johnmark101

They were replaced long ago. I ran them down to the wear bars on the rear before getting rid of them. Since then I have run two other types of tires, both of which were obviously better. (Roadsmart 3, M7RR) However......after finishing off the OEM D222's I can say that they are better than most OEM tires I have had on the five other bikes I have bought new. As I became more acquainted with the bike and sorted the stock suspension a bit I was able to push them pretty hard on a few of my favorite local twisty roads and they provided pretty good grip. I went from edge to edge on the rear tire repeatedly with no issues. True, they are not premium tires by any stretch of the imagination, as it is with most OEM tires. But by my estimation they are not as horrible as some have said. I was glad to move on to better tires though.

I would be very hesitant to put a thirty dollar battery in my bike. They had to cut corners somewhere in order to make it so cheaply and if it fails while you are far from home you will regret not getting something better.

Surprised to see this thread come back. I ended up purchasing a new 2019 a year ago despite concerns with the forks. It was not noticeable under normal riding, only at slow speeds over multiple bumps, like rail road tracks or something similar. A couple months ago, after putting 10,000 miles on my bike I had Traxxion install their AK-20 fork cartridges and I also bought a Penske 8983 rear shock. Now everything feels solid at all times.

I have a flashed ECU (Ivan's Performance)) and when the key is on/engine off I can hear the servo whine. When I turn the throttle it stops. I think the whine is normal with stock or flashed ECU as the servo is waiting for a signal from the TPS. I hear no grinding noise or any sort of mechanical movement however.

I had my 2019 GT ECU flashed by Ivan. Throttle response is much more smooth. A proper reflash from a competent tuner such as 2 Wheel Dyno works, Ivan's Performance Products or VCyclenut will do no harm and will be a noticeable improvement.

The yellow indicator light tells you that you have turned the cruise on. You then have to push the "set" button and it will lock in your current speed.

Checked the Yamaha website but did not see any bag liners listed. Anyone know where to get a set of these or something similar that fits well in our panniers?? Really don't care what brand as long as they are decent quality and a good fit.

Welcome to the forum! There is a wealth of information here as well as some great folks willing to offer help with questions about our bike. There are some excellent roads in West Virginia. Been a while since I was through there on a bike. It was back when I had my VFR.

This. Changing to a much stiffer spring without changing the valving to match can create other issues. A new shock or a rebuild of the stock unit with new springs and valves is the way to go.

I highly recommend the folks at Traxxion Dynamics. You could send them your shock and they can rebuild it with the proper spring and valving to match. I had them do this on my Ninja 1000 with excellent results.

Same here. I don't like the appearance of the big, orange turn signals but am all about letting others on the road know my intentions. Sometimes I will even use a hand signal for turning along with my blinkers.......especially when making a left turn with approaching traffic.

Been thinking about getting a tire changer as well. Tired of paying someone to scratch my rims. I was at a track day and someone there had a NoMar changer with a trailer hitch adapter. Changed his tires right off the back of his truck. If you already have a vehicle with a hitch this would keep you from having to permanently mount the changer into the floor of your garage and you can store the changer when finished.

Absolutely spectacular!! Breathtaking beauty in those photos.

Another option is to have your stock components rebuilt for your weight. I have two bikes. The Tracer and a Ninja 1000. For the Ninja I had my stock fork rebuilt which was basically new springs and valves and the same for the rear shock. On the Tracer I bought a Penske rear shock and AK-20 fork cartridges. The rebuilt suspension for the Ninja was half the cost and gave me about 70 percent of the performance by comparison. Yes, the Penske / AK-20 set up is better but the rebuild on the Ninja was a lot of bang for the buck!!

Looks like you removed the emblems from the front side panels. Did you use a heat gun??

The Roadsmart 3 you would buy from a dealer or on line is far better than any OEM Dunlop. Not saying you would like the Roadsmart 3, but it is a far better tire than any OEM. The tires that come on new sport touring bikes are built to a price point. This guy explains it well.

Count me in as another who finds your experience with these tires unusual. I have run a set of these on my Tracer and two sets on my Ninja 1000 and found them to be a very good sport touring tire, and a bit on the sport side of the equation. Good in the wet, excellent dry grip for the class and decent mileage. Good bump compliance as well. They have received positive reviews on line. My only gripe, and it is a minor one, is that the front cupped a bit toward the end of the tires life. Truthfully, any of the sport touring tires from any one of the major brands are going to work well, with each having their own characteristics. Sorry your experience with them is not so good. Tires are not cheap and it would not be much fun having to ride around for several thousand miles on a tire that did not inspire confidence.

Post a picture of your battery with the seat adjuster removed and we will be better able to answer this. My original battery is a Yuasa YZT-10 if I remember correctly.

I agree with your assessment that the shock upgrade was the biggest difference. I hated the harshness I felt in the stock forks.

As the others mentioned, the 8983.

Very well done. 👍 I would never blame someone for trailering to a good location if the road between there and home is long and boring. That plus having to burn through precious free time and it totally makes sense.

I had good luck with the Roadsmart 3. Excellent grip for an ST tire and good in the wet as well. For me they seemed to be more on the sport side of the sport touring equation. For something with excellent dry grip and even wear the Metzeler M7RR can be had for about 240 bucks a set while supplies last. They dropped the price once they introduced the M9RR. They provide grip on par with most super sport tires but seem to last a good bit longer. Good in the wet as well.

Welcome Mcmann, North Georgia has some great roads. Have you been up the south side of Blood Mountain yet?? I am 59 and mentally very young, although on occasion my body tries to remind me of my true age. Retired at 56 and love to ride often. Like you I prefer the generous ergonomics of sport touring / adventure style bikes. I had hoped to move to north Georgia or western North Carolina upon retirement but have too much family here. Hope you are loving your new home.

Mine is mounted similar to yours only the bracket supplied with the shock was useable. Used zip ties around the screw clamps as the ends were sticking out.

The wife wanted to go along but does not like riding the motorcycle so I loaded the GT into the back of my truck and made the roughly five and a half hour drive down to Traxxion Dynamics. They installed a Penske rear shock and AK-20 cartridges the next day while the wife and I checked out the local area together. I lost the remote rear preload adjuster in the deal but gained compression damping and height adjustment with the new shock. Good trade off if you ask me. Went for the first ride this morning with the base set up they provided at the shop. Before I had gone a mile I could tell right away that bump absorption was much better. The harsh feeling from the forks over anything less than smooth pavement was gone. I would not describe the ride as plush but it is definitely much smoother. A short 25 mile run up the interstate to some of my favorite roads confirmed the better ride quality. Great so far. Arrived at one of my favorite curvy roads, let the tires warm up a bit and slowly ramped up the pace. Here is where the new suspension really shined. Bike feels so planted in the corners now and I can carry more corner entry speed with way more confidence. I found myself going faster and faster with each few turns to the point that I had to tell myself to slow down. So much easier to put the bike right where I want in the corners, and with less effort. I actually said "Wow!" inside my helmet more than once. Since I really don't need to ride that fast on the street I am thinking I might dial back the compression damping a bit to make the ride even more smooth. The bike feels so planted now that I don't think it will affect handling one bit to do so. But before I start fooling with the adjustments I am going to get some more miles in on the new components just to be sure they are settled and seated , in a manner of speaking. I will eventually experiment with the rear shock length adjustment after any fine tuning I might do with damping, but I think their base set up is excellent!! The bike is now much better for both ends of the sport touring spectrum! About three years ago I had Traxxion do a basic rebuild (spring and valves) on my Ninja 1000. The results were very good and the cost was about half of the Penske / AK-20 setup. I would say for about half price I got almost 70 percent of the handling improvement, but little if any improvement in bump absorption. The Ninja is a bit stiff over bumps but handles very well. But it still lacks rear compression damping and height adjustment by comparison. Even if I had known this going in, I still would have spent the extra money for what I did on the Tracer. The suspension is remarkably good and I have yet to do any fine tuning.