wanderer

I started riding not long ago, at a ripe middle age. Bought a Honda CB500X in 2015. Great bike. And I took it places. It took me to Mt Shasta, Pyramid Lake NV, up and down the CA coast. But I did come to want more power. By 2017 the FJ09 was on my radar, but then I saw the Tracer900GT was coming out so I waited impatiently ... In December 2018 I had 27,500 miles on the Honda and a new Tracer900GT in the garage. Come January 2021, the Honda had 29,800 miles and the GT 18,600. One weekend I said to myself "I should ride the Honda since I have it", looked it over, and it needed a new front tire, and I decided it wasn't worth taking care of an extra bike. So I sold it to someone in the Bay Area who asked if I could "meet him half way". Which at first I said I could not, I don't have a trailer or anything, it is just extra hassle. But then it occurred to me that I could ride. And we had a scheduled family trip to visit the folks up north, so I could get picked up. The plan became I'd ride it to Santa Nella CA, conveniently on I-5, deliver the bike, and my wife and kids would pick me up for the rest of the trip. So while the rest of the country is freezing, I started Presidents Day weekend with one good long final trip on the bike and revisited some of my favorite sites. I added a final 582 miles to the odometer, taking the total to 30,564. The route took me on SR-33 over the mountains by Ojai, up to 58, over to the infamous 229, then by Indian Valley Rd, Peach Tree Rd and 25 to Hollister, and over to the meetup at Starbucks. Someone on this forum once said "No-one actually goes to McKittrick." I did for the first time, I went expecting gas, and I was sorely disappointed. After pondering my chances while staring at the "Next Services 70 Miles" sign on 58, I turned around and went back to Taft to find gas. Great trip, only a little rain at the very end after Hollister. Sale went well, the buyer loaded it on a trailer, I got picked up in the minivan, and the garage is down to one bike.

and I managed to go down that section of Hwy 1 just two weeks ago! I also went down March 7th 2020, returning from one of my work trips to the Bay Area - my last trip before COVID lock downs, just as the weirdness was starting. I remember a few TSA agents in San Jose airport were COVID positive that week, and I figured I dodged the whole airport/plane thing on the bike. That started as a wet rainy day. This news is a reminder that Hwy 1 may not be a good place to be on a wet rainy day, for more reasons than just traction.

Pre-pandemic, I had regular work travel to Santa Clara CA (Bay Area), and for several years I have not caught a flight but always ride. Anchor it to a weekend to have a two day trip one way, and just jet up/down the other way. E.g. ride up I-5 Wednesday afternoon/evening, stay Thursday and Friday, have a fun ride down on Saturday and Sunday with a stay somewhere in the middle. Oregon to Rancho Bernardo is a little further though. Of course, one could rent a bike locally as well.

Scripps Ranch, just east of I-15 from Miramar MCAS. There are some good rides around here, including up Palomar. The South Grade has the awesome curves, and the East Grade has a great view overlook I always like to stop at, look out over Lake Henshaw, have (no alcohol) drink, take a nap. But eventually one always wants to explore further!

I once had an experience like this on my CB500x (prior bike, now for sale), except I stayed on the road. Quite exciting to pass a tractor-semi and exit the wind shadow!

I did get great weather. I got up to 5200' on SR-108 (the Sonora Pass route) before turning around, and I don't recall any snow. I've experienced far worse in So Cal before - I've gone over Tejon Pass (I-5 north of LA) in 40 degree rain, which turned to snow 4 hours after I went through. But that doesn't happen consistently all winter. I was also lucky in that I just beat the wind storms: https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/19/weather/california-santa-ana-winds-power-shut-off/index.html "On Monday, wind gusts of more than 90 mph were reported from Sacramento to the Bay Area" "Several hurricane-force wind gusts in the mountains of Ventura and Los Angeles counties in Southern California were reported Tuesday." Looks like I was about a day ahead of the worst of it. It was a little cold and windy eating in the shade in Creston, and I noticed a handful of gusts while riding, but overall I did not notice much and did not have the "exciting" experience of riding in 50-100MPH gusts.

https://www.forcitehelmets.com/ Looks pretty cool. The integrated look for the camera especially, and it is well positioned to give the pilot's view. However, the battery life is still only given as 3 hours with video. I always think along the lines of "couldn't they put a larger battery there?", but in reality having a huge battery in your head-protective-wear (aka helmet) to explode or ignite on impact isn't a great idea either. Also, while the integrated look, fit and function is good, I prefer disintegrated. I'd rather not have to discard the electronics when the helmet dies or vice versa. The helmet may not even fit an individual's head very well (elongated head vs round, etc). Or one may prefer a different strap latch system, etc. Picking a helmet is a personal choice. What could be nice would be movement towards a standard specification for some helmet mounted systems, comm and video, so one can easily swap the electronics between helmets and still have a tight look and aerodynamics. I just can't be satisfied!

I made a 4 day weekend of MLKJr day. Head up to Auburn CA to visit my folks. Day 1 Friday (15 Jan 2021) San Diego to Auburn, 15h02m, 722 miles. Hit the road at 4:15am. I always like to try to get through the greater Los Angeles / Riverside / lower San Bernardino complex by sunrise. You may notice that I missed a left turn on SR-49 just after Jamestown, which added about 45 minutes on SR-108 as I blissfully puttered up into the Sierras until I noticed a sign with mileage to Carson City and thought "Carson City, huh? WTF?". The above, earlier in the day (before that wrong turn) NW of Pine Flat Lake. The panoramic pic amused me with the sign to the veterinarian (it's blurry in this resolution, but trust me) in the middle of nowhere. This pic looks down into what I've seen called "the Little Dragon", SR-49 south of Coulterville heading down to the Merced River. Fun stretch, except they sanded the road which had me a little nervous in the corners. Day 3 Sunday (17 Jan 2021) Auburn to Monterey, 6h27m, 288 miles. I decided that a stretch of SR-1 should be good for the way back. Hopefully lightly traveled on the sparingly observed MLKJr Day in a pandemic. Lodging in the pandemic is interesting. When I called different places, I got "You don't need a reservation, we have plenty of rooms, just show up", "Do you have a California ID?" (for residency) , and "Are you traveling on essential business? You could be fined, we could be fined." I wanted to stay in that last one in Monterey, and they didn't take a reservation, so I decided to wing it and show up on their door and see what they said. At the Best Western, I got a mere "why are you traveling?" "I had to visit my parents and I am on my way home." "OK". No pictures from the day, it was a pretty straight shot. The Santa Cruz mountains (SR-35) are pretty cool though. Day 4 Monterey to San Diego, 11h49m, 487 miles. The coast down to Cambria, cut over on Santa Rosa Creek Rd, SR41, Creston and "Rossi's Driveway" and then over SR-58 towards I-5 for the final leg home. Above an SR-1 photo. My traffic guess was correct. While not exactly "empty", SR-1 had as little traffic as I've ever managed to see on it. It was a great route with very little traffic to hold me up. Santa Rosa Creek Rd, pretty cool, remote ranches and beautiful country. Stop at the Loading Chute (Creston) for lunch, before heading south on Rossi's Driveway (SR-229). They will directly serve you your "takeout" in their lovely outdoor seating. I recreated my tracer900.net avatar at the southern terminus of SR-229! End of the trip, 1548 new miles on the odometer. Which doesn't add up from the daily mileage logged above, which came from the Garmin watch! Great trip. A couple of long riding days, and I managed to see my parents who in this pandemic hadn't had a familial visit since July. I also had a COVID test sample taken on Thursday 14 Jan, which didn't come back negative until Sunday night after I'd left the folks. Next time, if it matters, I will take the test 3 days before I arrive ... but I expect the older folks are vaccinated by then.

Indeed, as someone who's on-and-off thought of doing something for some years now, this market does seem to evolve a little more slowly than I'd expect. What I really want is a helmet cam (look where I look) with a battery that can just stand an all day ride and recharge overnight. January 15th was a 15h02m day (ride San Diego to Auburn CA, a little indirectly, 722.5 miles according to the Garmin watch), so I guess I need a 16 hour battery.

There are three things I've had strong enough gripes about to change. 1. Foot pegs - the space for the pilot's feet are severely cramped by the passenger foot peg bracket. I don't have particular large feet (EU ~42). If you adjust your foot position to your toes on the pegs in turns you'd likely notice your heel banging the brackets. I removed the passenger foot pegs and installed the old FJ-09 side-case stays so I can still use the side cases (currently, my bike has no passenger pegs). 2. pumpkin turn signals - they stick way the f out. I don't like the look, but more importantly I scratched my car a few of times trying to back the bike out of the garage. It was one of those things that annoyed me every single time I rode, twice (on the way out and the way in). I replaced the front signals with flush mount LEDs. 3. The windscreen - I am 5'11". Maybe others find a middle ground, but my simple take is I need the screen to be large enough to have me in the air bubble or small enough for the helmet to be in clean air. I don't want some huge screen, so I tried smaller. First the MRA Sport Wind Screen. My helmet was still in the transition zone. So now I am using the Puig Racing Wind Screen. It is better. I still get some turbulence around my chin, which reminds me to sit with good upright posture :). One last thing I've not changed - abrupt fueling on/off-throttle, which I credit to the emissions implementation that cuts the gas when decelerating off throttle. That can be fixed with an ECU update ... which is tempting (and the only thing I really want from an ECU update). From what I've read, if I tried upgraded suspension I'd be blown away! But for now, ignorance is bliss. I am happy with everything else.

The key is rather wimpy, too easily bent ... I bent mine a little this weekend on the side case, because I also have a bag on the back seat that overhangs the case and somehow in my fumbling around bent it. A big part of the problem is that so much of the length of the key doesn't even go into the lock barrel, leaving a long lever exposed. I use these quick release key chain attachments to hold my ignition key to the key ring with house key and earplug holder. Pop the key off to use it, reattach when done so as not to lose it. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HZ0BOR6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

My exhaust and ECU are stock.

Tracer 900GT purchased new two years ago, 28 December 2018. I took it to the local shop for the 16000 mile service at 16405 miles, and asked them to add the early valve inspection. Based on what I've read here, the results seem predictable, tight exhaust, in-spec intake. exhaust (spec 10-12 [units .001 inch]): 4 7 5 8 5 9 intake (spec 4-8 [units .001 inch]): 6 5 5 5 5 5 exhaust was all adjusted to 11 ("these go to 11"), intake unchanged.

I can't help with any new info, but I love towing the tandem mountain bike!

Not familiar with Easy Rider rentals! but I've rented a BMW R 1200 RT from Eagle Rider in New Orleans and returned it in Miami. I've also rented a HD in Jackson WY and returned it in San Diego CA. My experience with Eagle Rider has been good. The main frustration is that the non-HD choices are limited. Each franchise is different, but one other frustration I did have. My rental from New Orleans was supposed to have been a Yamaha FJR from Atlanta. The Atlanta franchise showed many different types available one day, so I felt assured that I could wait a bit and if I didn't get my first choice I'd still get my second. But then the next day nothing was available, which seemed impossible. I called them up and they said they had the bikes, but in busy season they didn't have the staff to outfit and prep the bikes, so wide availability instantaneously became no availability. Poor business strategy IMO (leave inventory idle for want of staff), but c'est la vie. The only lesson here is don't procrastinate on your reservation like I did. There are plenty of dealerships with HD rentals, but in order to get a non-HD I had to change my starting location from Atlanta to New Orleans, and the bike from FJR to BMW, and it all worked out. It is super-convenient to be able to just pick up a bike one place and drop it off at another.

I concur. I would also add for consideration the less obvious M-50, or Mountain Highway 99, or whatever it is called from California Hot Springs to Johnsondale. https://goo.gl/maps/ApZiB3hv36Bj3ipM8

2WCaptain mentioned the part number above. I bought them at a local dealer, Fun Bike Center, and talked to the parts sales guy. I don't think I have any record of the part number, but I was able to find it on the Yamaha site in the past.

Hehe. I ended up on 229 the best way, totally by chance, because I made a wrong turn. So impressed that when I got home I looked it up and found "Rossi's driveway" and made it an avatar!

So hard to even decide. 1. cross country, with route 66. 2. cross country, Lincoln Highway. #1 and #2 could be combined into one long trip. These also might be better done in a convertible (semi-cage) with the wife (who will neither ride nor pillion). 3. Alaska 4. a two month long aimless meandering through California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona. These all require more time than I'll be able to pull together all at once, not for a while. Hopefully in 2021 I can do San Diego to Seattle to Bozeman and back, but that is not the meander. Maybe compressed into 1.5 weeks or so.

I expect this must have already been addressed somewhere on this forum, but what the heck is that red box on the back of the bike?

Also, the roads look flat and straight. I just took a look at Miami on Google maps. Turned on terrain view (topographic). Nothing changed.

Different schools different focus. Total Control ARC 1 & 2 are parking lot training, more safety and general skills oriented than track. I've not taken their track clinic. All are with your own bike. California Superbike School is all about track. They have their own bikes (BMW S1000RR), or you can bring your own for some of the sessions. It's fun to try out the BMWs though. These are the two I've done. I recommend them both. TC-ARC first if you haven't taken any such courses, then one of the track courses. One thing that struck me about CA Superbike, beyond just the excellent on-track experience, was how much effort they put into making you comfortable and providing quality food and drink. It is secondary, but the fact they emphasized quality for the whole experience really speaks to something.

It's official! 2021 Yamaha Tracer 9 GT Sport Touring Motorcycle - Model Home 2021 Yamaha Tracer 9 GT Sport Touring Motorcycle

So I've got to admit, other than replacing some turn signals, foot peg brackets and chain maintenance I've done nothing on the bike myself. Not even an oil change, which is easy enough. So now I'm thinking I'd dive in to it, but it is 16000 miles, which calls for replacement of the spark plugs. So my basic question is, how does one really get started? Is it really as simple as follow the shop manual and make sure everything goes back where it came from? Or is there a better way to ease into it? Once long ago with a friend I took off a Datsun cylinder head to replace the head gasket and take the warped head to a machine shop to be resurfaced. And when we put it back together and it started it was a real "holy shit we did it!" moment for me. But I was willing to let that car die if need be, I am more attached to my Tracer!