stevesweetz

This bike does not tempt me at all. I rented an Africa Twin to do some off-road trails. The engine character felt very, let's say, tractor-like. Definitely not what I want in a sport-touring bike.

FWIW I noticed the same in videos, but I did not have a problem with the brightness in real life. The screens were bright enough to be legible, just small. Ultimately, in real world use, all that I really need to see while riding is the speedometer and occasionally the trip meter and it does that job ok enough. Tach is useful when getting to know a bike, but even heavily revised, the character of the engine was familiar enough that I already had a feeling for where I was in the rev range without having to look.

I'm betting it's for accessory fog lights and the dummy female connector is just to function as a cover, which some line worker forgot to connect on your bike. They don't have the fog lights listed on the US site, but they do on the UK site. They come with a wiring harness designed for one of those connectors. ---Edit--- That's exactly what it is. Dug up the fog light install instructions from Yamaha Japanese site. https://www.ysgear.co.jp/share/images/Products/Q5KYSK128X02/Q5KYSK128X02_set.pdf

Lucky. I'm in eastern PA (about 45 mins from Philly) and every Yamaha dealer in a 250 mile radius got basically one in and it had already been reserved by someone else. There was a dealer in NJ that had one available, I texted them in the morning on a work day to confirm it was available. I said I was super interested and would call later when I had a free moment. When I called around 3pm, they had already sold the bike to someone else! I later found out that it was a mechanic at the dealership where I normally take my bike for inspection and tires that had bought it. They seem to be popular bikes around here. Anecdotally, I see a lot of FJ-09s and Tracers when riding around in PA and NJ. They had one at a Yamaha demo event at my regular dealer and they said it was the most requested bike - more than even the R7. You'd think that would mean dealers in this area would get a higher allocation of them, but I guess not 😕 There was still one dealer in Brooklyn, NY that still had one listed on Cycle Trader, but I hate cities and my desire for the bike doesn't quite exceed my disdain for riding into (because I want to trade my current bike) and out of NYC.

Hmm little bit of misleading advertising with their 360 spinner at the top of the page because the "tail" isn't on the bike. Much like the first gen FJ-09/Tracer, the lack of cruise control reeks of being some "price point" BS because it does have electronic throttle control and it should be possible. If it had cruise, between that and the engine, I think it would easily justify premium over the Versys 650. I mean between the two I'd still get the Triumph anyway for just the engine. I was cross-shopping Versys 650 before I ended up getting an FJ-09. I wasn't really looking for more power, but that Kawi 650 engine is so completely charmless. Although I'm still hankering to get a Tracer 9 GT, I might have seriously considered this bike if it had cruise. I'm ok with less power. My guess is that I'd still end on the Yamaha anyway, but now that I was denied getting one this year because of supply chain issues, I'm kind of less enthused for the bike (sour grapes effect) and having second thoughts on whether I'm sold on the value of electronic suspension compared to its price premium.

Yup I noticed the one side of the brace was shorter and figured I must have done it wrong 5 years ago, but I'm glad I filed away the instructions. I mounted it as instructed. Instruction mistake, design mistake, or the tolerances are a few mm off on my bike ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Yeah for what's worth, that ding is very shallow and my guess is the swingarm hits that brace only like a 1mm before it hits the actual shock stop or the damage the swingarm would be worse. You can see the ding doesn't even get through the height of the weld bead. And just for completeness, here are the Yamaha install instructions showing that I did install the brace correctly, it's not supposed to go the other way around or anything.

I think this series should make it pretty clear. Especially in the last shot, you can see how much it decreases clearance vs no mount.

I'll get some pictures, I can definitely see it being hard to envision. The area of the swing arm forward of the tire is pretty high on the FJ-09. There's less clearance between that and the pannier mounting brace than between the top of the tire and the underside of the tail. And yup, I've taken some pretty hard bumps on rare occasions. Usually due to unforeseen PA pothole. I keep my rear preload on the the 4th setting down from the max, but I've never had anyone to help to check my sag. Maybe I need to go higher. I just kind of figured if the bike is rated for 400lbs and I weigh 200lbs, I should probably be somewhere near the middle.

I was doing a long overdue cleaning of my 2016 FJ-09 this weekend and noticed a little ding on the top of the "solid" area of the swing in front of the rear wheel. It realized this was caused by the swingarm hitting the reinforcing bracket/bar that goes between the pillion foot brackets with the OEM pannier mounting system. This could have been there for years and I only just now noticed. The ding is pretty superficial and I'm not worried about is compromising the integrity of the swingarm or anything like that, but I'm curious if anyone else has run into this? I found the instructions for the pannier mounts and double checked that I did indeed install them correctly. So this just seems like a design flaw.

Do not hold the starter button for a long period of time. If the bike doesn't start up right away, let off and you will hear the fuel pump again. Then press the start again and it should start right up. This is actually covered in the owner's manual, if anyone bothers to read it 😕 My guess is that the bike is designed to prime with the most minimal amount of fuel necessary, either for emissions or to have a gentler startup. So sometimes it seems it won't give it enough gas for a cold start, but after a failed start it "knows" it needs to prime some more and then it has enough. It's obviously by design in any case since the manual covers this. I've pretty much always needed 2 starter presses when the bike has sat overnight. However, I usually will only need 1 starter press if I commute to work and start the bike to go home in the evening. So there's like cold start and really cold start behaviors with this bike

Mildly interesting follow up anecdote on this. About 2 weeks a back, there was finally a dealer within 100 miles that got one in stock that hadn't already been reserved. I texted them in the morning to confirm this, but it was on a weekday and I was busy at work. I told them I was very interested and would call later in the afternoon to confirm details. By the time I called back they had sold it. ☹️ The tires on my FJ were starting to get down to the wear bars and I hadn't intended on replacing them since I was supposed to have traded in the bike by now, but since it looks like I'm not going to get a new bike this year, I bit the bullet and took it to a nearby dealer to get new tires this past weekend. I ended up talking to a sales guy at the dealership (my "local" one, not the one that got the Tracer 9) while waiting for my tires to be replaced and mentioned I had found a Tracer 9 at a close-ish dealer that was sold within a few hours of me texting. It turned out that it was one of the mechanics at the dealer where I was getting my tires replaced is the one that bought it! The sales guy said the dealership owner wasn't too happy about him buying from another dealer, but couldn't fault him too much since the bike is so hard to get right now. I never did ask to talk to the guy that bought it, figured I wouldn't have much to say other than "congrats...you bastard" 😄 Anyway, the sales guy also said the Tracer 9 GT was one of the most requested bikes at the Yamaha demo and they still have no idea about Yamaha's US allocation for the bike so it looks like I might still be "competing" for one next year too.

Tiger Sport 850 is already out, it's a stripped down cheaper version of the Tiger 900. All bikes of similar purpose will look similar. Average non-rider couldn't distinguish a S1000RR from a GSXR600, they're both just "crotch rockets". One could argue the Tracer 900 borrowed heavily from the Tiger 1050, which was a much earlier example of street focused ADV/ "upright sport tourer" segment when it came out in 2007.

Yeah importing vehicle to US is not easy. I did find a red one at a dealer around 250 miles away, but the problem is that I want the silver and even though I desperately want one, if I'm paying like $17K for a bike (after fees and tax) I'm going to get it in the color I want, even if that sadly means waiting till next year.

So yup, Yamaha did their yearly demo at the one big dealers near me and they actually had a Tracer 9 GT. For reference, I currently ride a 2016 Fj-09 with 23K miles on it; Sargent seat (and some minor cosmetic things), but otherwise stock. I can not believe how much improved the Tracer 9 GT is. The ride was very noticeably smoother, I now understand why people think the previous gen's suspension is bad. There's still some on/off throttle jerkiness, but the surging/unevenness when at very low input (parking lot maneuvering speeds) is pretty much gone. I 've seen some people say the Tracer 9 seemed taller in the seat than the previous generation, for me this wasn't the case. I'm 5'9" and 29" inseam, and I still can't flat foot it, but I could get more of my feet down vs my FJ-09. Ergonomically, the foot pegs seem just a smidge further forward and that makes the seating position feel a lot more neutral. I definitely preferred it to the FJ-09. Windscreen is so easy to adjust and in the high position it kept me (again 5'9") almost entirely out of the wind. I already thought the Fj-09 had one of the best stock exhaust notes, but it's even better on the Tracer 9. As is always the case, these test rides are pretty short. It was an 8 mile/20 minute ride. Nowhere near long enough to make a judgement on the seat and really had no opportunity to mess with cruise control and other electronics. There only downside that I found: the dash truly sucks. The screens are too small and I already knew from reviews the angle was bad, but man, even with me being shorter, it still felt like they're pointing at my chest, not my face. This is not a deal breaker for me, I don't spend much ride time looking at the dash, but I really don't understand what Yamaha was thinking here. Must have gotten a good deal on on tiny TFT screens that no one wanted. Anyway, now I'm quite depressed. I was already sold on the Tracer 9 GT and I have been trying to get one since April, but no dealer in 150 miles that I called/emailed has them and none could provide an estimate for when they would get them. Now I know just how good the bike I'm missing out on is

I've never seen Yamaha branded 10W-40 synthetic in the US. All I see is 15W-50. I did my first two oil changes with Yamaha kits, later switched to Amsoil synthetic. Zero appreciable difference in engine or transmission behavior between them. However, I'm lazy sometimes don't immediately change oil when I take bike out of winter storage. Synthetic seems to come out a little nicer looking after winter storage than mineral. I find a person quoting a dealer as a reliable source of knowledge pretty hilarious...

I have foam slip-on ones, I think "Grab On Grips" was the specific brand. For me they were very easy to put on. I used dish soap, it becomes sticky when it dries. I got caught in a couple pretty severe downpours when out touring and they've never slipped. I'm on my 5th year with them and they are just now starting to get brittle and tear at the ends and will need to be replaced. More than got my money's worth for $20. They definitely help with vibration, but for me it's more about increasing the diameter of the grip. I start getting pain in my hand faster when having to maintain a smaller diameter grip.

I went to the same 2 nearest Yamaha dealers this weekend, both said they were only getting a single Tracer 9 GT which was already spoken for and they didn't get to get anymore in this year. 😞

Get a normal spark plug socket without a permanently attached extension so you have the flexibility to use whatever length extension you wish. Then get a set of socket extensions if you don't already have them. I believe a 4" extension is short enough that you can still maneuver it the hole, but will stick up far enough that you can still attached the socket wrench directly to it. I only have 3" and 6" extensions. The 6" is too long to get it in there without frame blocking it, the 3" is too short to attach the socket directly to it and still have room to turn the wrench. I should probably just get a 4" someday instead of using my U-joint setup, but meh, it works.

I also just painted the recessed area of the panniers to match the tank. On yours, doing that the in the red/copper of the side fairings probably makes the most sense.

You might have already made one mistake, as I'm pretty sure there there's no way you're going to be able to use that socket + extension that you got. I've done my plugs a few times. The forward cant of the engine and closeness to the frame makes getting to the spark plugs extremely annoying. You basically can't go straight in with a long extension. I have to use a 3" extension with a U-joint to be able to get the socket down into the spark plug hole. Fully inserted, the U-joint sits just above the opening, so you need another extension to have room to turn the wrench. Once the first section is down in, I can mostly straighten out the U-joint, making torque measured through this setup only somewhat questionable If you don't have a torque wrench, get yourself one. I use a cheap Tekton clicker type. People have done tests on these and found them to be within 5% accuracy of far more expensive wrenches, which is good enough. PS I think if you have a 4" (10cm) extension and a normal size spark plug socket, that's just the right length where it's short enough that you can maneuver it down into the hole while still sticking far enough above it to be able to attach wrench directly to it.

Now that Yamaha is only going to sell the $15K GT version of the Tracer 9 in the US, I thought for sure they would bring the Tracer 7 here as a sort of replacement for the base model Tracer 9, but nope 😕

Hi guys, long time no post. Still riding my 2016 FJ-09. Glad I procrastinated/waffled on upgrading to a Tracer 900 GT, as I'm quite excited for the Tracer 9 GT and almost certainly going to upgrade to one of those. Just wondering if anyone has seen these making their way into dealers yet. I've asked a couple of local dealers, but both are big 6+ brand dealers that doesn't really focus on 1 brand and were unsure when they'd be getting T9GTs in, they gave me a toss off answer of probably not until July.

Covid-19 has pretty much killed my plans of potentially buying a new bike this year, but the more reviews and videos about the F900XR I watch, the more I lose interest. Hopefully Yamaha puts out the 2021 Tracer 900 GT in a color I can tolerate and I just end up with one of those. That said, I'm worried that sales will be so atrocious this year that they won't even do a 2021 model and will just sell left over 2020 stock.

I feel like I've seen a decent number of FJ-09s around Philly area. I've only seen a single GT out and about though (maybe it was roadrash83 heh). I think every US color option since the 2019 redesign for both the GT and non-GT models has been pretty unappealing though - that surely hasn't been doing them any favors. The color they should have sold here is the matte blue, it's so much more classy looking.