Wintersdark

TS/RL? Wait, which socket do the stock signals take? I've been wondering about grabbing some ridiculously bright signals for a while, and would like to get ones that maintain the running light functionality and ideally have load resistors to avoid having to replace the flasher and faff around with wiring. But I'm not really sure what bulbs we need, and these pictures are confusing Edit: checked the service manual, and of course it just lists bulb wattage, not actually which bulbs are needed.

It may well be the case, but it's not relevant if it is. We all change over time, and there's no fixing that. God knows, I'm older, slower, fatter, and definitely closer to the grave, so I'll fix what doesn't suit me on the bike because I can't become younger again. Maybe I'm taking the bike backwards, but if the end result is me enjoying the bike more, then it was the right move. That said, seriously dude, you're just being a dick. Don't be a dick.

Dave Moss always seems to have great things to say. But yeah, there's no perfect motorcycle for anybody, unless you're that magical Average Motorcyclist that bikes are made for. Everything is set up in as much a "one size fits all" way as possible because of course it is, but that ultimately means "one size fits nobody exactly." I mean, this is pretty much to be expected for me personally, as I'm never the Average Motorcyclist for any manufacturer, being frankly fairly huge. Maybe someone much more Average Sized can find motorcycles that happen to be built for them from the factory (but I'm dubious) so may feel that just buying the right bike is the right way to go, but as @betoney said above, what other options are there in this space? I want a powerful sport touring bike, with: an upright posture, sub 500lbs, around 100+hp but more isn't really necessary, torquey in the low-mid rpm range, with options like electronic cruise, heated gear, easily removable luggage and a good looking tail when it's removed, etc. There's really no other options, so I buy this and adapt it to fit me, just like I'd have to adapt any other motorcycle to fit me. Arguing making changes means I should have bought a different bike is just silly, when that "different bike" just doesn't exist. Particularly when I can make changes that will make it fit me perfectly. For instance, the grip puppies, the seat slope mod, new suspension components on the way, new sprocket - all minor changes to make the bike fit me a bit better. Finally.... Who doesn't like modding their bike? It's so much better when you're doing stuff to make the bike fit you a bit better, but in my experience people will spend money on farkles just because adding new farkles is fun. At least this way you're accomplishing a legitimate goal in the process.

Maybe I'm just dense, but I'm trying to figure out how it's actually working that. Obviously, I understand if you increase preload, you'll reduce sag because the spring is tighter, and vice versa. This happens by compressing/decompressing the spring. My curiousity is if this also reduces travel - I suppose that's more a matter of if "bottoming out" means the spring is 100% compressed, or if "bottoming out" means internal movement limiters within the fork at hit (but the spring is not actually 100% compressed. Probably the latter, that makes more sense. I've got an annoying need to actually understand a mechanism, more than just "turn this knob and get this result"

Fun plugins for torque include the ability to record video overlaid with sensor data: Track Recorder(Torque OBD/Car) - Apps on Google Play This is a plugin for the 'Torque' android app that allows you to... Which allows this sort of thing:

Finally got my ODB2 adapter cable, and it turns out my Scantool ODBLink LX bluetooth dongle works perfectly with the Tracer. Made a rather over-excited post about it, rather than raving on here:

I've wanted to see if this would work for a very long time, but was dubious. I've wanted a bluetooth ODB2 scantool connection on my bike forever - I keep one on my Jeep, and being able to live-monitor engine data is extremely useful for troubleshooting problems. Also, it allows you to make really bitch'n dashboard displays (the real reason right here!) The handheld Autel scanners... well, they work for reading codes and resetting them, but that's all and they're kind of shitty to use. Having a smartphone or tablet able to read/reset codes, but also graph sensor data in realtime is WAY more useful. Those bluetooth scantools that allow you to live monitor engine data are awesome in cars, but I feared Yamaha's 4-pin connector wouldn't have everything they require to work, or just plain wouldn't work with Yamaha's ODB2 implementation. I ordered an adapter regardless, though, because hey - I want to be able to reset codes if nothing else, like if I run the bike on the centerstand, for example. But it works. It really works. Now, I'm not using one of the cheap $5 blue ELM323 adapters, for two reasons: First, they're notoriously unreliable. Second, they draw full power all the time. In a car, this isn't a really big deal, as your battery can hold up to a couple weeks of this before you notice it when starting, but on a motorcycle? Our batteries are notoriously... Limited. As my goal is to leave the adapter connected 24/7, so it Just Works whenever I've got my phone in the mount, I need one that can go to sleep when the key is turned off. Enter the Scantool ODBLink LX: OBDLink LX Bluetooth OBD-II Scan Tool for Android & Windows OBDLink LX Bluetooth will turn your Android or Windows device... The MX costs more, but it's only advantages is that it works with some manufacturer specific features (Ford, GM, and Mazda) and we don't care about that. The LX is still spendier than the $5 AliExpress dongle, but at $60 it's still pretty damn cheap for a motorcycle tool/farkle. Tada! I ended up routing the wire under the seat latch bracket, but here we have it. Scantool provides the ODBLink software which is pretty great, but if you want more customization the Torque Pro app Torque Pro (OBD 2 & Car) – Apps on Google Play See what your car is doing in realtime, get OBD fault codes, car... for android and IOS, is bloody amazing. Now, obviously, this allows you to check and clear codes. But wait! There's more! Other cool stuff you can do: Graph and log engine data - Compare absolute throttle position with actual ECU throttle position (unsure if your engine is limited in 1st? Now you'll know), compare RPM/load/fuel consumption, track actual fuel trim levels, monitor fuel consumption (instant fuel consumption in graph form, particularly paired with other engine data, can be quite handy) - there's literally hundreds of data points. And download this data for import into spreadsheets, too. Track actual wheel HP produced calculated by weight (bike and you) vs actual acceleration Track 0-60mph / 0-100kph times automatically in the background (high scores! Yay! Practice launches with real data!) Show (and graph, and log if you want) current lean angle Show (and graph, and log if you want) current acceleration/deceleration g-forces Include GPS display in your dashboards (with full mapping functionality) And so much more. I'm too excited to really go into detail. Once I get an appropriate MC dashboard set up, I'll post some videos Yeah, yeah, yeah, but screens are distracting and you'll die! Clearly, use responsibly.

I has a question. When you adjust preload, you're actually just compressing the spring, correct? So, as you adjust preload, you reduce available travel. Does this actually compress the fork? Or does it increase the gap between the bottom of the tube and the "bottom out" point?

hahahaha I very nearly left mine on after using it in fact. Incidentally, this is why I don't use disc locks for security: I always, always, eventually forget them and try to ride away.

The upside is it has minimal impact on the "in practice" seat height - 4mm at the front, none at the back, so only 2mm higher in the middle - but the difference to the slope of the seat is surprisingly noticeable. You "roll forward" much less, which is really welcome particularly when braking. Makes sitting further back on the seat a fair bit more comfortable too. If you want to go higher, you definitely can if you follow my tip above re: putting washers under the gas tank bracket to lift the rear of the tank up even more, and that'll buy more room to lift the front of the seat. But I found the 4mm was really adequate - I'm happy with where it is now.

Yeah, this is what I'm hoping for. I prefer running the RPM's higher, as I find at 3-4k the engine is just... Unhappy. I've assumed it's just mine - it certainly seems fine elsewhere, but it doesn't run terribly smoothly there. Not in a "you have a serious tuning problem" sort of way, not surging, missing, or jerking, but just... Not as nice as when it's running faster.

I've never ridden (or even driven) with Pirelli tires, but I've heard a lot of good about the Angels. I'm sure you can't go wrong there.

I'd agree completely with that assessment - particularly with regards to the front. In fact, I'd say it's basically the same issue I have with Bridgestone vs Michelin in the front, that throttle changes are... Sketchier. They don't lose grip at all (I trail in with the front quite frequently, and they're solid) but I find the road 5's tend to move around more with geometry changes mid corner. I thought it was just my MT07's sketchy suspension, but the Tracer does it too with the road 5's (but not the Dunlops or the Anlas) and exactly the same, and there's miles of difference between the suspensions in the two. It can be advantageous, but it's certainly something you need to adapt to.

I can definitely tell the difference between brands, at least with the ones I've tried, but I won't say any is better or worse. Well, I'll plug Road 5's, because they're my favourite specifically for poor weather performance, but I agree that any *quality, name brand set* of sport touring tires is going to be within spitting distance of the rest. Dunlops and Michelin's in particular have very different road feel. I can tell Road 5's from Bridgestones in *really* hard corners where TBH I feel the Bridgestones feel better, but not better enough to warrant the loss of cold weather performance. Being a Calgary guy, it's pretty normal for me to ride in 0 degree weather in the morning, and 20 degree weather in the afternoon of the same day. But ultimately, that's hair splitting. Any major high end ST tire is going to last a very long time and get excellent grip. From there, it's just a matter of finding what feels best to you, but there are no wrong answers. Except the stock Dunlops. Jesus, they're awful. But that's not a Dunlop problem, it's a cheap stock tires problem.

Exactly. The Tracer's only got about another 12kph in it (at least with my 300lb butt on it, 215 is the most I've got), whereas the Ninja will do 240. But, to be fair, I really don't need to go faster, and the real fun is in using the CP3's grunt to power out of corners. Hence the +2 teeth on the rear sprocket that's on its way

All three are really great bikes. The VFR is a little long in the tooth now, but is still a very cool bike, and was an amazing ride for its day. 2005, single sided swingarm, great engine. It's nifty. The Kawi 1000 is (though I'm not a Kawasaki guy at all) a pretty much perfect balance for taking a liter bike sport touring at a reasonable sticker price. I envy his top end speed, but I find the CP3 more entertaining all around.

My Givi (well, Kappa, but they're the same) crash bars fit just fine. You do have to follow the directions because all the spacers are different though.

Bad goat pics - a set of three that where near me while I waited for the others to catch up - and a buddy's moar-jpg-plz shot of a momma bear and cubs:

Well, having just completed the seat mod, lifting the front of my seat by around 4mm, it seems a good time to go for a decent length ride. Started recording where I met up with my riding buddies, so missed a chunk, but whatever. First stop was in Longview (name not shown, but it's the intersection south of Black Diamond, before heading west into the mountains) - specifically because of a tiny little jerky shop there. These guys make what's frankly the best jerky I've ever had, absolutely amazing stuff, and great to have on a road trip. Then into the mountains! The little side trip poking out in the left side is a jaunt around the upper and lower Kananaskis lakes; insanely cold but beautiful mountain lakes: Several groups of mountain goats made the ride exciting; coming around a corner to some 20 goats just chilling in the middle of the road is fun! Only managed a couple kind of bad photos of them; you want to be careful about being close to them because if threatened they will occassionally charge and headbutt - particularly if it's a large group. Then the bears. So many bears. Seems covid has really encouraged them to come out of the woodwork. They get sketchy, though, whenever there's bears on the highway, people stop to take photos, and there's always this push where someone wants to get a little closer than the last person... So you've got a two lane highway partially blocked off with cars and people milling about, the threat of momma bear deciding she's had enough of tourists and chopping people up, etc. Cool critters, but I'll leave the bear pics to people who don't like their arms.

They're 4.25mm thick, so they raise the front of the seat 4.25mm a stack of thinner washers would do the same, there's nothing special about these, they're just thick washers. I've got iirc 2mm washers raising the rear of the tank as well, the thick washers wouldn't fit without the rear of the tank lifted a bit too.

Mine is in the high position, but I also put washers under the gas tank bracket (between the bracket and frame) which lifts the rear of the tank and thus the seat's front tab slot is higher too. Then washers under the plastic bit to support the seat at its new height. Did a 450km run today, and the 4mm extra height on the front of the seat was noticable and *very* welcome.

For anyone else wandering through here, @smurph figured out a great way to completely eliminate the slope on the stock seat. See his thread here:

Hah I always thought quickshifters where a silly toy on a street bike, kinda mocked the whole idea. Then I rode my Tracer for the first time. Once you get on the gas, WOT, don't let off at all and just tap through the gears... It's pure joy. Yup, it's absolutely a toy. Totally unnecessary; clutchless upshifts are nearly as fast and nearly as seamless, but oh my god is it ever fun. Doesn't help that they work better the harder you're on the throttle, too, makes it so tempting to use all the time For $135, man, that's TOTALLY worth it.

Nice! I actually planned a ride out to Canmore today along 1A (windy old Highway parallel to the TransCanada - great for grinding pegs!) but sadly ran into a rather severe thunderstorm before I made it out of town. Jasper tomorrow instead, I think! Radium is awesome! I'm very partial to a 850km loop out through Bragg Creek, Fernie, Radium, Canmore, then back to Calgary along 1A. Beautiful roads all through there

And fourth can take you to around 110mph, so.... Yeah I can't wait for my 47 (+2 on the rear) sprocket to arrive. I want more of that hold-on-for-dear-life rush