johnmark101

Looks like a great trip.  The Barber museum is a must see for all motorcycle enthusiasts!!!

Next time you are in north Georgia, be sure to ride the south side of Blood Mountain from the bottom up.  

Definitely the shock length causing this.  Had the exact same issue when I did a shock swap on my VFR years ago.  When I wanted to do service that required being on the center stand with the rear wheel off the ground I placed a piece of wood ( 1x6 I think it was ) under the bike and put it on the stand.  Problem solved.

First, congrats on your move to east TN.  Beautiful country, no state taxes and some of the best roads in the country for motorcycling.  I would be living there now but the wife has too much family here to move.  

If a light, comfortable sport touring bike is what you are after the Tracer GT will be hard to beat.  On long days in the saddle, the lightness of the Tracer pays dividends in that you do not get fatigued from throwing around a lot of weight in the twisties.  I have a Kawasaki Ninja 1000 which is only about 35 pounds heavier but the Tracer goes in and out of corners with much less effort.  Coming from the FJR, which I have ridden, the difference will be huge, and the fun factor will be more than doubled on the mountain roads you will be riding.  The triple engine is smooth and very willing to rip with a surprisingly flat torque curve, and has more than enough power to keep you entertained.  

7 hours ago, Manxkiwi said:

Oops, I think you're talking about a whole hugger aren't you? Not the 'extenda'.. Sorry. 

Yes, full replacement part, and not the extension.  

Ordered the Pyramid Hugger from Moto Machines.  Comes with a couple of brackets and what appears to be clear, simple and accurate instructions.  However, the small bracket for the right side will not fit regardless of how I orient the part.  Bend form is such that it will not fit between the holes on the hugger in any position.  Hole pitch appears to be off as well.  Stumped and feeling stupid.  I am mechanically inclined and do all my own work / maintenance.  This thing should be a difficulty level 1.0 on a scale of 1.0 to 10.0.

Anyone else experience this with the Pyramid Hugger.  Asking before I return it to the vendor.    

Welcome to the forum.  Lots of good folks here with loads of valuable information regarding our bike.  

The Tracer is one of those bikes that is not well known but offers tremendous bang for the buck.  Hope you enjoy yours as much as I do mine!

10 hours ago, nhchris said:

And the strange thing is it will take only an 1 or 2 oz  of addl oil to reach the top of the glass.

When I do an oil and filter  change I pour 2.5 quarts into the sump quickly and then watch the sight glass as I pour the remaining third quart to the top of the glass.  Once I run the  engine I recheck and add pretty much the rest of the 3rd quart to at or just above the top line.

Have not seen an oil light so far.   I don't think adding three full quarts will overfill the sump or cause blow by .

Like you I fill it to the point the sight glass is at or just above the top line.

The owners manual calls for 2.8 quarts when the oil and filter are changed.  I have always let it drain thoroughly and pour in three quarts and call it good.  Never an oil light and never a problem.  

Blipping the throttle for downshifts has always been standard procedure for me and it makes downshifting smoother.  However there are times when coasting to a stop I will hold the clutch in and click off the last couple of downshifts to first gear as I roll to a stop, but this is only at slow speeds.

That movement is designed in.  Both my Kawasaki and my Yamaha have this free play.

Welcome to the forum.  Lots of good folks here and a lot of valuable information regarding our bike.  

The stock windshield is definately a poor design.  Going with a shorter screen is a popular solution but puts you in the wind quite a bit.  

Western North Carolina is one of my favorite places to ride!!  Sounds like you are not far from there.

Welcome and congrats on getting the Tracer GT.

I had an uncle who lived in a beautiful spot in Del Mar before he passed.  I am jealous of you for the San Diego weather.  We are slowly crawling out of winter here in Kentucky.

I like your idea for the bright colored wheels.  Anything that makes the bike more visible to others on the road is good in my opinion.  

7 hours ago, roadwarrior said:

The V4 mill is heavy but is also the most amazing motor ever. It never stops putting a shit eating grin on your face.

I'd own this bike with that motor within a second if I could justify the price.

The bike would never see a day of offroad .

I am going to guess by your comments that you have ridden the new Multistrada V4 enough to be familiar with how amazing the motor really is???  Would you care to share your thoughts on the overall performance and handling?

No doubt that motor is probably a fantastic powerplant, but the price and the weight are deal breakers for me, especially the weight.  I could just about pull the trigger on a new Multistrada if it were not so heavy.  On long days of riding twisting roads the lightness of the Tracer GT really pays dividends in agility and reduction of fatigue toward the days end.  I spent two days riding in the mountains with a friend who has a 2018 Multistrada.  I had no problems keeping pace with him and in the tighter stuff like going up Blood Mountain I pulled away from him!!

In my humble opinion, a V4 is probably the perfect engine design for a motorcycle.  I was blown away by the performance of the V4 of the Aprilia when I took my friends RSV4 for a spin!!  Although I am very impressed with the Yamaha CP3 and it's excellent power delivery.  And the CP3 has plenty of power to keep this old man smiling.  

I find bikes like the Tracer GT and Kawasaki Z1000 SX to be much more value for the dollar, and they offer plenty of performance along with unbeatable reliability and more reasonable cost of ownership.

Just my two cents.    

When I learned that the bike weighs 570 pounds wet I stopped watching the video.  😧 

Used the mushroom plug once.......it got me home but barely.  Have used the rope plugs twice with very good results.

I retired from QC with Toyota Motor Manufacturing.  At the time I was working in powertrain, our four cylinder engines had a shim on top of the bucket arrangement.  The top of the "bucket" surface was recessed, with a raised rim around the top.  The shim sat in this recess beneath the cam lobe and was the exact thickness to fill the recess so that it was flush with the rim.  We had a specialized tool that pushed down on the bucket at the rim, creating enough clearance that allowed you to pry the shim out and replace it with a different sized shim.  Made valve adjustment a simple and quick operation that could be done with the cams in place.

I often wondered why we never saw anything like this attempted with motorcycle engines.  I can thing of a couple of reasons why this might not work on a higher revving, high compression engine, but imagine there might be a brilliant design engineering solution that could make this feasible.  

I don't disagree with using non ethanol gas and passing on the fuel stabilizer.

However I have used whatever quality fuel is available and Stabil fuel stabilizer since 2002 and my bikes fire right up on the first push of the starter button after sitting for months.  No adverse issues.  It works just fine if you can't find 100% gas.

12 hours ago, bwringer said:

I searched but didn't see this covered.

Chain life seems to be really bad here in FJ-land. On other powerful bikes, it's been very well proven that moving from 525 chain to 530 on a 100+ HP bike costs only a minor amount of money and weight, but the chain will last AT LEAST half again as long.

A measly 1/8" wider may not seem like much, and the tensile strength specs are close to the same, but in the real world it makes a huge difference in longevity. On a V-Strom 1000, 20,000 miles or less is typical with 525 chain, 35,000 miles and more are typical with 530.

A little poking around on the JT Sprockets website reveals that 530 sprockets with the same spline and bolt patterns are easily had (look for XJR-1300 parts and adjust the number of teeth to taste.)

FJ-09:

JT Sprockets: Catalogue

XJR1300:

JT Sprockets: Catalogue

 

I've never seen this cause an issue on other bikes.

What say ye? Anyone here running 530 chain and sprockets?

Should I do it... FOR SCIENCE?

One thing to consider is that the OEM chain, although made by D.I.D. is not of very good quality as compared to what you can buy in the aftermarket.  At least this was my experience.  D.I D. makes some excellent chains but any time an OEM buys parts from a vendor there are often concessions in order to make a price point.  The best example of this is tires.  A good quality 525 chain should be all you need.

On 9/14/2020 at 3:36 PM, Dirty Randy said:

I have done this at my neighborhood pool ... people though i was some crazy guy 😄 .. HOA doesnt say anything about motorcycle tires in the pool ... definitely does now 

That is hilarious!!  😄

Penske shocks are very good and have height adjustment.  Check with the folks at Traxxion Dynamics.

No issues.  Super reliable.  You will enjoy it.  Cheers mate.

Looks like a fantastic trip.  Thanks for sharing.  Many of us live in places where winter is far too cold and wet to ride.  

My uncle lived in Del Mar and I always dreamed of living in a place like that where you don't have nasty winters.  I would move but have too much family here.

The stock Dunlop D222's on this bike are decent.  I don't know why people gripe about them.  Chucking them off before they are worn out is a waste of money.  Yes,  the tires you can get in the aftermarket are better but the OEM tires are not bad.  I rode them pretty aggressively and they performed well with plenty of grip for deep lean angles at speed.  Had no issues keeping up with the local sport bike riders in the twisties.  Once they were worn out I replaced them with Dunlop Roadsmarts.  Last couple of sets have been Metzeler M7 RR since I was able to get them for cheap.  

Just for fun I am thinking about running a set of the Pirelli Rosso Corsa 2 this summer.  I know they will not last but they are incredible performance tires and will allow me to really explore the limits of this bikes handling with added confidence.  After that I will probably stick with sport touring tires.   

Same here........had this occur with new boots.  Went from Sidi to Alpinestars and the latter has a taller toe box.  After a while the toe box developed a slight indentation from using the shifter and the problem solved itself.  Just a matter of a few millimeters.

I am not far from you, just off I-75, about 65 miles south of Cincinnati.  There are some excellent roads in northern Kentucky where I run into a lot of riders from your area.

Keep an eye on your chain.  It seems Yamaha got a bad batch of them which started shedding o-rings very prematurely.  If this happens it is quite visible upon inspection and will occur fairly early.  There a a few on this forum have experienced this, including myself.  Mine became noticeable at about 6000 miles.  Yamaha is aware of this and has replaced them free of charge depending on mileage.  

I think this bike is probably one of the most overlooked on the market.  Whenever I have stopped somewhere that other riders gather for food / fuel / socializing, almost no one has seen or heard of the Tracer 900GT.  They see it as just a small touring bike but then are shocked when they can't run off and leave me in the twisties on their sport bikes.  

For me the beauty of this machine is that even for my 59 year old body and tall frame this thing is super comfortable for the long haul but can still be ridden in anger like a sport bike.  It is actually quite good in stock form other than the windscreen.