wessie

So what do we do now? Stay under 100 mph?

No fun in that!
 
I'd rather die when on the gas than being T boned by some myopic old gimmer who should have sold the Honda Civic and retired his licence a decade ago.

I have experienced the steering wobble you guys are talking about but only with FJR bags on. I had the bike around an indicated 105mph on *ahem* the track... and did notice the bars start to rythmically wobble back and forth, the bike felt steady but the front end was definitely light. It is more likely to shake it's head when changing lanes over big grooves parallel to the bike as well. Nothing scary though, just stay light on the bars and it corrects itself.  
Without the luggage I haven't noticed anything even up to the speed limiter while accelerating hard.

I think your comment about being light on the bars is correct, as well as my advice of leaning forward during hard acceleration.
 
A mate pulled out of a ride today and my 80 mile loop in the Cotswolds was rather more spirited than usual. If your arms are too rigid then it is easy to get an inadvertent throttle opening, especially in A mode. Today, I kept it in std but had the revs very high, seeing some outrageously naughty speeds but kept away from the rev limiter and all was well. On fast bumpy sweepers you do need to be pretty firm with counter steering but this is no different to most Adv bikes with softish suspension that want to pitch and wallow in bumpy corners. 
 
I'm not sure what I have to do to get the last cm of chicken strip to disappear on this Roadsmart 2 - I thought I was going to scrape my elbow on one roundabout in a Super Slick roundabout manoeuvre at one point. Still a cm left...

I have 13000km on my rear D222 and I'm just about to the wear bar on the middle.  Probably need to change in the next 1500-2000km.  I've been very surprised with the life of the rear.  The front looks like it's damn near brand new still...

you must feather the throttle everywhere!

Is there a consensus on the best windscreen for a 6'3" person?  
The stock screen is best in the low position for me right now,hitting right at the bottom chin of my helmet, but it's still kind of loud. If I put my hand up on top of the windshield, I can successfully deflect the air over my head and make it very quiet. So is there a screen that's 4-6 inches taller than stock?

that's a bit like asking 6 accountants to predict economic growth over the next 5 years - you'll get 6 different answers. 
Puig and some other makers have a laminar lip or deflector that clips on top of the stock screen. This will be just like holding your hand to deflect the airflow. I have found this to work for me. Odd looks but it is effective.

Did the gearbox speak to you or just whine a bit? 

She's quite harsh in her language????Especially when going from a gear to neutral and releasing the clutch, like it's not fully disengaging or something.

the gearbox is pretty noisy but no worse than some others I have owned and a great improvement on the TDM850 box I had a decade ago

your tires are overinflated @buz11. 33 front/rear modulo load is plenty. Also, it helps if you're talking clicks/turns of settings that you indicate from fully in (aka hard). It's not clear if that's what you meant.

 
my UK version of the manual says tyre pressures are 36 front, 42 rear, in pounds per square inch
 
this seems to be universal on sports or sports touring bikes whether of Japanese or European manufacture and is the pressure my local dealer set the tyres too, as did the independent tyre fitter I used recently

Let us know how it goes as it relates to clutch slip and engine noise. Oh, welcome aboard (1st post). 
 
 
 
Thanks:-) yeah i'll give it a shot this weekend. The gearbox really don't like the castrol GPS:-(

Did the gearbox speak to you or just whine a bit? 

and whilst I'm at it, here is another useful resource from the FIM & ADAC
 
FIM EUROPE MAPS
ADAC (Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil-Club e.V.), the Germany's and Europe's largest automobile club, has launched in conjunction with FIM Europe a series of touring maps specially designed for motorcyclists. These ADAC Motorradtouren maps are not meant to replace highly detailed road maps, but are designed to provide tour suggestions and ideas. The maps can be freely downloaded on this page.
 
http://www.fim-europe.com/index.php/touring/european-maps

UK readers of Ride magazine or their annual touring guide may be aware of this resource already.
 
All routes they feature in the magazine are eventually added to this webpage
 
http://www.ride.co.uk/Routes2/ 
 
The routes are given in google maps links and GPX file format compatible with Garmin Mapsource, Basecamp and other programs like Tyre.
 
Areas features include the UK, Italy, France, Switzerland, Germany, Islands of Europe, top 20 passes, a low cost tour, the Maxxis Challenges, MotoGP circuits.
 
There's an email address if you have difficulty with any of the links.
 
I will ask the mods to make this thread a sticky. 
 
If you have queries about any area please start a new thread with the area in the subject line. 

keep it in 4th gear and let the induction roar and revs drown out the gearbox.
 
I mostly use 6th gear for high speed cruising on foreign motorways (UK speeds plus 33% as you will only get fined not lose your licence) when the engine noise and wind roar through my helmet vents drown it out.

KTM Guards clear my Powerbronze screen on full lock
 
 

Installed Puig touring windshield..  
 

without photographic evidence we don't believe you

I had my first decent journey today ( a jaunt into London) I found that the wind noise was much quieter than with the standard guards but I was getting a bit more numbness in the hands. But (and this is a big but) I have got new gloves and jackect that may affect this and also suffer from a rare form of migraine brought on by stress (of which I have loads at the moment) and one of the symptoms/side effects is numbness and pins and needles so I am on a bit of a a hiding for nothing really. So I think I will fit the bar end weights that came with the guards and see if that makes a difference
 

try some Grip Puppies - I have reviewed them on here, so do a search. 
They do two things that may help. First, which is why I have them, they increase the diameter of the grips making your hold more relaxed and b) they are an extra insulation against vibrations. 
 
 

I went for a spin - air flow seems good, no excessive noise or turbulence. Took it up to an indicated 120+ on a few occasions. You lose the largest part of the bar end assembly so less dampening weight. Seems to be a a bit of vibration in the bars above 8000 rpm. Whether this is worse than with the OE handguards I can't remember as I don't spend a lot of time at revs that high. It will need a longer journey to tell whether some bar end weights might be needed.

I went with the KTM guards and they work and fit great.

Same here. Bought from http://www.mandsmotorcycles.co.uk/shop/950-990-adventure-closed-handguards-black  
 

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Today, I fitted KTM handguards and went for a ride - they work well, review to follow
 

I called the US Puig office this Monday and was told the screen was not being imported into the US yet. Also called Tucker Rockie and Western Power sports and neither had heard of it. If any US members got it, I would love to know from where. The wind chart does make it look like a great screen.
 
Cheers

see the link posted above to BS Motosport in Germany - they will ship worldwide

It looks like I'll get to be the guinea pig for the Puig Touring screen.  I'm half convinced that I'm the first person in the world to buy one because there are absolutely no real world pictures to be found...or, I guess, the other buyers have better things to do than posting pictures of it on the internet... 
Puig also posted a virtual wind tunnel test that looks promising.  @wessie was good enough to direct me to BS Motoparts for a good price, but I have no idea how long shipping will actually end up taking.  I'll report back once I've received it.

 
Not long if it is anything like a mate's experience. He sold an exhaust from his last bike, a Triumph Tiger on Ebay. The buyer was in the boondocks of California. The parcel left Cheltenham in the UK:
Home to Tewkesbury
Tewkesbury to Bristol
Bristol to East Midlands Airport
East Midlands Airport to Cincinnati
Cincinnati to San Francisco
San Francisco to Sacramento
Sacramento to Pioneer
all inside 34 hours!
 
Hope you get the same service
 
 

I appreciate you taking the time to relay your experience and priorities. I don't have the tree sap problem at home as I have a garage. The bike bay in my office car park has tree cover and we get a sticky residue, which I think is honeydew from aphids. It's soluble in rain which suggests it is sugary, so soon goes away.
 
I guess we are at different ends of a spectrum as I would never consider a motorcycle as an investment and rarely clean it - it gets a wash when I decide to clean the chain as part of routine maintenance. As I use an auto-oiler, that has only happened twice in 6000 miles as the total loss lubrication system keeps the chain free of dirt as most of the muck gets attached to the oil and splattered onto the back of the number plate.

I'm not sure what my tank holds but I am absolutely certain the fuel gauge isn't very accurate. So I use the my #1 trip counter and reset it every fuel fill-up. I will say I can get to around 180 miles when the gauge starts to flash. When that happens, I REALLY NEED TO GET FUEL. 

Fuel gauge is consistent when you get used to it. I don't like the asymmetric LCD blocks though. 
Psychologically, you may need to get fuel but unless you bike is different to all others, you have an easy 20 miles on reserve and maybe 40 miles if you push your luck like me (well, not really, I was under test conditions with 4 litres of petrol in a can in my topbox)

I ran 40 miles on reserve and got 17.99 litres in the supposed 18 litre tank.
 
18 litres is 3.95 imperial gallons or 4.755 US gallons

try adjusting the gear lever - it has been found to be set too low for those who do not have feet the size of the average Japanese test dummy.
 
I suspect you are not pushing the gear lever up enough to trip the device that keeps track of the gear changes and there is a "not sure WTF is going on situation" for the ECU

Ten bucks is peanuts to look right for 4000 miles

The Purolator Pure One filters are top quality. But they're also bright yellow and I'm a little worried about it sticking out like a sore thumb on this engine. :-)

just buy the black Yamaha one - they aren't expensive. It's not like you should be using one every week...

 
What is it I'm trying to say? I'm at odds with the idea that the Tracer is fundamentally flawed or dangerous or that people should "start ripping plastic off to make it safe". To my mind this is simply not true.
 
All IMHO of course.
 

 
I'm glad it's not just me smelling high amounts of speculative bullshit and dubious application of the laws of physics in this thread.
 
I've been riding a naked MT/FZ09 for the last 2 days as my dealer didn't get my 6000 mile service finished yesterday. The bike has a reputation of being a bit wild. Unfounded in my view.
 
Both variants of the MT09, naked or Tracer/FJ, are good bikes that anyone can enjoy. There are niggles but nothing that makes the bikes inherently dangerous. As you say, if people relax when riding they will enjoy the ride. The problems are mostly in the rider's head, not the bike.