wordsmith

This Mother's Day weekend won't allow me to get out for a decent ride to start the evaluation process, but I did manage a very early 110km/ hour-and-a-half short circuit today, broken half-way by a brief coffee stop. First impressions - very good, and there definitely seems to be more of my buttocks in contact with the new Bagster seat than on the OE torture device, and no pressure-points. No slipping around, and no early indications of sliding forwards, as commented on by another here. Pic below shows first outing of the new seat. But the seat will have to await a much longer - ~600km - two-day ride mid next week, which should give ample opportunity to get to know it. Stay tuned. [em]Wordsmith[/em][em] [/em][em]http://i.imgur.com/JgbVys6.jpg[/em]

My new Bagster seat arrived today, a little earlier than expected. I have posted my early pre-ride comments in the BAGSTER SEAT Thread. I'll also report later on initial performance and early impressions. [em]Wordsmith[/em]

Deeply wounded by jimf’s cavalier dismissal of my $10 plastic tool-box that I put to use as an ersatz mini top-box – he used terms such as ‘ghetto’, ‘workmanlike’, even ‘truckish’ [em](sob)[/em] – I decided to lift my game. Recalling that I’d used an alternative ‘general purpose’ plastic case on a previous GS, which was well-suited to the style [em](right word?)[/em] of a GS, being rugged and industrial–looking, as well as cheap-ish [em](definitely non-GS),[/em] I looked into smaller versions of it for the Tracer. I quickly found a small TREKA100 case that’s primarily designed, I suspect, for photographers to carry their somewhat tender gear in, having ‘pluck and pick’ removable/ customisable foam inserts that can be tailored to house and protect any combination of camera, lens, and other gear. I didn’t need all of this, so I just kept the honeycombed lid section. This case is a handy 280mm x 246mm x 106mm, or 11” x 9.5” x 4”, with a guesstimated capacity of around seven litres (7L), about double that of my tool-box, not that I need such an amount of space. But it’s plenty for things I take on my day-rides – camera; mobile phone; puncture repair kit; notebook and pen; small spray bottle of Windex/ paper towel; and so on. The case fits exactly between the two uprights of the pillion grab-handle, and is secured with the two bolts that fasten the handles. . It’s very rugged, with solid-looking metal hinges, good snap-locking mechanism, and apparently it’s strongly water-resistant. Numerous other sizes are also available, and I have seen larger versions mounted on frames as panniers/ side bags – a very cheap alternative to OE hard panniers. So now I have number of options for luggage – two hard OE panniers each of 20L; a ‘proper’ though small 28L top-box; and now this smaller 7L case, which will probably be fitted 95% of the time – or various permutations of these. Unlike the tool-box so despised by jimf [em](whimper),[/em] this TREKA100 case has a very slim profile in being only 4” deep, and it almost disappears into the bike, being again well-suited to the slightly industrial in-yer-face styling of the Tracer. AUD$45 post-free in Oz from a local vendor (cases.com.au), and I have seen very similar cases in auto accessory and spare parts stores, keenly-priced. PS – jimf was right! PPS – FS, one lightly-used small tool-box with only two (2) holes in the bottom. Best offer… https://i.imgur.com/Gf6mtk3r.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/9g5fOKk.jpg http://i.imgur.com/RZWQQ8W.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/shf7MvIr.jpg Also today the dealer completed the first 1000km (600 mile) service, a month to the day since I took delivery of the bike. He also fitted the very tasty new levers bought on-line. At $72 they are not the cheapest available, but these six-position adjustable levers are beautifully-made and anodized in a complementary grey colour, they are extendable by up to 2” and will fold if the bike is dropped. All farkles now finished until the Bagster seat arrives… http://i.imgur.com/9g5fOKk.jpg [em]Wordsmith ('39 model) - Brisbane, Queensland, Australia[/em]

A rainy day, so I spent some time happily measuring, cutting, filing, drilling, and bending some aluminium strip to make a pair of new brackets to relocate the front [strong]CREE LEDs[/strong] recently installed - I flagged in an earlier post that I might do this. I bolted the new brackets to the outboard ends of the AdvTech light-bar, and secured each LED so that its small OE stainless steel bracket is now [em]below[/em] the light. This moved each of the LEDs [em]upwards[/em] by about 15cm (6”) and [em]outwards[/em] by about 8cm (3”). I’m sure that this is an improvement as it’s my view that within sensible limits higher = better. I gave the new brackets a squirt of semi-gloss black auto paint, and I’m happy with the outcome (which is a matter of taste, of course). Although it still doesn’t give the optimum triangle of light, there is now a greater ‘mass’ of lights from the grouping of the headlights and the LEDs, which I’m sure makes me even more highly visible to other traffic. [em]Wordsmith (‘39 model) – Brisbane, Queensland, Australia[/em] http://i.imgur.com/jpfX7l1.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/fwqk6m3.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/SUzQMiBr.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/vilK075r.jpg

Allow me to add to whatever suncoaster says here - installation of the Stebel Magnum is a straight plug into the two existing spade terminals - no need for additional wiring or whatever. Bolts straight into the existing bracket too. Just need to ensure the 'horn' points downwards to some extent to minimise entry of water - I accidentally drowned a previous one once when being too liberal with the hose! To my ears it seems to have a two-tone note, deep and penetrating and loud but not offensively so. I refer to it as a mini Mack-truck horn... Definitely cuts through to texting mums on the school-run or harassed business types chatting to their secretaries. A great buy - only $28 here, much cheaper elsewhere I'm sure. Whenever I buy a new bike it's the first item I'll install. Added later - I have the AdvTech's light-bar installed to carry my two front LED Crees. I've thought briefly about bringing the horn further out to the front of the bike, mounted underneath the light-bar. Would possibly increase effectiveness even more by being more out in the open instead of buried just in front of the radiator... [em]hmmmmm.[/em] [em][/em][em] [/em][em]Wordsmith ('39 model) - Brisbane, Queensland, Australia[/em][em] [/em][em]http://i.imgur.com/OSD69rv.jpg[/em]

[strong]bvebrad[/strong] - see my comments in my latest post. [em]W[/em]

Didn’t actually [em]do[/em] anything to the bike today, more an opportunity on a brisk 200km outer-urban/ country circuit to evaluate a few recent additions and tweaks. The [strong]Grip Puppies[/strong] have increased throttle-grip diameter, and are very comfy for my small-ish hands. As I felt next to no vibration before, the lack of vibes could not be commented on. Equally with the rubber-topped, longer and wider [strong]foot-pegs[/strong] (FZ6 style). Again, not seeking vibe-reduction since at reasonable cruising speed there's only the tiniest ‘tingle’ (also felt through the OE seat) that's only detectable if seeking it. Not unpleasant. The new ‘pegs made me feel quite a bit more confident in my footing on them, and I feel they’ll be a good buy. The [strong]mirror risers/ extenders[/strong] – once attended-to on the road as one wanted to move a bit – are excellent, and my rearward vision is about as good as it gets. They are set-up so that there’s the merest sliver of the upper sleeve of my riding jacket showing on the inside edge of each mirror – the rest shows clear road behind. Zero vibes at up to 80kph, minimal vibes between 80 and about 110kph, above that back to very clear and blur-free. The [strong]Cree front LEDs[/strong] were working, to judge from the tiny red LED switch glowing just in front of me, and I was confident in being highly conspicuous to other road users. I assume that the rear [strong]Skene hi-viz LED[/strong] lights were also working. The slimline [strong]LED turn-signals[/strong] seem to flicker more rapidly than the OE ‘pumpkins', and I’m not sure about their brightness and visibility in comparison, as they are pretty small. I’ll evaluate them further over time and may switch back. Looks aren’t everything! Finally, the [strong]DIY suspension tweaks[/strong] seem to have been effective over all but the worst stretch of broken country bitumen that I struck today. A great improvement over the factory settings, and for the time being at least I’m going to leave well alone. But even with whatever other comfort gains the new yet-to-arrive Bagster seat brings I doubt I’ll be doing any more 1000+km days! Looking forward to the first 1000km service next week. [em]Added later - have to comment on the [strong]rear [/strong]brake on the Tracer. Unlike on almost every other bike I have owned - including some top-spec BMWs, on which I almost felt I had to stomp up and down on the brake pedal to get any reaction - the Tracer has a pretty good rear brake, I believe. Plenty of 'bite', progressive, and good feedback, it's excellent. Well done Yamaha[/em]. [em]Wordsmith (’39 model) – Brisbane, Queensland, Australia[/em]

Very interested in this comment/ experience, johan, as my Bagster seat is currently winging its way to me. Care to elaborate? Just eyeballing my OE seat (set at the low level, but really either does, at only 15mm difference) the seat - from side on - doesn't appear to slope downwards/ forward much at all, and I'm certainly not unhappy at that part of its design. Does the Bagster have a much more pronounced downwards/ forwards slope? Do you find yourself sliding forwards under braking, etc? Also - is the Bagster seat able to be set into the alternative low/ high positions, as the OE? Will appreciate any other thoughts on it. [em]Wordsmith[/em]

Took a brisk 190km ride today to test a few things. At up to 80kph mirror vision was rock-steady. Between 80 and about 110kph or so, some [em]slight [/em]blurring, then back to quite steady. Much better than I'd experienced on other bikes, especially my BMW twins, where at almost any speed it was hard to tell if a vehicle some way behind was a small car or large truck! These are perfectly acceptable to me. An FZ may have different harmonics, hence your experience with blurring. Your buddy is right - the aluminium is pretty soft and I learned from an earlier installation that the best way to avoid stripping the thread is to gently screw the extender into the mirror stem, while holding that bulky and unbalanced part nice and tight, rather than vv. You have much better control (and vision) over thread insertion if doing it this way and the stem threads move gently into the riser. But either way, a heavy-handed impatience will strip the riser threads! [em]Wordsmith[/em]

Fitted the just-arrived [strong]mirror risers/ extenders[/strong], which I had on my previous Tracer – and very useful indeed. Took exactly a month to arrive after the vendor notified me they had been shipped – I blame the postal services in Hong Kong (origin), Taiwan and Singapore (in transit), Australia. This is the longest I’ve ever waited for an international purchase to arrive. They were packed in a small matchbox-sized acetate box with a piece of foam separating the two risers to stop them knocking against each other in transit – a nice touch. Beautifully-finished in glossy black, with good large chunky bolts, and very easy installation once the trick of dealing with both left-hand and right-hand threads is mastered. They are a bit different to the type that inserts an extension piece into the OE stems, as they each comprise a ‘foot’ that moves the stems both upwards and outwards. Whether better or not, I don’t know – but the lhs foot has to be angled forwards a little instead of aligning transversely across the bike, in order to clear the 'select' switch on top of the lhs switchgear. Not a problem on my previous Tracer, and still allows plenty of adjustment. Now to join the refrain of [em]“I can see clearly now the road behind instead of my elbows/ shoulders/ etc”. [/em] From E Bay vendor M-Store Factory – AUD$32. [strong] Highly recommended. [/strong] I have yet to install a pair of adjustable-span/ extendable levers, and will get the dealer to do that at first service shortly, but that apart the only important outstanding enhancement now is probably – [em]no[/em] – [strong]definitely[/strong] the most important one, the new Bagster seat. I ordered it from the Australian distributor three weeks ago with a lead-time of five to six weeks advised from France. Heard just yesterday that it has been shipped, and may be only seven to ten days from arrival in Oz, subject to Customs clearance, so fingers crossed it should be with me within the estimated time-frame. [em]Wordsmith (’39 model) – Brisbane, Queensland, Australia[/em] http://i.imgur.com/GftFCII.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/aTcwcMn.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/yPKYN66.jpg

More often than not on a short day-ride I don’t need a large top-box, and even my 28L scooter-intended box looks a bit overwhelming at times, though it’s perfect for a weekend away when the hard panniers would be too much. Looking for something much smaller, I found and quickly bought – for $10 – a small plastic tool box. I’ve discarded the interior upper tray, and secured the box to the bike’s rear rack (for the 28L top-box) where it fits perfectly between the upper parts of the pillion handles. Installing was done by simply putting two short bolts (head down) upwards through the rack and securing them to it with a Nyloc nut each to stop them dropping off under vibration [em](been there, done that!) [/em] The bolts then pass through the bottom of the box and are each secured internally by two decent-sized wing/ butterfly nuts on a flat washer and a spring-washer. Hand-tight is tight enough to firmly hold the tool-box in place, but no tools are required to remove it quickly in under thirty seconds when I'll need to replace it with the larger top-box. Capacity is (guesstimate) close to 4L. It comfortably carries all I need for a day’s outing – cell phone; camera (I dislike carrying these in my pockets in case of an 'off'); a small note book and pen; a pair of thin summer-weight gloves in the lid; and importantly a puncture-repair kit with several CO2 cylinders. There’s no room under the seat for this, of course, and I like to carry it at all times even though I have Roadside Assist cover. In its small nylon case this repair kit takes up about 20% of the box leaving still plenty of room for the other items noted, and still abit to spare. Not the prettiest piece of luggage, though it looks better and smaller in scale and in the flesh than in the pix at only 12" x 6" x 6" (30cm x 15cm x 15cm), but it will be very useful. [em]Wordsmith (’39 model) – Brisbane, Queensland, Australia[/em] http://i.imgur.com/jSuYnFi.jpg http://i.imgur.com/Luybi8I.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/vdhsCeX.jpg

Made up and installed a better, neater bracket holding the LED switch for my new Crees. Covered it with genuine imitation carbon (vinyl sheet), not that I want anybody to think it's real, just that I had some left over. I've covered everything suitable in the house with this [em]faux[/em] carbon sheet, including the dog! [em]Wordsmith[/em] [em]http://i.imgur.com/n63JTvn.jpg[/em][em]http://i.imgur.com/Q9eODHe.jpg[/em]

I believe these are the same Cree LEDs that I'm using. I've been pretty pleased by them, even independent of the very low cost, but one thing to be aware of is that there have been failures where the mounting bracket attaches to the main light. It uses a tab/slot arrangement with a small bolt that holds it together and the manufacturing tolerances are pretty poor. One one of mine (but not the others) it wasn't possible to get a snug fit, which can lead to early fatigue failure. Thank for this caution, jimf. I noticed that the fine gauge screw going into the body of the LED was not overly long, so like you I added a dash of epoxy - as indeed I had done earlier on my BMW, which used the identical lights without problems. Those screws could/ should be a couple of mm longer. Added later. I recall that I also drilled out a little more depth under the head of the screw (in the 'tab' part), no more than about 5mm, to allow the tiny screw to bed further into its thread. Done carefully, there's plenty of 'meat' there, and the metal is soft enough. Then some Araldite on the screw threads. [em]W[/em]

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