New member welcome thread...

Hi everyone,

Its been a lifelong dream to ride a motorcycle and finally, just in time for my 27th birthday I bought myself a beautiful FZ1 with 5k miles on it. I would have got a bike earlier in life but looking back Im glad I went through my reckless phase first. I live in the SF Bay Area, Let me know if you are nearby, we can go rideee!!
 
CanOfRockstar said:
Hi everyone,

Its been a lifelong dream to ride a motorcycle and finally, just in time for my 27th birthday I bought myself a beautiful FZ1 with 5k miles on it. I would have got a bike earlier in life but looking back Im glad I went through my reckless phase first. I live in the SF Bay Area, Let me know if you are nearby, we can go rideee!!
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Welcome to the best waste of time in the world! Now go do some track courses.
Some quick advice :
When you are scraping your pegs in every corner, you are starting to get near the edge of the tire. Then you can lean a quite a bit more.
I crashed first time when I was starting to get good at it, after a year and a half. The road turned too quickly, and I panicked. Learn how to deal with that on the track where there are no trees

Buy the right tires for what you do, race tires don't get hot enough on the street.

Buy the most expensive gear that you can afford. It's there to save your ass, and if you don't crash, you'll have to wear it for several years

Learn how to do panic breaking, when you can do small stoppies you basically have it under control.

Other than that have fun. The fz1 is a great bike


Sent from X-wing
 
Hi.
Got an FZ1 S last week. I'd been riding a Honda Hornet 900 919 for 3 years and loved it. It was the best bike I'd ever had. However, a guy in my barrio was selling the FZ1 at a knock down price - so much so I was worried about it! He wanted 4,000 euros for an immaculate 2009 with only 27,000km on it. I had to buy it.
I've only had one ride on it. It's wonderful! I'm so pleased I bought it and look forward to riding it for many years to come.....if I hang on to my licence that is!
Best wishes
Neil

LA MUEAL SUNDAY 17th SEPT 2017.jpg
 
Welcome Neil! Great purchase and awesome picture, too! I had a 919 in the past and loved it as well but I think you'll find your new FZ1 to be more... thrilling. Enjoy!
 
New guy in Las Vegas... I was also shopping for a Honda 919 but I grabbed up a 2001 FZ1 on Christmas eve. At $1200, I got a pretty good deal on it, but it needs some love.

It hasn't run in awhile, so I gotta clean the carbs and empty the old fuel out of the tank. Whenever a bike sits awhile, I put an inline fuel filter on it so I can tell if there's junk floating around and catch it, rather than gumming up the carbs again. It needs tires front and rear- I thik I'm gonna try the Shinko 016 dual compound Verge. When I rolled it backwards to load on the trailer, I could hear the chain clicking on the sprocket, so it'll get front and rear sprockets and a new chain. Of course the battery is shot. I have this one on the way, shipped out of California for around $40.

It has LED underbody lights stuck on every surface, so those will all come off. The seat has a minor tear at the stitching, so that'll come last, after I see whether it just needs to be recovered or totally replaced. Probably a new windshield too, once it's up and running. It has fresh oil (Rotella T6) and filter, and it'll get new brake fluid with EBC HH pads. I've already have a Yosh slip-on for it, waiting patiently in the corner of the garage. I also saw a gauge set with multi-gauge already installed on ebay, so I ordered it.

I also ordered a small (29 liter Shad) rear trunk to use for travelling, most of the time it'll be off the bike, but the Shad rack will stay on. Right now it needs badly to be washed. This will be my buddy bike so when either of my sons flies into town we can jump on bikes and go, Death Valley for a day trip or I'm trying to put a Baja trip together in spring or fall of 2018.

FZ-1.jpg


Garage mates
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Nice find, welcome to the forum. lots of info here on what to check to get it up and running.

I'd also check the coolant and fork oil/seals while you are at it.
 
Fork seals are already seeping from moving the bike around, so new parts are already in the garage for that. Alls Balls fork seals and dust seal.
Thanks for the coolant tip, I'm thinking flush and replace since I don't know the history of the bike. I also ordered new spark plugs and an air filter, and have a petcock rebuild kit on hand.
 
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FTL900 said:
Fork seals are alredy seeping from moving the bike around, so new parts are already in the garage for that. Alls Balls fork seals and dust seal.
Thanks for the coolant tip, I'm thinking flush and replace since I don't know the history of the bike. I also ordered new spark plugs and an air filter, and have a petcock rebuild kit on hand.
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Hey! You made it on finally! Glad everything worked out for ya. Really nice looking GenI you have there. Enjoy it, and welcome to the forum!
 
FZ1riderNY said:
Hey! You made it on finally! Glad everything worked out for ya. Really nice looking GenI you have there. Enjoy it, and welcome to the forum!
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Thanks for your help!! I don't know what was done., but I suspect... when i could finally post, my post count was at 3 or 4 already, so I'm wondering if someone just bumped it up once or twice. No more "type hello" either.
I know there's at least one more guy on the 998 FB page that still can't get in.

I have loads of parts arriving this week and next. The bike is going to the mechanic this weekend to get the carbs cleaned, and I still have to order tires and a new chain for it, but it's all progress. I'll probably have it on the road by the end of January.
 
FTL900 said:
Thanks for your help!! I don't know what was done., but I suspect... when i could finally post, my post count was at 3 or 4 already, so I'm wondering if someone just bumped it up once or twice. No more "type hello" either.
I know there's at least one more guy on the 998 FB page that still can't get in.

I have loads of parts arriving this week and next. The bike is going to the mechanic this weekend to get the carbs cleaned, and I still have to order tires and a new chain for it, but it's all progress. I'll probably have it on the road by the end of January.
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Sounds great! I envy you that you'll even be riding in January! My mom and sister live in Henderson. I like it there to visit but other than a week or two is too much heat for me! LOL!
 
Heat?? It'll be 68 degrees tomorrow!! This pic was was last weekend. It's not gonna get hot here for several months... February at least.
ImaPoser.gif

It's all about the shoulder seasons here. June thru August are just too hot to do much outside except go to the mountains or get out of town.

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FTL900 said:
Heat?? It'll be 68 degrees tomorrow!! This pic was was last weekend. It's not gonna get hot here for several months... February at least.
ImaPoser.gif

It's all about the shoulder seasons here. June thru August are just too hot to do much outside except go to the mountains or get out of town.

20180101_154135.jpg
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Well, I was there in late March for Easter one year and we left NY it was 29 degrees. We landed in Vegas and it was friggin 86! Then, Easter Sunday was in the 90's. I was in shock! I rented a Hardly that week and it over heated on the strip! Hahahaha! I don't want to see anything over 75 degrees. I guess that's asking for a lot but hey, a guy can dream, can't he! Hahahaha!
 
FZ1riderNY said:
Well, I was there in late March for Easter one year and we left NY it was 29 degrees. We landed in Vegas and it was friggin 86! Then, Easter Sunday was in the 90's. I was in shock! I rented a Hardly that week and it over heated on the strip! Hahahaha! I don't want to see anything over 75 degrees. I guess that's asking for a lot but hey, a guy can dream, can't he! Hahahaha!
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Hey, 86 degrees here is the bomb!! With little or no humidity, it doesn't feel as hot as other places with more humidity. I've only ridden down the strip a few times- mostly locals avoid that unless there's a show or concert, or friends are in town.
Triple digits is where I start contemplating what time is best to ride and which destinations may be cooler.
 
Hi there from the UK
My name is Mick - I have just recently purchased my 2006 FZ1 after selling my zx6r and loving every bit of it. I have been riding for over 40 years starting off on a Honda Dax 70 and had many bikes since then. This is by far the fastest and most powerful I've had. Mine is black white and yellow in Kenny Roberts style graphics.

Father of 2 teenagers so great to just jump on the bike and hit the road....
 
Hello all from Valley Forge, PA, USA. My name is Will and I recently picked up a 2006 FZ1 in silver/black. 19k mi, 2 owner (both friends of mine, commuters, and similarly anal retentive about maintenance), never so much as a tip over; otherwise spotless :)

Took me 16 years of 3 season riding to wear out my old 1985 Honda Sabre V65, but she's finally turned the corner and become too much of basket case to be reliable on long trips. Got a Honda collector buddy that might be interested in buying her in the future, but if there are any other V4 muscle-bike enthusiasts here that would like a "refresher" project (basically everything rubber should be replaced inside and out), PM me.

Knowing the end was near for the Sabre for about the last 2-3 years, I'd been taking every opportunity I could to ride other machines/get an idea of what I wanted next since very few modern bikes were anything like the Sabre ergo-wise. Almost bought a VFR800 after riding one around the Tail of the Dragon - handled like a scalpel, but I was still dying for the grunt those last 200cc's give you on turn exits, and decided then that I had to stick with the liter class to get my jollies. Right around the same time, my buddy with the FZ1 decided he needed a true hooligan machine and bought a new FZ-09, making the FZ1 available to me. Knew it would be mine after the first 10 miles - incredible bike.

So, as sad as it was retiring my first bike, especially given all the sentimental value (drooled over it from age 5 on [originally owned by a friend of my dad's]; was made same year I was; was fastest production motorcycle in the world that year, etc), it turned out being one of those 'good problems' to have as it resulted in a fantastic upgrade.

Looking forward to chatting with you all in the forums!
 
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