ZigMerid

On 1/24/2021 at 2:22 PM, ZigMerid said:

... my biggest fear wrt the 2021 Tracer 9 is that Mr Yamaha might decide not to sell it in my region.

So I spoke to the local Yammy dealer today and they assure me that they will be stocking the 2021 Tracer 9 but they do not yet have an MSRP or an availability date. They assured me the price will be higher, no surprise there.

I don't think they were blowing smoke up my tailpipe as they would otherwise be pushing me towards something else in their lineup.

As it happens, about 15 minutes later the first GT I've seen IRL, passed by. I take this as a positive sign. Now all I have to do is scrape together a lot of pennies towards the cause.

13 hours ago, WKE002 said:

What is the price difference in your countries  for 2021 Tracer as compare to 2020 Tracer GT

In Australia, the 2020 GT price has been all over the shop. The official Yammy site originally had it listed at 18K but now lists it at 20.4K. The current dealers are now selling the remaining few for anywhere between 18.5K to 21K - presumably to offload stock. So no stable MSRP like there is in some other countries.

Converting to USD pricing gives a range of between $13.8K and $16.1K. This includes taxes and is close to an "out-the-door" price.

I don't see any 2021 Tracer 9 prices yet but will update this thread when they become available - if they decide to sell it here.

13 hours ago, betoney said:

and includes panniers

But don't all GTs include panniers? My understanding is that the 2021 Tracer 9 is effectively only the GT model with the lower-specd non-GT model not being offered.

4 hours ago, nhchris said:

Big benefit of my shaft drive ST was it was QUIET at speed.

Ok, apart from the wines, the canals, the aqueducts, the schools, the roads and public health what have the Romans even done for us...

I don't really want to subvert this topic into a chains vs shaft discussion which has been done to death a thousand times before, so I'll say again that I am a shaft fan boy, but we fan boys have to acknowledge that their appeal is limited, much as we might wish otherwise. And yes, the belt-drive fan boys have even more of a niche issue than us shafties do!

To the topic at hand, my biggest fear wrt the 2021 Tracer 9 is that Mr Yamaha might decide not to sell it in my region. There were very few Tracer GTs sold here and the only ones on the second-hand market are left-over demos from dealers. I cannot find a single GT up for private sale, which suggests to me that either existing owners love them or there are very few existing owners. Methinks the latter.

Anyway, I guess I'll have to wait until at least the April release date to find out. Here's hoping!

20 hours ago, micah2074 said:

I average 20k+ miles per year. A shaft driven bike will save me $200 per year

That's less than 1cent per mile which is likely less than what you pay in additional fuel for shaft-drive inefficiencies and extra weight compared to a chain. I think the only real argument is lower maintenance.

Even then at 20K+ per year you must be doing multiple oil-filter and tire replacements annually so doing a chain service during these down-times seems like the maintenance impact and inconvenience is close to zero.

Don't get me wrong, I like shafties, but if they had more than niche applicability most manufacturers would have moved over to them long ago.

4 hours ago, fjray said:

Exactly.  How often do you have to mess with a chain?  I had Goldwings for 25 years and thought I'd get tired of oiling and adjusting the chain.  Nope...

Agreed. I sympathise with @Ride365 - long preferring shaft-drive whenever possible myself. Largely because of the presumed lower-maintenance factor. Coming originally from dirt-bikes myself, chain maintenance is obviously higher than a road bike so maybe I can blame that history for my proclivities?

But as we all know, shafties are hard to come by and the variants are few. Furthermore, I have to agree with @fjray as my chain-driven road bikes have similarly require very little maintenance. In fact the only chain failure I've ever had involved the rear wheel fully dropping into a wombat hole** while the engine was screaming at around 5-6,000rpm pulling me up a steep hill - an understandable failure in the circumstances.

So while my heart wishes the new sports/tourer Tracer came with a shaft, my brain knows that the chain-drive will do just fine and I'll never notice the difference.

**For those who don't know, a full sized wombat hole can readily swallow a motorbike wheel - as this one did.

6 hours ago, Clegg78 said:

Honestly, I dont think thats the case over the already super sad decrease in value of used motorcycles

 

Is that really the case? I thought that C19 had caused a significant increase in people buying "entertainment" vehicles such as motorbikes, 4wds, campers, caravans, scooters, mountainbikes and the like. Anecdotally I've heard it's very hard to find good used motorbikes because people are buying the market dry.

In that context, it may be that Yammy are taking advantage of the situation and selling a premium GT9 while the market is hot.

7 minutes ago, keithu said:

Cruise control is now standard on both the Tracer 9 and GT. 

Yeah. You're right. I just noticed mention of it on other parts of the web site as well as seeing the control buttons on one of the stock photos.

Here's the things I noticed spec-wise between the 2020 and 2021 that I don't think have been mentioned yet. These are from their US brochures.

• Slipper clutch is now upshift *and* downshift
• Tank is 5.0Gal vs previously 4.8Gal
• Wet weight is 485lb vs 474 previously
• Same bore, longer stroke
• Injectors moved to throttle body from cylinder head
• No mention of cruise control in 2021, but I assume it's still there (Edit mentioned in other parts of the website)

On 8/28/2020 at 1:20 AM, WKE002 said:

I got temperature Gauge dipstick installed.

That's a pretty neat idea to cross-check what the instruments are saying. Do you have a link to the product you use?

I guess there are two questions here: Is the oil within temp limits and what is the impact on the temperature of the engine components? Checking the oil limits should be straightforward, but working out the impact on the engine, well, I have no clue how you might do that.

To answer my own question, the 2020 Tracer GT specs appears identical to the 2019 ones. The only differences are new color schemes.

If you read the 2020 PDF brochure on the Yamaha Motor Sports website they even accidentally refer to 2019 in a couple of places - which is understandable as most of the text is a mere cut and paste of the 2019 brochure.
 

2020 Yamaha Tracer 900 GT Sport Touring Motorcycle - Model Home

---

2020 Yamaha Tracer 900 GT Sport Touring Motorcycle

So, does anyone know if the 2021 Tracer GT will be new and improved? (Just kidding).

13 hours ago, vincep said:

@OLD DVB good write up and summary. 

Amazing that the same bike in the UK market, reading mph, reads 8% different to the GPS.  My GT in the US is always within 1 mph of my Garmin, with both the stock tires and the Pilot Road 5s I now run.

I wonder whether this is a regulatory thing and Yammy adjust the unit for each market?

I know that in our market there are design rules that require the speedo to read within a certain percentage *above* the actual speed. It can never legally under-read. Presumably so that no one will ever be able to use the reading of their speedo as an argument against a speeding ticket.

50 minutes ago, Clegg78 said:

You don't get all those upgrades without some significant weight being added generally  

Except that most of the upgrades people are talking about really don't increase the weight. Apart from bigger tank capacity. Electronics, seat comfort, gearing and wind management could all be solved without any extra kgs. And the FJ, while a fine bike, is nearly 30% heavier and retails for 50% more in my neck of the woods, which is a hefty increase to solve a few "niggles".

I guess I see the TracerGT as a mid-weight sports/tourer and the FJ as a heavy-weight sports/tourer. Not really in the same class as each other. And, for the secondary/tertiary "touring" roads my government, ahem, builds, the lighter, more nimble Tracer is better suited methinks.

The interesting thing is that the TracerGT has very few direct competitors with most other manufacturers sticking with litre++ mega-tourers or adventure-tourers. So Yammy haven't got a lot of competitors snapping at their heels to keep them innovating and improving. Does that mean they should be lurking in this forum to keep in touch?  I hope so 

I haven't seen anything from the usual news outlets and the Yammy web sites are silent as you'd expect. Do we (as in the royal we) have any info on whether the 2020 GT will be much the same as the 2019 or are there significant changes expected?

I know the GT hasn't changed much since inception so realistically I don't expect much difference, but I ask because I'm wondering whether to hold off on a purchase or not.

Alternatively, if there is no news on the 2020 model, what would we like?

I for one would be interested in a) reduction in the 6+K RPM buzz b) TFT/Computer improvements c) Bigger tank d) Better wind protection. In general, a bit better "touring" features.

What do others think?

3 hours ago, Stinky said:

Zig...you might have read my post wrong. The BMW is a monster in the 4,000-8,000 RPM range. It doesn't seem to have the same "pull" in the lower and upper RPM range as the Tracer. But in the middle it is crazy strong!!!

Gotcha. No big. I was mainly thinking you might have had a unicorn BMW that I'd never heard off, but you clarified that.

I'm still in the Tracer camp with no chance of a BMW in my future, though I've had them in the past.

4 hours ago, daboo said:

Unless it was the R1200GS or R1250GS.  They have a shaft drive.

Which would be consistent with the OP's comment about being "HUGE", but inconsistent with it lacking power in the 4-8k rev range. Well, maybe.

Come back "Stinky" and put us out of our misery!

Nice write up, thanks.

I'm curious; which BMW 850 has a shaft drive? Is this a Malaysia-only model?

(Sorry, don't mean to veer too far off of Tracer-land, but can't resist.)

18 minutes ago, wordsmith said:

I'm now my fourth (4th) Tracer (GT now) and have intensively farkled them all, never finding any difficulty in sourcing what I need - or if so, able to create something myself if it's a minor thing.   No need to pay through the nose, either.

Here's a more-or-less up-to-date list of my GT farkles since I bought it in July of this year.

Wow. What a resource! Thanks for that list. Love those Stebel horns. It's the first think I put on every road bike.

1 minute ago, TracerAU said:

I too say that every bike I get, but I'm already failing.

It's like an addiction isn't it

I haven't even got my Tracer yet and I'm already thinking about upgrades. The big challenge for us is of course sourcing the parts in AU.