stringman

At long last I have some pics. Not very good ones.

Its strange but in some lights the match isnt to bad in others it might as well be a different colour.

I will see what they look like when they are fitted to the bike, if all else fails I will just paint them black!

I am  wondering if raising the bike bake to original height might improve things.

I am thinking that lower bars would be better than lower risers as they would also change the wrist position.

It seems that street nakeds are the bar if choice but I wondered what the rizoma equivilant would be?

TIA

3 hours ago, betoney said:

I also own a Honda VFR1200X and it is HEAVY, it takes a LOT of effort to get it up on the center stand.  A method I use to make it easier is grab the handlebar and rear grab rail like normal, and roll the bike backwards and quickly kick down the center stand.  The momentum of the bike moving backward helps it pop up onto the center stand fairly easy. 

After getting a heavy bike on the center stand, the FJ/Tracer is a non issue, almost effortless in comparison.

thats good advice but my issue is I have an easyturn turntable so I have to be accurate where the centre stand goes down. I suspect putting the bike to standard height will improve things.

Until then its the left leg on the stand!!!

17 minutes ago, Kchan said:

I have a 2021 T9GT which has been lowered. Getting the bike on the centre stand is not an issue providing I remove the two panniers. If I leave the panniers on, then it becomes almost impossible, even if the cases are empty.

Interesting 

My bike has a topbox and , at the moment, 1 panier

11 hours ago, texscottyd said:

Hi @stringman - I’m not seeing any photos of the wheel, but as long as the flat machined mating surfaces of the wheel onto the back of the rotors isn’t damaged, I’m sure you’re fine.   This is one of those projects that isn’t hard when it goes right, but often gets complicated due to hard-to-remove rotor bolts.  

As for the brake feel, assuming you pushed the pistons back into the calipers to fit the new pads, they should pump back up once everything is reattached.   Don’t pump on them with the calipers disconnected (not on the rotors) or you can push the pistons all the way out of the caliper. 

Good luck finishing up… sounds like you’re almost there. 

Sorry for the short reply - was in bed just about to sleep.

Posted now.

There is some damage to the mating surface, a groove where the angle grinder went to far, and the very end of the surface has a cut.

I have fitted the discs ( but not fully torqued them up yet) and the rotors seem flush and solid.

regarding the sponginess

I left the callipers supported whilst i changed the then took the pads out. when I re fitted them i had to force them apart to fit on the rotors.

Again nothing is fully torqued.

I pumped the brakes quite a few time and the lever would also go back to the bar.

When spinning the wheel it moves freely but i can feel that the pads are binding. Is this normal?

I know that I cant really make any comments until its all properly installed but thought i would pre-empt things a bit.

Thanks

Thanks for all the replies.

Previous tracers werent lowered and i managed ok.

I am having the rear shock spring changed and some andreani cartridges fitted so I will get the shop to put the original dog bones back when they do that.

Just a thought. As he hadnt adjusted the front to compensate  would it change the riding position for the worse with regards to screen protection / wind buffering?

God you're right.

I forgot the photos

As I thought.

Im not that happy with the lowered position so I will put back the original dog bones on.

Thanks

Hi all

Has anyone had their GT lowered ( with the dog bones)?

And if so do you find it more difficult to get it up on the centrestand?

I used to have a 17 tracer (FJ09) and it was fairly easy to get on the the centre stand. I could also ( in a tight spot) pivot the bike on the side stand to turn it 180deg

Now I have a tracer 900GT that has the lower dog bones and one of those plates that sit oin the foot of the side stand.

No way will it pivot, and its a complete bitch to get on the centre stand, so much so that this week I popped my calf muscle doing it.

My thinking is, that as its lower there is less leverage so you need more force.

Any Thoughts?

Thanks

Well an update.

Ordered some new EBC pads as i thought better safe than sorry.

When to pull the bike up on the centre stand and popped my calf muscle! 

Finally got around to doing it today (hobbling around and sitting down)

Got the pads changed super quick and got the wheel off nice and easy.

1 disc came of fine and the second did apart from the last two, applied heat gentle pressure all to no avail they rounded.

With it being a Bank holiday in the UK no garages or shops are open.

so I attacked the disk with an angle grinder and managed to get the 1st bolt off and then realised if i just cut the heat of the bolt square I could use a spanner to get it off. which I did.

Problem is there is some minor damage to the wheel ( see photos)

The rotors sit nice and square and dont  seem lose ( though i havent tightened them to full torque as i want to fit new screws.

Asthetics aside do you think this is ok to use? i really dont want to fork out £500 for a new wheel)

On a side note the brakes, again havent been fully torqued but the brake lever feels really spongy and can touch the handlebars. Do you think this will settle or they will need bleeding?

Thanks in advance

I had a tracer 900 and swapped the bars over to narrower mt09 bars. I now have a tracer 900gt and went to put my mt09 bars on this bike and discovered they were the same. I have the mt09 bars for sale on fb in the uk.

9 hours ago, BBB said:

Standard pads. It’s depressing to read that bike theft is still so common in the UK.

It’s straight forward to do, but do heed the warnings about using heat and slow, steady torque when removing the bolts. At a pinch you could re-use your old pads if they’re in good shape and you’re in a hurry.

I was intending to use the old pads as the bike has only done 8,000 gentle touring miles and time is of the essence

Tried to order some genuine errors from fowler about 10days wait and £200+ so ordered some wavy ones from france£ 150.

Presume I don't need wavy   pads

I suspect cut the locks off and wheel it in a van

They got one off and made 2 cut on the other before they got disturbed. Was in daylight on a fairly busy road

Brilliant

At least I can do it myself.

Just need to find the discs now (uk)

Some scumbag tried to.stesl my bike last night and cut through the front discs.

So I need to replace both.

Is it a matter of just unscrewing the old ones, sliding them out, and sliding the New ones in?

Need to do it as quickly and easily as possible.

Thanks

sadly they wont ship to the uk

I will post some pics when I can

Your match looks way better than mine.

The colour rite sit only gave me black for a tracer gt 19 

As the title says

Has anyone sprayed part of their bike with aftermarket spray in phantom blue?

I bought a 2 part spray in phantom blue

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/185299647241?var=693077120323

I sprayed my handguards today, 2 coats of the base coat ( black) and 3 of the topcoat (blue)

And whilst it is similar colour and (probably) ok for the guards I wouldnt be happy if it was a touch up to the tank for example. It seems much darker than the bike.

I am hoping the lacquer will blend it in better.

But I wondered if anyone else has had some better luck 

warchild

looking at your bike , it seems a completely different blue.

I have just painted the handguards , 2 coats of basepaint (black) and 3 of topcoat and its not a good match at all- seems blacker if that makes sense?

THanks for the reply

Thats what I thought about the oil. I will chat to the shop about it

Hi all

I have bought a set of used Andreani cartridges- not much more than a set of springs - so I thought why not.

I will be having them fitted by a suspension shop along with them re springing my ohlins for my weight.

On reading on here I see lots of issues about hydro locking.

I live in the uk and quite frankly our roads are crap!

I am sure that the shop will know their stuff ( way more than I do) but I wondered what would be the options to consider to prevent the over harshness?

I now matt does a kit but I cant seem to find out details for cost and availability. Other options  include different oils? 

Any thoughts?

TIA

9 hours ago, bwringer said:

My 2015 is also very close (within + 1 or 2 mph) but I don't know if it came that way, or if there was a correction done when the original owner had the ECU flashed. I've heard it both ways, so I dunno what the truth is here.

In any case, it's nice to have an accurate speedo, and I definitely have to remember it's a lot more accurate than my other bikes.

My 17 reg tracer was flashed and the difference stayed the same (7%)

Maybe I should have given more detail. I have the MRA vario so have the spoiler.

I just need to be able get lower.