Lifelong biker from up North. I've had my 2nd Generation FZ1S from new in 2008.
The wind noise has annoyed me from new. It's really annoying when doing long continental trips.
I got an MRS screen a few year back and I might as well have taken £100 out of my wallet and thrown it into the wind.
I bought a new helmet recently and the wind noise was atrocious. I stretched up a few inches and it stopped.
I took a hacksaw to the MRS screen so it just covers the fairing. Now it's brilliant 80MPH, with earplugs in, is whisper quiet.
Mods I've done to the bike:-
Taper roller steering bearings. Why aren't they standard?
The front pads clunked on the bike from new. EBC ones cured that.
I fitted a Scottoiler straight away and still have the standard chain.
I didn't like the doohicky that Scottoiler sold to oil both sides of the chain. It looked like an accident waiting to launch itself into the rear sprocket
so I drilled 2x 2.5mm holes, diametrically opposed, in the rear sprocket in the corner of the step where the thickness changes.
The holes have to be cleared out with an airline every so often but it keeps the far side of the chain nice and wet.
I have an Airhawk inflatable seat thingy. The standard seat is a torture device after less than an hour and
I couldn't ride without the Airhawk seat pad.
The std can with the butterfly valve is a big, heavy, ugly piece of crap. I have never stalled a bike so much in my life because
the damn thing is gutless at low revs because of the butterfly valve. I left the catalytic converter in the pipe and fitted a Beowolf can.
No change to engine mapping in any way. It sounds brutal. It pops and bangs like a bastid but it goes well and has done for many miles.
I've had a couple of batteries. I tried a Motobatt gel battery which was great when new but after a couple of years it just stopped working.
It's weird. I still have it in the garage and I use it to test bulbs, horns etc, but it won't turn the engine over. Very strange.
So that's my bike in a nutshell. Without the wind noise and with the comfy seat I absolutely love this bike. The half fairing is enough to keep the draught off and,
at 63, the bike is quick enough for me. It's a bit thirsty. The fuel light flashing and the odometer zeroing is useless if you don't know how far you can go before it stops.
I've been meaning to run it dry with a can on the back to see how far you can get but hey, I've only had it 12 years. Give me a chance.
I've change the plugs for Iridium ones and the consensus is that they are an expensive waste of time. All I've done to the engine in 30,000 is change the oil and filters.
If I have the tank tilted up I will pull the plug caps off and squirt some WD40 at them. I've seen them seize on and end up being destroyed trying to get them off.
