ABlast82

I know that yamaha sells the quick shifter, and the bags for the non gt that are the same as the gt. The only difference in the bags are the lids are matte instead of color matched. As for the suspension and electronic upgrades i dont know as i bought the gt. If you can get the regular tracer at a good enough price then adding all the components (either factory or aftermarket) should get you under the cost of the gt. When i bought my gt last spring the non-gt was 12.5k CAD at the dealer, the gt was 14.5k CAD. For the price difference the gt made more sense. Now that same non-gt at the dealer is down to 9.2k CAD, for that difference i would go with the non-gt and upgrade with the components i want.

Finally saw another gt in the wild yesterday. First one since i bought mine last spring. It was parked in the bike parking of the local law enforcement.

I agree with @bps about the category thing. My local shop sat on a 2016 fj for 2 years and currently has a 18 tracer new old stock for a wicked price (9200CAD). That same bike was 12k last year when i picked up my gt, likely would have got it instead of the gt for the 5k price difference. Shops, at least locally, still push the big adv and touring bikes, better markup i assume. And since my local is also a ktm dealer you can guess which bikes they push more.

Not a triple but a 2011 speedmaster.

Was at my local shop picking up oil for the bike and they had a new 2019 tracer for 9200 CAD, almost lost my sh!t. Too bad it wasn't that price last spring when i bought my GT. For that price difference the regular tracer is a steal.

Yeah the threat of snow in some parts of alberta is year round. I have family out in the edson area and we got snowed on in august long when we were there for a reunion. I'm also looking to extend my season to justify the new bike. Now only if ICBC would get out of the stone age and offer monthly insurance payments for anything besides 6 or 12 months, that would go a long way to extend the season as well.

@Wintersdark I'm in the interior (okanagan), lots of swing temps here early in the season and late as well. Last year put my bike on the road on the 22 of march and for the first couple weeks the mornings would be below zero but the afternoons were in the low double digits. Like the extra security of having a tire built for cold weather riding.

@betoney in bc it is now required by law to run either the 3 peak winter rated or m&s tires on all passenger vehicles from oct 1 through march 31. I figure its only a matter of time before someone in the gov realizes that bikes are not included in that and rewrites the regulations. When i lived in the lower mainland, i kept my bike insured all year to take advantage of the milder weather, now that i live in the Okanagan I can usually get out on the bike around this time and usually in nov. If they do include bikes into the regs, ill either be running a short season (which would suck) or run these tires to avoid a fine if they get checked.

Ah, yeah haven't seen it on his site. Love the look.

@koth442 what type of skidplate is that? Looks like the hig but way more open. I really dig it.

I've been very interested in these tires since i found this thread. Not so much for actual snow riding but more to extend my season into early march and late november. Like the idea of better grip in colder temps. And sooner or later the gov is going to start pushing the winter rating onto bikes since its now required from oct 1 to march 31 in bc.

@bowlin01, no haven't made up my mind yet. Still working on a few other things before I get a set of bars. Think I've ruled the T-rex for now, lots of protection but just looks too chunky.

Welcome, Love the color and yeah just a teenie bit of an upgrade.

Looks like they end up being slightly less than the givi if i order them direct, but ive never ordered direct from anywhere overseas, only from amazon or ebay. So I'm not sure what if any i'll pay in import fees and the like. They are on ebay but they end up being almost the same price as the t-rex racing bars, which while i think don't look nearly as nice as the heed, seem to offer quite a bit more protection. Nice to have options🙂

Welcome, As far as where to start, anywhere! Make it yours the way you see fit. It will be awesome.

I like those. They look like they offer a decent amount of protection without detracting from the look of the bike. Time to do some research.

That's a big issue too, while i didn't mind the guys who worked on my bike there, paying their shop rate and more often was another strike against the tiger for me. Not that the local yamaha guys are much better. For my first service which is just a glorified oil change and retorque of shop assembled components, ended up costing me about 260 CAD. My old 6l ford with 14.5 liters of oil was a 100 bucks less.

Looked hard at the tiger last spring before i got the tracer gt. Always liked the tigers and since my previous bike was a triumph speedmaster, it was a major contender. The 2 biggest reasons i didn't go with the tiger; cost, they start at more money than the gt. Second was the local dealership, they are an hour and a half away and just like the local HD shop if you don't look like you have money getting service from the sales staff is like pulling teeth. No thanks, super happy with my gt and the sales staff at the local yamaha dealer.

I think the Blaster is now on my list of must haves for the bike. Haven't liked a lot of the options for out the back, either too ugly or not bright enough.

Looks so much cleaner with the tidy tail and the blaster x. I've been working on a change to the stock tail that i think will work nicely to clean the look up a bit. But if that doesn't work out ill go with a aftermarket tidy tail. How is the blaster x for turn signal visibility? My buddy had one on his fz06 and i found it hard to pick out the turn signals especially if he was braking.

If you want to go the industrial route, hydrofloric acid paste. Sanitary (beer, dairy) welders use it to clean the discoloration from tig welding without spending lots of time polishing. Just apply with a brush, let sit till its almost dry, use a wet scotch brite to remove the residue, then rinse with water. Brings the stainless back to a natural brushed look. Just be aware, use good gloves and eye protection and do it outside, the stuff is nasty and bad fumes but gets good results.

Very nice, like the sound. Looks very similar to the one i got of amazon, except mine isn't blued. Noticed you don't have the springs on, personal preference? I know on mine i had to knock off the spring hooks as the front one was too close for comfort and the rear one was touching the oil sump.

Yeah I'm 37 and find this forum awesome. Not overly active but still a wealth of info and experience. Keep up the good work @Cruizin

I would also look at the Pirellis, myself I'm leaning towards the str as the are reasonable for price, come in stock sizing and just found out they are the OEM on the t700 up here when it comes out.

Isn't that the truth, I'd been drooling over the africa for a few years prior to getting my gt. Thought really hard about the type of riding I'd be doing and when the gt was announced for canada, that pretty much made my mind up. Course after i got my gt then honda came out with the adv version of the cb500x. For half the money of the gt it looks like a solid bike. The t700 looks awesome too but with the price being so close to a regular tracer, if it was closer to 10 k not 12k i think it would be tougher. The africa is just too big and too much cash by the time you equip it for touring.