texscottyd

Note to self:  Do not let @Wintersdark work on my brakes… 😀

That’s quite a story about the reversed polarity brake lines.  I had never thought about it, but I guess the behavior does make sense.   That’s some Final Destination style mechanical mayhem going on; glad it all worked out ok for you!  

15 hours ago, Wintersdark said:

…whoever decided the Tracer should have sections of hardlines for the brakes and THOSE GODDAMNED STUPID BOXES TO CONNECT TO THEM IN THE MOST INACCESSIBLE PLACES MEEDS TO DIE IN A FIRE!

Yeah, that’s an interesting design, isn’t it?    The replacement kits come it two flavors:  Those that retain the factory hard lines, and those that don’t.   I’m pretty sure @dazzler24 could share some colorfully-worded opinion of his experience with a set that reuses the hard lines.  

I have the Galfer 5-line set on my FJ, and just cut the hard lines out & threw them in the trash.  Much simpler process that way… 

Glad you’re (almost) done with the upgrade.  

On 4/23/2023 at 8:02 AM, Sandeep said:

Denali D4’s were added finally 

Nice setup, and serious lighting.  I’m intrigued by the mix of white and amber lenses… what is the intent of that combination?   Apologies if it’s a dumb question, but I very rarely ride at night anymore, and haven’t added any auxiliary lighting to my own bikes.  

22 minutes ago, dazzler24 said:

As always YMMV.

My garage is like Goldilocks and the Three Exhaust Systems:   The FJ is too quiet (factory Yamaha), the XR is too loud (gorgeous but semi-offensive Termignoni), and the Speed Twin is just right (British Customs reverse megaphones with the factory catalyst still in the head pipes)  

I seem to the one of the last holdouts with stock exhaust on a Gen-1 FJ… 🤷‍♂️

25 minutes ago, bwringer said:

Motorcycling forums are communities, not exclusive clubs with bouncers or excommunication rituals.

True, although I’m starting to think this ‘Motus MST’ tattoo wasn’t the smartest idea… 🤷‍♂️

Enjoy the new GS @maximo!  I hope you truly bond with it. 

Hi @Jayzonk - The handlebars are 1-1/8” at the clamping area, and taper down to 7/8” at the control ends.  Pretty standard configuration (except for Harley-Davidson). 

Dead center on the handlebar clamping area works great for the phone mount on my FJ, and it should be almost identical on your GT.   

I use the RokForm mount instead of the QuadLock, but same net result: 

@Andy Clap - As mentioned, it’s a theft deterrent, to restrict outside access to the release lever for the riders seat…  Probably not necessary, but no reason to not keep it.  

37 minutes ago, Wintersdark said:

It's weird the first time you get to the velcro though. 

Indeed.  It’s even weirder that now it seems perfectly normal… 

Well that sucks, @phats22… sorry to hear.   There’s a special place in hell for bike thieves.  

I don’t typically think of these as high theft risk bikes, but obviously yours was a target.   Hopefully you can get it resolved fairly quickly & painlessly.  

6 hours ago, 1moreroad said:

If only we collectively as a society could find a sweet spot between "unleash all kinds of dangerous sh*t on the highway" and "the safety lights don't have a switch."

That honestly seems to be about where we are with the annual safety inspection in Texas.    It has to be generally safe & sound (lights work, tires not bald) but otherwise doesn’t seem to be too invasive and over-regulated.   Of course that may be more a matter of relaxed enforcement versus the letter of the law.  

@Heli ATP - Do you know how rigorous & strict the enforcement is in Pennsylvania?   I’m wondering if it will pass if you show up in good faith, even if your blinkers technically aren’t DOT approved?  

1 hour ago, Warchild said:

My chi may not be balanced, but the crossplane triple is...  🔥

 

Number four looks waaaaaay out of sync… 🙄

6 hours ago, Heavy said:

Three hours for me just to get there ... don't expect me to show.  😉

You got me wondering… 😀

Technically, that is less than a day’s ride for me!  My wife will verify that I’ve done more foolish things than this.  

@Warchild - I feel strangely aroused by all that Ti & billet.  It makes me want to pour a nice bourbon, and go to the ProBolt website unsupervised…  😳

19 minutes ago, RonZuidhoek said:

I (finally) did my exhaust cleaning.

After:

 

Oh wow, that looks great!  Mine is also in serious need of a cleaning… you’ve given me hope that it really can look good again.  

11 hours ago, Wintersdark said:

And that's my Road 6 fanboying for the day. 

Maybe I need to buy a set of Road 6s for the FJ, and save these Road 5s for my XR?   All I need is a set of these special adapters… 😃

@ItsTracerTime - Is your Tracer a GT model with the factory bags?  If memory serves, the lower saddlebag mounts are integrated into the passenger peg brackets on the Tracer GT… can somebody validate that one way or the other? 

The FJ had a whole different set of supplemental mounts and brackets to install the optional bags, so you would need to plan accordingly (if you use the bags).    

For what it’s worth, the back of my boot heels rest squarely against the passenger peg mounts on my 2015 FJ.  Size 11 Alpine Star race boots, and my default foot position is with the balls of my feet square on the riders pegs.   Foot room is tight on these bikes. 

@kilo3 - I’m hardly a pro painter, but all my experience suggests you don’t want to shoot clear directly over that rough of a surface: You’ll end up with little craters everywhere… I don’t think ‘Pink Lunar Landscape’ is the look you’re going for.   

If you can knock it down without ripping all the glitter loose, I definitely would.  If not, you might shoot a coat of clear, wet sand that smooth, and then shoot another topcoat of clear.   Again, my paintwork is amateur at best, but good result are always about the prep work.  

Good luck!  I dig it… 😀

On 3/22/2023 at 5:36 PM, Wintersdark said:

So much so that I'm *very* choosey even about tail tidies these days.  I appreciate the look a lot, but... ugh. 

I feel this on a deeply spiritual level.  😀

Non-issue on the FJ, where all I did was bolt the license plate directly to the stock rear fender…  with the saddle bags always in place, it’s fine.   

But with my Speed Twin, I’ve realized that I’m more vain that I would like to admit:  My back gets soaked if my neighbors have watered their yard, but it just looks soooooo much better than with the stock monstrosity of a rear fender appendage.   Hey, it’s supposed to be fair weather bike only, right?  🤷‍♂️

13 hours ago, PhotoAl said:

the 5 was only a little better than the 4.  Currently running 6s and they are significantly better in longevity and handling feel than the 5s

Hmmm… now I’m questioning my choice.  I also thought the 5 was only marginally better than the 4, so kind of assumed the 6 would be a similar ‘baby step’ forward.   I’ll pay the extra money for ‘significantly better’ if that’s the case, but it looks like I’ll have to burn off another pair of 5s before taking that step.  

16 hours ago, 2and3cylinders said:

No one commented on me going to the Bibendum dark side.

Bibendum, commonly referred to a "Bib", for those who are unaware, is The Michelin Man's name...

Fun fact:  Back in the glory days of amateur road racing, Michelin had a very generous contingency program to win on their tires.   I got a lot of money back from Michelin, and it was paid out in the form of ‘Bib Bucks’ certificates.  

For whatever it’s worth, I got 5,393 miles out of my last set of Road 5s, and 7,411 miles from the Pilot Road 4s before those.   In both cases they were probably past the point of needing to be replaced… 

If I can get 5K+ miles from a sticky set of tires, I’m happy. 

@dazzler24 - Oh, I like that… Definitely a different shade than the boring dark grey that came on the US model FJ.  

I was searching for wheel color ideas (to send to my powdercoat guy before mounting new tires), and came up with this CB650R wheel color I really liked:  

It looks like all I really need is a set of international OEM FJ wheels… 😀

(Sorry to sidetrack your ceramic exhaust coating thread…) 

5 hours ago, 2and3cylinders said:

Haven't had Michelin since the three maybe

I think you’ll like them, Bret.  I’ve run Pilot Road 4 (loved them), Road 5 (loved them a little more), and most recently Dunlop RoadSmart III (not a fan).  

I was planing to do the new Road 6 as the next set, but the $$$ is a bit eye-watering… for this price, another pair of Road 5s is an easy choice. 

3 hours ago, dazzler24 said:

Or even trying to match the wheel colour.

Is that the OEM wheel color with a rim tape stripe?  It looks more of a bronze color than my stock grey FJ wheels…