johnmark101

Looks like a fantastic motorcycle. Love the K5 motor. At about 511 pounds it is heavier than my 2019 Tracer GT by about 30 ~ 35 pounds. Not much but lighter is always better in my opinion. A shame the luggage is not standard.

I would wait until the first oil change and see if it continues. Use a good quality synthetic such as Mobil One 4T, which is motorcycle specific. If it continues after the first oil change, and it does this even after everything is up to running temperature, I would discuss it with the selling dealer. Clutch engagement should be smooth, with no judder.

There are a few gas stations in town near me that do not have the top tier label. One was once a Shell which did have the pumps marked as top tier. It is now a Casey's Mini Mart. Same pumps, but now the label has been removed. No longer buy my gas there. It may not mean much, but the label is not ubiquitous here. And a tank full of poor quality fuel can cause issues.

Top tier fuels such as Shell Premium have additives that supposedly help keep the fuel system clean. However if you can not always find top tier fuels it is not a bad idea to run a bit of system cleaner such as Techron or Seafoam. Will help keep the injectors clean.

Having the factory service manual in your shop is very handy. I bought one for every bike I have owned. Considering what shops charge for labor it will pay for itself very quickly. You can order it from your local dealer.

Great looking bike. According to other articles I have seen, it's a bit underpowered for the class of 1000cc sport touring bikes. That exhaust would get smashed if you should have a tip over.

Clutch engagement should be smooth, with no judder. Is it only on the first few releases of the clutch and then goes away, or is it every time you release from a stop? If it is just from the first time or two, and goes away after a mile or two, try this. When you start the bike cold and you are giving the engine a bit of time to idle, pull the clutch lever and hold it for a few moments. If the judder goes away, it's probably that the plates were just a bit dry. I have a Kawasaki that does this the first time or two. It's a minor clutch oiling issue with that bike, but not bad enough to worry about. Been that way for 44,000 miles and no issues. If yours is doing this after everything is up to temperature, and you are under warranty, a trip to the selling dealer may be in order.

Been using nothing but motorcycle specific synthetic oil (Mobil 1 4T) on all my bikes for many years. Never had a mechanical failure in any of them and no issues with clutches.

The wife and I visited Yosemite a few years ago and did some hiking. Probably the most beautiful place I have ever been. Just stunning!!!

I have a 2019. Yes, there is some movement of the side cases. This is normal. I dream of visiting western Norway. It has to be one of the most beautiful places in the world!!

Eliminating the closed throttle fuel cut off is important if you want smoother throttle response, regardless of the exhaust. If you do eliminate the catalytic converter, and the AIS is not turned off you may get a lot of popping from the exhaust on closed throttle. From what I have read, Two Wheel Dyno Works does a good reflash of our ECU. Ivan's Performance is probably one of the best tuners and I had my ECU flashed by him with excellent results.

A good tuner will not only change the fuel and ignition maps with an ECU flash, but also turn off the AIS and fuel cut off. If the new maps for fuel are richer than stock, (which they will most likely be) it would be a good idea to get rid of the catalytic converter as the richer fuel map could clog it up a bit over time. Getting a full exhaust is not a bad idea.

I am guessing you raised the shifter a little to compensate for the thicker pegs??

Much appreciated. However I already ordered a set. 👍

I like the look of those. My other bike has similar pegs and they work well. By the way, I am not far from you. Just a few miles west of Georgetown off route 460.

I am wearing a hole in my boots on the stock foot pegs and was wondering what options others have tried for replacements. Not a fan of the way the ends of the stock pegs have the end turned up to a point. Something a little wider but not longer might work. Would be fine with something that has a rubber cap as well. What have you got??

I wanted something light and sporty that could double as a reliable long distance mount. The Tracer 900 GT has been just about the perfect bike for this. One issue I had was the factory chain started shedding o-rings by 7000 miles, but this has been well documented. Yamaha got a batch of bad chains from their supplier. My only other gripe is that there is not enough room to get your feet back far enough to be on the balls of your feet so that your toes do not drag at deep lean angles. I found that by turning my heels outward I can remedy this, but it is a bit awkward. The stock seat was not to my liking, but everyone's butt is different, and some have no issue. I sent my seat off and had it modified to suit my own backside. Money well spent. I also did some suspension upgrades but do this to all of my bikes. The riding position is very comfortable, all the features of the bike work very well and it has been completely reliable over 24,000 miles so far. The engine is an absolute gem with good torque delivery. It absolutely loves to rip to the higher rpm's but with the way it delivers it's torque it does not need to be wound up to deliver strong acceleration. If Yamaha decides to stuff this triple engine into a sport bike, I might be doing track days again!!! I can load the bags and tour for days in comfort and still keep up with the sport bikes in the twisties.

Terry has passed away and his wife is dealing with her own health issues. Very sad.

Not sure what is going on over at Sargent. Had seats for my VFR and my Ninja 1000. Both were excellent. The seat for my Ninja 1000 has been used on two bikes (totaled my first one) and has over 53,000 miles on it. Still looks and feels great. Ordered a Sargent for my 2019 Tracer GT and it fit very poorly to the bike. After some discussion with Sargent I discovered that they had tried to modify the seat pan of the FJ-09 to fit the Tracer rather than creating a new pan. It did not work. They said they had already spent time and money to develop this and likely would not start over but rather try to modify their current design if they could get a donor bike. Had Terry Adcox build a seat for me on the stock pan for less money than the Sargent and it turned out to be the best motorcycle seat I have ever had.

For what it is worth, rebuilding the master cylinder is very simple. Usually it is just a coupe of seals and a piston. You will probably need a small pair of snap ring pliers.

I had this same problem with my Kawasaki. Can't say that yours is the same issue but rebuilding the master cylinder solved mine.

The Tracer has definitely moved upscale from when I bought my 2019 GT. It's a lot of bike, but the price sure has gone up.

As mentioned before, with Ivans tune there is really nothing else that needs to be done. He shuts off the AIS so there is no need for block off plates or removal of the AIS valve (or air pump as you referred to). He also shuts off the O2 sensor. Most of your better tuners do this as well making it plug and play. Ivans work is without peer. He is among the very best in the business. Back in 2013 I had my Ninja 1000 ECU flashed but had to remove the AIS valve, put in a jumper wire to fool the system into thinking it was still there, and install block off plates. I also had to have a Power Commander and download the proper fuel maps. Once the Power Commander was installed on the bike, (a real pain as the injectors were difficult to disconnect due to limited space) I had to connect a laptop and adjust the position of the throttle position sensor. None of this is necessary with the latest mail in ECU reflash as tuners have figured out how to perform all this within the ECU. Pretty slick I would say!!

A lot depends on the ECU tune. I had mine done by Ivan's Performance. There is really not any way to extract more power from this engine with an ECU flash and full exhaust. Might gain a couple horsepower along the way but the real goal is improvement of the throttle response, getting rid of any flat spots and turning off the fuel cut at closed throttle. A good ECU flash an full exhaust is really all that is needed. Any additional money spent should be on suspension upgrades which pays big dividends when done correctly.

Yeah, there is really no need to remove it, but I did have it fall out on my work table while cleaning the sprocket in the past. However, it would always fit back in. I have a habit of disassembling everything for cleaning when I swap tires.