Clegg78

3 hours ago, peteinpa said:

Just watched your video.  Why did they give such a large important bolt a 4mm size?

my kit is currently lost in USPS land. (what else is new) Denver to Pittsburgh, right past me near Harrisburg, to Philly. Why send it to Philly!! What's wrong with them!! They wonder why costs are up!! I was supposed to get it yesterday. Sorry rant off.

Weather now cold and wet here, wonder if I'll get a good test ride.

 

I have one package now that went to Brussels for a customer,  the customer never picked it up from the post as the Belgian post required for some reason beyond either of our comprehension,  it was returned to me... made it back to Denver 14 days later but was never delivered... and now 10 days after that is in LA in international processing, looking like its about to head back to Belgium.   I am getting legit concerned if the packaging can handle 4x international trips!   I am also curious if it is going to get stuck in a "return to sender" loop where it just keeps going back and forth until the end of time.   

T9 '21 update - After some feedback on the ride with the new shims in place it sounds as effective as the earlier bikes!    I am working through some last design tweaks and going to send them out for final verification mid week I hope.    There is a chance I can have them listed ready for sale by mid or late next week. 

1 hour ago, Grumpy Goat said:

Yes. I also wondered if I put the seat back on wrong. I have a video coming out on Wednesday that shows my gap in the low position and the result in the high position, as well as before and after slope comparison. The mod does increase the gap a little. 

Yup, by design.  Not much of a way to change the seat angle to any extent and not increase a gap at the front.    There is already a decent gap in the high position, this does make it a tad more. 

12 hours ago, 2and3cylinders said:

You may not recall I told you why it may do that on my Sargent before I just paid shipping to help you verify it would fit a stock 15 & 16 saddle; which it does.

I'm usually willing to help a good cause.

and I appreciate it and the info that the pre-raised nose Sargent seat doesn't need the shims!  All good things.   The info on the standard seat was helpful.

3 hours ago, 2and3cylinders said:

Joe,

Your kit unfortunately didn't work for me because at least on my custom Sargent that I had the nose raised quite a bit, your shims raised it so much more that the nose was so lifted up to the extent I couldn't scooch all the way forward to load the front in the twisties, and kept me back and rotated my hips up causing discomfort.

On the OEM saddle I'm sure it would be great but on my Sargent it's got to come out.

I hope this input helps others whose saddle has a raised nose but for the reasonable price and quality, it still may be worth a try.

Makes sense if your seat is already modified/designed to remove the slope, then using these inserts aren't really necessary.  

On 10/21/2021 at 5:29 PM, betoney said:

I agree, I don't want to be stuck with only 2 settings, I am very picky when it comes to suspension and have spent a LOT of time and miles tweaking and fine tuning.  

When you rode the new Tracer 9 did you feel that it needed different damping settings or just correct springs for your weight?

Needed a spring adjustment but that generally should have some dampening /valving adjustments as well.  Still a much better setup than any other stock tracer!

5 minutes ago, betoney said:

@Clegg78 - Very nice trip summary.  From the map I couldn't quite tell if you made it to Chief Joseph Highway and Beartooth Pass but it would have bee a shame to have been so close and not included it.

I am hoping to make it back to Colorado next year, specifically the Black Canyon, Independence Pass and  Loveland Pass areas.  What time of year would you suggest, considering traffic and weather?  Last time we rode in Colorado was just after Labor Day and we rode in rain storms every day. 

Yeah the pics of the bike on the top of the world is at Beartooth Basin      I didn't do Chief Joseph because it was either that or Beartooth, and Beartooth was on my list.

The black canyon will be good next year.  this year it was mostly closed for road work and impossible to get to due to some highway work.   Really for that area anytime after June 1st should be OK, but there is always the chance of a rogue snow storm still... unlikely, but can happen.    June - Sept/Oct is generally the riding season.  Into Sept/Oct you will need to watch the weather close!  October can be awesome some years, others it can be all snow and winter. 

Late June -> 1st of August is generally the rainiest time of the year with afternoon storms pretty routine.    Then stuff dries up in August a lot for a pause until mid sept weather systems.   But all the storms generally are hit/miss.   This year was pretty wet in certain areas if you traveled on the "wrong" week  

I have video of the East Portal road at Black Canyon here: 

and Independence Pass here: (toward the end)

1 hour ago, draco_1967 said:

Not in the US. It is in a lot of places, but we 'Murricans like to live dangerously! 😄

The bike has ABS, just not lean-sensitive ABS. So, much like the Tracer/FJ, it's just the basic ABS/TC.

I guess I just learned that ABS isn't required in the US!  I thought it was!  - its just because EU required it since 2012 that all US bikes have them by the major companies.  

Thanks for the feedback Fleng!   Happy it worked for you!

Tracer 9 GT / MT-09 '21+ updates - The first prototype bits are on a bike and being tested, and results so far are very encouraging.    This part will be a much different and potentially easier to install than the already easy install on the '15-'20 bikes.   But more testing is going on    Yamaha changed enough to make this an interesting remote design project  

I appreciate that this forum can appreciate good non Yamaha bikes.   So many forums are nothing but zealots.    Makes me happy to be here  

(but we can all shit talk KTMs right?  )

I also test rode a T9 GT a couple months ago and it is a nice bike.  But really, I think most of it is down to the suspension.   I think my 2019GT with Ohlins all around feels more nimble  and responsive than I did with the T9 but it was a short test.      Suspension seems to have long been the weakest point for these bikes and it seems Yamaha is fixing that!

I am of the opinion I am not into mid-range electronic suspension.  Because when it comes to upgrades and work on the suspension you are essentially boxed in unless you can get the ECU to stop managing the suspension and go to high end but manual ones.     But the suspension on the GT is very nice compared to the T900 GT sock suspension!

Look at the shocks they put on the MT-09 SP, just some nicely refined manual suspension, easily modifiable if you want  

11 minutes ago, Fleng said:

I am on day 11 of shipping to Europe. Might take as long as 20. Shipment left US at day 3, thereafter no tracking anymore.

Yeah...  it seems USPS has stopped tracking for some countries once packages leave our shore now... or in some cases its still at the departure point for a week waiting to move.    The USPS has been so damn random, some people get packages super fast over seas, others it bounces around in a departure point in the US for a week then finally moves to the same country ordered around the same time!    That's why I've updated the timelines on the site to say Intl delivery may be 10 - 30 days. 

It sucks, but its where we are right now it seems    Best I can do is ship the orders the day they are placed, and I do  

The CarPlay/android auto bit is nice.   Pretty good looking bike for sure! Kinda looks like a smaller R1200RT.

1 hour ago, 2and3cylinders said:

Who dat?!

Stuffed shirt head of usps appointed in 2020?

Who is a Leftover from past admin...

DeJoy.  yeah he's a left over who really has one objective, destroy the USPS system...  its actively hurting small businesses. 

21 minutes ago, Grumpy Goat said:

I know who I'd like to blame for that!

if you picked this dude, we are of the same mind    This dude is screwing up small businesses holiday shipping across the country!

13 minutes ago, piotrek said:

I had an issue similar to this when ordering yesterday for shipping to Ontario. Going directly to PayPal would only provide two shipping options, $30 USPS being the lowest. I had to do this the long way and then select PayPal, which then carried through the lowest $15 USPS carrier pigeon option. 👍

Turns out USPS just slammed the door on Australia for now!  https://powerretail.com.au/news/slower-than-in-the-70s-usps-temporarily-suspends-deliveries-to-australia/ 

I thought my site was broken...  but you cant actually ship to Aus unless you pay close to $70 for Priority Express shipping! (or $150 for UPS).

48 minutes ago, BBB said:

Is there a UK rate @Clegg78? I could bodge a solution but would like to support an innovative forum member.

Yeah the site should work for the UK for International 1st class shipping.   Just go and check out and it should work.  Australia is the only country that for some reason the API is broken for.  

FYI for any members down under, there is an issue processing shipping rates for Australia right now for some weird USPS API reason.  

Update:  Turns out this is NOT an API issue,  USPS legit just stopped doing 1st class or Priority mail to Australia for some reason.   I cant even do shipping through the USPS site itself to anywhere in Aus.   https://powerretail.com.au/news/slower-than-in-the-70s-usps-temporarily-suspends-deliveries-to-australia/ 

Only shipping option to Australia right now is USPS Priority Express which is $70. 

7 hours ago, timo50 said:

 

I used this, works great: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/324839785599?hash=item4ba1f5c47f:g:kQwAAOSw19NgohT4

 

Yup, that is another option.  I believe mine is better in many ways though.  Mine uses rubber for the bushings to retain vibration isolation for the tank. that other kit uses hard plastic ones.  The ramp/velcro design is more stable and consistent than the sticker spacers that kit uses, and makes adjustments fast. 

also my materials are much higher end than the kit above.   I believe his is made of PETG or even worse PLA which will degrade in heat.  Mine is carbon fiber nylon PA6 that is industrial/engineering quality, and is very heat and chemical resistant.  
 

If you havent been tracking the big thread over in the Tracer channel about fixing the weird forward slope of all the '18-20 Tracers - a slope issue that applies to the FJ-09 as well! 

I wanted to bring attention to it here, as I figure a lot of FJ riders likely don't look at the Tracer 900 channel.   The Instructions and parts for the mod are listed here : https://jk3d.us/product/yamaha-tracer-900-gt-seat-slope-modification/ 

The OG thread is here : 

In the last few weeks I worked up a solution that is easy for this and simple to install, dozens of members have installed it on the Tracers, and recently a few members with the older '15-'17 FJ's installed it as well and verified it fits on those bikes as well.   I am very proud of how this solution has worked and happy to help this community!

(I am also working with some members on a T9 '21 version right now.)

43 minutes ago, Rodman said:

I installed your slope kit and it works great! Thanks so much!

Sweet!  Thanks!

And real progress was made today on 2021 T9's...  I am printing prototype parts now!

So this is a silly question here - Does anyone know where one can purchase or find a Tracer 9 service manual?   Looking for some torque specs and also assembly/disassembly info

With that said - I received a trove of info from @tclhb and @2NDCHILDHOOD regarding the T9... Yamaha changed a ton for the seat mounting and this will be an interesting remote design project    I am working on some prototype parts now. 

3 hours ago, 2and3cylinders said:

Well Joe,

I installed your kit and it worked for both the stock 2015 seat and my custom Sargent saddle.   I haven't ridden it yet but I will tomorrow and report back on how it worked with my Sargent.

Now bear in mind my Sargent never gave me issues sliding into the tank as it was already customized with a raised nose.

It is now higher in front the thickness of your spacer and then some.  This caused an even larger gap under the saddle at each side which I addressed by fitting neoprene foam rubber to fill the gaps to keep air and water from entering under the saddle. I also fitted a firm rubber pad between the OEM plastic tank protector and the nose of the saddle to fill that gap, which also served to really firm up and help support the front of the seat.  I've had an piece of 60 mil EPDM under the gap between the two saddles to act as a "gutter" to shed water out the sides rather than ingress under them.

FYI, I have a Cycle Guys fitted expanding tail bag on the pillion saddle, if you wondered what that is.  It adds cushion and raises the pillion for more leg room too.

Sorry about the orientation of some of my photos.

That's great to hear!!  all the looking I've been doing shows the seat pan and seat base to be largely the same between the bikes so this is an awesome confirmation. I have one other member doing a test for me as well and since I cant see it in person I want at least 2 people to confirm before I sell them as such, but this is an awesome first step!  I really appreciate it!

I also just recieved the data on the '21 T9 and am working on designs over the next few days.

Just dropped 8 orders off @ the post office,  and I just had 3 parts on the printer fail at the same time (Experimental/Beta hot end I've been testing for a big mfg - it cracked in half and let hot rubber TPU just squirt all over, a wiring bracket, and a fan) on the printer (I designed the printer from scratch, so I know how to fix it fast).    Been a busy couple days!  But still hammering out product