I'm such a noob (FZR 600 content): Sprockets forum: Grassroots Motorsports Magazine

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July 9, 2010 1:13 p.m. oobert New Reader

I just purchased my first bike, a 1989 Yamaha FZR 600 (I was honestly looking for a ninja 250). I was scouring craigslist for quite a while, and I couldn't seem to find any deals that really enticed me. There was this one suzuki gs500 that i wanted, but the guy ended up keeping it. Nothing really came up in ideal price range (READ: cheap)

Unfortunately, the one that got my attention was this purple abomination lol. In all honesty, I'm a pretty cheap dude. my car cost me 1k, and so did this bike.

I'll go over the bad: It's purple. except for one fairing on the left side which is blue. It looks like it was dropped in a parking lot, kind of scratched up on the side. The exhaust the PO had on it didn't fit right, so it kind of interferes with the rear brake (probably gonna just hammer it down). absolutely none of the indicators work. It's loud as hell. something's wrong with the tachometer that causes it to read a higher rpms than normal. It seems like the PO was trying to mess around with the electronics. When I'm shifting down to first, there's a clunk noise (sounds horrible). The rear tire needs to be changed quickly.

I'll take more photos later, but I just wanted to share. Also I'm new to this so I would appreciate any and all advice.

Junky Cell Phone Pic:

Parked to my brother's new(er) ninja 500.

He paid twice as much, could my bike become presentable and, dare I say, reliable with the allotted budget?

I probably should've started on a less powerful bike. lol Does anyone support my decision? or perhaps you oppose it. Did I get ripped off? I'm open to criticism.

I really want to run this bike naked . I think they look cool as streetfighters. Plus I hate the purple.
July 9, 2010 1:19 p.m. Grtechguy SuperDork

Nothing wrong with being naked
July 9, 2010 2:18 p.m. Giant Purple Snorklewacker SuperDork

I had one of those back in '90. Red, white and blue. Sweet motor, light, nimble... It was a blast to ride but it had a pretty bad cowl shake IIRC.

In any case... there aren't many electronics on it and there should be a fair number of them filling junkyards if you need parts. $500 more will buy a lot of 20yr old motorcycle bits. Good luck.
July 9, 2010 2:57 p.m. teamdixonracing Dork

I had one pass through my garage very briefly a while back. Traded about $50 worth of project leftovers for it and sold it for $250. No title, water in the engine from sitting outside, overall not in very good shape.

All that to say you probably didn't get a horrible deal. Have fun with it.
July 9, 2010 3:59 p.m. pilotbraden Reader

I rode the heck out of mine for a couple of years. It is a very nice, reliable motocycle I rode mine 4 nights a week from Flint MI to the Detroit airport (80 mile one way) . I was never stranded but did have some interesting traffic encounters. Take the lower body work off, it is expensive to repair/replace. Don't ride it in a snowstorm.
July 9, 2010 4:42 p.m. subrew Reader

I had a purple FZR600 quite a few years ago. Great little bike. Ran several track days with it.

Pics:

Chris H.
July 10, 2010 12:38 a.m. oobert New Reader

pilotbraden wrote:

I rode the heck out of mine for a couple of years. It is a very nice, reliable motocycle I rode mine 4 nights a week from Flint MI to the Detroit airport (80 mile one way) . I was never stranded but did have some interesting traffic encounters. Take the lower body work off, it is expensive to repair/replace. Don't ride it in a snowstorm.

Dang that's quite a drive! I went to school up in Flint, but I can't imagine doing that lol. I plan on taking the lower body work off. It's a bit loose. Snowstorm? Can't really say I plan on that either

Also Subrew, I really like your bike! that looks a lot better than my ghetto purple paint. I'm pretty sure it used to be yellow. I plan on doing a cheap respray when I get the chance.
July 10, 2010 9:49 p.m. TucoRamirez Reader

I also had an 89 fzr600 as my first bike. I think it was a poor for me cause it was so big and fast. I did grow quite fond of it though and the throttle response was lovely. Mine lived outside & I had trouble with switches (starter, side stand, etc.) getting corroded and had the brakes sieze and cook themselves. Maybe a fuel pump went. Mine was naked for a while, but I liked it better with the upper and no lowers. Fun bike.
July 12, 2010 5:47 a.m. Rusnak_322 Reader

My first street bike was a new 89 FZR600. I also had a 1990 600 and a 88 FZR400. I learned to wheelie on one and that took skills. They are great bikes. Crude compared to newer bikes, but I still like the looks of them. I never had any problems with them.

I was at the Mid Ohio vintage this weekend and saw a mint FZR1000 that got me drooling.
July 12, 2010 8:36 a.m. milkmandan New Reader

FZR-600's are great bikes, had one a few years ago. Took it to a few track days and generally beat the crap out of it. FZRarchives.com and FZRonline.com are great resources, very helpful communities with a real grassroots/diy spirit. If it becomes hard to start when cold but a valve adjustment checks out though, beware, likely high valve wear. Mine would refuse to start below 65F.
July 16, 2010 1:39 p.m. itsatrap New Reader

milkmandan wrote:

FZR-600's are great bikes, had one a few years ago. Took it to a few track days and generally beat the crap out of it. FZRarchives.com and FZRonline.com are great resources, very helpful communities with a real grassroots/diy spirit.

I had a 1996 Fizzer and the FZRarchives is a great site for info on these bikes. It was my second bike after graduation off of a GS500. To be honest you couldn't have started with a better bike. The GS was a great bike but you outgrow it pretty fast. The only thing I had go wrong on my bike was the clutch cable came undone from the clamp on the transmission so i had to get my wife to bring my tools, 10 minutes later I was back on my way. Like the others said, side fairings can be expensive, but they offer great rain protection for your legs, I would leave them on. I rode my bike till about mid December here in Nashville and never had a starting issue. I remember having ice form on my helmet from the condensation of my breath and that was when I stopped riding it lol.

They make a nice Haynes manual for the bike (i might still have mine) that i highly recommend you get. It has full color wiring diagrams that make troubleshooting a breeze.

Good luck! Aaron
July 19, 2010 8:08 a.m. oobert New Reader

I'll look into that haynes manual for reference.

I just found out my condo association doesn't allow motorcycles on the premise so me and my brother are going to have to look at storage options. I honestly had no idea and thought I saw a few bikes around..

The bike has a few kinks, but I'm definitely learning a lot everytime I ride.
July 19, 2010 9:06 a.m. dimeadozen Reader

A few years ago, I passed on an FZR 600 that was being auctioned off when someone didn't pay their storage locker bill. The fact that it had no title was somewhat of a turn off, compounded by the fact that the bike had been disassembled into milk crates, and there was no sign of ANY of the fasteners needed to assemble it. I made the assumption that the condition of the engine internals probably matched the condition of everything else, and ran away quickly.
Aug. 20, 2010 9:24 p.m. Spinout007 Dork

Anyone know a good place to grab parts for one of these might be?? I picked one up as a project a few months ago, and I'm fixing to get started on it. Need things like forks, fairings, maybe a few engine bits. Thought about just going with an R1 Bodywork conversion, but I love the look of the twin headlights.
Aug. 28, 2010 6:30 p.m. motomoron Reader

If it's got a bent shift fork - and I ran the parts department @ a Yamaha dealer in the FZR era, and lots did - you are berkeleyed, my friend.

Guys at the shop got FZRs for a couple hundred bucks all the time - as the job billed something like 14 hours.

Engine out, cases split. I believe it's possible to leave the top end and only remove the bottom case if you're clever.
Sept. 10, 2010 7:45 p.m. CLNSC3 Reader

Nice fizzer! My first bike was a FZR600. I thought it was ugly as hell and did the Airtech r1 body conversion, really makes them look a hell of a lot better and more modern.
Jan. 14, 2011 9:42 a.m. oobert New Reader

Update:

It's stored for right now.

had a hard time getting it started a few weeks ago on a warmer day (like 50 degrees F), so I decided to pull the battery and put a tender on it.

One problem I'm having is the brake light always stays on. No matter what. Is there some sort of sensor that I'm supposed to be able to tweak that would allow the connection to not be on all the time ?
Jan. 18, 2011 10:47 p.m. TuffWork New Reader

Probably the switch in the foot brake.
Jan. 18, 2011 10:59 p.m. BoxheadTim SuperDork

Yeah, those switches tend to get stuck on some bikes, that would be the obvious place to look. If it's adjustable, it might need a little tweaking, too.