wordsmith

Looks great, and that matching piping really 'lifts' it, doesn't it? If it performs as well as it looks, you're in Nirvana! How long between ordering and delivery?

Brilliantly done - outstanding perseverance! 😄 Thanks for sharing...

Sometimes less is more...

Pricing seems comparable - my Bagster-with-Bultex seat is coming from mototstorm.it @ USD$377 including shipping to me here in Oz.

Some good and comfortable touring can be done on the Tracer 900 GT, if that's your thing. Almost exactly a year ago I completed a ~4500km trip here: you may care to read about it, from the Tracer 900 Forum. But I'm not sure I'd want to repeat the trip on my MT-09 SP! TRAVELLING NORTH AGAIN – mostly easy riding on a long and winding road… Part 1 - setting the scene I like to try to get away for a decent trip about mid-year to head north into warmer climes – at least, that’s the excuse – but life got in the way in 2019 and it was not until much later than usual that I managed it. This year’s ride was a bit shorter – and much later – than I’d have liked, but the 13-day/ 4543km/ 2726 mi round trip in mid-to-late October was still very pleasant indeed, with no untoward incidents and no bike trouble. Not for the first time I aimed for the tiny, remote coastal town of Cooktown in Far North Queensland. The town is named – long after the event – for British maritime explorer, cartographer, and seafarer extraordinaire Captain James Cook, RN. The plan, such as it was, called for travelling inland on much of the way north, then meandering south along the coast on the way home. On various BMW Boxer twins – Roadsters and GSs – I had often ridden these roads before, so they were pretty familiar to me, but that didn’t lessen the enjoyment of just being on the open road with no tight time-frame or specific programme to follow. And I was again travelling solo… much preferred, unless with Mrs Wordsmith as in the past. Cooktown is a tiny town on the Coral Sea coast in Far North Queensland, with a population of only about 2600, by road about 330km/ 200mi north of Cairns and a whisker more than 2000km/ 1200mi north of my home in Brisbane as the kookaburra flies. Somewhat further by motorcycle… Rather than give a day-by-day account I thought I’d write a few hopefully interesting and/or different points about places and events along the way. Bear with me if it’s rather disjointed – I’m scribbling for my own and other Traceristas’ pleasure (I hope!), not for a Pulitzer Prize! First off, my home State of Queensland needs to be put into perspective. It’s huge – eight x the size of the UK, three x the size of France, and almost three x the size of Texas. That’s just Queensland, not Australia as a whole, so any travel from one end of the State to the other is going to cover a lot of territory! The maps below show the ride north to Cooktown, and the ride south and homewards. The inland route north, at 2298km/1379mi was just a fraction longer than the 2245km/1347mi southward coastal ride. Usually I would ride from my home in SE Queensland up the Brisbane Valley Hwy to start my inland route to points north, but as I’ve done that road to death I decided initially to hasten up the parallel main coast road, the M1 Bruce Hwy, for the first ~200km/120mi to Gympie before then heading inland, so as to be in the slightly warmer coastal strip to start the journey. Quick, but just another busy multi-lane highway. The Bruce Hwy is the main interstate coastal route from Brisbane to Cairns, Queensland’s northernmost town of any size, and my jumping-off point for Cooktown. It is undeniably quicker than my meandering inland route, but countering that it’s also undeniably boring at times, while the inland ride over sometimes quite ordinary roads and through small country towns is somewhat more challenging and decidedly satisfying from a rider’s point of view. For my Aussie friends, the chosen route heading north was as follows: bold indicates overnight stops: · Home to Monto on the Bruce, Wide Bay, and Burnett Hwy - 520km · to Emerald on the Burnett and Capricorn Hwy - 456km · to Charters Towers on the Gregory Developmental Road – 488km · to Cairns via Townsville on the Flinders and then Bruce Hwy – 485km · to Cooktown on the Captain Cook Hwy and Mulligan Hwy – 349km Part 2 - the roads more travelled… I left home in mid-October, the middle month of Spring. The past winter had been both the driest and warmest in the 155 years that records have been kept, but my later-than-planned departure meant some rain, high temperatures at times, and some humidity, so against expectations my wet-weather jacket remained close at hand and was used on a handful of occasions. Very unexpectedly, on the morning of my second day on the road the small inland town of Monto was enveloped in thick mist or fog. Rarely seen here, but I delayed my early departure as I knew the road ahead was quite twisty, undulating, and mildly challenging, so it was helpful to be able to see the highway. Very strong winds – typical for this time of year – seemed throughout the trip to always be in my face, or from the side, pushing me around quite a lot, which with my gnat-like upper-body strength I found quite tiring at times. In Cooktown itself and along the tropical north coast temperatures were up to 32°C/ 90°F, and throughout the trip I wore only shorts and polo shirts when off the bike. While riding, the highest temperature reached 36ºC/ 97ºF down the east coast on my way home. The longest day’s ride was 585km/ 351mi on the first day of the return leg, as I took a detour to view an impressive wind-farm near Atherton. On very mixed road surfaces that covered just about every sort of surface you could imagine the recently re-vamped suspension with K-Tech components was brilliant. Unfortunately, I hadn’t received the new BAGSTER seat by the time I set out on this trip – it arrived while I was away - but the stock GT seat was adequate for the journey. On my second day on the road, heading for Emerald, I had a sudden moment of déjà vu, recalling that I’d been past there before, and had taken a photo in that very spot, backgrounded by the spectacular scenery of the Minerva Hills National Park. That photo later appeared on the cover of the local BMW Club magazine, showing my BMW R1200 R Roadster there in September 2013 – where did all those years go since then? Part 3 - places to lay my head… In the past I’ve mostly been happy to take pot luck with accommodation as I found that gave me great flexibility, but this time I booked ahead for much of the journey, using the Booking.com website. Given the unpredictability of motorcycle touring, the ability to cancel bookings without loss within a day or two of the intended arrival dates is quite a comfort, as is the ‘pay on arrival’ procedure. The average price paid per night was $106, with a couple of places including a light but adequate breakfast. Mainly I stayed in basic but perfectly decent three-or four-star budget-priced motels, although I did splash out a bit at Airlie Beach, taking a lovely upper-level room for two nights in a posh four-star apartment building overlooking the harbour, and with lovely ocean views. Mostly I had only one overnight stop at the various places, but I’d included three nights in Cooktown, and the two nights in Airlie Beach in the beautiful Whitsundays on the ride back home. I figured that I was unlikely to be in either of these pleasant places again, so I had to make the most of it. Riding north at about 25km from Cairns I called into Palm Cove, as it required a detour of only a few hundred metres. Palm Cove is a lovely tranquil seaside village where my wife and I have spent many a happy holiday, and there, with plenty of time to get to Cooktown, I enjoyed a nice bacon ‘n’ egg and English Breakfast tea at an outdoor coffee shop, sitting outside right opposite the beach. I’ve never regarded Cairns as much of a place - it’s a pretty transient touristy town, and doesn’t even have a beach, just mangroves and mud-flats – but it is a good spot to park for few days while exploring the Atherton Tablelands, Kuranda, the Great Barrier Reef, Cape York, Cape Tribulation, the Daintree, and other more interesting places close at hand in Far North Queensland. Part 4 - about Cooktown... There’s only one road, the Mulligan Hwy, in and out of my destination, Cooktown, so I had to ride a short section of about 220km/ 130mi twice, up and back, but I never mind that as I reckon it’s always worth seeing the countryside from the other side of the road! This was possibly the easiest ride on this trip, the stretch of the Mulligan Hwy north from Mount Molloy towards Cooktown with its numerous creek-crossing bridges being fully completed only as recently as 2006. It’s a joy for the motorcyclist, well-surfaced with wide-open sweeping bends and very little traffic in any direction. I’ve visited Cooktown many times, the first time almost exactly 20 years ago. Then, with my wife riding alongside me on her Suzuki Bandit 600 and me on my BMW R1100R boxer twin, we rode from our then-home of Melbourne ~3600km/ 2200mi to Cairns, parked the bikes in a storage facility there, and took a short light-aircraft flight up to Cooktown for a few days. We have both revisited many times, but in all those twenty years hardly a blade of grass in Cooktown has changed! It’s a sleepy little town, if not actually comatose, but it’s different, and for unknown reason appeals to me, hence my return. Nowadays Cooktown is a pretty run-down town, which many might describe as a ‘nothing’ sort-of place. Frankly, I’d agree, but it exerts a strange pull on me. As noted earlier, the town’s name comes from the arrival of Captain James Cook, RN, at the mouth of the Endeavour River – named after Cook’s ship – in July 1770. Shortly after he ‘claimed’ the continent in the name of the English king of the time. The ship had been damaged on coral reefs and was in grave danger of sinking until Cook careened it at the river mouth, where he and his crew spent seven weeks repairing the damage and doing some local exploring. Cook was a brilliant cartographer, so the site was easily identified years after his departure, although all traces of his enforced stay there would have long disappeared. Reaching Cooktown after the enjoyable 349km/ 209mi ride north from Cairns along the Mulligan Hwy after crossing the Great Dividing Range, I had three comfortable nights in the pleasant and inexpensive Seaview Motel, where I’d stayed several times before. It’s right at the mouth of the Endeavour River, with great views. The owners have always been very obliging and again allowed me to take the bike behind the property and park it under cover in a large laundry shed, out of sight of prying eyes and wandering fingers. One of the reasons for this trip was again to visit the excellent if (from memory) slightly-dated James Cook Museum – no immersive displays or interpretive exhibits here – and again acquaint myself with Cooktown’s fascinating history as a gold-rush town back in the 1870s. But alas – the museum was closed until mid-2020, being restored and repaired ready for the 200th anniversary commemoration and celebrations. Just my luck – but there is another smaller and just as interesting museum in town, run by the local Historical Society, so this satisfied me. Maybe it’s just that it’s at the end of the road, even though it’s another tough and very unforgiving 830km/ 500mi dirt-track – strictly by 4WD only – to the northernmost tip of Australia, but the journey is often more important than the destination, and I always enjoy visiting Cooktown. I doubt I’ll ever do so again, so I’m pleased that this worked out. This was my third or fourth ride along the Mulligan Hwy, and I really looked forward to it. It ends at Cooktown, which is where the tarmac runs out on this eastern side of Australia, so that was it for me too. For my Aussie chums here – and anybody lucky enough to be visiting Australia – the Captain Cook Hwy north of Cairns runs 87km/ 52mi to Port Douglas and beyond, and simply has to be on your bucket list. It offers unsurpassed sweeping ocean views and some mildly-challenging twist and turns. And at times the motorcyclist is so close to the beach that it seems almost possible to reach out and touch the sea or the sand! Part 5 - lots of scenery… Scenery inland along the way north – and there was lots of it – was sometimes pretty uninteresting to the point of being almost boring, but occasionally it was spectacular. The tropical savannah grasslands of the interior were parched and dry, this being before the start of the tropical wet season in northern Australia, and little greenery was to be seen until on my ride south I reached the elevated temperate country of the Atherton Tablelands, famed for its dairy products, tea, marijuana, and coffee-growing activities. I love our sunburned country, but in truth much of the outback interior cannot be called attractive. It’s not easy not being green. But small coastal towns fringing the Great Barrier Reef such as Cooktown itself, Palm Cove, Mission Beach, Airlie Beach in the Whitsundays, and others more than made up for the slight monotony of some of the inland riding. Heading south my route home was as follows, bold again showing overnight stops: . Cooktown to Cardwell via the Atherton Tablelands on the Mulligan Hwy, Gillies Hwy, and Bruce Hwy, by-passing Cairns – 585km · to Airlie Beach on the Bruce Hwy – 478km · to Rockhampton on the Bruce Hwy – 459km · to Bargara Beach on the Bruce Hwy - 304km · finally – home to Redland Bay on the Bruce Hwy – 419km. Heading south and homewards from Cooktown after my very pleasant break there, and mighty glad that I’d made the effort, I rode downhill on the Gillies Range Hwy from the lush Atherton Tablelands to the coast at Innisfail, on one of those 99-hairpin-bends-in-10km-of-road challenges. Technique – point, squirt, brake, turn, repeat many times! An internet note tells that it actually has 263 bends, and rises to an 800m elevation in spectacular scenery. Gillies Range Road After a one-night stay at Cardwell, right on the ocean, another day’s easy ride took me to Airlie Beach. There, I had another two nights and a full day off the bike at this small, relaxed laid-back Whitsundays township, Airlie being another much-visited spot that we always enjoy. Again, this was full of young, mainly European, backpackers soaking up the sun and taking boat-trips out to the islands and the Great Barrier Reef. Many years ago I skippered a bare-boat yacht charter around some of the Whitsunday islands with my wife and some friends – we had a great time and still talk about it, with many laughs, whenever we meet up. Sights along the way were many and varied. Travelling north a small fleet-footed deer kept pace with me for many metres along the roadside, and I later had the privilege of seeing up close a cassowary near Mission Beach on the way home, these large reclusive flightless birds being both rarely seen and sadly endangered. Less happily, around Cooktown a few large dead black pigs littered the roadside, and sadly all along the journey there were as usual many dead kangaroos and wallabies. I know that we have kangaroos in plague proportions, but they are pretty animals and do no harm. I always feel saddened that they meet their end in this way, even though I know that for every dead one there are thousands more hopping around ‘out there’. After some overnight rain ‘roos collect at the roadside verges to lap-up precious moisture, and this is where many meet their end. One unwanted sight affected me as, riding quite slowly, I saw a small cow – clearly quite young – standing guard over her dead calf that was lying at her feet bedside the road, doubtless having been hit by a passing vehicle. I’m not unduly soft, but I must say I felt a very strong and visceral pang of sadness at this unhappy sight. Equally sad were the many ‘memorials’ of flowers and crosses placed alongside the road where traffic accidents clearly caused one or more deaths at the spot. Along the Mulligan Hwy, not far from Cooktown, are the so-called Black Mountains, actually large once-volcanic hills made up of jumbled-up black rocks, some the size of a shoe-box, others the size of houses. Legend has it that horses, mobs of cattle and occasionally humans have entered some of the many caves there, never to be seen again. The Black Mountains are also home to several species of lizards and other small animals found nowhere else on earth. It’s a strange and slightly eerie place, and one of special cultural significance to local Indigenous people. The smell of the open road was ever-present in one form or another. Passing roadkill along the way always brought with it the immediate foul and unforgettable stench of rotting flesh, and even if the carcass was hidden in the grass verge its presence was unmistakable. I don’t know if car drivers detect this, but it’s unavoidable to a biker on the road. Far, far more pleasant was the sweetish aroma in the air when passing near a sugar-mill, sugar being a huge industry in rural Queensland and the cane-harvest being in full swing as I rode through. The heady mix of tobacco, syrup, molasses and vanilla perfumes was – again – unmistakable, and as I have remarked before, it should be bottled. Part 6 - of luggage and ATGATT… I had agonised over what to wear, conscious of the fact that away from the coast early mornings in the tropics can be pretty chilly, while the days warm-up quite quickly. I didn’t want to be too hot when that happened if wearing a heavy, bulky jacket, but I hate being cold, whether riding the bike or walking my dog, The wisdom of Solomon eventually prevailed, albeit with fingers crossed. I chose to wear my summer-weight mesh jacket, but I also carried along a very thin but warm ‘folds-up-into-nothing’ silk jacket that could be quickly donned if needed. Happily, at no time did I need the extra layer, but it was nice having it handy, along with a two-piece wet-weather suit in case of need. As far as luggage is concerned, I learned how to pack very, very light a long time ago, this time carrying the two OE panniers and a small 30L top-box as well. The top-box wasn’t strictly necessary as I could have crammed everything into the panniers, for when travelling by motorcycle less is very definitely more, but it worked out well enough. Space on Tracers is very sparse when it comes to carrying a few tools. I utilised the awkwardly-shaped but useful space inside the two ‘nacelles’, one each side, carrying my puncture repair kit in one and a few basic tools in the other. These items were contained in zip-up plastic sleeves – actually olde-worlde pencil-cases – to keep them secure and minimise rattling-around damage. I also carried in the top-box a small electric tyre-pump to supplement the puncture kit, happily not required. My packed panniers weighed-in at 8.8kg and 9.0kg respectively: empty, each weighs about 5kg. The top-box and contents weighed-in at 6.2kg. Average temps at this time of the year in coastal Far North Queensland are about 21°C/ 70°F overnight and 29°C/ 84°F during the day, but on the inland part of the journey overnight and early morning temps can drop to well below 10°C/ 50°F, so the gear I took seemed a good choice, and it worked well for me. And as it turned out the full-on two-piece wet-weather gear was not needed, although I did stop roadside twice to don the jacket as heavy showers moved in temporarily. Part 7 – about the Tracer 900 GT. It’s my firm view that this is one of the very best sports-touring bikes on the market, at any price. I also still consider it to be very much oriented towards the sport end of the spectrum, although some important changes when the GT was introduced have moved the model a little more towards the touring function. The superb CP3 engine is the cherry on top of the icing on the cake: it just seems to want to go and go and keep on going, purring away under the rider like a smooth-as-a-turbine sewing machine, although rather more powerful. I have a feeling, and I've said this before, that if on-the-road refuelling could be achieved it would carry rider and luggage around the globe at least a few times. On the journey oil level, coolant level, and tyre-pressures were routinely checked - no oil, fluid, or air had to be added. Remarkable! Here in Australia, very few Tracers of any vintage are seen – I did see one, maybe two GTs on this ride, but never more than a handful of Gen1 Tracers in all the five or so years they have been around. It baffles me, for at about AUD$18,000 with functional hard panniers included the GT represents outstanding value-for-money, IMHO. Some enhancements made in the GT include a longer swing-arm for increased stability, or so I read, a TFT display screen with enough functions, but not too many, and cruise-control. This latter function alone is worth the increased cost over earlier Tracer models – I used it a great deal on this long trip, and it saved me a lot of arm and shoulder ache. Easy, almost intuitive to use, readily accessible by thumb when needed, and perfectly reliable, and I now would not be without it. I could suggest some improvements to make the GT even more touring-focussed – an overdrive top gear would be useful, as would a slightly larger fuel tank (say 20L), and belt-drive, but I quibble - and it’s not going to happen anyway! So I return to my main thought that this GT is easily one of the very best sports-touring bikes around. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Finally, I’ll post this trip tale now with a couple of past archive pix of mine, while I await the return of my left-behind camera, at which time I’ll post some more pix from this particular trip. Enjoy… heading north wind-farm made it! roadside memorial Cooktown motel Palm Cove morning Airlie Beach heading south long and not-so winding roads Minerva Hills NP, October 2019 deja vu six years earlier - 2013 nice motel pool in Cairns Black Mountain near Cooktown nice Seaview Motel, Cooktown wharf at Cooktown statue to Capt James Cook sunset over the Endeavour River all this way for nothing! the (closed) museum, once a convent careening the Endeavour for repairs sugar, sugar everywhere how nice to be given a sainthood! Edited just now by wordsmith

Wordsmith here, and having owned a few standard Tracers, latterly a Tracer 900 GT, now an MT-09 SP for a few weeks, I feel experienced enough to chip-in - note I say experienced rather than expert. Difficulty is, of course, that it's hard to know what any given new bikes in any market come equipped with as standard - f'rinstance here in Oz early Tracers and current GTs come with hard panniers as standard, which makes them irresistibly good value for those interested in distance touring, as I was. IMHO - 'one-day 400 - 500 mile rides tops' (your words) is not touring, it's more an extended day-ride so panniers/ saddle-bags would not seem important, especially as you say you prefer a rear bag (as do I). If the panniers come as standard, you could always sell them. You omitted a very important feature of the GT (assuming it comes as standard in your market) which is the excellent cruise-control, useful even if not doing distance-touring. The GT also has a somewhat longer rear swing-arm, increased IIRC by about 60mm or about 2.5", for increased stability, again touring-oriented. I found when transitioning from a Tracer to the GT that the then-new seat on the GT was vastly superior to the torture device on the stock Tracer - but again that may have changed and maybe Tracers now have an improved perch. And unless you regularly ride in cold conditions maybe the comfort-level of the GT seat, sans heating, may not be needed compared to the heated Sargent seat you mention as an optional later purchase. I believe, but am not sure, that current Tracers and GTs both come with the quickshifter, which you may or may not consider important, and both have an adequate 18L tank. The GT's one-hand screen height-adjuster is a minor but useful feature, and each bike's ergonomics are almost identical, with zero degrees forward body lean on each. My unwavering choice would be hands-down the GT. Sure, it is a little heavier and it costs more, but you will more than recoup that when selling, and if bought as a new bike it will come with warranty that gives peace of mind for quite a long time (2/ 3 years..?). The GT is better-equipped, and loses nothing in sportier riding, while the inclusion of the c/stand gives a modest benefit over the Tracer. So - why have I just purchased a Tracer SP? Simply because of the appreciably lower seat-height which accommodates my 81 y.o. stiff and increasingly stiffening hip, knee, and ankle joints when getting on and off, and the simple fact that these problems now make distance-touring impossible for me. I'm too old for high-kicks or gymnastics, and even the SP's 820mm seat-height is a bit challenging at times, but had these issues not arisen, I would unhesitatingly have gone for another new GT. Anyway, that's me, and I wish Bossanova good buying, and am sure that come Tracer or GT he will enjoy it thoroughly.

Well, BBB, you certainly cannot be accused of not trying. Persistence - as they say - is everything!

Have you tried or considered getting a pair of cyclists' waist-to-knee compression shorts with padding in the butt. I have a pair that made a huge difference on a stock seat, and the 'compression' element of the garment also holds together all the loose flesh and skin and pink bits down there, eliminates chafing, and adds greatly to the on-the-bike comfort. Not for honeymooners though! Pic below shows the inside (next to the skin) make up of mine, the upper part of the pic being the front of the shorts. About AUD$30 or so.

Ex Tracerista and TracerGTista here, quite possibly world's greatest BAGSTER seat advocate - and no, they have not offered me a trip to France to view their factory! Caveat - we are all different and there is no one seat suits all here, for one man's seat may be another man's poison. I am bony-butted, but on some lengthy touring over at times indifferent road surfaces have found supreme day-in day-out comfort on my custom BAGSTER seats (2 x Tracers, one x GT), so much so that I have just minutes ago ordered a new one for my new-ish MT-09 SP. A word about waterproofness (if that's a word): in the distant past water did enter the stitched seams of some BAGSTER seats reported here, but for at least 4 or 5 years past they are made waterproof by simple means of a plastic membrane over the foam/ Bultex interior of the seat: the outcome is no more issues of that kind. Very highly recommended.

I too once owned a BMW F800 GT. In so many respects it was the ideal bike for me, coming off a long series of Roadsters and GSs and looking for something a little lower and lighter. I liked the concept of the chain-free belt-drive, the quality, the appearance - but hated the asthmatic weak engine, sounding and performing like a sewing machine - plus I got fed-up with constantly having my left lower leg done medium rare! After my few Tracers and then a GT I felt more than once that an ideal machine may be a CP3 engine in an everything-else F800 GT!

Problee almost as many as on SEATS!

Take a look at the GIVI website - they offer different height screens for Tracers and GTs of different years. I have just fitted a model-specific GIVI screen to my 2020 MT-09 SP and couldn't be happier with the result. Good value too at <AUD$200 shipped to me here in Oz! Highly recommended too is the dealership I bought it from - Italy to here in ten days, and a response with 28 minutes - bleeve it or not - to an installation query I had when starting to install it - <motostorm.it>. Address any queries to Andrea for top help in English!

As a dyed-in-the-wool Beemerista from way back, I can only echo what the general feeling seems to be about this behemoth. I have a bet going with AN Other that I will never see one on the road except maybe near a BMW dealership offering test-rides! I think my money's safe.

Anybody needs to ride a GS more than "a couple of times" to get it.

If concerned about your ability to do a good job, may I suggest running a bit of Sellotape along and just outside the upper and lower edges of the letters, and up the sides (in both cases onto the rubber surround), thus effectively masking-off the rest of the area. Do not bother about trying to paint the letters individually - just don't overload the narrow artist's brush, run it over the letters once to cover them, and leave for a few seconds so that any bubbles dissipate. Then take that blade (I used a fairly new single-edge razor blade - a Stanley knife blade is just as good) at an angle and run it quickly and in one horizontal sweep across the letters. Et - as they say - violin! I didn't, but if doing it again, would have a dampened cotton-tip handy to clean up any paint spots. And if you do screw-up (you won't) what better excuse for buying a new bike! Below - a better pic in better light.

The reason I used acrylic is that I figured if I screwed it up - and I am a very fussy Bloke! - I could immediately remove it all with a damp toothbrush. Happily, it wasn't necessary.

Thanks - actually it looks a lot better/ neater in the flesh than the pic shows!

The small select and reset buttons just under the display screen are tiny, and the inset lettering on the black rubber buttons is almost impossible to read in almost any light. No big deal, as these buttons are not in frequent use, perhaps, but it bugged me a little. So I took a fine paintbrush and some white acrylic (water-based) paint, roughly filled the indented letters with the paint, then immediately ran a sharp blade across the surface. This neatly lifted all the paint except that which remained showing the letters. Cost - nil: time taken - about 20 seconds: satisfaction factor - high!

In response to dozens of requests (well, one!) to show-and-tell about the SP, here goes - a few words and pix about visual differences to the MT-09 Tracer. Sadly, I cannot comment on any other dynamic aspects of the SP as a crook back has kept me off it since I rode home from the dealer's a week ago! The fuel tank, similar to the Tracer’s, is a complex attractive shape that could easily have come from a Ducati or MV Augusta or Aprilia, and the striking paint-job is just that – paint, and not stickers. The quality of the finish on this bike is quite up to those standards too – lovely! Highly-adjustable suspension at both ends are (front) KYB, and (rear) Ohlins. Gold fork adds touch of class, tho’ not necessarily to everybody’s taste. The seat – comfort level tba! – has a nice touch of blue stitching on it. The display screen is tiny, odd-shaped, and even more oddly offset to the right as seen by the rider, tho’ that is not in any way detrimental to visibility. White-on-black display is the reverse of that on the standard MT-09. Screen is pretty busy, and display info is quite small to tiny, but I’ll get used to it all. Plenty of display options too via the various settings, Black tapered ‘bar and levers are standard. Blue wheels are also standard on the SP. A neat touch is the MT-09 SP decal on the wheels There is a small ‘winglet’ or deflector adorning the outside edge of the radiator. Mirrors are on quite short stems, so vibration should be minimal.

700? No - for the simple reason that I figured that a twin - I've owned more than one under both Yamaha and BMW badges - would not have the engaging character and performance of the mighty CP3 motor. But more than likely the 700 is a fine little bike in its own right.

My wife of now 59 years is quite likely the world's best. And having been a very keen bikeress herself for many years in the past she understands the call of the wild! She just wants me to be safe.

Thank you, BBB, and everyone else with the 'welcome back'. BBB - I cannot divulge how many, as Mrs W is hovering and looking over my shoulder from time to time, and.....

I know from the past that the nuts securing the mirror stems into the 'bar-mounted clamp are NOT the same. One is 'reverse thread', but not sure which one. As I recall, one nut tightens as a normal nut when turning the spanner clockwise: the other stem-nut is reverse and loosens when turned counter-clockwise. I hope I've got that right - but which is which? - please help!

After my last Tracer 900 GT ran away from home in late 2019 I had a short but unhappy dalliance with a BMW R9T, interrupted by the coronavirus shutdown. So that was gonna be IT as far as motorbiking was concerned, but try as I might the black hole-like gravitational pull of two wheels kept dragging me back in, so after much thought and research I lighted upon the Tracer's little brother, actually its predecessor, Yamaha's MT-09 SP. I very much enjoyed all my Tracers, and the GT was by far the nicest, but as I have aged rather rapidly in recent years I found the GT's 850 - 860 seat height to be an impossibility. The MT-09's 820mm is just about manageable, with only modest high-kicks being necessary, and my experience with the overall similarity with Tracers won the day. As did its modest price of $14,900 on the road, with a keenly-negotiated tail-tidy thrown in and installed free! It's a nice little bike, not made for touring IMHO (though one could cross Europe or America or Australia on a Vespa if one really wanted to!), but as long-distance touring is no longer in my plans that's OK. The seat may be the determining factor as far as longer outings are concerned - say a 500km day - but if necessary a new BAGSTER seat may feature. I may, slightly, miss the GT's cruise-control, and maybe the 18L tank (the SP has only 14L) but nothing else other than that. The bullet-proof CP3 engine and excellent gearbox are the same, seating position and ergonomics only marginally different, and overall I feel very comfortable on the bike. It's also a significant 30kg lighter than the late BMW R9T at only 193kg full versus 233kg full. And even the farkling will be pretty much identical! The SP appendix to MT-09 refers to the heavily-upgraded suspension over the standard MT-09, having fully adjustable KYB fork internals and an OHLINS rear shock. My GT was upgraded by me with an excellent full front and rear K-TECH installation by a suspension guru here, but it should definitely not be necessary on this SP. I hope I may still be welcome to use this Tracer Forum and continue to learn from others' experiences with these super Yamaha machines, and maybe to contribute some thoughts of my own from time to time.

My take of about a year ago on my own K-TECH upgrade was "my bum thought it had died and gone to heaven".