texscottyd

@johnmark101 - I glanced at the dyno chart without reading the details of your post, and I was wondering how the hell you got almost 150 HP at the wheel out of a CP3! 👀 Now I understand…

Anyone have a link to the official Honda reveal? I haven’t seen anything other than vague ‘Coming Oct 21’ statements, and thought there would be some online event to promote the launch…

That’s your moral compass whispering in your ear… You’ll learn to ignore that eventually. Trust me. 😇

I looked for it yesterday with no success… I may be totally blind as well.

This. 100% this. It's so refreshing to see bikes that a lot of us will actually use and enjoy in the real world, over multiple years of ownership. It all comes full circle, eventually...

Welcome to the forum @Pantboy, and congratulations on your new Tracer! They're really entertaining motorcycles, and I'm sure you're going to love it.

And it's just so damn sexy...

I’m most decidedly NOT an expert in aero or fluid dynamics, but this primer from NASA is actually reasonably comprehensive yet easy to understand: https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/airplane/dragco.html Motorcycles are generally not very aero-efficient vehicles, with an upright profile, and lots of protrusions and edges to interfere with laminar air flow. Perching a rider on top just makes the problem worse… I have zero facts to base this on, but I suspect the FJ/Tracer/Niken are aerodynamically inefficient, even for a motorcycle. The CP3 motor feels like it has plenty of grunt to produce solid top speed numbers, but it really tapers off in a hurry above 100 - 110 mph, which has to be aero drag related. We won’t even discuss the infamous ‘aero wallow’ that the early FJs seemed susceptible to…. The bigger factor with the Niken may not be the drag coefficient, but rather the much greater frontal area relative to a conventional motorcycle fork. Anyone know an honest top speed number for a Niken, relative to a comparable Tracer? Inquiring minds want to know…

Thanks for the write up and reviews @1moreroad! I’ve been keeping an eye on the Speed Twin, and with the 2022 suspension & brake upgrades, it looks really appealing to me… nice to hear that your impressions are so positive.

It feels like the manufacturers are finally swinging back towards fun, practical, and capable bikes in the middleweight ‘sweet spot’ of the market. I hope they sell a boatload of them! Anyone else noticed the new Kawasaki Z650RS? This could be the perfect bike for a lot of people I know… https://www.kawasaki.com/en-us/motorcycle/z/retro-sport/z650rs

Nothing like responding to a post from almost 3 years ago…. But, I couldn’t agree more. I’ve built a fantastic career in tech, and continue to be amazed and excited at the pace of innovation. At 56, I’m one of the older guys on my team, but I love learning from the insights and ideas of my young & visionary colleagues. But I ride to decompress: My career is software, so my hobbies are mechanical. The simplicity of just pointing in a general direction (“let’s see… Colorado is northwest of here, right?”) and finding a paper map at a mini-mart across the state line made my early days of riding some of my most memorable. I can’t remember 99.9% of the cell phone calls I’ve made, but I sure remember using an AT&T calling card at a gas station pay phone to check in back home at the end of a day of riding in Rockies.

Excellent write ups, @wanderer! It looks like a fantastic trip… I’m more than just a little bit jealous.

First of all, congrats on scoring a new non-current red FJ… I thought those were all long gone by now. I have that same Parts Unlimited battery in my 2015 FJ, and it’s worked flawlessly for 2+ years. It usually stays on the Battery Tender, but even when it hasn't been, the bike always fires right up after sitting for a couple of weeks. I realize that doesn’t mean you don’t have a bad one, but my experience with the Parts Unlimited battery has been positive. I’m pretty sure the battery has a manufacture date sticker on it somewhere, if you want to verify that it’s reasonably new. I would follow @piotrek advice and see if you have some phantom parasitic load causing the problem, and make sure the charging system is working as it should. Do you have any accessories hardwired to the battery that might have been left on? (GPS, radar detector, etc?)

Interesting... curious what that might be that isn't causing any running issues, error codes, or obviously non-functioning equipment. I'm wondering if maybe it's for the cooling fan on the radiator? It's in a location that could make sense, and you wouldn't have had any issues unless you've been caught in heavy traffic on a warm day... Congrats on the new T9 GT!

Oh damn… I hate hearing about these types of things. While the ‘it could have been worse’ realization is certainly true, it doesn’t in any way lessen the seriousness of your situation. And a bit of a wake up call for all of us… I wish you all the best for a full recovery, and commend you for your positive attitude. Keep us posted on your progress. -Scott