Info Fred’s Fizzer 400 (image-heavy, some video)

November’s New Acquisition – Fred’s Fizzer 400

Back in November, I had decided I wasn’t buying any more bikes until I had a shed to work on them in.

I was kidding myself, of course!

Through a thread on my favourite motorcycle forum, I found a 1992 Yamaha FZR400 going cheap. The original pics from the seller showed a bike with half the fairings removed but carefully put aside.



Carbon fibre exhaust…



Redline zone starts at 14K. This looks somewhat familiar…



Tyres look decent and the brakes have been serviced with EBC replacement parts, it seems…



Fairings in reasonable condition…






A replacement exhaust manifold was thrown in as well for some reason…



I contacted the seller and went for a closer look.

After talking with the seller for a while and hearing how much he had enjoyed riding the bike and being filled in on some of its history:

• The bike had been low-sided at slow speed after the fairings were removed as he’d preferred the look of it naked.
• He’d made a custom insert for the air filter.
• He had been planning to replace the exhaust manifold with the spare one (from a different model Yamaha 600) to eliminate the EXUP but never got around to it.
• Battery had been replaced with a sealed one but was flat as the bike hadn’t been ridden in over a year since the registration had expired.
• He’d removed the rear mudguard, welded up a fender eliminator and fitted mini LED indicators at front and rear.
• Tyres and brakes had been replaced shortly before the rego expired
• He was selling to raise cash towards accessories for a brand new Triumph!

I offered him 10% less than his listed price and we had a deal.

There were a couple of logistical issues with getting the bike to my place:

• The bike wasn’t running or registered and therefore couldn’t be ridden away.
• The bike wasn’t Learner & Novice Approved even if it had been running and registered.
• The extra parts would have been difficult to carry on the bike.
• My car at the time wasn’t set up for towing a trailer.
• My trailer wasn’t registered.

Luckily, the seller had a bike trailer and was keen to make room in the garage as he was expecting delivery of his new Triumph the next day, so he delivered it to me!

The mandatory “just bought it” photo:



The next day, I hooked up some jumper leads to the car and gave jump starting a go. I took the opportunity to give the electrical system a quick test as well and was most impressed with the result!


Cut to several months later, I now have a day permit organised to take it for a roadworthy check tomorrow – provided the battery charges enough overnight…

More specifics on the repairs to follow!

(Copied from my blog post of the same name)

 

Video from the blog post didn't embed properly for some reason. Forgot to fix that while I could still edit.

Here it is now for your entertainment:

 

Hmmm shows up on TapaTalk and PC browser for me - or were you not entertained?