blindjoebeck

Two versions of the bike: 2015 FJ-09, traded at 34k miles for 2019 plain old Tracer 900. Haven't done an ECU reflash on either. 2015 FJ-09: A mode was great, but only on kind-of-smooth to smooth pavement and not great when riding in traffic. STD mode was fine for the rest of the time. B mode was way too vague to use anywhere. 2019 Tracer 900: All mode are useable. I use A mode most of the time except in traffic. It's better on twisty roads, especially blipping the throttle on downshifts and accelerating out of turns. The STD mode is good around town and in traffic and it's what I use on New England gravel roads. B mode is certainly useful, but has no advantage over STD mode so I don't use it very often. -- Joe

Similar to other posters I took an inexpensive Walmart pump and stripped off the plastic housing and wired it with an SAE connector, which I connect to a direct to battery, fused pigtail (also used for electric vest). Still going strong 12 years on.

Put me in the "replace chain and sprockets together" camp. I replace the OEM chain and sprockets somewhere around 16-22k miles with good quality stuff that lasts 24-28k miles. Sometimes the drive sprocket looks a bit hooked. I'm consistent but not obsessive about cleaning (kerosine) and lubing (90 wt gear oil). 525 chains don't last as long as 530 chains; I'm okay with that. -- Joe

39,000 miles on my red 2015 and I just traded it towards a 2019 Tracer 900. One of the finest bikes I've ever owned. (The garage also includes a 106k FZ-1.) -- BJ Beck

I use a standard Pit Bull front stand that lifts from the bottom of the forks. I remove the ABS sensor before fitting the stand. I would like a front stand that lifts from the triple tree, but when I need to remove the forks, I either prop up the headers or hang the front of the bike from the overhead joists in the garage. -- John

I think you mean Michelin PR2s, not Pirelli. Yes, quite right. Thanks for the correction; definitely Michelin Pilot Roads. - Blind Joe Beck

Installed Bridgestone T30 tires In addition to adding the SW MOTECH side racks, mentioned in a previous post, I also mounted some new tires. I had good luck with the OEM Dunlop 222 tires, but after about 6100 miles, they were starting to get seriously squared off. Recently, on two generations of Multistradas, I was very happy with the Michelin Pirelli Pilot Road 2. I like how supple they make the bike feel and I always got 6000-7000 miles out of a set. On the other hand, I had a unused Bridgeston T30 rear tire in the garage that I originally bought for my FZ1 but I decided to put it on the FJ-09 instead and got a new T30 front tire to go with it. Over the years, I liked the Bridgestone BT020, BT021, and BT023 series as they were are good blend of road feel and durability and they were always about $90 less per set than similar tires, so it seemed reasonable to give the new T30s a try. The FJ-09 is my first bike with ABS and the Yamaha service manual says to remove the sensors before removing the wheels -- along with other dire warnings about not dropping the sensors, not getting grease on them, or exposing them to magnets. I removed the sensors from their mounts and taped them in plastic bags. I did not wrap them in foam After mounting the new tires, reinstalling the wheels, especially inserting the axles, while keeping the various spacers, the front ABS sensor mount, and the rear brake caliper holder all aligned really benefits from having a third or fourth hand. Unfortunately, I did not have that available so I muddled along as usual. In the end, everything fit to my relief. I have about 1200 miles on the T30s now, including a 1000 mile back road weekend trip, most of which was on wet roads in medium drizzly conditions. I'm not a particularly hard charging rider so I haven't explored the absolute limits of the tires, but so far, I'm quite happy the Bridgestones. - Blind Joe Beck

Intalled SW-MOTECH Quick-Lock EVO side racks and Givi E36 I have a set of old, traditionally-styled Givi E36 hard cases that I've used on four different bikes over the years. On each bike, I've installed the model-specific SW-MOTECH Quick-Lock side racks, so when Twisted-Throttle started selling the racks for the FJ-09, I bought a set -- somewhat expensive at $325, but not so bad in the overall scheme of things. In addition to Givi bags, the SW-MOTECH side racks can also be used with TraX ALU-BOX, DrySpec, Pelican, Micatech, Kappa, Hepco-Becker, and Krauser by purchasing the appropriate adapter kit. The rack kit includes mounting hardware that you install on the FJ-09: small brackets that you attach to each foot peg, two small brackets that replace the stock Yamaha side case mounting bracket, and a rear bracket that attaches to the license plate holder. The side racks themselves are easily attached and removed to/from the brackets at three points using quarter turn fasteners. I think it's a nice system and the brackets attached to the bike are pretty unobtrusive when the side racks are removed. The instructions are in German and English and are pretty clear even if you just look at the illustrations. Here's the rack itself Footpeg bracket Side case bracket <photo> Rear bracket I needed to remove the stock license plate holder in order to install the SW MOTECH rear bracket. Before re-installing the stock license plate holder, I needed to bend the reflectors outward just a bit. Over the winter I might slice them off as they are a bit ugly. (Insert conspicuity abuse alert here.) Side rack installed The wedge-shaped piece at the top center and the two little posts on the bottom make up the Givi-specific adapter. Mounted racks Another view of the mounted racks -Blind Joe Beck

Rear I have on notch #5. Looks like a total of 6 notches which I will use #6 for longer then weekend rides with additional gear. The increments between the full notches I've not used. Here are good reads from other members and their settings:link More:link Lots of great info in these forums. Thanks for posting the links. -Joe

With 4850 miles on the bike I decided it was a good time to start tweaking the suspension a bit, even though I suspect that in the long run the best answer will be updated fork components and a new shock (and that will wait until until another budget cycle). Today's task was to experiment with softening the preload settings. I'm about 166 pounds and a recent 10 day trip with 55 pounds of camping gear suggested the default preload was too much. Disclaimer: although I understand suspension components and adjustments in the abstract, when it comes to putting that information into practice, I'm a noob. In other words, I don't think any of my conclusions break any new ground I laid out a 4 mile course that consisted of suburban/semi-rural two lane with some nice turns along with the requisite bumpiness that call out the worst of the FJ-09's suspension harshness. I rode around the course with the default, as-delivered settings. Then I softened the fork preload to show one more ring on the adjusters. One the next lap around the course, the bike felt a bit better, but the rear harshness was even more apparent. I then softened the shock preload from the default setting to 2 (from the default 4). The next lap around the course seemed much better. I took a nice 40 minute ride to make sure the changes had not introduced any unexpected handling effects, which I'm happy to say, didn't occur. I think I'll give the new settings a couple of hundred miles before I experiment with the rebound settings. I need to give the new preload settings a try on the frost-heaved nasty pavement in northern New England. - Joe