kingfisher

I bought my Givi rear rack and monokey plate for the '22 Tracer 9 gt from sportsbikeshop.co.uk with free shipping to the US. It's the SRA 2159 model. Their website still says free shipping to the US, but when I click on it, it says unable to ship to my country. I'd give them a call to confirm. It was cheaper than I could find and in stock. Received it in less than a week. You can mount any of the Givi monokey topcases on it.

 

 

 

3 hours ago, bwringer said:

I have top cases on all my bikes. On the FJ-09, I also have Givi Monokey mounts and E21 side bags. The plan was to add the side bags when needed, but they also pretty much live there even though they're empty much of the time. Handy for grocery/hardware store trips and suchlike, and they don't bother me at all while riding. They do bother me if I'm just looking at the bike, which is extra motivation to get on and ride. After all, that's what motorcycles are for, really...

Anyway, yes, top cases look awful but they are the most useful thing you can attach to your bike. You can't see them from the saddle anyway. Lockable, water-resistant storage is a must-have for travel and commuting. I use my bikes as vehicles, so looks must be sacrificed for some function. 

My top case is the smallest Givi monokey case I could find, the V40 -- honestly, I'd buy a 29 or 30 liter case if I could, but these are only available in monolock, which makes it impossible to re-key all the bags the same.

I have experimented with putting my heavy tool kit stuff in the two side bags with the weight evenly split, and curiously, I found that having the weight on the sides affects handling far more than keeping it in the top case. I can feel it sort of torqueing back there when I go over bumps, and there's an odd extra roll inertia I can feel in vigorous cornering.

Having this weight up high and back is not ideal in other ways, but keeping that mass central is definitely better for handling than out to the sides; there are no odd twisting reactions or inertia in side-to-side transitions.

Opinions and tastes vary, of course... there are no completely wrong answers here.

Givi makes the Dolomiti monokey case in a 30 liter. I too prefer the smaller cases on top. I'd have a 20 liter, if they made one.

1 hour ago, Jayzonk said:

I'm writing off the phone mount as I think the phone is just too distracting.  

Can a heated vest run off the DC socket?

No, your DC socket fuse will blow if you run a compressor or heated vest from it. A simple solution that I use is to connect a heated gear line directly to the battery. These typically have a 15 Amp fuse that will easily handle a compressor or your heated gear. These have a coaxial connector on the end to plug into your heated jacket. If you buy a a short coax to SAE adapter, to put on the SAE connector of your typical small compressor, you can plug into the heated gear line to use it. I also put a SAE to coax adapter on my battery tender, so I can charge the battery through the line too. I just simply run the heated gear line to the front of the seat for easy access. 

6 hours ago, Jayzonk said:

Thanks.  I like the idea of a tank bag but am unsure as to which ones won't scratch the tank...you'd need one that has the fitment ring for the gas cap.  Who makes one?

 

I've always used magnetic bags on previous bikes/trips like this simple one. Never had any tank scratches as long as I clean the tank and the bottom of the bag each morning. 

There are lots of good suggestions made above. I’ll add a few from my experience. I toured on my ‘19 900 GT also before my current Tracer 9 GT.
 

The oem comfort seat was quite a bit better for me than the stock one. I had a Corbin also, and actually preferred the Yamaha comfort seat, but all backsides are different..

 

i found that using dry roll end bags of different sizes works well for me to pack in the side cases. I have a larger one in one case for clothes, and an equal size one in the other pannier for all the miscellaneous items that are needed each night in the motel, such as phone charger, meds, hygiene items, etc. Then some smaller bags to pack around the bigger ones if needed. Each night, just carry the two bigger bags into your room. I have had no problems with a top box in addition to the panniers.
 

Take riding gear for all potential weather conditions. I have a dry bag on the rear seat in front of the top box for my extra heavier/lighter gloves, heated jacket, rain gear, etc. My trips usually include the Rocky Mtn. areas; if you are not including areas of altitude, than obviously the heated gear may not be needed. I’ve had trips in June with temps of 115 degrees, to near freezing with snow at 12,000 feet.

Do NOT make any mods or perform any significant maintenance to your bike immediately prior to your trip. Yamahas are very reliable. Generally, if you have a problem with them, it often can be traced to the last thing you messed with. Do your mods/maintenance a month or so ahead of time, and ride the bike for a while to make sure all is well.

 

Ditto the emphasis above on staring out on newer tires. I usually put them on 2 to 3 weeks ahead of time and put a few miles on them prior to a long trip. Sweating the ever decreasing tread depth on worn tires as you progress in your journey definitely detracts from your enjoyment. 
 

As for tools, on a newer Yamaha, I take enough to do basic things like tighten mirror nuts, remove a battery, adjust a chain, etc. As an aside, make sure your chain has plenty of life left beforehand as stated above. The most important item is a flat tire repair kit. I like the Nealey tire repair kit; the strings are live rubber coated and do not require the rubber cement that other sticky string kits do, that invariably either leaks or dries out before you need it. A tire gauge and small air pump completes the package. 
 

A tank bag is great to have for items that you need to have at hand like sunglasses, maps, etc. One of my most used items kept there is a packet of Pledge all purpose wipes; great for using at a brief stop to remove bug guts from your faceshield. 
 

Enjoy your trip greatly. Long motorcycle trips are one of my favorite things in life. I hope it will be for you too.
 

 

 

 

 

Post update. Hit the  10,000 mile mark today, still having a great time on this bike. It's seen many 200 - 300 mile day rides and a very enjoyable 3,000 mile trip over a nine day period. No problems at all, still has the stock windscreen and seat, both of which work for me. Probably the best overall engine for a street bike that I've encountered.  More than enough power, good low range torque and lots of power up top. The oem Bridgestone front tire is getting close to the wear bars; rear was replaced at 5,000 or so miles. Still hate to get off of it at the end of the day. It's not my only bike, but is definitely one of my favorites compared to quite a few bikes over the years.

You will enjoy this bike. I had a C 14 also, enjoyed it greatly, but like my Tracer a lot, I think you will too.

It seems that on every motorcycle forum that I visit, that there is always a thread where some advocate using a lower octane fuel then is recommended for a given bike. If it's your bike, run what you want, but it seems to me that it is questionable to use a fuel that may not be best for the bike in terms of longevity or performance. The money saved with the lower octane is not that great. On a recent 3,000 mile trip, my '22 Tracer used about 70 gallons of gas. If 91 octane is 50 cents more per gallon than 87, that is about $34 more for a 9 day trip. I'll pay that for the benefit provided. YMMV.

Welome to the community. Great looking bike! 

The Givi works with the monokey cases, all the way from the smaller ones like the Dolomiti 30 liter one shown on mine, to the big 56 liter ones. I prefer the smaller ones; still plenty of capacity. Here's a pic of the rack itself.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An alternative is the Givi rack, literally a 10 minute installation.

Normally I’d consider changing both, but the T32 tires are actually very good, except for somewhat disappointing life of the rear tire. The front has probably 3/4 life left, so it will stay. Ride and handling is great with the T32 front and RS3 rear.

Congratulations, you will enjoy it. I’ve had mine since November, really wanted to ride it today, but 21 degrees F for the high was a bit cold for me too. Looks like next weekend may be better.

4,907 miles so far today, enjoying it just as much as before. Amazing motorcycle. Rear tire is to the wear bars; new Dunlop RS 3 is waiting to go on. Front tire has lots of wear left. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I look forward to your impressions after the break-in has passed. During the break-in period, I’d approach the 7,000 rpm mark and think that this is impressive, and different from before. Afterwards, when setting it free and accelerating hard to redline, I was amazed at how strong the new engine is. The older triple was great, but had a fairly linear power output. The 890 cc version is stronger in the lower and mid range to a degree, but has a killer top end from 7,000 rpm up. I think that you will be pleasantly surprised.

That new engine is a peach! I was wondering what you thought of it and that great suspension, frame, etc. It looks great; that flyscreen goes well with it.

Excellent! What a great looking bike. The new engine has better mid range torque, but when you are able to explore the top end more, after break-in, I think you will be very pleasantally surprised. Every time I ride the 9 GT, the power from 6,500 to 7,000 rpm to redline is intoxicating; your’s even more so in that light weight package. The new engine is a definite upgrade. Enjoy!

The MC accessory companies don't make much money from me.  Other than the Givi rack, all I've done is to add my heated gear cable, grip puppies (a must have for me,) and my high tech redline marker. The twin dash screens are growing on me; lots of info displayed. My one gripe with them is visibility in bright sunlight. It's hard to see that small red transition on the tach, so a short piece of red pinstripe makes things easier to see.

Surprisingly, the seat and windscreen work great for me. Had to replace the seats on the FJ 09 and Tracer 900 GT.

I've kept the brake setting in BC 2, that activates the cornering ABS. Upright emergency braking drills reveal good ABS function; not as coarse as on the FJ. Have NOT tried to lock the brakes while cornering to test that function. Will just take Yamaha's word that that works as advertised. 

The T32 rear tire is likely to be toast after 4 to 5,000 miles. Wonder if it is really a dual compound tire like commercially available T 32's. Will plan on replacing them with my go to tires (Dunlop RS 3's), when it is time.

Bike is great; very enjoyable  to ride. 

The 2013 gray one was mine. Had 78,000 miles on it, mostly put on it by me.  I was reluctant to let it go, but am very glad to have the Tracer. It was the time to make the trade, before I put enough miles on the FJR that it wouldn’t be worth anything in trade, and also this was the first time that any Tracers had been available in a good while. Another factor was to grab a ‘22 model before the ‘23 models arrived (if they do, in the US.) I had no desire for the adaptive cruise control and the likely associated price increase. I too would like to again see the day when you walk into a MC dealership and see a showroom full of bikes. Now, to get one,  it seems that you need to get lucky to find one available when you are ready to buy, or to do what Larz has done, and to get on a pre order and pay a deposit. I think Yamaha has done a great job with engineering and R&D. The Tracer is pretty advanced and the FJR, although older, is an excellent design and has great features. The supply chain issues seem to be the rate limiter in motorcycle availability. Cars are the same; local new car lots still have very low inventory of new vehicles.

3 hours ago, psyshack said:

I was in Shawnee Tuesday and went by Sehorn and the Honda, Kaw, Suz Dealer. Sehorn only had used bikes in stock. But Shawnee Honda was trying to sell me a z900 and a few other bikes with pricing while still higher than I'm going to pay wasn't pure covid ripoff rape. Did you say you came off a FJR to get on the Tracer? I'm a big FJR fan. FJR is what started this wanting to buy a bike in 2022. With 2022 being the last year of production for FJR in the USA. I ordered a FJR from a buddy of mine that owns a Yamaha/Honda Dealer in Arkansas. Then it came in freight damaged to the point it was pretty much totaled. And that's the only 2022 FJR I've seen.  ,,,, I've only seen one Tracer with a Okie tag on it. And I saw that bike on the Pig Trail in Arkansas back in the summer so it probably wasn't you. If you see a big lug dwarfing a Wing throwing a hand up to you on a blue Wing in Okiehoma it's probably me. As the new style Wings are still rare here. Good Luck! 

 

They sold the Tracers quickly at Sehorn; they had five of them when I bought mine last month. I traded my '13 FJR for the Tracer at Sehorn. It had  a lot of miles on it but was running as good as when I bought it when it was traded in. Haven't been to Arkansas yet on the Tracer or any other state except for Texas. Can't wait to do a long ride through the Rockies.

Well, just thought I’d better check to make sure I was accurate that they had some in stock; they had both color bikes in stock last week, but yamaha website no longer shows them when you check for dealer inventory. 
 

Now have 2,600 miles on the bike, enjoying it greatly. The T32 rear tire is wearing fairly quickly, guess I need to stop “enjoying” the engine power so much..😀

Sehorn Yamaha in Shawnee has been my go to dealer for some time. It’s a distance away from me, but I have had good experiences with them. They still have several Tracer 9 GT’s in stock.

Wow, you are going to enjoy that bike! As great as the new engine is in the Tracer, it should be amazing in the lighter MT-09.

Yes, on the '22 model you can only use the quick shifter to downshift when the throttle is closed. If the QS is turned on, you see two small adjacent arrows on the display, one pointing up, and one down. If the up arrow is green, as it would be in gears 1-5 under throttle,  you can upshift; if the throttle is closed, the down arrow is green and downshifting is possible. 

A few more observations on the bike, FWIW. Now at 1,700 miles. 

Transmission: Smooth shifting, and quick shifter works well. The ability to use it to downshift is a positive, but I’m kind of set in my ways and prefer to use the clutch for the most part.

Dash: Still not my favorite feature, but it is growing on me. There is a lot of information displayed, with no need to toggle through selections. The deletion of an estimated range selection is odd, but the estimated fuel consumed feature is pretty accurate, and helps to plan the next re fueling. Bike still has the strange fuel gauge that doesn’t show movement until after the first 100 miles, like on past Tracers. Speedometer reads 6% high, according to radar roadside speed monitors. 

Windscreen: This is one of those things that works for some and not for others. It works ok for me. No buffeting, so I’ll keep it. 

Easiest bike to change the oil on that I can recall. No body panels in the way, no header pipes for oil to drip on with oil filter removal. 

Heated grips: works great, like on the GT 900. 

The thumbwheel: Still tricky to operate. A nice feature is the ability to select the heated grip feature with the cursor, and to depress the wheel for 2 seconds; the thumb wheel then only operates the grip heat adjustments with it’s ten settings.  Then you can make heat adjustments on the fly without distraction. Another 2 second depression reverts to normal wheel function and cursor movements. 

Tires: the Bridgestone T 32 tires are excellent. Good dry grip, no rain riding yet.

Chain: it’s good to see that Yamaha no longer calls for the overly tight chain slack specs that they did for previous iterations.

That motor, still is amazing. I watched a video recently where the reviewer said it was one of the best street bike engines designed. Have got to agree. The combination of low and mid range torque, coupled with plenty of top end HP is hard to beat. Any more power would be hard to utilize unless on a racetrack, IMHO. Plus typical Yamaha reliability. When I first joined this forum in 2015, I recall a poster that alleged that the triple showed signs of wearing out early. That has proven to be incorrect; many of you on this forum have high mileage on your bikes, including the gentleman from  my home state with over 300,000 miles on his FJ 09.

I’m sorry to see the experiences that several of you have had when checking out the bike at your local dealership, in regards to bike prep and pricing. I’ve had better luck at my local dealer. I did not get a price much less than retail in this current market, but the price was just under retail OTD, prior to tax and title. It’s been about 3 years since I last bought a new bike. I was a little apprehensive to part with the money required when buying new, but am happy to have done so in this case.