Wintersdark

I always love reading your posts! I'm so deeply glad I've got vision coverage with my work benefits, as that's happened to both my wife and daughter so many times - glasses are not cheap. I've lost more than one pair of sunglasses that way too.

Those are my winter tires; Anlas Wintergrip Plus. They're actually pretty decent on dirt, but they're wholly street tires.

I'm a huge believer in the old adage that the correct number of motorcycles owned is N+1. With that said, I've only ever really owned one at a time. Usually a financial limitation. However, in A Perfect, And Yet Reasonable World, I'd own: A bike like the Tracer, general purpose daily rider. Another MT07 (In fantasy land, also with turbo) for sheer hooliganism. A grom, because I want a grom. Kitted out for stunting. A dual sport, for offroad play And finally, I'd love a track bike; at least, if tracks where a thing around here. I'm deeply jealous that they're both so readily accessible in the US, and so much cheaper to use where they are. It'd be nice to be able to get my Need For Speed out in a better place than the street. I'd actually be pretty good with the MT07 here, but there's a big list of bikes I'd like in this spot.

Oooh, this thread is an awesome read! I wish I had pics of my older bikes - this has prompted me to reach out to others to see if I can get any old photos scanned and sent my way. I'd love to get some. But, the bikes I've owned: 1982 KZ440LTD (I actually have a photo of this somewhere, but can't find it unfortunately) I loved this machine, and while I know there's a lot of Rose Colored Glasses going on, it was an excellent starter bike. I mean, it struggled to get past 140kph, but it was very light, comfortable, got great mileage and handled really well. 1982 Honda CB900C (Pretty sure no photos of mine exist, so I reach for the internet again sadly) As a second bike, this thing was crazy. Incredibly heavy, handled like wrestling a bear in comparison to the 440, but the power! Put a huge number of miles on it, got a couple thousand dollars in speeding tickets. Beast of a machine, and the 10 speed transmission was unique and awesome. 1982 Harley Ironhead Sportster XLH1000 (Photos start here: This was the advent of digital cameras, though sadly a very low resolution one) I bought this in boxes of parts, and spent two years building it in my (highrise!) apartment kitchen. Best wife ever, BTW, who supported me through the process, with nary a complaint. Painstakingly cleaning up and polishing every single part before assembly, and a HUGE amount of learning in getting the old ironhead engine working. Pro tip: Starting up your Ironhead Sportster inside a 6th floor apartment with 2" open drag pipes is NOT something that makes your neighbors happy. Loved the bike to bits, but only got to ride it for two months before it was stolen. 1982 Yamaha XJ750J Maxim My introduction to Yamaha, and my last 80's machine - just a handful of years ago, now, too. Bought cheap, and functionally restored as it was an utter disaster (rear wheel/swingarm had a full inch of side to side play when I bought it, crazy internal engine damage where someone had tried and failed to weld a helicoil into an aluminum cam cap, etc) - sold it in 2018 to a guy who at least bought a functionally solid if somewhat rough looking machine. This bike marked the end of 80's machines for me. I loved working on bikes, but I realized at this point that I was getting too old for it on a primary means of transportation. I just wasn't interested in being up all night in the winter, kneeling on pavement, wrenching on a bike to ensure it would run for the trip to work in the morning. I needed reliability, and it'd be nice to check out some of these new fangled modern motorcycle features. 2018 Yamaha MT07 Easily the most fun bike I've ever ridden. Really fantastic machine, and I can't gush enough about it. Just a blast to ride. And, of course: 2019 Tracer 900 GT

I was not aware of that. I'll keep that in mind, if I decide to start doing major changes. So long as I'm leaving the bike primarily stock it's fine, though. On the other hand, it'd be a big chunk of cash back, that I could just throw back into new springs 😃

Man, I wish it worked that way for me. The service guys seem fine with submitting the warranty claim, but it's the pushback that comes later when the manufacturer doesn't want to cover it (and the work has already been done, so I'm on the hook for the expense if the claim is denied) Or at least, that's what I get told. *shrugs* I have no idea what's going on in the background. Then, add all the car warranty issues people talk about, I'm (admittedly, unreasonably) nervous about warranty issues. I wouldn't even have the 5-year on this bike if I didn't get it bundled free into the deal on it.

Well, that's the problem, right? Rotella does not meet/exceed API SG. It's just been my experience that they try really hard to avoid paying warranty repairs, and what they "have to prove" doesn't really matter in practice because once you start looking at a lawsuit it's going to cost you more than simply fixing the problem in the first place. But, again, I don't think that's a likely outcome. I'm not arguing people shouldn't use Rotella (it's a great oil, and cheap!) And even in the case of a warranty claim for engine failure, you'd likely just lie about what was in there anyways - it'd be basically impossible to prove and not worth the effort to investigate that thoroughly. Still, given I can put exactly the recommended stuff in at the same price, *shrugs* I'd rather avoid the fight in the first place if I can while it's under warranty. Too many bad experiences.

Nels is awesome, and 2WDW does good work - had one of their flashes on the old MT07. I don't see it being very important on a new GT, though. The fueling is just fine.

Yeah, if the 2020 non-GT's are seeing price drops, you can probably get a killer deal on a 2019 non-GT.

For sure, I'm in no way saying it would be a problem to run. People like to argue about oil, but it's stupid. Use the right grade/viscosity/etc, change it when you should, and it *will not* be a problem. Basically everything is fine, if it meets the needed specs.

No idea. However, the manual does specifically say which rating of oil to run, and while JASO-MA is required, as is API service type SG. Diesel engine oils are rated differently and do not meet that as they have their own, different rating system. So, a leg to stand on? Yes. Would they? Honestly, I have absolutely no idea. However, I struggled a LOT with a warranty replacement on the headlight shroud on my old MT07 (Yamaha: "You're storing it wrong!" Me: "What? It's in a roofed carpark under a cover; here's photos!") On the other hand, being able to provide receipts from the (surprisingly) comparably priced bike specific Yamalube oil change kits ensures it won't be an issue. I don't recommend others do this - it's probably extremely unnecessary - but given it doesn't cost me any more and it potentially avoids a problem, it seems a good idea to me. But yeah, key point is here:

Fair enough. I wasn't aware there was a non-gt price drop - at least when I bought mine, the price difference was about $2500cdn, which doesn't go very far.

Went for a tear to feel out the Grip Puppies in practice. I think I've found a new Day One bike mod. Mine wasn't particularly buzzy in the bars to start with, but now there's none. Way more comfortable for my huge paws, too - the larger diameter didn't SEEM that significant (despite being what I was really looking for with these) but it has a huge impact in practice. So much so that I suspect they may be a problem for small-handed folks. Heated grips take longer to heat up (and cool down) but transmit the heat just as well. I think they'll be better at staying warm in the winter, too, where normally they cool off if you take your hand off the grip for a second. I was concerned about this, but that seems for naught. No problem pushing it into corners; no impact on control at all. My only outstanding question is really what'll happen when they get wet.

We've got it too. Availability varies, but Walmart here in Calgary has it. I used to mix the 5w40 and 15w40 (both synthetic) to get 10w40 for my old bikes, but I just run "proper" motorcycle 10w40 in my Tracer. I'm sure the Rotella would be fine (zounds of people use it with no problems, and like I said I've used it on tons of other bikes) but I have a 5yr warranty and you know how companies can be about finding excuses to not honor warrantees.

It's fine. The difference on that side is because of the thicker part of the axle. The spacers and such align based on the "screwed in" side.

Welcome to the forum!

Are you SURE it'd be cheaper to upgrade a non-GT than it would be to painted or have a GT vinyl wrapped? I mean, if you got a *killer* deal on the non-GT, maybe, but if you took your panels/tank off (which isn't a particularly difficult job) you could have them vinyl wrapped for maybe $500. There's really not a lot of colored surfaces on the Tracer. Hell, I got enough vinyl to wrap my whole bike for ~$120, though I ended up only doing the lower side panels and keeping the grey elsewhere.

The low version of the Tiger definitely looks like a good option to check out. At 50cm/2" lower seat height, that's a pretty substantial difference in an otherwise very similar machine. I've read it's (the 900 tigers overall, not the low version in particular) a bit more "boring", but... To be honest, I find such arguments to an engine's "character" to be largely meaningless overall - it's way too subjective. With that said: A lot of people drop the front forks some in the triple trees to improve handling so I wouldn't be too concerned about adverse impact (should just make it tip in a bit easier), but if you're looking at lowering the rear AND the front, you'll probably end up more or less where you started handling wise. @StealthAu has a good point, but I'd counter that how important that is depends really, really heavily on the conditions you ride in. I know personally I could lose and inch of ground clearance and it wouldn't matter even a tiny little bit.

Installed some Grip Puppies. I've heard a lot about these, but never tried them. I have a lot of issues with numbness in my right hand (regardless of whether I put pressure on that wrist or not), and I'm hoping the wider diameter solves that problem.

Gotcha. Yeah, that's definitely not in my service manual, but it makes a lot of sense. Good to know, thanks!

This was the very first mod I did on mine. It's baffling why that divider is in there, breaking the already small compartment into two separate compartments. Just silly. Fortunately, hacking it out is pretty easy! Edit: 'hol up there; you fully removed the tray, you didn't just cut out the divider thingie? Hmmm. I think I'm gonna have to look back in there, re: freeing up even more space.

Absolutely. I've a HUGE history of forgetting something while reinstalling bodywork too, and was straight up paranoid about that this time around seeing what an insanely huge job it was to dig down the the TB's. I basically utilized the entirety of my garage laying out every piece in order to reinstall, so I couldn't miss anything along the way. Even then, I was double and triple checking everything. Kept imagining forgetting to put the caps back on the vacuum ports or something moronic like that, and only noticing when I finally finished putting all the bodywork back on. Seriously, though, there's no reason for it to be as crazy as it is. I swear it's way easier to do this on a straight up fully faired sportbike.

I've never ridden a bike with the Angel GT's, but everyone I know who's run them has raved about them. If I where to mix things up and try another tire, it'd be these.

It's not really fond of running at low RPM, which is basically required to ride slow. The TB's being out of sync makes it worse for sure, but it's not really happy at low speeds ever. I find you basically just want to use the clutch to smooth things out at really low speeds (which is generally what you do for low speed maneuvers anyways)

Nah, I bought my bike in late November, it's just got some 4500kms on it. No need to get into plugs and filter, but yeah. Under normal circumstances, you may as well replace the air filter and plugs while you're in there.