Wintersdark

I'd really like to test my Carbtune like this, but have no idea where you'd get the fittings and hoses. Anyone able to provide links? Or if you've got piles of stuff kicking around, maybe throw the bits into an envelope for a few bucks? I've always recommended these because they work so well, and so simply. I've always had good results with mine, but it's entirely possible that it may not be calibrated properly and I'm just not aware of how it could be better. Would like to give it a test and be sure

I'm of two minds. I do like the overall Tracer look, but it's definitely not a bike that really gets attention for it's appearance, and it does have a lot of things like these hoses that look... meh. But yeah, without a doubt, it's a hell of a bike once you're riding it. This has come up in my local group of riders quite a few times. Pretty much everyone has objectively beautiful bikes, of various styles, and my Tracer is (arguably) the least attractive of the lot. We swap bikes frequently, and I find it hilarious how many people prefer actually riding the Tracer to their pretty pretty machines. Sure, most do one particular thing better, but are much worse at everything else. The Tracer does everything well.

Yeah; just like tires, the stock chains on bikes tend to be a little worse than the exact same model available as aftermarket. Cost savings when manufacturing in bulk. The Tracer's stock chain isn't terrible, but it's not great either. Yup. I absolutely love my Tuturo oiler; it's seen around 12,000 kms/7500 miles use on my stock chain (of 14,000kms) which is still in very good condition. I wasn't positive if I'd really be happy with it or not, as I'd never used an automatic oiler before, but it's been a godsend. I haven't cleaned or lubed my chain in all that time, and it's still looking clean and rust free.

When reinstalling them, lube the sides with dielectric grease so they come off nice and easy next time. Be sure to use dielectric grease, not some random grease. I had a bloody hell of a time doing this on my old MT07, as there wasn't room to pull them straight up but they were stuck so tight. Terrible, terrible job. I'm very thankful they're readily accessible on the Tracer, as I just received my new plugs and need to change mine this weekend.

I always forget to pull the sprocket cover off and clean out in there, and yeah... Eventually, you do remove it for some reason, and OH MY GOD WHAT THE HELL IS THAT.

Maybe, but it'd probably result in more umph once you get it flashed and disable all the excess emissions restrictions 😃

Yeah, the stock seat isn't a great seat, but it's also not a bad seat, in as far as factory seats on these kinds of bikes go. It's nowhere near a nice cruiser seat, but it's significantly better than the seats you'll find on most naked, sport, and competitive with most sport touring and adv bikes. Sadly, seats are super spendy.

I spent some time with mine before deciding that I wanted my bars further back. The angle of the seat and the position of the pegs tend to make you lean forward as it stands as a default riding position, but I wanted to be able to sit upright comfortably without straight-arming the bars and I have a very long torso (and am 6'4"). I ended up going with Helibar riser (there's a thread in the parts reviews about it), which moves the bars up and back IIRC 1 1/4", which - for me at least - was absolutely perfect. It's a very solid part, too, blends in with the bike so well it appears stock.

Yeah, I get that there's this engine size = manliness thing going on with cruisers, but it seems patently absurd to me to continue packing ever larger engines into bikes that weigh so very much that you still don't get particularly great performance and - due to the insane weight - end up being kind of slow anywhere but in a straight line. I mean, this 1.8l beast of an engine is going to be walked by a Tracer. So... just... why? Not that a cruiser styled bike is bad, of course, but just packing a larger engine to have a larger engine but provide no performance advantage at all is just baffling to me.

Yeah, it wasn't a good time at all. Hard physical work, on my feet the whole time. Trying to sleep between shifts while the Mrs. teaches the kiddos. Didn't want to send them back to school with how flaky plans where there - and that's paid off as schools have been closing everywhere anyways. It all paid really well though, which helped recoup a lot of covidtime expenses and loses thanks to a earlier 2 week quarantine and all that, though, so it's all good.

After a full month of 7 days a week, 12 hour days, finally enjoyed a day off to do all the random scheduled minor maintenance, oil change, etc for it's third service interval. Everything done except pop in new spark plugs and throttle body sync (they hadn't arrived until after I finished for the day). Also got a nice new shiny pair of heated, armored full length winter gloves to replace my older heated liners + shorty armored gloves - warm hands are happy hands in the winter! Trying to decide whether I should try again for some new springs, or just get a better winter riding jacket with the remainder of my overtime pay.

Hmmm. Interesting thread. I can see how the aerodynamics make a difference - particularly for the older FJ's with wider bars. For me personally on the GT, there's no wobble or weave at all, at any speed the bike is capable of. Rock steady at any speed. But, I'm a 300lb guy, and keep the stock windscreen in the lower position all the time. With that said, if I'm leaning on the bars (a bad habit I work hard at avoiding) I can introduce some wobble myself due to the way wind buffets me off that hot mess of a windshield causing unintentional control input. I was initially a bit concerned, but turning on cruise control and just taking my hands off the bars showed me my error. The bike is very eager to turn in, so even very minor steering inputs make themselves felt. I'd be totally unsurprised to see sideways buffeting cause the bike to move bodily, though, particularly passing big trucks - it's pretty light after all, and particularly with the panniers on is somewhat of a sail. Mine doesn't wobble or weave, but for sure lateral wind pressure makes itself felt.

Definitely a bit of a necro thread But yeah: My suspension makes no noises at all, it's completely silent. However: * The floating rotors are pretty clunky if I rock the bike forwards and back while holding the front brake. No, it's not the steering head bearings, I check those pretty regularly - you can watch it happen as the rotors float. * The front end in general is *loud* over bumps. Definitely a thunk. I'm not sure exactly what it is, though I suspect it's just the fairings and plastics. This only happens when I hit a very solid bump, though, like railroad tracks or a pothole. But, no amount of vigor in bouncing the front suspension makes any noise at all. To any future viewers with front end noise: I would be very concerned about my forks in particular having play in them. Much as with the steering head bearings, raise the front wheel off the ground (I use a jackstand under the H pipe on the headers while the bike is on the centerstand, but whatever works for you) and grab the front wheel at the base of the forks. Try to rock it left and right, and forwards and backwards. It should turn smoothly from stop to stop without catching anywhere, but should not move laterally or forwards and backwards at all. If there's any slop in there, either there's something really wrong with your forks (unlikely, unless you've hit something, but probably pretty spendy to fix), or the steering head bearings are loose (probable, easy adjustment) or damaged (only likely if it's been loose for a long time). However, while replacing steering head bearings is a fair amount of labour, it's not difficult and the parts are cheap.

Yeah, I've polished mine once, but you'd never guess now. I just gave up. One day, I may get them powder coated, but in the mean time, they're just staying forever tan.

Well, it depends on how you do it. If you're lubing by putting the bike in gear and letting it idle while you spray lube onto the chain, then it's perfectly safe. Running a 3-way brush at the top of the sprocket is also safe, there's no pinch points at all. You just don't do anything with rags, and stay way away from the bottom length of chain and the bitey bitey sprocket. It's certainly something that can be done safely, but with the knowledge that if you do not do it safely, it'll chop off fingers very, very quickly.

Just gonna interject here: This way lies madness. The Tracer makes a lot of wierd noises. A lot. I didn't really notice many initially because I was too busy listening to the exhaust, and I've got a very noisy helmet, and I tend to listen to music. After some time with it though, doing maintenance, or just monkeying around... You start hearing all the noises. And there's so many noises. The noise the bike makes when in gear but with the clutch disengaged, then how that noise is so very different when it's in neutral but the clutch is engaged. The whirr of the throttle servos, the whine of the intake, the clunkiness of the front end when going over rough terrain (the whole cluster/windshield assembly on mine is surprisingly loud in such cases, there's a fair bit of flex and play in the rubber mounts and windshield adjuster), the hardcases with their free play when the rear is bounced, the sound the slipper clutch makes when it's allowing the engine to spin rather than chirping the rear under downshifting, then the sound it makes when you first get back on the throttle. And so many more. It's a noisy bike If you start fretting about them, it'll make you crazy.

My tracer is my first bike with a "proper" windshield, after 25 years of riding with nothing or, in the case of my MT07, a small sport windscreen that did nothing but keep the gauge cluster bug-free and looked spiffy. I hate it. I far, far prefer riding with the windshield off entirely, and would do so almost always if it didn't look so bad. The only time I like it is in bad weather, as it reduces the amount of rain hitting my chest... And it keeps my jacket a bit less buggy. I honestly do not understand people talking about fatigue from riding without a windshield - I find riding with one to be far more fatiguing. Without a windshield, you simply lean on the wind and relax, let the wind support your body weight. With one, that's impossible, and even with the helibar risers pulling the bars up and back, I'm leaned slightly forward on the bike even with my arms extended straight. I'd like the Puig Sport screen, I think, but have a really hard time justifying the prices asked for windshields for the GT. I love the cheap ebay knockoffs (what I had for my MT07) but there's none yet for the GT. Just for something to make the bike look right, but I'd far rather have wind on my chest than just on my head.

My solution was to rip open another head and take it's cam cap. Yeah, yeah, the caps are machined from a single piece with the heads and are technically not replaceable as theoretically you replace the whole top end but along those lines - it's an old 80's machine you want to get running. Any replacement is going to be very used anyways. Worked out great though, got a good seal on the top end and no issues with the replacement cap. I'd have respected the ingenuity of the original repair more if it worked; but threading a helicoil into a mangled blob of badly welded aluminum like that... Nah. I mean, PO could have kept the bike on the road without that. The cam cap still functioned as a cam cap just fine, just that the valve cover leaked (surprisingly badly) which of course it continued to do.

The biggest thing for me from that book was using only the inside arm while turning. My first ride consciously doing that I had some trouble because I kept turning too sharply. I never knew I'd been fighting myself for decades. A tiny little change with huge results. What's funny is that I always thought I was using just one hand while turning, but because I never paid attention to it before, I was simply unaware that I was often fighting myself. Being conscious of exactly what I was doing really highlighted the problem. Good book!

Yeah, I'm getting a Nomar changer before I try again. I did a lot of damage to my rear winter tire, am not risking that again. Maybe it's my lack of technique, maybe is a problem. With my bars, I dunno.

Mine does too, and always had. I simply assumed that it's a "feature" of the slipper clutch, as it only makes that noise when the engine is in neutral and the clutch is engaged. Edit to include example. Sadly, it's REALLY hard to hear in the video - much more noticable in person, but I guess that's just how it goes. https://photos.app.goo.gl/vWRUAqrhZ9QV1mw69

I hear that! My last two bike purchases have been brand new bikes, and it's been so nice not having to play the "What bullshit did the previous owner do?" game. The PO horror stories I've got after 25 years of old, used bikes... I recognize I've paid a lot more for my last two bikes than I strictly "needed" to - buying lightly used would have saved me thousands - but... Yeah. It's nice to just not worry about what surprises are hidden within. The last used bike I bought - a Yamaha XJ750 - seemed ok. Lots of wear, but it was an 82 and that was expected and part and parcel to the whole "buying an 80's bike" schtick. Until I look off the valve cover to check the valves. Valve cover bolts where glued in place, not screwed into anything. This was because the aluminum cam caps (to which the inside bolts thread in) where literally broken. They'd had someone try to weld on bulk metal, drill new holes, and put helicoils into them... But that really didn't work out. This was one of the caps: I mean, really.

I like that a lot. Particularly now my tail has the LED lights, I'd really like to keep the underside a little less scronky. I think one of these would help a lot.

Hah I feel this in my soul. We moved recently, and when my wife was looking for places I said: "I literally do not care about the house at all, whatever you like is fine with me. My only single requirement is a garage. That's it. Nothing else matters."

But wouldn't, to the engine, this be exactly the same as 5200 in 5th gear on a level road with your girth and loaded top case at lets say 60mph if geared a bit lower? Engine load is the same, RPM is the same, the only difference in a cruising/constant speed scenario is that actual MPH is different, but the engine is running at the same rotational speed. Load is ever so slightly lower, as you'd be generating less drag due to the lower speed, but otherwise it shouldn't have an impact? Of course, if you intend to stay at 64mph, then yeah, there's gonna be changes as now you'd be running at ~5500rpm (as a rough example). Edit: To be clear, I'm not saying you're wrong, just looking to learn something 😃