Wintersdark

Local group of guys. Kind of freakish luck, as we've got a fairly random group where everyone just rides their own ride and there's no drama, ever. I'm usually really nervous about groups, but we've got it down to a science now. Fastest guys go first, zoom through twisties, then pull over and wait for those who aren't into the zoomies to catch up. Thus, us more squiddy types get our fun, the casual folks get their fun, and we're all mature enough to not do stupid shit that endangers each other. It's an open group, but we're fast to tell people to get lost if they're not going to work out. People who are clearly going to be problems are spoken to immediately, and if they do not respond well (and sort their riding out) they're told to phuck off then and there. I've found it's kind of harsh, but if you want to maintain fun group rides, you've got to be very selective about who you ride with, or inevitably it becomes a shitshow. It's fine if someone doesn't understand all the ins and outs of safe group riding initially so long as they're willing to pay attention and learn and not get all stuffed up with their own ego. But if you're going to ride in a group and include varied activities like very high speed twisties runs, it's crucial that everyone is on the same page. Kind of fascinating, though: on this ride, we've got a French born guy from the UK (who was an instructor there; ZX14), an Egyptian who's been riding dirt forever but just got his first street bike(rebel 500), and an Italian who's recently moved from sport bikes to a cruiser (Vulcan), all three recent immigrants to Canada. Makes for some fascinating conversation about motorcycling around the world at stops. Then a bunch of locals from across Canada. Most of us are 40's and 50's, but a couple younger guys. Quite a few women, too, though none on this trip.

Went on a day trip to Jasper and back - 902km/560miles. As much fun as I have with the Tenere, it's trips like this where the Tracer really shines. Comfortable, oodles of power for tearing down twisty mountain roads, and that beloved cruise control. There's just something special about turning on cruise control at 160kph/100mph and relaxing. I I love rides with wild disparities of bike types and riders. Gotta say, though, that little Rebel 500? Guy has a Vance & Hines can on it, and it sounds amazing. For such a tiny little bike, it was probably the best sounding bike there. Not the loudest (that'd be the purple Harley) but man. 270 degree ptwins sound so good with a good exhaust. This was taken where we stopped at a glacier. Sadly, while I got a bunch of pictures around there, and you could see the glacier from the road, there's a ridge between the parking area and the end of the glacier proper and nobody was really into hiking up to it in motorcycle boots and gear, so no pictures of the actual Athabasca glacier. Random roadside pullouts along the Icefield Parkway are absolutely spectacular and very common. Nice little beach, too, but the water is far too cold to swim, or even just wade in. Athabasca Falls. Gorgeous, incredibly loud, and leads down into a very, very deep chasm. Stunning sight, and really refreshing as it's fed from the glacier fields just a couple miles away. The water is just barely above freezing, and on a 32C/90F day it's something special.

Man, those are some nice cans.

24000. Not too many for three years, as it's been sharing road time with the Tenere 700 for the last 10 months. They've been hard miles, though, dailying through two winters. Still in good shape, mind you, but the clutch basket rubbers are completely gone leading to excessive gronk, the exhaust headers are trashed, and my wife broke one of the front lower fairing panels backing her Jeep into it. Also time for a bunch of bigger maintenance items I've just not had time for this year what with working so absurdly much and moving right now. Not like it's some clapped out sad thing, but it'd be nice to gussy her up a bit, if you will.

It's resprung for my weight, but still stock components. I'm pretty happy with where it is, but I also don't have perspective on what actual difference replacing things would have. However, there's no real suspension specialists around here - I keep asking around, whenever I find new shops, but none are interested in actually working with me to do it, vs. just ordering whatever I want and installing it and leaving me to get it set up. I'm definitely going to do the base color in paint - mostly because my original lower panels are damaged from the wife backing the jeep into the bike and my replacement panels are the "Raven Black" model ones.... Which are silver. And my case lids are pretty marked up now and need the prep work to smooth them down anyways. But as far as the speed block pattern goes, I dunno. It'll look better in paint (See: @Warchild's hardcases), but as you say then that's very much permanent, whereas being able to pop it off and redo it in the future gives a lot of options. Also, this allows me to get the bike painted, then decide later exactly how to decorate vs. having to have everything decided up front. As a very indecisive person, this would PROBABLY mean it just stays white with red details here and there however. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing. If I were responsible, I'd be using said OT $ to pay off the remaining bill on the two existing Yamaha's in my garage right now (because I took your approach last time around), but I'm not. I actually really seriously considered trading in the Tracer, but honestly I just love it so much I don't see really enjoying something else significantly more when considering the costs of getting a new bike plus respringing it (which ends up costing roughly $1000cdn when the smoke clears) and all the other farkling that inevitably happens. So instead, I figured I'd just make the Tracer new to me again. It's not going to see winter riding anymore now I have the T7 with studded tires and much more elaborate crash bars, and the only real wear it's got is the absolute havoc that 3 salty winters have wrought on it's headers and of course the clutch basket GRONK.

I've been working 70+ hour weeks all summer, basically no riding time, but I'm thinking I'm going to put aside some of my hard earned OT for a big refresh project on the Tracer. Having it painted pearl white with red speed blocks inspired in equal parts by the limited edition R7 and @Warchild's hardcases. That, a Black Widow exhaust, new clutch basket and plugs, and an ecu flash. Just trying to decide whether its worth having the speed block details painted, or applied as vinyl decals. Thoughts?

Hey, welcome back to the fold!

Good job! While I have no problem with my Puig Sport, I'd have done this and saved the money if I felt I was even remotely capable of getting such a good cut. Sadly, I'd just butcher the stock shield, and my OCD would make it totally unusable as it's right in your field of view.

I've got the slightly smaller version (the Sport) and I'm very, very happy with it too. Inexpensive, good mounting, looks pretty decent on the pillion seat, and a bonus it serves a bit as a backrest when packed full of stuff. They hold enough stuff for me to take a 5-day motorcycle trip, which definitely works for me. Capacity when expanded is huge, and when they're not expanded they don't look like a big ugly top case.

Went out for a group ride, that was interrupted by thunderstorms with warnings of golf ball sized hail. Our ride consisted of dodging the thunderstorms and hiding out drinking coffee through the worst of it, then more dodging of thunderstorms heading home. Some nice rainbows though - I'm right on the edge of one here, sun behind me and the storm alongside. It's always irritated me that rainbows photograph so badly, anyone know what that's the case? Always seem so much brighter in person. Got to splash through some 1" deep flooding on the way back, which was honestly a huge bonus. Riding through water never gets old

A fun option is a meross garage door opener module: https://www.amazon.com/Smart-Garage-Door-Opener-Remote/dp/B086MKBC63?th=1 This wires in in addition to your normal openers and such, and turns a regular garage door opener into a smart garage door opener. It'll allow you to ask your phone things like "Is my garage door open?" or "Close the garage door." It comes with an app, but also ties into google/alexa. So if you're a "phone on the handlebars" sort, or a "bluetooth headset in helmet" sort... "Hey, Google, open my garage door" or tap a button on your home screen. Given these can be had from $20-30. The more expensive ones have better wifi antennas, and are good if your wifi coverage in your garage is weak. You need a PIN to open your garage door by voice, too, as an added layer of security. Edit: These are also sold as "refoss" brand, which is technically the one I have. They have exactly the same internals, use the same apps, etc.

Yeah. Mine was in the shop for a distressingly long time trying to diagnose why my CC wouldn't work - with Yamaha certified techs in direct communication with Yamaha engineering. Front sprocket changes break cruise control. Rear you can go +/- 2 teeth and still have it work. Though it's theoretically possible with odd sized tires or other factors that alter final gearing that you may go too far from stock and cause problems, I and many others have gone 2 teeth in the rear without problems.

Maybe they were just coming off sale between your first look and when I checked? Who knows.

I wonder if pricing is different per province? Doesn't make much sense, as taxes are extra - and ours would be cheaper if that where the case. I mean, Roadsmart 3's here: Are exactly the same. But the T32's:

20 gallons into my Jeep Liberty = 90 liters @ $1.91/l regular = $171.90 and also only gets around 300m / 500km per tank. Gross. Like a year ago $80 would fill it.

For me it shows $225 rear, $181 front when you select the correct tire sizes. That ends up being $406CAD/$311USD. But I wasn't thinking about usd vs. cdn, just $250 a set vs $400+ a set. I mean, that's still a good price for tires for here, but... *sighs* I'd run them for $250 a set for sure But at $406.... I'll pay the extra $157 for Road 6's. I get easily twice the mileage from the Road's, and much more even wear.

Man, if I could get them for $250 a set, that would ABSOLUTELY change my opinion of them. Stupid tire prices in Canada

Hah yeah, that's kind of my take prior to auto oiler life. Chains are consumable and not hugely expensive. If you're not riding in crazy environments like I do, it's pretty easy to get 10k out of an otherwise largely neglected chain. If you're the sort to change them yourself... Eh. *Shrugs*. It's not like you get a cookie for getting 25k out of a chain. With regards to auto oilers yes, you want fling, but there's a point where it doesn't make a huge mess of your bike but does keep everything nice and clean, where the chain guard can catch everything. Most fling happens at the sprockets, the front is enclosed but for the bottom and the rear goes backwards off the bike or into the chain guard. The trick is using a fairly thin oil. I prefer a mineral based hydraulic oil, as it's more environmentally friendly and totally clear. It costs the sprocket and chain fully in a very thin layer of oil via capillary action. Bits of dust and debris bind with a minimal amount of oil and fling off. When it comes off, it's pretty much just mist, not drops, so it doesn't splash around. If you're using used motor oil (commonly done in the past) it works but is obviously going to be messy. Gear oil is too thick, so it builds up and flings off in drops, which then splatter around and make a huge mess.

That's an improperly set up oiler. May as well argue that a picture of a guy with a rusted out chain and sprockets is what happens when you don't have an auto oiler. Both my bikes have oilers (Tutoro's) and neither are environmental disasters on wheels, neither makes a big mess. If you're making a big mess with it, the flow rate is set way too high. They're adjustable for a reason. Oilers aren't for everyone for sure. If you're just riding in nicer conditions, and it's not particularly dusty where you live, or you're not riding a whole lot? Not really worth the trouble. If you really, really like chain maintenance, then have at it. If I where a guy who just occassionally rides in the summer for fun, I'd not bother with an auto oiler either. As a guy who rides 100 miles every two days year round excluding day rides and trips? That's nuts. I mean, how do you do that without getting dirty? What are you doing with rags, oil, are you SUPER careful or do you wear gloves? I've done it, before getting oilers - I ride in the winter, which means riding in literal brine, slush, snow, rain. A chain that's not lubricated is a chain that's rusted, and you'll kill a chain in a single winter if you don't clean and lube it with extreme regularity. Or you get an auto oiler, set it up correctly and forget about it, knowing you're going to get good chain life. But yeah, I'd argue, for most motorcyclists, they're probably not worth the trouble. I'd also argue most motorcyclists are filthy casuals 😃 I'll say this: I've never, not once in my life, seen anyone do what you suggest on a trip. Never. I mean, it works for you and that's great, but you have to know you're the odd one there. Sure, on a several thousand mile trip, a clean and lubing of chains happens a couple times, but on a 300 mile day ride? Not once in 30+ years of riding have I seen anyone so much as wipe a chain. And the people I ride with tend to be pretty maintenance focused and do take care of their bikes - mostly because we get rid of the people who don't, as they end up being problems on trips.

Keep in mind our fuel injected bikes (thus no petcocks) pump fuel from the bottom of the tank all the time - or else you'd run out of fuel with fuel still in the tank - so that's happening auto automatically.

I still commute on mine (and will never have a non-commute option due to the work I do) but thank god it's not two hours in traffic a day. Less than an hour per day counting both ways, and my predilection to take wierd routes to spice the process up... And the one benefit of shift work is that I never have to ride in traffic. No change for bikes for me. So a day trip costs me $10 more in gas, I don't care. I do know though when I replace my current old Jeep Liberty, fuel economy will be a major concern. That thing is a pig.

If your the sort to want to make sure it's liked every 100m, then just buy a damned auto oiler. My Tutoros cost about $130 each and have been bulletproof, chains are permanently well lubricated. At every 100m, you'd be hand oiling multiple times per day. That's nuts. Sure, it's easy to do, but .. yikes.

Not even a little bit. In the grand scheme of my budget, spending an extra $10 per tank does not dissuade me whatsoever. I mean, it sucks, sure. But fuel costs riding are still much cheaper than driving for me, so there's no reason not to commute, and my fun riding is my #1 favourite entertainment activity. If it costs more, it costs more. What else am I going to do anyways? Everything costs more. It's not like gas is special here. $2.19 per liter is just my life now.

He only has the one? That's... Disappointing. I'm a huge fan of 2WDW for specifically this: They'll hook you up with a flash appropriate for your setup. I mean, it'll be fine with any full decat exhaust system, as what all the full systems have in common is that they're extremely free-flowing; you're generally buying build quality and cosmetics. So, if you're running stock exhaust, getting that flash is definitely not a good idea - it's objectively dumb, really, right up there with putting on a decat aftermarket exhaust system and not flashing/tuning the bike for it. But there's lots of good flashes available for stock setups, and you definitely benefit from them. At least, for the first and second gen Tracers; I don't know about availability for the new ones yet.

So an average trip speed of about 1500mph? I mean, at those speeds, riding on the ocean surface seems pretty believable 😃