Wintersdark

Huh that's a neat looking applicator.  I should look into that; I think I've lubricated my cables differently every time I've done it for the past 25 years, may as well try something else new!

3 hours ago, roadrash83 said:

 Try using a heat gun to take off the logo's.

Heat gun and a plastic razor.  They're awesome for removing anything glued on without damaging the surface.

Installed my new Givi crash bars, and added highway pegs.  I like them a lot, they mount very solidly (using all three engine mounts on each side), and feel very, very sturdy.  All the while fitting well with the lines of the bike and staying close so they don't hang out.  Really happy with them.

Yeah, I've watched most of his stuff.  Really educational, but sadly much is "go for a ride, see how it feels, then adjust to suit" which isn't too helpful.

I know how to set rider sag (though I don't yet know what it should be on our suspension, nor how one determines that), and I understand what compression and rebound *do*, but as I've never ridden a bike set up for me - but have ridden hundreds of thousands of miles over a quarter of a century - I've no frame of reference for what I should have.

From there, even if I where to just assume I needed to replace springs, I would have no idea which to get, or really how to shop for them at all.  

I've been looking around, but there's no specialist suspension shops for street bikes around here - there was one, but it's closed for some time.  And the shop I bought the bike at was just "I turned up the preload a click, should be fine." Not confidence instilling.

I ride at night a lot (the magic of shift work, yay) and ran into an issue: Sharp corners and such at close quarters, particularly when there's the danger of ice on the ground as there always is in Canadian winters, were always blind.  Headlights mounted to the fairing always point forward, and that's less helpful when you're not trying to go forward, and it's critical to always see pavement before you ride on it. 

So, I added a LED flood light bar, mounted to the forks so it would cover the area in front of the bike and turn with the handlebars.  This seemed like a great idea.  Indeed, it works fantastically well as the LED light bar throws out an absolutely nutty amount of light. 

However, it really, REALLY amplifies the "Angry Face" look of the front of the bike.  And as the light bar - the "mouth" - moves with the handlebars, it seems even more expressive.  Maybe I should have gone with a pair of pods

This is *just* the light bar, no headlights. 

15 hours ago, norcal616 said:

Yes the typical Yamaha test rider seems to be a featherweight... General consensus is if your under 160# suited up, yeah you could get away with suspension upgrades depending on your preference for suspension handling... I myself am 175# suited and yeah the suspension was nothing special but it was lacking for my preference mainly in the rear shock Dept...

A majority of owners here are above 250# and found the suspension lacking...that's from the rider, cargo boxes, etc really pushing the comfort of the suspension... Also it don't really help a great majority of us are ex racers, MX riders, racers, canyon carver's who, or traded in heavy bikes with great suspension for this little Tracer 900...

Quite a few solutions to the suspension... But I believe you should at least put some miles on the bike before committing to spending money on stuff cuz the internet says so... 

Some people where happy with just replacing the oil or just fork springs and buying a basic aftermarket rear shock... 

Some( myself- Stoltec DIY kit) went with fork springs, oil and a fork cartridge upgrade ( fix the dead leg with adjustable damping- Traxxion Dynamics, KTech, Ohlins or re-valed shim stack- Stoltec) and a rear shock such as Penske double click or KTech razor R or Ohlins- mainly 20mm fork piston kits are the kits with adjustable damping in the dead leg for example...

Others went even further to run a GP style 25mm fork piston kits with a uber fancy rear shock... Running a steering stabilizer bar, the whole 9yds...

 

 

The 2019 GT has an upgraded suspension.  I often wonder in these discussions if people are coming from a comparison of the non-GT/older models suspension or not? 

I mean, I ride hard, and mine feels pretty decent all around.  Or is the GT's suspension also considered poor?

1 hour ago, RexDangerVest said:

Winter, Did you upgrade your springs/shocks at all?

Have you tested static and rider sag?

I am going to buy in the spring (currently 300lbs, but expect to be 250lbs by then) and I am already researching my upgrades...

I believe the setup on the bike is for someone lighter than us. Each time I have visited a dealer and sat on a bike there was near zero static sag. So they must have really cranked in the preload.

 

Rex

I'm really not a suspension guy, to be honest.  This is my first bike with a fully adjustable suspension, as all but my last bike (MT07) were old 80's machines with tired old shocks.  

Realistically, I'll probably need HD springs(I say this because I just expect it being 300lbs, not because of a problem), but I need to find someone who can help me out because I don't know what it should feel like.  I set up rider sag on the rear of my MT07, and need to on this (front and rear) but I don't know what the target is.

What I can say is that where it currently is - rear +2 clicks in from stock (this was not a showroom model), I don't bottom the suspension and it feels pretty decent.  Planted cornering, no bounce.  I was immediately comfortable leaning hard in corners and hanging off it.

But, again, I may just not know what I'm missing.  

Hey!  I just traded in my 2018 MT07 for this 2019 Tracer GT.  

I do miss the crazy fun of the 07, but the Tracer is a tremendously better bike all around.  Rather than having to go WOT all the time, you can get the same performance out of a nice sedate half throttle

While there's always the mods jokes (as per above) if anything the Tracer is a great deal cheaper than the 07 is that way - it already comes with so much stock.

Welcome to the fold!

4 hours ago, wordsmith said:

I took several weeks to do a circumnavigation of Oz many years ago by GS, DK.   Couldn't do that now!

Holy crap, that must have been an incredible trip.  And loooooong.

11 hours ago, wordsmith said:

Here's a bit of trivia that points up just what a vast country this is.   I live on the east coast.   Uluru (Big Red Rock) is almost due west of me, marginally to the NW, in the Red Centre.   Road distance is 3343km, and that's not even half-way across Oz!

Heh the standard maps about tend to be very misleading on how big Australia actually is.  I mean, it's still only 3/4's the size of Canada, but that's still much larger than I ever really think of it.  I suppose it depends on who you're talking to, though - to someone living in Europe, say, I imagine Australia would seem incredibly vast.  For us North American folks, though, it's just country sized

10 hours ago, betoney said:

Never heard of a heated helmet... please elaborate.

"Technically" a snowmobile helmet, but in my case it's a GMax MD01S.  This is *exactly* the same helmet as the GMax MD01 motorcycle helmet (part for part identical, including ECE rating), the only difference is that it comes with extra (removable) breath guards and a heated, dual pane faceshield.  Has a multipart wire and connects to the bike just like other heated gear.  Search for "electric face shield" on fortune/revzilla, and you'll find you can get these for a great many helmets - though typically "snowmobile" helmets are cheaper than their otherwise identical motorcycle helmet versions despite having more stuff.  Buying an electric face shield on its own is typically around $100.

A heated face shield will never fog or ice up, and even in *very* cold weather will keep your face nice and warm too.  That's where the cold gets in (helmet foam is an excellent insulator), so heat there keeps your whole head warm.  

In the summer, I just disconnect the wires (simple RCA plugs) and leave them in my bags. 

GMax MD01S Wired Snow Helmet - Dual Lens | 10% ($25.99) Off!

---

 

GMax MD01 Stealth Helmet | 10% ($20.90) Off!

---

...

1 hour ago, piotrek said:

Man... not gonna ask why, 'cause you must have your reasons... but how? Anything is doable with the right prep and attitude I suppose, but at -20C... yikes. Windchill aside... road conditions (and woody rubber) have to suck. Kudos to you.

We don't experience Calgary winters in the GTA, but the temps do dive to -20C for about a week or so in February (-10C is pretty routine). Conditions just feel wrong for motorcycle riding. Good time to wrench and plan rides. 😋

Don't want to hijack the thread... maybe a new one is in order to talk cold weather riding.

Heh heated helmet, jacket liner, riding pants.  Heated grips, of course.  One of those stretchy neck cover things, too, to prevent tiny bits of exposed neck.  With heated gear and no exposed skin, you're warm and toasty.

I've previously always run good rain tires, because part of their design is decent low temp grip.  Pilot Road's are definitely decent.  Still, when your tires are <0c, grip is not good.  You need to keep that in mind until they warm up, but they will.  Even at -20c, they'll end up nice and warm in a few km's.  I've just ordered a pair of the Anlas Winter Grip Plus tires noted in the OP(actually winter rated tires!), so I'll put together a winter review for them once I've got a good amount of use on them. 

So, decent enough grip, warm and toasty without bulk.  Keep the bike as upright as possible (easy on the corners), do some brake tests at different temps to get a feel for how much less traction you have when cold (I'll just brake hard coming up to a nice stop sign when safe to see where ABS kicks in), and you're good.

Been doing it throughout western Canada for decades.   

29 minutes ago, betoney said:

Yes, just like the 12v accessory socket, switched on with key.

Behind the screen there are 3 additional power leads that you can use to wire in accessories.  I use one for daytime running lights and another for my Garmin GPS.  I love having easy access to switched power without tapping into a wiring harness!

Fantastic!  I hate running so many leads off the battery, and faffing around with relays and such.  So much nicer to just have leads handy right there that are already switched.  

I really appreciate all these little quality of life features on the Tracer. 

Otherwise I find I tend to end up with super cluttered handlebars with an assortment of different switches and lots of largely redundant wiring running the length of the bike.

Is that/are those auxiliary connectors switched?  I just finished ordering a some mounting hardware and lights, with the intent to just tie into the high beam power.... But a quick look showed that's fraught with peril, and that the lighting circuitry should really not be monkeyed with.  Looking at the costs to replace any of that if things go sideways quickly pointed out what a bad idea that would be.

I'm not super interested in adding a physical switch, and would rather the extra light simply be on any time the key is on.  The LED bar is 1.5A, so under the 2A limit for the aux connector, so if that's already switched it'd be great.  

1 hour ago, TracerAU said:

Ok, thanks for confirming.  I suspect in the past, I must have mostly flicked the switch to run prior to the logo display.  This behavior just seems odd to me, in that the fuel pump does not prime unless you switch it to run before the logo appears.

All Yamaha's new bikes work this way, it's normal.

The reason is that the kill switch disables all the engine functions, including the fuel pump.  This is a safety feature, and it makes sense when you look at it this way.

For some clarity, the "proper stop/start procedure" isn't important - it doesn't matter if you turn the bike off with the key, with the stop switch, or even with the kickstand switch.  They're all doing the same thing - well, the key does a bit more as it shuts down more, but the stop switch/kickstand switch/etc are all on the same circuit.  

With that said, as you noted if you use the stop switch to kill the bike, you'll lose fuel pump priming unless you switch it to run during "boot up", as the bike tries to prime the fuel system then - bumping the switch to "RUN" later doesn't help, because the bike has already gone past that stage of powering up.  This isn't harmful, but it does cause slower starts.  

This was from Yamaha directly, as I looked into it when I bought my MT07.  

I'd always previously used the kill switch on prior bikes, and as my MT07 was my first fuel injected bike, it was all new to me.  Couldn't figure out why it was so weirdly hard to start, being a brand new bike and all.  Ended up just training myself to turn it on/off with the key and leave the kill switch in "RUN" unless I had some specific reason to use it otherwise.  

6 hours ago, johnakay said:

gel seat no good in uk unless you like freezing ass in winter.

Yep.  I had a gel seat on my old XJ750, and it was tossed in the first winter.  Calgary winter = -20c rides.  Gel freezes, and takes a substantial amount of heat to thaw (read: your butt never warms up) and of course it's rock hard.  Even if not freezing, though, the thermal mass issue is significant.  If it gets hot, it stays hot, if it gets cold, it stays cold.  In hot weather or cold then, they suck.  

Gel seats are only good if you only ride in a narrow temperature range.

3 hours ago, MartyP said:

Is it just attached by the bottom bracket?

All three engine mounts.  Install instructions here: https://d1l4i7f87txqmq.cloudfront.net/Installation Instructions/Givi/TN Crash Bars/TN2139.pdf

Mine should arrive today or tomorrow, and will post pics of the install.  I figure, they're not cheap, but when you look at the cost of most engine covers, they're pretty comparable ($280cdn for the set of bars) but they have the advantage of not covering the sexy engine up (I'm a naked bike man) and also keeping any impact from actually hitting those covers, so a slide is much less likely to actually damage the engine vs pavement just grinding through a plastic cover.  Finally, they get me a good mount point for highway pegs.

I chose the Givi crash bars specifically because they also protect these parts of the engines.  

I haven't topped out my 2019 Tracer GT yet (it's been snowy and -10C most of the time since I got it, so I've only been riding at sane speeds) but in my limited fair-weather time I've had it to 200kph shimmy free.... As long as I'm loose on the bars.  I find if I lean on the bars, buffeting wind pressure on my shoulders and arms from the windshield tends to introduce a bit of shimmy, but loosening up fixes that ... and is how I should be riding anyways. 

Dunno if this applies to anyone else - I'm a 6'4" 300lb guy, so not exactly an average rider - but that's my experience.  

This far, it's felt very stable and planted at high speeds; much moreso than my MT07 did.

Wonderful!  Looks like a beautiful trip!

I'll agree - here, too, Tracers are very much rare machines.  Lots of  BMW 1200gs's, and *LOTS* of misc ADV bikes used in purely on-road configurations.  It surprises me, as the Tracer is very much a touring machine of the adv-but-on-road-only vintage, with instead of offroad farkle being much more sport oriented.  Yet you see lots of Tigers, KTM Adventures, and Africa Twins that never leave asphalt. 

Given the GT's value and capabilities, these just baffles me.  During my last 2500km loop through the US, I saw my first Tracer in the wild - and it remains the *only* one I've seen out and about.  

As @koth442 said above...

If you take chains to the end of their life, you'll need to do sprockets often.  If you swap your chains out earlier, *before* they're really shot, then your sprockets will last a very long time.  Sprockets suffer virtually no wear from a well adjusted, good chain.  Sprockets wear very quickly once the chain is shot, though, and of course a worn sprocket will wear a chain quickly.  

I've always maintained my chains pretty fanatically, and replaced them early (as soon as links start to get stiff) and as a result virtually never need to replace sprockets.  My MT07 saw 20k of very hard riding (including a salty Calgary winter) and it's sprockets where like new still, though I swapped out my chain at 13k.  

So, ultimately, it just depends on the chain.  Keep your chain good, and replace it once it's no longer perfect, and your sprockets will last pretty much forever.

Ooooh definitely interested in this!  I saw those custom (Terry?) seats, which looked comfy but IMHO look really out of place on the bike.  This seat looks much more "made for the Tracer" vs a cruiser seat stuck on it.  

14 days riding is a *lot* though, even if at a relatively tame km/day amount. That's gotta take a lot out of you.  Hell, my 5 day trips leave me pretty much done for a couple days afterwards.

I'd love one of those spiffy axle nuts, but just can't justify spending some $100 on a single nut.  

Whatever happened to cotter pins?

On 10/24/2019 at 11:35 PM, Suu Kyi said:

The owner's manual on the GT says 35mm to 45mm whilst up on the centre-stand. Mine was around 50mm measured with the Motion-pro chain slack tool so adjusted it back to specifications. Also; only tightened the axle nut to 100 Foot-Pounds, not 150 the manual says as that is way too tight from my perspective, more akin to doing up diesel head blocks. All my bikes have been around 89 - 90, hence the 100 fps for the GT.  Rode it like that for a couple of days and noticed a grinding noise and felt some vibrations in the pegs on deceleration which wasn't there before. All that's changed is the chain tension so adjusted back to around 50mm slack, only this time I used my inbuilt devices to determine accuracy (my eyes, brain & hands). All good after this, the grinding noise has gone away.

An observation; the alignment notches don't seem to have varied much before and after adjustment whereas the chain tension has, particularly noticeable when off the centre stand. Leads me to conclude that sometimes, tightening the axle nut can influence the chain tension, something to keep in mind. Setting aside the Motion-pro, Chain Monkey and the tape measure and trusting my own judgement and observations from here-on.

To each their own, but I'd argue that you really ought to recheck tension after finishing and tightening everything down.  The problem above wasn't with the tools used at all, just the process.  

Figured I'd chip in here.  I've got a Nelson Riggs 1060S tail bag (originally purchased for my prior bike, an MT07) and use it on my Tracer 900 GT as well.  Works fantastically well, serves as a bit of a backrest when full.

@fjdog asked last year if the sides collapse when empty.  No.  The bag is surprisingly rigid, actually.  I mean, I guess if you straight up sat on it they'd collapse, but they don't under normal circumstances - the bag maintains it's shape.  Mines two years old, has seen 20,000k and much rain and snow, and it's still in great condition.  Sturdy bag.  Pretty unobtrusive when not expanded, and quite large when expanded.

The only caveat - at least in the -S model - is that it's a bit too small to hold a (full face) helmet.  

I strongly recommend this, with that in mind.  In day to day riding, I keep mine inside one of my hard cases to reduce the amount of struggle to get onto the bike.  I'm old and not as bendy as I once was, and I'm stubbornly refusing to start doing the "stirrup mount" where you step onto the footpeg first.