Wintersdark

So, as today's trip involved a long of long, straight, utterly flat highway, I spent some time on cruise control at various speeds while sitting upright and noted fuel consumption.  If you tuck, you can save a fair bit, particularly at higher speeds, but I wanted to get realistic numbers for a long cruise at speed. 

Speed - Consumption - Range

100kph - 22km/l - 374km

120kph - 20km/l - 340km

130kph - 17km/l - 289km

140kph - 13.5km/l - 230km

150kph - 12.8km/l - 217km

160kph -11.3km/l - 192km

200kph - 8km/l - 136km

Obviously in practice ranges are going to be a bit lower as this would require steady state riding vs acceleration/ stopping / etc, and how it's physically
impossible to not accelerate hard from every stop while screaming into your helmet.

But it's really not bad if you ride the speed limit then you can get ranges that are actually impressive.

On another note, the seat.  It's much maligned, but honestly at least for my big butt it's quite comfortable.  It's very firm, but not hard - as someone who has owned an MT07 and Tenere 700, there is a significant difference.  The MT10's seat is also broad and well shaped, and at a very good angle (I'm looking at you, stock Tracer seat position).  No sore bum whatsoever today. 

On 12/4/2023 at 6:43 AM, johnmark101 said:

Thanks for the review.  From all I have read the cross plane four cylinder motor is brilliant.  And I agree with you on the exhaust note of the bike as it sounds fantastic. 

If I ever give up touring, I have thought about the MT09 SP as my next bike, but the MT10 SP is also a contender.

If I'm being honest, I think the 09SP is a more reasonable machine for the vast majority of people.  It's also sporting a good suspension and the new chassis is a lot improved, while being equally wheelie happy.  The 10 is dumb.  But good lord is it fun to ride. 

On 12/4/2023 at 9:12 AM, draco_1967 said:

That is what got me *that* close to buying an MT10 over the Tracer. It sounds soooo good, even stock. What held me back was the range and the desire to keep my license (which would have been significantly at risk with the MT10...😈).

The Tracer still makes me smile when I ride, but that MT10 had me giggling like a maniac when I cracked the throttle. 

It's a real danger.  I mean, you can be doing 200kph in 4th and just be in the middle of the powerband.  It's an extremely, unreasonably, ridiculously fast machine. I did a trip from Calgary - Red Deer and back today, and was rarely below 160kph/100mph, and that just felt like a sedate cruise.  The feel and sound when you get on the throttle is *addictive*.

22 hours ago, Warchild said:

This cross-plane inline-4 is a thirsty beast, many MT-10s don't see much over 32-33mpg. If the ECU is flashed for performance - highly, highly recommended - mileage falls even further to the 29-30 mpg range.  This results in a Low Fuel light illuminating at ~ the 100-mile mark.

This range certainly doesn't cut the mustard when rampaging throughout the Nevada Basin and Ranges, so an axillary fuel cell was an absolute necessity for my needs:

 

Fortunately the second Gen (22+) models get somewhat better fuel economy.   Unfortunately it's still a small tank.  Basically let's you run flashed at non-flaahed range.

On that note, I should have my 2WDW flashed ECU back on Monday.  Weee!

On 11/23/2023 at 8:26 PM, Warchild said:

 I was hoping you would score the MT-10 and then start that life-long love affair with it!  It was exactly one year ago today I procured my MT-10, it has been quite the wild ride:



After adding the 4.3-gal aux fuel cell and proper night lighting, it's a serious Desert Runner:

🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥

Well, it's really, really grown on me.  I'm a couple thousand km's into it now, and I'm not gonna lie, the *insane* power is intoxicating.  I wouldn't go back now.  And the suspension!  Dear Lord, between the R1 frame and the electronic Ohlins suspension, the stability at speed and at hard lean is outstanding.

What bags do you have on it? How are the mounted?

On 11/24/2023 at 1:49 AM, OZVFR said:

I’ve been thinking of the same thing.

My only concern is the small tank, how do you find the short touring range?

If it had a 20L tank I’d be right on it. 

I'm fine with the range, it's not great, but it's not problematic. worse than the Tracer for sure, but not appreciably worse than the Tenere was. Depends on how you're riding of course, but if I'm not being a hooligan(keeping the front wheel on the ground and just doing 20 over) I can get 240km on a tank, 200 with moderate hooliganism.  I can't think of anywhere I've gone where 200kms is a show stopper, and if I was doing it, I'd just bring a fuel bag (hi there, Giant Loop!)

Stopping for gas a bit earlier doesn't really bother me.  It's a couple minutes and gives me a chance to stretch my legs.

On 11/1/2023 at 8:58 AM, draco_1967 said:

The CP4 is a beast! I test rode an MT10 before purchasing the Tracer. It was unfortunately too short and tame of a ride to really let that monster loose. It wanted to go, go, GO! and we were jus tootling along at 40mph on surface streets. I would have a hard time keeping my license with an MT10 😆

It is time for me to finally pony up for suspension upgrades on the Tracer. I love everything about it, but I know it could be even better... New suspension would make my wife happy, because it would solidify the Tracer as a keeper. I start getting the new bike itch at 4-5 years of ownership. She rolls her eyes when I start talking about "needing" a new bike. Fortunately, every time I get out on the Tracer, I am happy with it again.

Yeah, I've been on rides on a LOT of bikes now, but it's really different when you're just doing surface streets at or around the speed limit and not able to really push it, particularly with something with that amount of power.  I mean, I did a pretty long test ride on a KTM 1290 Super Adventure, and actively disliked it... But there's a very good chance that I'd have a different opinion if I wasn't smack in the middle of a group of people riding very responsibly with explicit demands that we keep front wheels on the ground.  I feel a similar test ride of the MT10 would be *wildly* insufficient, most particularly because you don't really get the intake noise it makes until around 7k rpm, and unless you leave it in first *and* get up to around 60mph you're just not going to get that and frankly, more than anything else, the incredible intake noise is the #1 reason to get a 2022+ MT10.   Also, the throttle is very heavily restricted stock - even in A mode, you don't get more than 35% throttle (even at WOT) until you're up over 6000rpm, and in first you never get more than ~80% at the most.  You really can't feel what the bike is capable of at those speeds unless it's been flashed.

But yeah, the Tracer is a phenomenal bike.  I really loved it, and would have simply kept mine for a long time.  I occasionally fantasized about other bikes (I seriously eyeballed trading in the Tracer and the Tenere for a DesertX, but I'm not ready to go Ducati for a host of other reasons) but until such a time as they make a Tenere 900, I was going to stick with the Tracer for road riding.  It just does everything so well, and without the normal sport touring bloat. 

On 10/31/2023 at 4:15 PM, Lone Wolf said:

Was your Tracer suspension completely stock?

Stock, but resprung for my weight (I'm a 300lb guy). 

On 10/31/2023 at 8:48 PM, texscottyd said:

Eye opening, isn’t it?    😀

Shockingly so.  I always thought the idea of dropping $2000 on improved suspension components was kind of crazy, that a couple hundred spent getting it sprung for you got you most of the way there. If I'm being honest, I always kind of thought that the rest was a good portion of "Oh, I spent thousands on these suspension upgrades, so damn rights I believe it's a lot better."  Kind of thinking, yeah, it's better, but is it $2000 better?

Yes.  Yes it is.  

On 10/31/2023 at 10:45 PM, knyte said:

Bittersweet, I am sure.  Was it ever recovered, or...?

Nope.  Didn't expect it to be, though, and the police said as much - basically that if it's not picked up kind of quickly because it was just stolen and taken for a joyride, if it was stolen "for profit" so to speak it'd just be gone and never seen again.  It's just too easy to take a bike, put it in a container/garage/storage locker, ship it out elsewhere or strip it and part it out, or whatever else.  Easy to be out of sight, and away from those likely to be looking for it. 

Both the police and the insurance company (Intact) said there's a huge, huge increase in vehicle thefts overall over the last couple years and motorcycle thefts here in Alberta in particular have shot up enormously. 

I suppose that's not surprising given how easy it is to steal a valuable motorcycle, and how rampant inflation and a housing crisis has put the screws to a lot more people. 

Well, total loss claim is settled now and paperwork done.  I'm no longer even technically a Tracer owner

I miss it!  No shade at the MT10SP, it's a wild ride, but the Tracer was a particularly perfect bike for me.  I have, however, definitely learned what a difference a top shelf suspension makes, though. If I where to go back, I'd swap out the forks and particularly the rear shock immediately.  You just don't know the difference it makes, until you do.

5 hours ago, GTO MIKE said:

I used the Carbtune ,the one with rods made in the UK. Works great.

I use this too.  Really excellent tool, bulletproof, no danger of liquids getting sucked places they shouldn't be, etc.  Mine's seen half a dozen bikes now.  They're very reasonably priced, too!

As per topic; I'm looking for a set of passenger footpeg brackets.  Don't care which generation, but if you had a set of old FJ brackets you removed to mount newer Tracer brackets (with the luggage mounts) those would work great.

I've got an MT10 now, and the passenger footpegs are *really* high, like 3" down from the seat, I'd like a longer set of brackets so my passengers can be a teensie bit more comfortable.  

On 10/4/2023 at 7:05 AM, miweber929 said:

The Euro brands, however, almost universally, not only like demo rides, but encourage it. I wouldn’t own my Ducati Supersport S had I not had a demo ride on it so it definitely works. I also wish there were more available, having a picky passenger makes buying a new bike tougher to do without a ride. 

I feel - like with Harley - it's a matter of needing to show why the bike costs more.  Look at specs per dollar, and the Big Four absolutely crush most Euro bikes in North America, but there's a lot of behind the scenes with those bikes that's not readily apparent.  You're usually not paying a name brand tax (*cough* Harley *cough*) as much as paying for premium build quality and more expensive/refined feel.  The difference is real.  Whether that's worth the cost is very much up in the air, and then there's the issue of increased maintenance costs and support availability, but whatever.  

I do know when you get on a BMW S1000RR, or XR1000, it's immediately obvious why they cost more.

2 hours ago, piotrek said:

Have the tears even had a chance to dry?... new BFF already? 😁

I am surprised you gave up on the Tenere... thought this was your preferred winter bike. 🤔

It's a great winter bike, and an absolute riot to ride. I really love it!

However, I've got some knee problems that are going to be a long time in the healing (if they ever do), *and* my local group of riders stopped adventure riding.  The problem these two present together is that I'm very uncomfortable riding alone in the wilderness or other situations where there's a good chance I'll have to pick up the bike, and thus I don't do very much offroad riding outside of events.  Those events are AWESOME (adventure rallies are, IMHO, the most fun you can have on a motorcycle) but with kids and job, I can't really do more than one/two per year.

It does mean I won't be riding in the snow this year, though.  I'm not trying with the MT10.  At least, not till I can get my hands on some new winter tires.

Then, it's a matter of finances.  If I kept the Tenere, I wasn't really comfortable with the expense of the MT10SP, whereas if I traded the Tenere in I'd be paying 10k for the SP - and thus once I get the payout from the Tracer it'll be nearly owned outright.  

1 hour ago, theog said:

I’m dating myself here, but I remember the good old days circa 2007 when Buell was in business. They had an excellent demo program if you could get past the assless chaos line at the door. They would let you ride anything you wanted and gave out pretty cool swag with each ride. They even had an annual track day tour with discounted rates, catered meals, and any bike you wanted to ride. 
 

Ducati and Triumph were always good about demos, too.  It seems the Japanese bike dealers just didn’t care enough to go along with it.  And I guess it works for them.  I’ve purchased 4 new Yamahas over the years, ordered sight unseen, no test ride.

In fairness, Harley tends to be very good about demos too even today.  It's really easy to get a test ride even on pretty high end ones.  Honestly I suspect you're right, it's just the Big Four don't really care much.

And, as you said.... I guess it works for them.  This will be my fourth new Yamaha over 5 years, with none of them test ridden.

...and, I must admit, not a single regret either.  They've all be outstanding bikes, and exactly what I wanted and expected them to be.

5 hours ago, knyte said:

Blackfoot Motosports (now Barnes ?) had a demo Triumph that my g/f rode before she bought it.  But, yeah, demos are rare indeed.

Yeah, there's *rarely* a demo bike for certain specific bikes, but if there isn't one you're screwed.  There's currently a DesertX demo bike at Blackfoot that I was really tempted by, but I don't think I'm ready to leave behind Yamaha reliability, support, and price to go Ducati. 

My Tracer, in fact, was a demo bike for Blackfoot.  Had 800km's when I bought it, paid ~$11,000 for it.  Killer deal, really.  

Amusingly, I put a deposit on an MT10SP today, traded in the Tenere - was in for the base model, but they had a previously demo SP for $3k off (which is almost entirely the price difference between the base and SP) with 892km.  I was prepared to pay list for the base model, so paying it for the SP certainly worked for me - and it's had it's first service done already too.  So, that's definitely a thing now.  

Of course, my Tracer may still be recovered - a couple days left before insurance just pays out - I don't actually know what I'll do if it is recovered.  Probably sell it, but I dunno.  

On 10/1/2023 at 7:30 AM, theog said:

I’d recommend a long test ride on the MT-10. It’s a great bike (I had two over the years), but seat was the number one problem for me. Stock, Yamaha comfort, Sargent, Corbin…none of them did the trick and my bony rear end would get sores on longer trips. But it was a hoot with that engine. That bike will pass anything except for a gas station. The Empty-10 as it’s affectionately known…

As an aside, I'm deeply jealous of places where test rides are a thing.  They just aren't here, at least for new bikes, even as a long term rider with a clean record, and being a repeat customer.  There's demo days, and if you can stumble across one it's awesome (recently had a KTM demo day where I got to ride a new 1290 Super Adventure) but outside of a specific vendor demo day at an event, it's pretty much not a thing anymore.  

With that said, sitting on it I actually found the seat weirdly comfortable.  It's very firm, but it's wide, and I'm a 300lb guy with a big butt. Wide seats spread the load, firm padding helps distribute the weight.  Miles beyond the MT07 and Tenere 700 seats, that's for sure; different than the Tracer's seat but not worse for me.  I'm probably going to order the comfort seat when I buy it regardless, though.  

13 hours ago, fr8dog said:

Meanwhile, there's an new MT10 sitting at a local dealership looking like it needs a home.  Hmmm.

Test rode one for about 30 minutes a few years ago. Just me and the lead guy. I liked it. Front wheel comes up easier than the fj. I leaned forward on it more which was uncomfortable for me. Nothing bar risers wouldn't take care of. I don't have numbers but I think fuel mileage has increased. I'm not buying for fuel economy though.

Dan

I've not ridden one, but I've sat on them and ridden R1's.  I'm *very* comfortable on the MT10, and while I've not ridden the MT, the changes to gearing and power delivery are things I view as pros rather than cons.

Being a wheelie machine is absolutely a pro - the Tracer certainly can but it requires deliberation and clutch work (or a near empty fuel tank/me sitting way back on the bike).  I kind of miss my old 07's hooligan nature, and the 10 seems in many ways just a big rowdy 07.

Fuel economy is much improved as of 2022, but still terrible. But yeah, if fuel economy was important to me, I wouldn't be considering it.

At this point, I'm set on it.  Going to buy it Tuesday, trade the Tenere in for it, and if the Tracer is found (REALLY unlikely) I'll deal with that later.

6 hours ago, knyte said:

Odd, yes, but also useful.  Keep me posted; we might be able to work something out.  I'm hoping you find your bike in great condition and won't need to sell anything off.

Will do, but as above I think it's extremely unlikely it'll be found.  The cop was pretty clear that if it doesn't show up in an impound lot in a day or two it's probably just gone.

On 9/29/2023 at 6:47 PM, theog said:

Sounds like the bastard had good taste. 

Curious really.  The Tracer is generally not a high theft sort of bike, that's more Harleys and fully faired sport bikes.

Sadly, mine was less dadmode (no handguards, small sport windscreen, didn't have the bags on it, etc) so it was more just a big mt09. 

I kind of expect to get screwed by the insurance, but who knows, maybe I'll get lucky.  Then I've got to figure out what to do with my hardcases, handguards, and old windscreen; kind of odd stuff to be left with.

Meanwhile, there's an new MT10 sitting at a local dealership looking like it needs a home.  Hmmm.

On 9/29/2023 at 5:37 PM, piotrek said:

Sorry to hear your bike was stolen, and hope it all works out with the insurance company. Nothing you can do now, and of course hindsight is 20/20... install (prominently) an inexpensive camera on the house if you're parking vehicles on the street or driveway. Just an extra layer of deterrence (+evidence) to help avoid this nonsense in the future.

Absolutely.  Frustratingly, being somewhat of a techy, cameras are a minefield of terrible security flaws and subscription requirements these days, and it's a huge mess to sort through to find something you can simply have store footage on your local network.  I'm pretty twitchy after the whole Eufy debacle (they claimed "local storage only" but you could access random Eufy cameras remotely just by trying random ID's in the url)

It's a priority, though, as soon as I have a day off I'm going to order a couple.

5 hours ago, dazzler24 said:

FFS!   Sorry to hear that.  That would pi$$ me off big time but you seem to be taking it in your stride?  Hopefully it's not a common occurrence in your neck of the woods?

There are some real oxygen thieves out there aren't there! 😞

I'm trying to take it in stride, but I'm extraordinarily pissed off.  Just not much to be gained by ranting on forums right?  There's a lot of rage under the surface, and no small amount of hoping the [censored] who stole it crashes it spectacularly at speed, doesn't die, but is horribly maimed.  *ahem*

It's super frustrating.  I had a Sportster stolen many years ago, and while I was angry about that and it was arguably worse because it was uninsured at the time so a total loss, I'm actually a lot more upset about the Tracer.  While I'd spent two years building the Sporty, once I had it on the road, while it was a fun bike it wasn't really the bike for me.  The Tracer is; it's exactly what I love and *mine* was very carefully set up to work for me personally.  Even after 4 years (a pretty long time for me and motorcycles) I had no intention to sell it and was in talks with a company to have it painted this winter. 

It's REALLY not common here.  We're in a good part of town, in a residential area, there's bikes on the street all the time - and hell, there's two other bikes on the street right now within a block of where mine was stolen.  

1 minute ago, Heavy said:

Mine is a 2020, with 22,000 kms.  I'm starting at $10,750 and seeing what happens. 

I'm, kinda, in a push to sell.  I had considered looking seriously at the Transalp in the spring.  My local dealer has one coming in a couple of weeks.  He's worried about it sitting in inventory for the winter so he made me a deal I couldn't walk away from. 

I need to get cash together soon. 

I'm genuinely surprised he thinks that.  I bet the Transalp will sell like hotcakes, much like the Tenere's do.  Even today, years after the North American launch, it's a PITA to get a Tenere.  If you can get a deal on a brand new one?  Hell yeah jump at that. 

9 minutes ago, Heavy said:

I put mine up for sale.  One year and 12,000 kms and I'm moving on.  Where I live there are tons of quiet dirt roads.  I bought a dual-sport a couple of years ago to explore.  I want to travel on my bike and the dual-sport is only a 250 so I picked up the Tracer.

I hate owning 2 bikes ... storage, insurance,  etc.

Went out yesterday and made a deal on a 2024 Honda Transalp.  I figure it should be able to replace the two bikes I have now, quite nicely. 

It's a really good looking bike. 

If you don't mind my asking, what are you asking for the Tracer?  I'm not looking, but as mine was stolen today, I'm trying to get a feel for what they're worth now for when I deal with the adjuster.  

I still have my Tenere, so am in a fairly similar spot in the end.  While there's definitely downsides to two bikes, this at least is an upside: while the insurance and such are being sorted on the Tracer, I've still got a bike to ride

16 minutes ago, Heavy said:

Sucks to hear about the theft.

Often, you're better off if they don't recover it.   Who knows what the thieving douche-bags have done to it.

Good luck.  I hope it works out for you. 

Yeah.  There's a good probability they smashed the ignition to ride it (that's normally how it goes), and that often comes with a significant amount of collateral damage, and then who knows what else.  Parts availability is so bad right now, it'd end up spending forever in a shop getting fixed, and like you said: who knows what they're doing to it? 

If it gets paid out, I'm really not sure what I'll do.  There's a non-zero chance I take the cash, trade in the Tenere, and get an MT10SP.  I absolutely love the Tracer 900, but have no real interest in the Gen 3, and... I dunno, I don't think I'd be happy with a used Gen 2 - it wouldn't feel like mine, and the process to making it mine again (suspension work, probably needing to get back into the clutch, etc) would not be fun the second time.

Bike thieves are the worst.  The worst.  It's not really about the money at all (insurance and whatnot) but how much time and effort went into personalization and just the riding experiences.  It's awful.

Edit: Huh, I thought I posted the initial theft report in the "what did you do today" thread, not here in the scotoiler thread.  Ah well.  Not in the best frame of mind.

2 hours ago, 2and3cylinders said:

WHAT? REALLY?!!!

Come on!

Where was it parked?

Did you have it chained?  Did it have an alarm or tracker?

Wow!  BUMMER!

Parked on the street in front of my house, stolen in the middle of the day while the wife and I took the Jeep out for groceries.  Unreal.  Bike theft is very uncommon here, and Tracers aren't really frequently stolen bikes.  At least (unlike my old Sportster) it's fully insured, and I've still got my Tenere which was in my garage, so I'm still riding. 

So now I've got a wait of a week or so to find out what's up with insurance/see if the police recover it.  I don't really expect it to be recovered to be honest.  Stranger things happen but my experience at least is that once the bike is gone, it's gone. 

No tracker or anything.  I'm seriously rethinking my feelings on those, though; as well as locks.  I mean, I'm well aware that they can be defeated, but... I'm curious if they broke the ignition and rode off, or just hucked it into a truck and drove off.

Aaaaaaaaand today, I failed to do anything with it, because it had been stolen.  Here's hoping to recovery

I really, really loved that bike.

1 hour ago, 2and3cylinders said:

Interestingly, my modern D.I.D chain recommends NOT to use volatile solvents as per the Maintenance instructions.

HMMM... I've used Kerosene (paraffin to you) forever.  Maybe that's why I've been getting kinking links the last few chains.  I used to get 20k miles or so, now only maybe 17k; though I have been lazy and don't have an oiler on my FJ.

Kerosene/Parrafin has long been my favourite cleaner, at least back in the days of cleaning chains.  I'd use diesel on road trips, because it was super easy to get a little bit from a gas pump hose without even turning it on.  Dampen a paper towel with it, wipe the chain down, oil it up again, carry on.  

1 hour ago, The Cheese said:

What the heck is that hanging off your chain?

It's a tensioner.  Once you have your chain to the desired tension, you set that nut in the middle/left to line up with the index mark.   Then, when you put this back onto your chain later, it'll show if your chain is tighter/looser, then you can adjust the adjusters while the device is still attached until it shows the proper tension.  I forget what they're called, but I see them on Instagram all the time