johnmark101

Ivan's works is peerless. I sent him my Tracer ECU shortly after purchasing the bike. I have a 2013 Kawasaki Ninja 1000 which has to be among his best work. Not only is the throttle response perfectly smooth but there was a noticeable increase in torque and horsepower. An iron fist in a velvet glove. With the full Akropovic 4/2/1 and a modded airbox the improvement was drastic.

The general area where GA,TN and NC share borders is full of amazing roads in every direction. My one and only speeding ticket was earned on the Tail Of The Dragon.

These bikes are so well made they can be stored for extended periods with no issues as long as you do a few basic things. A little fuel stabilizer in the tank and then fill it with good quality gasoline. Change the oil and let it run just enough to get the treated fuel past the injectors. Connect to a battery tender. You can leave the battery in place but many prefer to remove it. If you can put it up on stands so the tires are off the ground.

True story. While riding my ZX6R (which I no longer own), a rather heavy set woman who appeared to be in her late 50's stopped her Chevy Suburban in front of me, got out of the vehicle and walked back to my bike to tell me I had a headlight out. Rather than bother explaining to her that it runs one on low beam and two on high I just lifted my visor and said, "Okay, thank you". She stood there for a moment then tapped her finger on the front of my bike and told me I must have an electrical short or some sort of problem with the bike. I replied, "Thanks, I will get it checked out". At this point I am just wanting to be on my way and this portly hag was standing in front of me, just looking at me like she had something more she wanted to say. Finally she says, "Well.......I am a Harley Rider", and gives me a smug grin. At this point I realized that all she wanted to do was point out that she is special and rides a superior machine. So I asked her what that was supposed to mean, and she repeated her smug smile and shrugged her shoulders. At this point I am a bit annoyed by her smugness, especially coming from a sloppily dressed bovine woman who has probably no clue about motorcycles other than her pathetic, sheep like devotion to a brand and image. Just before closing my visor and swerving around her to be on my way I said, "It means that you ride an antiquated piece of shit." She was still standing there in her ignorant disbelief when I shifted into second gear and checked my mirror. 😁

This looks like a home run for Suzuki in my humble opinion. Appears aimed directly at the Kawasaki Z1000SX which has been selling well.

I will ride the rear down to the wear bar, and a little beyond. Once I reach the wear bars I ease up just a little but not much, and they grip just fine.

Looks like a great trip!! Might try to make it down there again myself before this month is over. Glad you made it home safe.

At 238 kilograms it is about 525 pounds. A bit too heavy for it to be on my radar.

A fuel leak could be dangerous. I would order a new part, or at the very least get a used one from a crashed bike if available. Frustrating I know but better safe than sorry.

Yeah, I know.......another tire thread. 😜 But I feel compelled to share my experience running this tire on the street on my 2019 GT. These are street / track day tires and are probably overkill for the Tracer, but I wanted to try at least one set just for fun. The front is dual compound and the rear is a triple compound tire with the last inch or so at the edge being carbon black for maximum grip. We are blessed with some great twisties here in Kentucky and probably 80 percent of the riding on this tire has been very spirited, and in fact often bordering insane as nothing I have ever put on a motorcycle has inspired so much confidence and high speed cornering hooliganism. The front tire feels like the DOT race tires I used for track days and inspires a lot of corner entry confidence with huge amounts of feel and feedback. Drive grip off the corner is fantastic and allows plenty of throttle application for the drive off the apex. I have tried a lot of different tires. This once clearly is my favorite for feel, feedback and grip in dry conditions. Again, they probably don't make sense on a bike like the Tracer as most any good sport touring tire would be a better match, but if you want to splurge for a set of tires to just have loads of fun in the twisties I highly recommend these!!! For a few dollars less, the Q3 Plus comes a close second in my humble opinion, but these take the fun factor up a notch. The rear tire has worn pretty evenly across the tread. The front looks like it is wearing a bit faster near the sides from hard corner entry. The downside is obviously wear. At 1500 miles I am at the wear bars on the rear but will probably get a couple hundred miles more before calling it done. The front tire looks like it will last through one more rear tire. Once caveat is that I am generally hard on tires, although the roads in this area could be the main contributing factor. One other issue is cost as these are slightly more expensive than most of the competition. However I have managed to source them for a reasonable price, mounted and balanced, provided I remove and install the wheels myself. I will probably run one more set just because they are so good, before switching back to a good sport touring tire. If you want to have fun and just go crazy in the twisties, this tire is amazingly good!!! Note; That is not a chicken strip in the photo but rather the carbon black compound at the edge of the tire. 😁

Known issue. Yamaha got a bad batch of chains that were prematurely shedding o-rings. Mine did this after a few thousand miles. Replaced the chain and sprockets and all is good.

I am thinking about going back to sport touring tires for the Tracer and will probably give the Roadsmart 4 a try. I ran a set of the Roadsmart 3 after the stock D222's were worn out and they worked well with plenty of grip and good mileage. For outright feel, grip and confidence nothing I have tried so far is a match for the Pirelli Rosso Corsa 2. Yes, they are a bit more than most sport rubber, and the rear is usually shot by around 2000 miles, but the performance is amazing. To be honest, they are probably overkill for a bike like the Tracer but they take the fun factor up to 10 out of 10. The Dunlop Q3 Plus is a very close second, costs a bit less and is probably a better value proposition for sport rubber. Truth be told, a good sport touring tire is more versatile, lasts much longer and probably offers more than enough performance for anything we should be doing on public roads, but sport rubber ratchets up the fun factor!!

Once you get this sorted you may notice that the QS display for the quick shifter will be off and you will not be able to access the user menu. This is common when the terminals are accidentally switched. You will have to clear the code or have the dealer do it before these things are back to normal.

Curious as to why you would choose a 190 tire?

The fuel gauge behavior is due to the shape of the tank. My other bike does the same thing.......you get used to it. There were many complaints about the stock chain shedding o-rings prematurely. It seems Yamaha got a bad batch of chains from their supplier and some were replaced under warranty. I don't like letting anyone else mess with my bike so at 7000 miles I put on a new chain and sprokets.

That thumb wheel is poorly designed in my opinion. Too small and very little control feel. Someone else here suggested Deoxit spray. Fortunately I rarely use the thumbwheel. I use it most when it is cold enough for the heated grips.

Ivan's Flash sets the fan to come on at 200 degrees.

I buy the Howard Leight Max green foam earplugs by the box. Use them for riding as well as any time I am operating anything loud such as when mowing the lawn or using noisy power tools. They are cheap and work well. I tried the Eargasm ear plugs and thought they were just horrible. They blocked certain frequencies but seemed to amplify the ones they allowed through. It was almost painful.

I had Terry Adcox build a seat for me. I contacted him by email and he put me on his list but it was about three months out if I remember correctly. He contacted me when he was ready for mine and I sent him my seat. Turn around was about a week. The seat is excellent. I was surprised at how firm the seat was when I initially sat on it and it had me a little concerned. My concerns were quickly gone after the first long ride. I can drain a full tank without stopping if my bladder will allow it.

You can change modes while moving if you hold the throttle closed while making the change.

Add me to the list of those who prefer standard mode, at all times for all conditions. Mode A is not bad but since the throttle response in standard is more smooth that is the one I prefer. I have to twist the grip a little further than A mode when driving off the corners but it is worth the trade for smoother, more controlled throttle response. Mode B makes pulling away from a stop feel too sluggish.

I have a Terry Adcox seat. Looks a bit odd on the bike since it is much wider than stock but it is all day comfortable.

Congrats on the bike and welcome to the forum. As mentioned before, spend some time with the bike and you will figure out what you want to modify or change. Hopefully very little. There are some great twisting roads just south of you in northern Kentucky. I usually run into riders from Cincinnati in the area.

Based on the best data on motorcycle reliability that I have found so far, and the Pan American being similarly reliable to their other products, it should be a bit more reliable than European brands, but still well behind the Japanese brands. For me, the fact that dealerships are abundant is no consolation to experiencing reliability issues. Hope the bike does well in the real world. Time will tell.

When I have installed chains I use a digital caliper to measure the size of the flare. I read somewhere that 5.3 to 5.8 mm is correct, so that it what I have always used. Just don't over flare the rivet or it will crack. I take my time, flare it a little and measure until I reach the desired size.