Karl "3D02" Volkmann-Cypress, TX

Picture that Scott Friday took a couple years back on my first meet at King's.
1989 FJ1200


After mods which include
Goodridge lines
YZF 600 rear wheel mod.
YZF front calipers
slightly used Yosh slip-ons
Progressive springs


My recent purchase
1998 VTR1000F "Superhawk 996"

You'll be missin' some fuel range, but not TORQUE!

You'll be missin' some fuel range, but not TORQUE!

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Fuel range...bummer. As for the torque I won't know about that until I actually pick the bike up in Tucson at the end of the month. The FJ will be goin buh-bye at the same time.


Karl

Cool beans! If you haven't found us yet:

http://www.superhawkforum.com/

I had a new 98 just like that including the Jardine highmounts. I'm on my second 98 now. I have a fix for fuel range too. Everyone's quick to jump on that issue but a look at a lot of current "hot bikes" show the same range and/or even poorer mpg.

Fotomoto wrote:

Cool beans! If you haven't found us yet:

Click to expand...

Oh yeah I've found ya'll. There are a few posts from me on that site.

hi 3d.....so the fj will be on the market soon..?...very sharp looking bike...would you mind sharing a little more history on it....i had a friend that owned one and it was very fast (not stock)...clocked at 186 by a chp in california one time....luckily it was a friend of his...anway i have always liked these bikes and i am curious as to history and possible price...
thanks
michael

3D02 said:

Oh yeah I've found ya'll. There are a few posts from me on that site.

Click to expand...

Heck, just talk to FotoMoto - he's got the trickest Superhawk I've ever seen.

Michael wrote:
hi 3d.....so the fj will be on the market soon..?...very sharp looking bike...would you mind sharing a little more history on it....i had a friend that owned one and it was very fast (not stock)...clocked at 186 by a chp in california one time....luckily it was a friend of his...anway i have always liked these bikes and i am curious as to history and possible price...
thanks
michael

Click to expand...

Well its already sold to my brother who is picking it up in Tucson when I go out for the SuperHawk. I had it on the market once before and got absolutely no bites. Nevertheless I know nothing about the history of the bike other than it had two previous owners. Both were older gentlemen. I also bought this bike in Tucson. It currently has 19k on the clock.

Jeez 186 on a FJ is nutty. As you stated, not stock.


Karl

wow....no bites on that one..!!!???...i am bummed that i missed the opportunity for a real classic...at least in my opinion...especially after riding/following the guy's fj12 that i mentioned earlier..yeah that bike was nutty......that bike would flat walk away from anyone in the group who rode with us.....and he did 99.9% of his riding "two-up" with his wife....well on with the search for a decent bike...if you know anyone selling a vfr750 form the mid 90's drop me a line...or of course another very clean fj.....

Let me retract my statement about no bites. I got a couple but both came with critique's. Basically they didn't want to deal with a crack that one of the air scoops has. The crack was done by the previous owner who tipped the bike over at a stoplight. The crack is visible if you look reeeal close. Quoted by the owner of EmpireGP (empiregp.com) around $75 to fix. Didn't bother me that much so I never had it repaired. So to make a long story short, I took the bike off the market because I got tired of people focusing on one of a very few gaffs on a 17 year old bike.

You could probably fix the crack form the back side with fiberglass cloth and superglue if it isn't too bad. It'll at least make it one piece again and keep it from getting worse. Go to a hobby shop and ask about the cloth and different types of glue. There's thin ones that seep into the cracks and thicker, slower setting ones that can help to fill larger gaps. When you own older bikes, some plastic repair skills can come in handy. I've had to repair tabs on my 500 and on my old VFR. Nothing too bad, but you'd otherwise have to replace the panel if you wanted it to attach right. I've even built new tabs out of thin plywood and fiberglassed them to the inside with great results. Especially handy when you can't get new body parts for a 21 year old bike...

What I did to stop the crack is use fibrous drywall tape and embed it some resin against the backside of the crack. It has held so far. My brother who will take delivery of it next week, works for a company that specializes in thermoforming plastics. I'm sure he will be able to fix it right, or cast a new part from ABS.