touring machine. I hope the XJ won't be jealous :)

March 17 2007, 49,100km

2007-03-17T18:48:00.000+01:00

Today, Ton, Pim and I went to see some Pan Europeans that I might buy. One of them, that is :). The shop we went to had about 6 or 7 Pans for sale and one relatively young one looked like a suitable candidate. But because the owner was very busy with another client and because the Pan wasn't in the right color for me, and because I had a lot more Pans on my short list, we went away again. Ton had to go home soon after and left Pim and me to make a nice ride along the IJsselmeer. Halfway Pim and I switched bikes and I rode the mighty Busa again. After the comfortable XJ the Busa was a backbreaker. As always at the start of the season you've got to get used to this cramped seatingposition. Still the power was great to experience again.

March 11 2007, 48,382km

2007-03-11T17:40:00.000+01:00

Ton and I made a nice trip today. Ton on his FJR and I on the XJ. At the beginning of the trip Ton wanted to try the XJ, for oldtimes sake, because he has had one a long time ago. Besides the brakes he found it an okay bike. I used the FJR for a while and noticed already at the first meters the power, good brakes, comfort, stability, etc. It's obvious that Yamaha made 'some' progression in the time between XJ and FJR.
Along the way Ton told me that the left rear bulb did funny things. At home I checked it and it seems that even LED lights cannot withstand the vibrations of the XJ. The LED's were loose in the casing. Nice try, but no sigar. Last resort are the heavy duty bulbs that seem to exist.
Although the XJ behaved very fine today, I doubt I can do much longer without a good bike. It's nog only the technology that's outdated, but the eye wants something too. I doubt I can wait for the GTR. A Pan European looks more attractive every day...

BTW We didn't see the expected amount of police. Just one lasergun checkpoint which didn't bother us because we were touring and not racing :)

March 9 2007, 48,100km

2007-03-09T22:07:00.000+01:00

It seems Spring will start this weekend. Especially Sunday promises to be a very nice day. I will probably hook up with some friends and do some riding. I expect it will be quite busy with bikes because every biker wants to enjoy the first warmth of this year. The police knows this too, so they will be omnipresent as well. No worries for me, 'cause I have a slow XJ :)
History shows that on the first nice day of the year quite a few bikers will crash and some will even loose their life. Let's hope this year things go different.

March 3 2007, 47,700km

2007-03-03T11:09:00.000+01:00

Installed the LED lights. From top to bottom: stock, 1 LED on the right, both LED's. They are at least as bright as stock and work perfectly.

March 2 2007, 47,700km

2007-03-02T19:13:00.000+01:00

Today I received the LED lights I had ordered to replace -the always breaking- rear bulbs. I hope these will last a bit longer. Considering the price (7 Euro each) they should.

February 22, 2007, 47,150km

2007-02-22T20:16:00.000+01:00

Nothing much to report actually. The bike is running fine and nothing much happened along the way. No news is good news, as they say.

With a bit of luck we've had most of the winter (which wasn't much). Now I can focus on spring and on the trips I'm going to make with my fellow bikers. On March 3rd, Pim, Ton and I are going to talk over the plans of this season. I want to go to Switzerland for a few days, and maybe France. Pim and Ton will have their own objectives, so we'll see what we can accomplish the coming period.

February 8 2007, 46,150km

2007-02-08T17:03:00.000+01:00

Well, we had some snow, but, with hindsight, not enough to stay at home. I think I could have savely made it to and fro to work on my bike. On the other hand, a day of relaxation is nice too for a change.

February 7, 2007, 46,150km

2007-02-07T18:59:00.000+01:00

Yet another weather alert. This time for heavy snow tomorrow. I've told them at work that I probably won't come in since I don't like snow in combination with motorcycling. Public transport is no alternative, because with bad weather they have as much trouble as the rest of the traffic. So I most likely will stay at home. Watching the snow fall.

February 6, 2007, 46,050km

2007-02-06T19:52:00.000+01:00

The first snow this winter. Happily not while I was on the road, but I think there's more to come. Well, after all, it is still winter.

January 24 2007, 45,350km

2007-01-24T18:49:00.000+01:00

Gloves are working now. But I have the feeling they aren't getting as warm as they used to. Previously I could feel the heating-wire burning into my flesh when I put the gloves at max, this is no longer the case. Dunno why they aren't heating up properly, but I'm already happy with the fact they are getting warm again.
We had fog and temps around zero celcius this evening. A very nasty combination which cools you down quickly and fogs up the visor very fast.

January 23 2007, 45,166km

2007-01-23T17:49:00.000+01:00

Did some magic with my soldering-iron and fixed the wiring of the Gerbing gloves. I hope. Gonna test it tomorrow.

January 22 2007, 45,166km

2007-01-22T22:20:00.000+01:00

Bummer. Finally winter is setting in. Right at a time my heated gloves stopped working because one of the wires from my jacket got wedged between my car door. I must see if I can fix this tomorrow.

Via the Dutch Yamaha FJ1200 club I ordered 2 LED replacement lights for the rear bulbs. I hope this will stop them break down each week. Unless James is right and it is the regulator...

January 18 2007, 45,166km

2007-01-18T19:19:00.000+01:00

Replaced the rear bulb.

This time the weather alert was appropriate. We were having (and still have at time of writing) a fierce storm. At work the XJ got blown over and fell on a moped. The XJ got away without damage, the fairing of the moped was broken, so this'll be an insurance matter.
A lot of accidents have happend on the roads during the day, trains aren't running anymore, four people got killed by falling trees (amongst them a motorcycle rider). The road I'm using to go to and fro work has been closed because of accidents. I had to take a detour to get home again. Happily I arrived there in one piece.

January 17 2007, 45,050km

2007-01-17T19:09:00.000+01:00

Left rear light bulb broken. Again.
For tomorrow a weather alert, they expect a heavy storm. Again.
So nothing new to report ;)

January 11 2007, 44,850km

2007-01-11T20:47:00.000+01:00

Just as I expected the storm wasn't that bad. I hardly had any problems with the strong wind. Just as well.

January 10 2007, 44,750km

2007-01-10T19:03:00.000+01:00

There's a weather alert announced for tomorrow. They expect a fierce storm. Well, we'll just wait and see.

January 7 2007, 44,500km

2007-01-07T14:37:00.000+01:00

I think I blew up my PerfectPilot again. On the trip of today I wanted to use my StreetPilot gps and first mounted the PerfectPilot cradle. When I fitted the StreetPilot the screen stayed dark. I think the mechanic that serviced the bike fitted the wiring as -he thought- it should, not knowing the wires had to be attached the other way around due to me accidentally cross wiring the cable. I think 3 people were at fault here: me, for cross wiring the cable, the mechanic for not looking how it had been attached and the cradle guys for not making it fool proof. I'm no electronics expert, but I think that with a diode of less than a cent you can prevent blowing the stuff up because of a faulty connection.

So now I had to do the trip by heart. Since I've done it several times this was no big problem.

The first stretch of the route led me along curvy roads along the IJsselmeer. I expected the roads to be empty, seen the lousy weather, but a lot of people were walking and bicycling. Especially the guys (and galls) on racing bicycles were a big nuisance. They think they own the roads and are very reluctant to make room for me. Well, since I'm bigger and heavier, I didn't make room for them either, so I passed them with only millimeters to spare. Some of them had the audacity to wave to me to go slower. Why? They are racing, so why can't I? :)

Still it was nice to take some curves in stead of riding in straight lines over the highway to and fro work.

On the Afsluitdijk I had the wind in my back and the XJ ran very smooth. Since it was getting colder and wetter I decided to return to home asap and within 2 hours I was home again.

January 5 2007, 44,050km

2007-01-05T20:07:00.000+01:00

A new year, a new blog. Thanks to this blog I can be even quicker keeping the stuff up to date. I can update it now from almost everywhere. And you can leave your comments. Ain't that nice? :)

I'm a bit fed up with this commuting stuff on my bike. I want to do some real riding. Maybe this Sunday I'll ride around the IJsselmeer. Again...