Giving New Life to a Stolen and Recovered 1989 Yamaha FJ1200
By Fred Greenlee
In 2017, I owned a 1989 Yamaha FJ1200. In the five years of ownership, I had built the motorcycle into a World Class Resto-Mod. Pristine paint and bodywork, a Wiseco 1297 cc big bore engine, modern 21st century suspension and brakes. There were dozens of smaller modifications and upgrades. However, in June of 2017 the FJ1200 was stolen with zero leads as to who the thieves were. Over the next four years, I had acquired another FJ1200 and a Honda VFR750 to go along with my existing 1990 FJ1200. In late April of 2021, I received a certified letter from the Wichita Police Department that my stolen motorcycle had been recovered and that I could pick it up at a local impound lot. Officially, the bike was owned by the insurance company and all I could do was look at a destroyed FJ. I spent the next month going through the processes of getting it back. The results were that I had to buy it through an online auction. I made my bids and won the auction for $210.00 with no impound fees or hidden charges.
Once I got the wrecked FJ to the garage, I had to ascertain what was salvageable. The biggest concern was the big bore engine. The Renntec crash bars had done their job and as there was no visible damage on the exterior. My concern was if there was any internal damage. The engine in my 1990 FJ1200 was an oil consumer and needed a rebuild. The decision was made to pull the OEM 1200 cc engine out of the 1990 FJ and install the 1297 cc Big Bore engine in the 1990 FJ with the hopes that there was no hidden damage. The gamble paid off and the big bore engine ran great. I had been toying with the idea of building a FJ1200 streetfighter in the style of a custom build that I had seen from the Philippines (insideracing.com.ph/the-yamaha-fj-1200-streetfighter-by-trinitycustom-werx).From that, I saw a few changes that I wanted to make and proceeded to tear the bike down and start rebuilding it as the vision I had in my mind. I used a 2008 Suzuki GSX-R1000 front end and a 1992 GSX-R750 rear end for the look. I removed the complete FJ1200 rear subframe. I purchased a cafe-style rear hoop and used a 1-inch conduit bender to shape the rest of the 1-inch steel tubing into a custom rear subframe. enlisted the help of a friend to weld everything together. The next obstacle was placement of the battery and what to do for a seat. I decided to use the OEM FJ rear cowling. To make it work a good bit of modifying would be required. The ‘spoiler’ section was completely removed and the cowling itself was narrowed about half an inch.
The electrics were another issue. Every component, relay, and switch needed to be relocated somewhere. The ignitor box (ECU) was located under the rear cowling with the battery, starter solenoid and fuse box. All of the remaining relays were mounted underneath the seat on the vertical panel. Fortunately, I had a complete spare FJ1200 wiring harness with which to make a custom harness. Between the two harnesses, I was able to build a new harness a single wire at a time, keeping with all of the original-colored wires. With the custom rear subframe, a custom seat was needed. I approached two local upholstery shops and pretty much got nowhere. I decided to attempt making my own seat. I found a sheet of heat moldable plastic at an industrial surplus store. Once I had the plastic molded and cut into the desired shape, I covered it in a few layers of fiberglass. I was able to score some decent foam and marine grade vinyl from an upholstery shop and with a few staples, I had a seat. I decided that Hi-Viz wheels and graphics were the hot ticket to match with the Kawasaki Candy Plasma Blue used on the ER-6N. I also thought a racing stripe over the center of the bike would look good. I used Honda Digital Silver from the VFR800. The graphics were special made by my friend Jeff Shaw who lived near Melbourne, Australia. Sadly, he has passed away and did not get to see the finished bike. For the instruments, I went with the Koso MS-01 all-in-one gauge. The gauge fits perfectly behind the generic fairing for the Asian-market Kawasaki KSR Spider.
This project has taken a full two years of work and almost came to a complete stop on March 25th, 2024. I work nights and I have had a few all-night work sessions at the garage where I depart for home in the morning daylight. After a late night of finishing a few jobs, I determined that a test ride was warranted. I wanted to get the first ride on video, but the helmet that I had with me did not have my camera on it. At 4:30 a.m., I decided to ride the streetfighter to my house, three miles away and swap helmets. My plan was to record video on the ride back to the garage. I never made it to the house. I was about a mile away and the front end suddenly went into a full left, all the way to the steering stop while doing 40 mph. The results of bouncing down the road was five broken ribs, a broken left shoulder blade, a severe left hip contusion.
The last two months while recovering, I repaired the damage to the streetfighter, and it has been ridden around the block with success. The 35-year-old carbs still need serious help. Instead of cleaning and replacing worn parts, I have ordered a brand-new set of Mikuni BS36 CV carbs.
I don’t know if this bike will ever make a MSTA event. At the moment it will be a 100-mile bike, ridden around town to local events and short lunch rides out of town. I will be trailering out to North Carolina, the last weekend of September for the Vintage Yamaha Rally at the Ironhorse Motorcycle Lodge. My intentions are to ride the Streetfighter 1200 on the Tail of the Dragon.
In closing, I want to thank Roger Smith, the MSTA Kansas State Director. The garage where all of the work that has been done over the last two years belongs to Roger.