wordsmith

Sorry that I wasn't one of them, suncoaster, but other things got in the way. I'll touch base again soon and if this lovely weather holds maybe we can make some other plans to meet @ Bellbird. Best... [em]W[/em]

The second chapter of the [strong]Cree installation[/strong] took place, the mounting bracket having been fitted a day or so ago [em](see earlier post),[/em] that task taking much longer than it should have. I was running out of time and had to postpone a planned meet-up with fellow Forum member suncoaster: next time! So onto the wiring. Normally when I look at wiring diagrams my knees turn to jelly and my brain to sawdust, and the wiring harness was, at first glance, a nightmare [em](see pic),[/em] but the on-line installation schematic and video on AdvTech’s website were a blessing. They made it [em]just[/em] possible for this electronologically-illiterate biker to have the LEDs up and running once I’d figured it all out, but some written instructions would have been useful. Again, it took too long. There was lot of excess wire, but I bought some simple-to-use crimp joiners, cut the two main lengths of harness in two, and joined up the wires to appropriate lengths. The slight excess remaining after the installation I taped up and placed into the front part of the plastic tray, under the seat. The relay was bolted into the tray side-wall too, a good place for it. All in all, the sparse under-seat space doesn’t seem to have been compromised too much [em](see pic). [/em] I didn’t intend to use the LED-illuminated switch that came with the kit, but then decided I would, just to ensure that everything worked, so a trial bracket was made and installed in the recess just in front of the tank [em](see pic).[/em] I’ll re-do a neater and better one soon. A tricky part of the proceedings was finding a route for the two main sets of cable from the rear relay to the front Crees, and for the wires to the switch, all out of harm’s way as far as hot engine components are concerned, but happily I didn’t have to remove body panels and found ways to wiggle the wires through, securing them with zip-ties where necessary. So with everything wired-up, I murmured a quiet prayer or two, did a bit of a rain-dance, said [em]‘let there be lig[/em]ht’, turned on the ignition, and – [em]lo[/em] – there was light, in fact two impressive lights [em](see pic).[/em] And everything else still worked too – Skene rear LEDs, brake lights, the lot. Very pleasing as I have never tackled a job like this on a bike before, being somewhat scared of blowing things up. I just might relocate the lights outboard a little more, and rather higher up with their brackets underneath for neatness, but that can wait for a rainy day. All-up I spent AUD$163 on the entire kit – the AdvTech parts and the two Cree LEDs. A large part of the AdvTech purchase was made up of exorbitant postage charges, but what can one do? Although AdvTech does sell a complete kit – LEDs (rather chunky-looking square 'flood-lights' according to their website, but no doubt very effective) + wiring harness + mounting ‘light-bar’ bracket – I chose to buy my LEDs on-line from a Korean source that I’d used before, at a cost of a mere $32 a pair. Nicely-made and finished, their streamlined cylindrical style complements the bike quite well, I think, but it’s the added safety element that’s the main thing. Only two more farkles remain outstanding, one being a pair of a mirror risers/ extenders that are now well overdue, having been ordered on April 1st, and the Bagster seat, eta late May. Based on my experiences with AdvTech, and with the slight [em]caveat[/em] from my earlier post about the bracket being justa bit too close for comfort to the forward part of the adjacent fairing, I'd not hesitate to recommend AdvTech's products, backed-up by excellent on-line installation guides. [em]Wordsmith (’39 model) - Brisbane, Queensland, Australia[/em][em] [/em][em]http://i.imgur.com/nrwbKiu.jpg[/em][em]http://i.imgur.com/CnpMQ4L.jpg[/em][em]http://i.imgur.com/oHIinqQ.jpg[/em][em]http://i.imgur.com/H4I6vIxr.jpg[/em][em] [/em]

The quest for optimum visibility on the road continued with today’s installation of a pair of [strong]10W 2” CREE front conspicuity LED lights. [/strong]Aka hi-viz spot lights. I’ve had these fitted to other bikes, and as with the rear Skene LEDs recently installed I find some extra peace of mind when riding along with these glowing like Chernobyl through the Ukraine mist. Mark you, nothing guarantees avoidance of a SMIDSY. Riding my Cree-equipped BMW R1200R Roadster recently along a wide and straight multi-lane freeway I became aware that a light truck pulling a trailer was slowly drifting across from the left into my lane. I gave a short ‘beep’ of my somewhat attention-grabbing Stebel mini-Mack horn, at which the truck driver stuck his head out of the window, eyes and mouth wide open as if he was looking at a yellow submarine! Clearly he hadn’t looked into his mirrors, as he could hardly have missed the solar-flare bright front LEDs that the bike carries! Back to today’s installation on the Tracer, which initially was far from simple. I bought AdventureTech’s mounting bracket (they call it a light-bar) and wiring harness, which comes complete with all wires, connectors, built-in fuse and relay, and switch (though I prefer to have my LEDs wired so that they are always on when the ignition is on). It was a bit of a nightmare to install the bracket, space in front of the steering-head to get in fingers, spanners, whatever, to secure bolts, washers, and nuts being very, [em]very[/em] tight. The backs of my hands are black and blue! But I got there, and have to say that the bracket is sturdy and nicely-made. It carries the lights below and on each side of the main headlights, but not quite forming a triangle of lights, which I have often read is the ideal for maximum visibility to other drivers. Future installers are advised to elongate upwards the two mounting holes on the bracket so that the unit can be bolted-on a tad lower than standard. I found, on first install, that it was just touching part of the adjacent bodywork, and was concerned that the very tight fit might over time cause some issues there from vibration, panel flex, and so on [em](see pic with yellow arrow).[/em] So I removed the bracket, filed out longer vertical slots in the two mounting holes, and reassembled it, using shorter bolts to ease the process this time – [em]aaarrrggghhhhhhh! [/em] Now there’s a gap of a few millimetres between the front tip of the body fairing and the extreme outer end of the bracket. With the bracket secured I did a ‘dummy’ fit of one of the Crees, and decided that they could and should be more visible, a little higher and more outboard, to create more of the triangle effect. I may make the necessary changes later, but that pesky bracket is staying put! I'll also put neat acorn nuts onto the threads, as appropriate, to just dress them up a little. Monday - let the wiring begin! More later... [em]Wordsmith (’39 model) - Brisbane, Queensland, Australia[/em] [em]http://i.imgur.com/8NMWx4I.jpg[/em][em] [/em][em]http://i.imgur.com/9EMllvc.jpg [/em]http://i.imgur.com/pVpOZs9.jpg

A set of four [strong]slimline amber LED indicators (turn signals)[/strong] arrived only six days after ordering from Hong Kong. Ulewz’ useful installation tips and pix from late 2015 were studied [em](look in the ‘how-to’ Thread),[/em] and the necessary – as I found out - set of eight ( spacers (two per indicator) were then ordered. At USD$33 they cost more than the USD$17 post-free LEDs! Spacers came from the USA and took 14 days to arrive. Installing the new indicators was a bit tricky, especially getting the OE units off the front of the bike, which required a bit of head-scratching fairing panel disassembly. Feel free to PM me if in trouble here, though Ulewz covers it pretty well, at least for the rather more tricky front lights. The main thing is to think about the next step as you proceed, as the wires need to be threaded through the front reassembled fairing panels (the holes are offset), and other things need doing in correct sequence – such as re-attaching the tiny spring-clips that help join the inner and outer fairing panels, or putting a short length of heat-shrink tube onto each wire before soldering – I didn’t, the first time! The rear ones puzzled me a bit until I peered underneath the bracket that secures them and found that I could release the OE rubber stems from there. After that it was plain sailing and a little light soldering following the same general procedures as with the front signals. Soldering wasn’t strictly necessary with these particular lights as they had nice, easy-to-use crimp-on terminals on each wire, but I soldered anyway. They look neat, and are less bulbous than the OE pumpkins, more in keeping perhaps with the angular lines of the bike generally. I take an earlier point that they present less 'mass' of light, but they are significantly bright and attention-grabbing, and recommended. [em]Wordsmith – ’39 model – Brisbane, Queensland, Australia[/em] [strong]http://i.imgur.com/utXTu25.jpg[/strong][strong]http://i.imgur.com/3M9LqrJ.jpg[/strong][strong] [/strong]

Trambo - I'm sure these will suit your plates. PM sent too.. W

Another day, another package in the mail, another job. The OE rider’s foot-pegs on the Tracer resemble a medieval weapon of war (or torture), being heavily and aggressively studded on the top surface. OK for those who feel a need to stand up on the pegs: I don’t, and as my left ankle is a bit ‘lazy’ that lhs peg does tend to catch a little on my boot when moving it around to change gear. Cue on-line purchase of a pair of rubber-topped foot-pegs, slated as being for the FZ6 but also fitting straight on the Tracer. Installation was quite straightforward but a bit fiddly as many of these jobs are, the trickiest part being to keep the return spring centred while inserting the quite tight-fitting hinge-pin. The lhs peg’s hinge-pin has a rivetted head which needed to be drilled out - a moment's work. The rhs is much more straightforward as the hinge-pin there is secured with a split-pin. Not sure why they couldn’t have both been secured the same way! I'm also not sure about the fact that the new hinge-pins are secured with a spring circlip each: I couldn't imagine a more lethal thing happening than a foot-peg dropping off at almost any velocity! I'll keep a very close eye on these... The new pegs are about twice the width and exactly an inch longer than OE, so the screw-in ‘hero-knobs’ are correspondingly shorter. I have never felt any serious vibration through the pegs – if any – but these will be an improvement over the OE’s in allowing me unimpeded foot movement across the foot-peg. Well made and solid-looking, and a steal at only $16 post-free from Hong Kong on E-Bay Motors, they arrived within fourteen days of ordering. Tomorrow - installing new turn signal LEDs - a job that seems to require almost completely disassembling the body panels! [em]Wordsmith (’39 model) – Brisbane, Queensland, Australia[/em] http://i.imgur.com/DeTwkbU.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/LdahcSJ.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/T8OMtfJ.jpg

[strong]Grip Puppies[/strong] (a registered brand name) are the easiest way to reduce handlebar vibration (not that I can detect any at all, at any speed) and overall comfort, as they increase the diameter of the rather skinny OE handgrips. They are the first purchase I make with every new bike, but of late some lookalikes have emerged, some made of much thinner neoprene material than genuine Grip Puppies. These genuine Puppies are 5” (12.7cm) long and a perfect fit for the Tracer. They are quickly fitted using a bit of soapy water to slide them onto the grips after unscrewing the end-mounted handguard supports. Actually, it’s not quite ‘slide them on’ as I’ve found from many installations that the best way is to apply the soapy water to both the Puppies and the rubber bike grips, then hold the puppies very firmly with a towel and twist them on, pushing inwards with a gradual to-and-fro rotation. This also dries out the Puppies from the firm pressure between them and the towel. A drop of blue Loctite on the handguard screws when replacing them is the final job. Always recommended. Mine came from the UK in twelve days as nowadays I cannot find the brand in local stores - $31. A more important 'what did you do' today was the final (hopefully!) tweaking of the suspension: see current Thread titled [em]'DIY suspension adjustments'. [/em] [em]Wordsmith (’39 model)- Brisbane, Queensland, Australia [/em] [em]2015 Matte Grey MT-09 Tracer – now at 607km. [/em]

Wasn’t too satisfied with the way the Skene rear LEDs appeared to be a bit lop-sided after mounting them on the two small accompanying brackets – though the LEDs themselves work perfectly. So made up a one-piece bracket out of scrap 1.5mm aluminium sheet – it’s heavily embossed on both sides which stiffens it somewhat so I am sure it will suffice to hold the ¾ of an ounce/ 19 grams weight of the two LEDs. Cut out a cardboard template first, then made the bracket, finally giving it a quick spray of satin black auto paint. This new bracket is also a little better in that it carries the LEDs a bit further back and sites them immediately under the rear lights. I’m normally a very fussy fellow, just short of OCD, but as a sheet-metal worker I’d make a fine astronaut, so I’m happy with this, given its hidden location. [em]Wordsmith – ’39 model – Brisbane, Queensland, Australia http://i.imgur.com/ddHZVxN.jpg[/em][em]http://i.imgur.com/YS8aIzo.jpg [/em]

Tongue in cheek English humour I'm afraid <puts paper bag on head>"Never trust a man who, if left alone in a room with a tea-cosy, doesn't put it on his head". [em]W[/em]

Nicely done! I too was concerned with the lack of LEDs lit on the OEM tail light assembly and chose to replace it with a MotoDynamic unit that provides a fully lit array at all times. Fully programmable, I've got mine flashing quickly 3 times before going to full brightness. It also has a sequential turn signal function that I chose to not use, as my LED replacement turn signals provide greater conspicuity. MotoDynamic Tail Light Thanks, Clint! Wish I'd known of this even neater solution before I bought the Skenes, but I guess I went on what I knew from previous installations. Your MD unit certainly looks fine and performs well - and about half the price (shipped to Oz) of Skenes. But they do a great job. [em]W[/em]

The goodies arrive by every mail – and my wife wonders where the next meal is coming from! I’m a great believer that the more clearly you can be seen and heard, the greater the chances of survival. Hence my fitting a more purposeful horn, and now this rear Skene LED kit. A pair of front conspicuity Cree LEDs will shortly follow as soon as I receive the wiring kit and mounting bracket from AdventureTech. The [strong]SKENE DESIGN P3[/strong] rear-light LED kit hugely improves both the rear running and brake lights. I’ve fitted Skene P3’s to two bikes before – one my previous Tracer, one my last BMW - and having ridden behind mates’ bikes so fitted can say that the [em]‘brighter than a thousand suns’[/em] output is just retina-searing! The tiny kit can be held in the palm of one hand, and comprises two LED strips and wires; Posi-Tap connectors (brilliant little things); thin zip-ties and adhesive-backed Velcro squares; the small controller box (I guess it’s a tiny computer); screws with lock-nuts; plus a pair of brackets that would suit many installations, usually around the rear lights and/ or number plate. All wires can be completely concealed from the outside. I chose to mount my LEDs using the kit brackets immediately below the rear light so the larger cluster of lights would complement each other and increase visibility to following vehicles – [em]hopefully![/em] I’m not entirely happy with the use of the brackets as the LEDs are a bit uneven, so I’ll re-do this installation a little later with a better one-piece bracket when all other farkles have been finished. A small but important point in the instructions is that the LED strips must be mounted so as to be perfectly vertical and pointing squarely to the rear when the rider is on the bike, to ensure that [em]“maximum brightness is directed immediately behind you”. [/em] The controller can programme the LEDs to display a number of variations (about ten in all) of pulsing, flashing, steady-on state, whatever. This is very easily achieved by a system of simple ‘taps’ of the brake lever after installation, each activating a specific command [em](full instructions come with the kit – it’s child-simple, otherwise I couldn’t have done it!) [/em] My chosen default rear braking sequence flashes the LEDs rapidly a few times, then the full-on power of the red LEDs is unleashed until the brake is released. Installation was fiddly and took more time than it should have, but not too difficult. As a refresher I found the notes on the [em]Tech Tips/ How to Forum[/em] on Skene installation posted on April 15th 2015 by mjsracing to be invaluable. Thanks again, mjs! There are pix galore plus a brief video in that Thread. Distributor in Oz is www.d2daccessories.com (Martin), 0431 101 589. Not cheap, but highly recommended. [em]Wordsmith (’39 model)- Brisbane, Queensland, Australia 2015 Matte Grey MT-09 Tracer – now at 346km. Stebel Magnum horn; 2” blind-spot auxiliary mirrors; Third Gear mini top-box; Yamaha hard panniers; Skene Design P3 rear LED lights; more coming. [/em]http://i.imgur.com/JIFN6xa.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/OSsGUuH.jpg

The Yamaha hard panniers arrived today – [em]late![/em] – and were fitted by the dealer. Arriving home I put some [strong]reflective tape[/strong] onto the lids in the recesses for such stuff, and on the back surface of the panniers. I very rarely – and never by choice – ride at night or at dawn as we have very large grass-hoppers abounding here and they are best avoided, but these reflective strips should make me very easily seen if riding at night. These panniers are very useful, quite well-made, though a bit fiddly to secure without some ‘jiggling’ – I’m going to have to smooth the plastic locking-tabs as they seem to want to catch on the edge of the insert recesses. At 20L each they are quite large enough for my travels, and will be supplemented by the matching 28L top-box if needed. More stuff arrives daily – the list of outstanding parts is getting smaller, and I should have the first 1000km service done within ten or so days. [em]Wordsmith – ’39 model – Brisbane, Queensland, Australia[/em] http://i.imgur.com/2DVpRi7.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/k3KjQ5J.jpg

Yes, of course the thing can be unhooked, but it takes a moment or two and any such delay is likely to deter the opportunist just-for-fun thief. That said, I was queuing to pay for petrol in the servo recently when another biker in the queue tapped me on the shoulder, pointed to my helmet outside that I'd placed on a convenient ledge at the pump, as I often do, and said [em]"wouldn't leave it there if I was you, mate - I had mine nicked from the same place not long ago!"[/em] Hence my current 'solution'. But will be interested in yours, thanks... [em]W[/em]

The little 250mm long plastic-coated swaged-end helmet-holding wire is useful, but less useful is the need to remove the rear seat to get at it, then secure it to the hook that’s under there. Impossible, even, if the pillion seat has luggage on it. My solution for quick and easy securing of the helmet to the bike is to attach a small carabineer hook onto the swaged loops, then put the wire around/ through the rhs rear pillion handle. The carabineer must match the gold-coloured front fork, of course… Only because I had some did I also put a small elastic lady’s hair-band alongside, secured by a small zip-tie to the adjacent luggage-strap securing peg, underneath the pannier mounting rail. Hooked through the open rearmost 'claw' this holds the wire and carabineer clip firmly and stops them from rattling around when I’m proceeding at warp speed… Now it’s just matter of clipping the hook to the helmet strap or through the D-loop, [em]et violin[/em] – hanging from the pillion handle the thing is reasonably secure from prying fingers. [em]Wordsmith – ’39 model, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia[/em][em] [/em][em]http://i.imgur.com/2k9Cx6B.jpg[/em][em]http://i.imgur.com/g6Dg0C7.jpg[/em][em] [/em]

The XSR is very quiet in the wind noise department and very stable. I haven't taken it on any twisties (not even sure there are any in Dallas that would qualify), but I think she's going to be just as nimble as the FJ-09. She definitely wanted to turn into a couple of turns where I was playing around a little, but the FJ would have done the same. The suspension/ride seems more comfortable on the stock settings than the FJ was. The FJ seemed harsh over bumps with the stock settings (I'm 210-220#), the XSR seems to soak up the bumps better. That could be a combination of the different seat and the suspension though. It certainly never made me "nervous" in the few corners I took and on a couple of the rougher roads I rode on, it was easier to control the throttle. That last bit (about throttle control) could also be that I think they've smoothed out the fueling / throttle even more. I've read how snatchy the FZ-09 is (was?) and how the FJ-09 is much better. But, even the FJ can be snatchy at low throttle inputs especially on rough roads. That was a big reason I had 2wheeldynoworks flash my ECU. The XSR is very smooth and I had no problems over the same roads I would take the FJ over! She still has pep, don't get me wrong and once I've got a few more miles in her, I'll play around with A mode. But, in STD, she's smooth. My dealer has offered me use of an XSR for a few hours while mine is having its first 1000km service shortly. I'll probably take him up on it - it will make for an interesting comparison. [em]Wordsmith[/em]

This is just a ‘teaser’ for both thee and me while I await delivery of my new seat. Many years and many bikes have proved to me that nothing about motorbikes is more subjective than seat comfort, and more money has probably been spent/ wasted in the fruitless search for the Holy Grail than on any other part of the bike. Been there, done that… By way of a lead-in, I’m now on my second new Tracer, and like so many others found the OE seat on both bikes to be an abomination (YMMV, of course). Since I like to do regular long-ish day rides of up to about 450km, and a couple of long interstate multi-day tours each year of some thousands of kilometres, seat comfort has always been important. On my first Tracer (April 2015) I took advantage of a special Forum offer of 30% off (IIRC) from sponsor company Seat Concepts, and purchased their three-piece kit. This consisted of foam and cover for the rider seat, and matching cover only for the pillion seat (I never carry a pillion), to be installed onto the OE seat pan/ base. Lacking a suitable staple-gun I had to get my local car and boat upholsterer to do the fitting, and he did a very good job for $90. The finished Seat Concepts job is pictured below, and looked pretty good. It gave some improvement in comfort and support, which – although nothing startling – was acceptable, and I later put in two consecutive days each of 580km on that seat in reasonable comfort: I doubt I’d have made the trip on the OE seat. I should also say that the harsh OE suspension had by this time been tweaked to give better compliance - again, it was a little better but still far from plush. Fast forward to the present: I knew when I ordered my new Tracer that the seat would have to be improved as soon as possible. This was quickly confirmed on the very short ride home from the dealership after collecting the new bike last week – my seat-bones began to ache almost immediately! A couple of later 120km – 200km outings have confirmed that view. Choices were considered, including the current Seat Concepts kit. There are also local motorcycle seat-makers whose products have a good reputation, but they may have little or no experience with the Tracer, and I didn’t want to be a guinea-pig. Reading favourable comments on this Forum about seats produced by the French company BAGSTER – whose tank-covers I’d seen and admired for a long time – I decided to bite the bullet on their product, ordering their Ready Lux model 5355Z with premium Bultex foam in both seats, with my choice of stitching and embroidery colour from an extensive menu of options. I ordered through the Australian distributor (Carlisle Accessories) at the mind-boggling cost of AUD549 (GBP295, Euro404, USD460 at time of ordering), and a lead-time of 5-6 weeks has been given. For comparison, the new Bagster seat has cost me about AUD120 [em]more[/em] than the current Seat Concepts kit (including local fitting), so I hope it is going to be worthwhile. Thinking further about the cost, I recall that I’ve seen prices for other well-regarded seats, mainly in the USA market, around the USD500 mark, so my USD460 delivered to my door doesn’t seem too bad. Another comparison may be useful in that the Bagster seat comes fully fitted to a new Bagster-design pan, whereas most alternatives seem to re-use the OE pan, which it’s been suggested leads in some way to the discomfort levels. I’ll report on my experiences with the new seat when it has been fitted and tried on the road. Pray for me… [em]Wordsmith[/em] [em]('39 model)[/em] - [em]Brisbane, Queensland, Australia[/em][em] [/em][em]below - the Seat Concepts product from last year's bike[/em] http://i.imgur.com/TZMqUQS.jpg

[strong]Drilled a hole[/strong] in the black rubber bung that fits behind the front seat release-catch (have you ever seen such a clunky thing on a motorbike? Almost as bad as the nearby seat height adjustment system!) Used a short bit of copper wire to form a loop to make removal of the bung easy, but on the last Tracer a thin zip-tie did the same job.. Also – [strong]ordered the Bagster seat[/strong], model #5355Z Ready Lux, with the optional Bultex foam. ETA 5-6 weeks – will report on its arrival and first rides. [em]Wordsmith (’39 model) - Brisbane, Queensland, Australia[/em] [em]2015 Matte Grey MT - 09 Tracer – now at 346km. Stebel Magnum horn; 2” ‘blind-spot’ auxiliary mirrors; Third Gear mini top-box; lots more coming.[/em] [em]http://i.imgur.com/nPayS1a.jpg[/em][em] [/em]

http://i.imgur.com/6Qv1zc8.jpg Stuck a tiny 10mm diameter silicone 'dot' (furniture surface protector) onto the equally small indicator button. The resulting slight protrusion makes it easier to locate with a gloved thumb. [em]Cost[/em] - nil: [em]time taken[/em] – about ten seconds. [em]Wordsmith[/em]

Fitted a mini-size [strong]Top Box[/strong], $29AUD, and 28L capacity. Had this on other bikes; it takes – [em]just![/em] – my full-face helmet. I don’t care much for top-boxes that are so huge that if filled with water could serve as a swimming-pool, but this excels for day-trips and even a weekend away. And it doesn't look over-sized or unbalance the bike visually, especially when the rider is on the bike. Distributor here in Oz is Third Gear (Melbourne-based)– I’ve dealt with them often and they have good products at very keen prices, and excellent service. Stuff is arriving every day – LED indicators from China just delivered this morning! I'm exhausted! [em]W [/em] 2015 Matte Grey MT-09 Tracer – now at 33km. [em]Stebel Magnum horn; 2” ‘blind-spot’ auxiliary mirrors; Third Gear mini top-box; http://i.imgur.com/ldBApIM.jpg[/em][em]http://i.imgur.com/YLQhWhc.jpg [/em]

Installed the new [strong]Stebel Magnum horn[/strong] (AUD$28), a simple five-minute plug-and-play task using the original horn bracket, but I expect to have to relocate it when installing the on-its-way AdventureTech light-bar and front LEDs. I’ve had a Magnum on a number of other bikes, and while it’s not obnoxiously loud its attention-grabbing mini-Mack truck two-tone note does seem to cut-through to texting or dozing drivers, and I find it effective. It does need to be mounted correctly, with the horn pointing downwards, even if only slightly, so that water does not gather inside. I managed to drown an earlier Magnum when carelessly hosing the bike down, and all future editions have been covered tightly with a plastic bag when the bike is being washed. [em]W[/em] 2015 Matte Grey Tracer – now at 33km from new. [em]Stebel Magnum horn; 2” blind-spot auxiliary mirrors;[/em][em] [/em][em]http://i.imgur.com/sWxdLbC.jpg[/em][em]http://i.imgur.com/fPATrnK.jpg[/em]

exactly - the main stand on this bike has a good pivot action - just make sure both feet of the stand are on firm ground and then use your right foot to load the lever with your body weight. Thank you both. Trouble is - my body weight is feather-light (I'd kill to be a seven-stone weakling), and I foundin the past that pulling on the pillion handle just wants to move the bike forward rather than up! But the pvc tube works OK! [em]W[/em]

Suncoaster - PM sent, 5.28pm April 6th. [em]W[/em]

http://i.imgur.com/onUIhlj.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/ZFZgnws.jpg I’d like to avoid cutting the palm of my hand in half when hefting the bike onto its main stand, using the lhs pillion foot-peg bracket to assist the lifting process. I found some clear pvc tubing about half an inch in internal diameter (larger would have been OK too); cut a piece 4” long; slit it along one side; and slid it onto the inside rear surface of the upper footpeg support, securing it with a black zip-tie. Instant comfort when lifting! And I fitted a pair of 2” diameter ‘dead spot’ mirrors to the main mirrors to improve the breadth of field of rearward vision. Some M-Store mirror risers are on the way to complete this improvement. And - I managed to remove the tank sticker without ruining the paintwork underneath. Used a semi-blunt nylon decorator's spreader to prise and lift it off in narrow strips after soaking it with petrol. What a job! [em]W [/em] [em]2015 Matte Grey Tracer with 33km from new[/em]

[em]"Taken an unfortunate turn for the worse?"[/em] [strong] [em]Nah![/em][/strong] I went back to BMW (R1200 R). But I would not have returned to the Tracer - in a search again for lower, lighter, more 'flickable' and frankly more exhilarating performance - had I not enough confidence that I can now improve it in areas I found lacking before, given my and many others' experiences over the past twelve months. It's a great platform, but does need work, in my view. [em]w[/em]

Today I brought home my new MT-09 Tracer, my second. It’s almost exactly one year – on April 9th 2015 to be precise – since I took delivery of my first Tracer, which like this new one was the Matte Grey version, my preferred choice. In fact I’m told that this is the very last one of this colour available here in Australia, and I went to some trouble to finally source it. Nudging 77 as I am – in fact if I want to be precious I can say that I’m closer to 80 than 70! – this is undoubtedly going to be my last bike, so I’ve got to get it right. Possibly the most important thing I also brought home was a pretty good understanding of what I need to do to fettle the new bike to a degree that suits and satisfies me, based on my experiences with my first Tracer. With that bike I found early on that the suspension and seat were both harsh and uncompromising, and eventually managed to fix both to an acceptable if not perfect degree, though not without some cost for a new imported seat. The past twelve months have been full of new aftermarket products and many helpful ideas, tips, hints, and experiences posted on this Forum, all of which puts me streets ahead of where I was a year ago. I’ll have a couple of early long-ish day trips on hilly and winding country terrain that will be ideal to commence the running-in period for brakes, gearbox, engine. From that, I’ll also be able to see just what needs to be done, assuming that Yamaha hasn’t fixed both the suspension and seat shortcomings. It goes without saying, of course, that these are my personal experiences and views – as always YMMV! [em] One man’s seat is another man’s poison[/em], and so on. The short 27km ride home didn’t give rise to any surprises, nor any indications of improvement in these two areas, but it’s early days, of course. Last time, my dealer was able to improve the suspension to an acceptable – but not perfect – degree, so I’ll be having that discussion again. But I do find the Tracer ergonomics – very BMW GS-like, IMHO – suit me very well, and even the screen, which is a source of much unhappiness here, is OK for my needs. (For comparing different bikes, go to <cycle-ergo> - it’s an extremely useful tool). Other useful enhancements that I also had on the earlier bike will quickly follow, hopefully all practical and useful and with no bling, things like added hi-viz lighting front and rear: mirror risers: new audible horn: Grip Puppies: amber LED indicators: rubber-topped foot-pegs: small 2" diameter blind-spot mirrors: and a pair of adjustable levers. Here in Oz we are fortunate that new Tracers are delivered with very useful good quality hard panniers, about 20L each, so I’ll supplement those with a small 28L lookalike top-box. That should be it! Two things that definitely won’t need attention, of course, are the stonking engine performance and the excellent gearbox – it’s an exhilarating package! The new bike has cost me $15,300 ride-away with twelve months registration. I think I may have paid a bit over par for it, given that it’s a 2015 model with discontinued paint, but I don’t much care for the ‘16 colours, and especially the blue anodised fork – again, YMMV! Comprehensive insurance is $402. Stay tuned for further progress as I work through a list of things to be done. [em]Wordsmith [/em] Queensland, Australia [em]2015 Matte Grey Tracer now at 33 km from new. [/em]