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Cruizin

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Posts posted by Cruizin

    GT suspension improvements

    in Tracer 900 GT Discussions

    Posted

    On 9/6/2019 at 9:28 PM, wordsmith said:

    GT suspension upgrade - September 4th 2019  


    I'll have to be briefer than usual, for my supposedly-fixed PC is still sulking.

    The work took Joe - owner of Ride Dynamics and suspension guru par excellence - some three and half hours of steady work, with no coffee or smoko breaks and no time-wasting Facebook chat.

    As I had said before, his workshop is neat, clean, tidy, a place for everything and everything in its place, including the multitude of specialist tools required for this work.  I couldn't imagine an amateur like me working with cheap hand-tools in a home garage being successful. 

    We again confirmed what I was looking for, we chatted briefly about my riding weight, whether pillion and/ or luggage is routinely carried, etc., and hi ho, hi ho!, it was off to work.   After I swore on a stack of Bibles that I wouldn't get in his way or want to chat constantly, Joe allowed me to stand by - not too close! - to observe and take pix.   It was a very interesting experience as calm, methodical work proceeded.

    As the various parts emerged from the front fork legs Joe explained the function of the various bits - springs, pistons controlling oil-flow, and so on.   To my novice eyes, the new K-tech components looked as if they'd just come from a high-end Swiss watch manufacturer, beautifully finished as they were.

    The rear shock was a more straightforward swap, and although I was surprised at the weight of the new Razor R shock with remote adjuster, the OE shock was much heavier.   The new unit has adjustable length, so about 10 or 12mm (half-an-inch) was wound out, lowering the bike's rear by that much after I said that I like to be able to fully flat-foot at rest, which is barely achievable with the OE unit.

    Sag - which I had always believed to be what happens to a woman's breasts and a man's belly as they age (the latter has happened to me!) - was precisely measured with a cunning device as small incremental changes were made until the desired settings were reached.   Joe reckons that it's rare for an owner to need to return to him for further tweaking, but of course it's there as required.   After he had a short test-ride to check everything, it was my turn to ride home, with my thoughts already given after that short and brief 33km ride.

    Yesterday's 181km outing along very familiar roads was intended to give me more time to evaluate things on terrain of widely-varying surfaces and conditions.   There is a distinct improvement in ride quality, best explained that the sharp reactions to road surface irregularities were ironed-out and a more compliant and composed and comfortable ride eventuated.   A very good example of what this means was quickly apparent, as I found that I was no longer constantly being bumped-up off the seat and inched forward until my gonads were crushed against the rear of tank: I was 'planted' more  firmly in the chosen spot.   Of course, larger irregularities in the road-surface - and there are plenty where I went - were still felt, and I don't want to try to convince members that this was a magic-carpet ride, but certainly it was a pleasing outcome for me.

    Memories of subjective impressions are such that it would be fruitless for me to try to compare the new GT ride with that of my later BMW Boxer twins, which are much heavier bikes and with high-end OE components, including BMW's incomparable Telever front-end, but I am happy.

    I now intend to take that planned ~1000km circuit some time in the next week or two (but not at next week's end, for it will be Friday the thirteenth!), by which time a couple of shorter outings will have put a few hundred kilometres on the new suspension and allowed everything to have bedded-down.

    A very good question at this point might be - "was it worth the $2100 spent on the K-tech upgrade?".    I'm fortunate enough to have spare disposable income, so while not quite a no-brainer the matter of cost was not a great concern.   But others may prefer to take a different lower-cost approach, maybe getting specialists like Ride Dynamics to make changes to the OE components by simply changing oils, shims, springs, whatever, and tinkering with the adjustability of the ex-factory suspension.

    The jury is still out as far as I'm concerned on whether or not I'll want/ need to buy a new BAGSTER seat to replace the GT's OE seat, which although light-years ahead of Gen1 seats is still only 'just' for me.   A new BAGSTER seat would cost $450 -$550 depending on specification, but from past experience I know that it would be the cherry on top of the icing on the cake.   I'll make that call after the 1000km outing in a few weeks time, but in any case they are not yet available.

    Finally, big thanks to captainscarlet who introduced me on this Forum to K-tech and the whole shebang.   Pix follow...

    P1050777.JPG a place for everything...

    P1050779.JPG new Razor-R rear shock

    P1050780.JPG work under way...

    P1050781.JPG new (red) and old OE shocks.   

    P1050782.JPG spotless workshop..

    P1050783.JPG draining oil from fork legs..

    P1050784.JPG OE (right) and new oil-flow pistons 

    P1050785.JPG fork off...

    P1050786.JPG new K-tech oil-flow control pistons

    P1050787.JPG beautifully machined...

    P1050788.JPG new rear shock installed

    P1050790.JPG sag-o-meter

    P1050791.JPG job done!

    Edited 2 minutes ago by wordsmith
     

    Wordsmith - a '39 model; bike - a 2019 Tracer 900 GT, Midnight Black and with many farklings.   Redland Bay, SE Queensland, Australia.

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    Im wondering why your posts have that white background? Are you using the light theme of this forum, or are you copying from word and pasting into the forum?  Im on dark theme and your posts are all white. Ive tried to duplicate it and can't. 

    Sticker size

    in FJ-09 Tracer 900 General Discussions

    Posted

    I'll also add that the discount code (FALLDISC10) expires on October 7th.   YOu can still order stickers after that, just without the discount. 

    @wordsmith  The Tracer900 stickes are about the same size.  Get em here 

    560.jpg

    6554b6be8c0d829a8bf63ae0c82cf121_link.pn Tracer 900 Red Die Cut Stickers

    Discover Tracer 900 Red Die Cut Stickers T-Shirt from FJ-09 Tracer 900...

    Again, all profits go towards the cost of this forum that you all get a good amount of use out of. 

    • Thanks 1

    Trade In Quotes

    in Canadian FJ-09 Owners

    Posted

    On 9/26/2019 at 8:14 AM, rustyshackles said:

    Cruizin I disagree.  Private vehicle sales can be a PITA.  The decision is the value of one’s time and aggravation v. loss of cash in hand.  

    I have disposed of vehicles both ways and have been satisfied with the outcomes. 

    Users of the forum should contribute what they can regardless!

    I sell all my bikes private party and come out thousands more than what scraps the dealers offer. If a dealer offers more, then they just raise the price and fees of the bike that you get. I dont allow test rides without cash and license copy.

    • Thumbsup 1

    Postman brought me something nice this weekend

    in FJ-09 Tracer 900 General Discussions

    Posted

    Why, what could it be? 

    IMG_20190929_231143.jpg

    Ohh, it's my FJ09 poster with black background!

    MVIMG_20190929_231713.jpg

     

    Though, I kinda wish that i=I had ordered the larger one. It looks kinda smallish in that space. 

    MVIMG_20190929_231728.jpg

     

    Small and large sizes, along with choice of white or black backgrounds can be ordered here 

    560.jpg

    6554b6be8c0d829a8bf63ae0c82cf121_link.pn FJ09 Forum Poster and wall Tapestery

    Discover Fj09 Forum Poster And Wall Tapestery T-Shirt from FJ-09 Tracer...

     

    Enter coupon code "FALLDISC10" to get 10% off everything in the store. Ends on October 7th. 

    • Thumbsup 1
    • Like 1

    10% discount code for merchandise in the tracer900 forum store!

    in FJ-09 Tracer 900 General Discussions

    Posted

    Ok guys and gals, the discount code works until October 7th, then it expires!  So, just a little over one week to get 10% off your orders from our apparel store.    Discount code is FALLDISC10

    If you own an FJ09 or Tracer 900, we have items that you will want. You all get a ton of good free info on this forum, some of you even have sold stuff in our classifieds section for free. So, please consider getting some items to help keep this website going. Where would you go if it closed? Facebook? Their tech tips are sometimes wrong and often very hard to find. 

    Check out our store here https://teespring.com/stores/fj-09-tracer-900-forum-store

    Trade In Quotes

    in Canadian FJ-09 Owners

    Posted

    4 hours ago, tinkerfreak said:

    OK, so I am sitting in the Orthopedic Surgeons office and he starts telling me that they are going to have to go into my left wrist AGAIN and try to correct my issue, at this point my brain stops listening and the self to self conversation begins " AGAIN, are you freakin kidding me! This will be the third time and the best I have been able to get out of it is two years with minimal pain and swelling. So after the AGAIN part I heard very little and start to ponder my riding future and decide that I might take a look at an Africa Twin DCT.

    So I take my FJ to a Honda Powersports facility and look at the AT and ask for a trade in quote, they take the bike in the shop and 30 minutes later the salesman comes back and tells me that they will give me $4600.00 CDN for my bike as a trade in. Now my bike has the suspension front springs and intermediate Matt kit and a rear Matris shock, Givi engine guards, Seth Lamm seat, Parabellum tall windscreen, slipper clutch, 2016 oil sump, Givi top box rack, braided steel brake lines and the 320mm front discs, McCruise cruise control, a PC8 fuse box with all accessory circuits with a relay and the bike just rolled over 12,000 kms so is this right for trade in value? I'm confused.

     

    Cheers

    Never trade in a vehicle unless you absolutely positively have to get rid of it that day. And when is that ever the case?

    List it on Facebook motorcycle groups, list it on forums. You never get back all the money that you put into a bike plus upgrades. Same with cars.  So, list the bike at a price that would attract you, if you were looking for one. You can always sell some of the extras separately on here.

    Fall is a hard time to sell a bike, its getting cold, the market is smaller when its getting cold, but take a trial run. Take a ton of pics, talk up the extra care you took for that bike in your facebook ads, talk about the extras. Take alot of pics of the bike, post all the GOOD ones, dont post the bad pics. 

    And if it doesn't sell this fall, relist it in the spring, when guys are itchin for newer bikes to ride.

    Sell it on here, you can list it in classifieds for free. Some people even donate a % of the profit to the forum as a thanks. (But not many) 🤔

    • Thumbsup 1

    How to: Lowering kit (DIY) and high speed wobble fix

    in FJ-09 Tech Tips/How to's

    Posted

    On 9/19/2019 at 6:57 AM, Szymon said:

    Hi. This is my first topic here ;) So let it start!

    LOWERING

    I had to get my MT 09 Tracer Lower. It's caused by my fiance height - she is going to ride Yamaha when it gets proper saddle height.
    MT09 Tracer saddle height is 850 to 865 milimeters. I need to get something closer 800mm.
    I started with lowering link kits and decided I gonna create lowering kits by my friend who got workshop (some kind blackmisth).
    I decided to make lowering links which can make my motorbike 20mm or 25mm lower. I could get it more but somewhere in the Internet I read that some construction problem can occur and swingarm modifications would be required.

    So, we knew the shape but need dimensions. In topic here: https://www.tracer900.net/topic/2948-lowering-link-installation/?do=findComment&comment=33530 , timg gave us all we need to start designing process. Thank you timg!

    From dimensions of links: stock, Yamaha -15mm and PSR -31,75mm,  I extract equation how to get -20mm and -25mm links (thanks wolframalpha). Here is the function: f(x)=63.05 + x*(-0.127165) + x^2*(-0.00706555), where f(x) is our holes axis to axis distance and x is height drop we want to achieve. Down here are some notes I have made.
    lyjv6lq.png

     


    After design work was done, I made an order to my friend so he can craft links. I decided to make them with steel SS400. Unfortunately my friend got only SS350 at the moment so we decided to make links of that sheet and made them 8mm thick what is 2mm more than original ones.
    So, when I finaly recieved links/bones from my friend:

    4iJrzk0.jpg
    I started to install it on my moto. Basically I followed the link video linked bellow. Rear wheal lever tip is great. https://youtu.be/BH8jLWxYx5I?t=84


    For me it was much more easy to uninstall exhaust. I started with -25mm links but I met some problems when was installing it. I couldn't put both bolts inside mounting holes. I gave up with that and with -20mm kit it was really easy, same as shown on the upper youtube video. After links were installed, I installed exhaust system and that was the end of rear suspension lowering. It can be done in less than 1 hour.


    WOBBLE FIX

    For me, of height 182cm, my Tracer got wobbling at 155km/h. That was annoying me so decided to fix it while lowering suspension.
    First of all I made rear suspension harder. It was set to half of scale of hardness. I set it to 3/4 of scale.
    The second was to lower down front suspension in the tripple tree. You need to unscrew a little 6 bolts (3 per side), shown on pictures bellow.

    HmzppAt.jpg

    DJeNxBM.jpg

    As you can see on the picture, I have lower suspension for 15mm.

    After ride with my girl on my back, with speed of 175km/h I didn't notice any wobbling.
    Conclusion is that, you can make your tracer great again without puting any extra money with OHLINS like rear suspension set.
     

    Great write up, thanks! 

    10% discount code for merchandise in the tracer900 forum store!

    in FJ-09 Tracer 900 General Discussions

    Posted

    BUMP! Dont wanna sound like a cheesy salesman, but we have a big $200 software update coming and I dont wanna pay for it all myself. Please at least look around the store and see if anything catches your eye! 

    9Jz-LizrU62XAZQOaqHvAg_store_banner_imag

    6554b6be8c0d829a8bf63ae0c82cf121_link.pn FJ-09 Tracer 900 Forum Store

    This is the Tracer900.net forum store! Support your favorite bike...

    Im looking forward to getting my wall poster for the garage, as well as a fresh new hoodie for fall. 

     

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