Wintersdark

Mind posting a photo of that?

I can't help with color names, but I *really* like the Tomato Red in person. A lot. At the local motorcycle show this January, I was sitting on one, and fell in love. I feel the photos of it make the red look "orangey-er" than it is in person, and it's got this awesome metallic sparkle to it. The red accents on the tank and seat tie it in nicely.

Oooh, I love the black and orange. Really nice.

Nice I've always used gearingcommander.com myself, but that's a good option.

I'm thinking about it come New Chain Time. My thinking is that I can't redline 6 anyways, so I'm not going to lose top end speed (and really, given I can do 220kph on mine, I'm not really worried about that) and may even gain some. With the longer swingarm, I don't have the unicycle issues that plague MT09's and would actually kinda like a little more of that. A bit more *grumph* would be welcome. Any noticable impact on fuel economy? I shouldn't think it would matter much, you're just looking at 220rpm@120kph in 6th. I'm long from *needing* either a chain or sprockets, but changing these is one of my favourite things to do. I love me a nice, plated chain, and replacement sprockets can be so nice looking too. The stock chain is so dull and blech.

Ooooh interesting! I've never really played around with partzilla, given I'm not American, so shipping is obscenely expensive through them - had no idea they had that feature. Even if it's not useful for buying stuff, that's definitely worth a bookmark. That said, I see they did indeed change things; or at least the 2019+ Tracers use different levers than the -2018 models, as it's just newer Tracers and MT10's on that list. Good to know for my lever shopping needs as I want to get some shorty levers.

I get that it's pretty subjective, but how do you feel about the +2 teeth on the rear in practice?

Did they change on all the bikes at 2019, or was this comparison just made in 2018? I'd assume the later; as a rule of thumb levers aren't something that changes often, but was just struck by the line of 2018's there

They look like such nice machines, and I know *lots* of guys with them (particularly 1200GS's around these parts) but... So, so spendy to buy and maintain. So spendy.

If I had anywhere that I was interested in riding offroad anywhere near me, I'd be all over a T7. I love the CP2 platform, and feel it's probably the *perfect* engine for that role. But... I just don't have anywhere to ride it where it'd actually be beneficial. There's not even unpaved roads nearby, let alone trails you can ride a motorcycle on. I'm sad about that, because the T7 looks like a damn perfect machine. Edit: Actually; I could make a really good argument for getting one and kitting it up as my winter ride. Hmm.

Yeah, to avoid fogging, you really need dual pane visors. Either via Pinlock, if there's a compatible shield for your helmet, or simply a dual pane visor entirely. I'll never go back to single pane; fogging is a nuisance and I'm literally unable to fog my visor now. All the additives and such are pretty half-assed solutions at best, and basically nothing like that helps if you're riding in the rain. As for clarity, for Pinlock as long as you follow the directions when you set it up - specifically, MAKE SURE the inside faces of the visor are absolutely clean - then you're golden. Couple riding buddies swear by them. Me, I just buy helmets that either come with, or have dual pane visors as options. My current helmet (GMax MD01) actually has an electric dual pane visor as an option, which is dual pane with heat, so it functions like a car defroster as well ensuring the visor cannot ice up and keeping your face warm. I've never had an issue with optical clarity.

They definitely look solid and pretty decent actually - easily as good [better, IMHO] as the aluminum store bought hardcases you see on lots of adventure bikes. Padlocks are fine; after all, the locks on the factory Yamaha hardcases would be trivially easy to pick or just bypass if someone was motivated to steal your bags. There's only so much you can do to protect stuff on a bike after all, and in the case of bags, if you're parked in a sketchier neighborhood, you just take them inside with you anyways. Damn good work!

Went for a wonderful ride through Kananaskis on the edge of the Rockies, and got to scrape up my pegs some and push the new tires a bit. Really nice to finally get a chance to do an extended, spirited ride after a winter of tamer riding. Lots of other riders out too, people giving each other a good amount of space but still friendly chats at the natural rest spots.

Swapped my winter tires out for a nice, brand new pair of Road 5's, then went for a nice 3 hour ride to break em in. I love new tires, so much. That first ride on brand new tires always feels so good

There's lots of much better answers already, but a totally anecdotal one: I run a LED flood light, heated jacket, pants, gloves, and helmet, in addition to the stock lighting and heated grips and everything else and my bike has no trouble starting in -25C, so it's clearly charging just fine.

Took a while, because there was 4" of ice outside my garage! Finally got some not-winter, and could try it out. Putting the bike on it was indistinguishable from just putting it on the centerstand on the ground, and it makes rolling the bike around or spinning it trivially easy. There's actually a lot more room than it looks like, the bike is way off center - which incidentally doesn't seem to impact how it rolls.

As others have said, you can get a 2020 for that... For less, possibly. I paid $12k Canadian for my 2019 GT in November, though it was their floor model/demo bike, so it came with a couple kilometers on it (though still considered a new vehicle sale, as it wasnt through the break-in period). They also threw in the first service.

Yeah, that's how I roll with the Nelson Rigg bag too. I'm not interested in getting a luggage rack, but I'd really like something like that Kriega for more storage on trips. In a perfect world, I'd find some way to keep the straps attached and just switch bags Thanks!

The Kriega is a great looking pack. I've always just used a little Nelson Rigg 1060S, but I've eyeballed the Kriega for big trips... Much too big to use daily though. For daily use, I like something small enough to easily swing a leg over does the Kriega require a rack? Or can it just mount on the passenger seat?

I think "unpopular" isn't the right term - it's not that people don't like it, it's more that for many regions people have simply never seen or heard of one, so they don't even consider buying one. Places where a couple do exist they become much more popular - presumably because the owners cover the total lack of Yamaha marketing.

Yeah, if you're not in Canada, you miss the "free shipping under $100" deal.... And it's bloody heavy.

Would you say it's better than a RAM mount? If so, why? RAM has an advantage in its flexibility. The same hardware used in a variety of mounts, so it's all mix and match.

Not marketed really at all in North America. It's a killer machine at a really reasonable price - it's only serious competitors are substantially more expensive or have far fewer features (particularly considering the GT). I've only ever seen one "in the wild" in North America. One. Owned, incidentally, by the lead Yamaha tech at a local service shop. But yeah they're REALLY rare here, which is imho very strange. They're basically made for north American riding, too; long road trips, lots of fast twisty roads, etc. Meanwhile there are a million Tigers, 1200GS', and KTM Adventures that *never* see dirt. They're all bought for comfortable sport touring. They're all better bikes if adventure riding is your goal, but you pay a LOT for that. If you're just street riding, the GT is a very comparable machine at almost half the price.

Interesting! I've never ridden either, how do they compare with the 900GT?

The linked givi engine bars run down under the footpegs and protect the lower cases.