miweber929

Welcome!!! The Tracer is a great choice

Very true. However in something like 20 years of various forums usage I haven’t seen one that didn’t have a way to resize pics through the forum itself in like 15 of them. Not a huge thing, but a thing to know and get used to.

I get the why they do it but I’m bummed about that as well. I have plenty of good pics but no place hosting them to link. Oh well!!!

Welcome!!! There’s a couple of us from MN on here.

Welcome!!!

FINALLY got around to installing the Y series Yoshimura pipe I bought back in November yesterday afternoon. Not an awful install, I’ve had worse on much smaller items, but I’ll add a couple notes that may have been covered already: - It’s a big, one piece stock pipe so getting it off is a tick tricky. I tried it on the centerstand, then off, then back on and successfully got it off with it off the centerstand. It would be easiest to remove the pipe with it completely off, but it will come out with it still on. - The hardest thing was getting the muffler clamp attached to the bracket with the pipe on the bike like the directions stated. I did it by removing one of the mounting bolts on the black bracket and leaving it very loose, then putting it all together, also loosely and tightening everything back up. Fiddly, but now that I’ve done it would be easier. - I normally replace the exhaust gaskets on a new pipe but the directions said to reuse the old ones and they were not the typical crushed and deformed shape I see on bikes so I didn’t swap. If I need to, I have 3 in the toolbox but so far so good. - Fit was great, sounds good and looks to have a removable baffle but it sounds good as is. I highly recommend the Y series pipe if you can find one.

Welcome!!!! So you bought a Tracer, then? Good choice (I have the same username on the Supersport forum )!!! I just spent a couple hours yesterday installing the Yamaha accessory Yoshimura exhaust I bought over the winter; a pipe is a nice upgrade to give this bike some edge!!!!

Welcome!!!

Impact driver, not powered impact wrench: https://www.northerntool.com/products/performance-tool-3-8in-impact-driver-with-4-bits-model-w2500p-9094203?cm_mmc=Google-LIA&utm_source=Google_LIA&utm_medium=Hand Tools > Screwdrivers&utm_campaign=Performance Tool&utm_content=9094203&ogmap=SHP|LIA|GOOG|STND|c|SITEWIDE|||||857741010|42214670543&gclid=Cj0KCQjw756lBhDMARIsAEI0AgmdAYZ7g78oJrpIeIra56I_GSqRLGjTk5gqL4MuyEYLsBhQV5sb03IaAsWjEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds Best $20 tool you’ll ever have.

Very glad to be part of a forum that tells it like it is, even if the truth is a “harsh” one. So many I’ve been a part of tell takes of 10% plus power increases, the bike cured their infertility, never had to ride in the rain again and the sun shines just a little brighter after a pipe change, lol!!! OP, you’ll see pretty much no power increases from the pipe alone, as stated the weight loss will be your change. And even that is minor.

Welcome!!!

I’m hoping it’s in that black and grey with the gold stripe I’ve been seeing in the press. I’m thinking about one……

It depends on what you want to see and the route you want to take as well as the paper maps you have: If I’m planning a trip from point A to point B and want to take the time to plan waypoints and program my route into the GPS or phone, they can work great. If I’m trying to get there the fastest way, they are also great. But if I’m doing what I do when I take my trips down south, and have no idea how long I want to wander, or where I may want to go that day and want to know the fun routes around there, and maybe make mid ride changes based on weather, how I’m feeling, whatever, nothing beats a high resolution paper map. A typical GPS/phone screen is what 3”x5”, 4”x6” something like that? The map on top of my tank bag is 7x10, shows where I was, where I want to go and cool shit around the area I may not have seen. I’ve yet to get to a point using a (relatively) recent map where it’s steered me way off at least to a point the GPS was the only way out. I’ve tried several times to use a GPS for meandering routes and all I see and hear is re-routing, or recalculating on the screen and in my headset. Or I try to see with a resolution so bad I can’t tell where I need to turn next, or I see the route for the next half mile, not the road ahead and that’s not helpful. GPS has its place, but so does a paper map.

This 100%. It drives me crazy when people say the dangerous crap as below: By that logic if I give the shop a couple hundred bucks additional than they were asking I am better protected? Or if I buy the Rossi Winter test AGV over the plain black or white because it's 2x the cost I am better off in a crash? How about if I buy a last years graphic on closeout I am somehow less protected than those who didn't get it on sale? Two like rated helmets will protect the same in the same wrecks, be it one at $150, $450 or $950. One will last longer, probably be more comfortable, vent better, have more accessories and comfort parts to make it fit your head better but it won't protect any more than the cheaper one. This has been proved MULTIPLE times over the years I normally recommend to people to spend in the $250-$450 range because they will still get great comfort, lots of adaptability, usually good vents, good optics, but it's cheap enough if it's dropped or crashed in you'll replace it and not try to use it again because of how much it cost. I have worn $100 helmets and $1,000 helmets; price is only one factor that should be considered when buying and you shouldn't skimp on other protective gear because someone stupidly told you to buy a ridiculously expensive helmet.

Also very sorry for the loss but definitely a great way to celebrate the memories.

Welcome!!!!

If you're putting on 50,000km (so like 31,000 miles) a year on a bike you are most likely also either not driving a car or have other means with which to travel a lot more than the average person so probably don't have a huge money issue. Rough math on your 50,000km/yr: Averaging 45 mpg means $3,450 in fuel at $5 a gallon, $2,760 in fuel at $4/gal, $690 different. If you get only 2 miles more per gallon on premium, subtract $200 off that, if it's only $.50 difference between regular and premium subtract another $345 off. Reduce your speed by 4 mph and you can get better mpg, makes it even less. And yet some of those same people bitching about the fuel costs have no issue spending $1,000 on an exhaust, $400 on an ECU flash all in the name of performance but think that higher octane fuel isn't worth it. My point is the amount of work people do to save $200 a year, $5 on a fill up or even under $20 on an oil change by going aftermarket and cheap oil vs. OEM stuff is crazy to me. To sit for a half hour or more at Costco or Sam's Club to get a bit of savings on fuel means my free time isn't worth anything. Mine is.

Welcome!!!

So less than $5 more per fill up, it’s like $.75 here so $3. I’ve never understood the penny pinching that happens with things like oil and fuel, and especially with fuel the lengths people will go to save $2 or $3 on a fill up, but that’s me……..

For me at least I’m already dragging pegs and the center stand on this bike as it sits, I can’t imagine dropping the pegs even lower and farther forward. Reminds me of when I did my first track day at Road America on my old CBR929RR in like ‘03 or ‘04 and kept dragging my footpeg around the Carousel because I didn’t know proper body positioning yet. By the 4th session I literally had just over a half a peg left……..

I have no experience with the GT on the Tracer, however I ran the 4GT and 5GT on my Triumph Sprint GT and my dad ran the non-GT on his old ‘14 FZ1 and both triangulated the same. The GT took a bit longer, but both wore the same. FWIW, last year I bought the non GT Road 6 for the Tracer and the GT for the Sprint. Both are wearing the same and both feel the same on the road, with the GT maybe being a tick harsher on bumps.

Had the same experience with the Road 4s and 5s and am also finding the Road 6s to be the best yet of the bunch. Hard to fault this tire except for the price.

Please keep us updated and what you do and what you find. I’ve been kicking around this very thing, my passenger is 5’5” and struggles to get onto the bike with the top box on it because the pegs are so low and far forward she can’t kick her leg over the seat and I thought about an XSR set as a possible solution but haven’t pursued it yet. I’d be interested in your findings.

There are a lot of people that say this and while a good quality battery tender is fine to leave on all year, my experience has been even though they have software that keeps them from overcharging my batteries have failed closer to every 3 to 4 years rather than 4 to 5 years when I put them on a tender every few weeks then pull it off. YMMV, just giving my experience over the past 10 years or so since I stopped pulling batteries for storage.

Welcome!!