2WHLOZK

Before I traded in my FJR for the Tracer GT, I researched the Tracer quite a bit, so I was already aware of the bike's braking shortcomings.  The dealer even warned me about it on the day I picked up the GT.  After the Tracer's pads broke in, the difference in stopping power between the two bikes was still pretty drastic.  

I understand that the Tracer is built to a price.  That's what makes it "a lotta bike for the money".  In that pursuit, certain niceties need to be eliminated or compromised e.g. premium tires, premium chain, adjustable clutch lever, etc.   But I have to question Yamaha's decision to compromise on the Tracer's brake pads.  

Curious to see if Yamaha does better in this regard with the new Tracer 9.

19 hours ago, enx said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJFCVffnKJA

Cool beans, thanks for posting!

I wonder if contact cleaner might be a better choice than sandpaper?

+1 vote for EBC pad upgrade.  The OEM Tracer pads are crap, barely adequate IMHO.  

If you only ever do one mod to your Tracer, upgrade the pads.  

I'll be installing EBC pads on my MX-5 too.  Can't wait!

2 hours ago, betoney said:

Yes, - roll off throttle for a second, switch mode and roll throttle back on... good to go. 👍

Dayum....good to know!

On 12/18/2020 at 12:13 PM, HGP61 said:

I had mine set to "B" mode for the first few weeks after I bought it. you will get used to the bike very quickly. Just take it easy and enjoy getting to know the bike. If I remember I try to switch to B mode for any low speed maneuvering or U turns and such like. 

Are you saying that you're switching modes while in motion?  I thought that was verboten according to Yamaha.  I never tried it though, so...

When I took delivery of my FJR, the tech (and the manual IICR) expressly advised against doing that.  What gives?

Speaking of the FJR and abrupt throttle...yes my FJR had the same off-idle fueling issue and severe chop on decel.  But with its larger engine/flywheel, and massive weight, it wasn't as noticeable as on the Tracer.  More inertia, apparently.

On-the-fly mode switching and up/down QS would make the Tracer a whole lot more fun.  Please don't tell me I just spent the whole summer not knowing I could switch modes at will!   😉

2 hours ago, Ride365 said:

I will for sure be going this route likely in the Spring, I mean for the small amount of money I just have to. 

 

Yamaha (2019-20) Tracer 900 *Comfort*

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Width: 12 1/8" Height: Same as OEM Details:Don't let the painful factory...

 

I may do the same.  Even though I modded my stock seat as much as possible, it's still not quite right.  I have the tools and experience, and the price for the Seat Concepts kit is.....acceptable I guess.

However, I phoned Seat Concepts a few months ago with some Q's.  A gal there said they eliminate "most" of the forward pitch.  My takeaway was that there will still be some pitch after install.  Not sure if that'll work for me.  I'd actually prefer a slight back pitch, if anything.  There's also a decision to be made between the two foam densities offered, based on rider's weight.  I'm right on the cusp weight-wise, so prolly no Goldie Lox choice for me there.  

What to do?  

If the pics I've seen of some of the Adcox seats are accurate, then I think he's onto something with that "bucket" design.  (but man....the wait time)

The Comfort Quest continues.

16 hours ago, GTO MIKE said:

Wow good for not crashing . I doubt if fork tubes are bend ,but you may have tweaked them in the triple tree and are out of alignment. You will be able to tell when removing the front wheel . If your not confident in how to loosen and line the forks up then your best bet is probably the Dealer or someone that can help you. Good luck !

MIKE

This is uncharted territory for me, so I don't know what that is supposed to "feel" like, but I won't be surprised if that's exactly what happened.  Thanks.

I've decided to have the dealer do everything once the new rim arrives.  The service dept there is very good.  I'll have them go through the entire front suspension system.  Replace, repair, or adjust whatever is needed.  Which will include their test driving the bike, as well.  

My collision deductible is $250.   The job will easily run into many hundreds of $$ (or more, depending). 

Total repair cost on my end?....$250 plus $36 for a U-Haul trailer.   That ain't bad!   😀

18 hours ago, betoney said:

Pick it up off the side stand, hold the front brake and cycle it through the stroke by pressing down hard on the bars, do it several times.  There shouldn't be any harshness, binding mid-stroke or abnormal noises.  

Thanks, good idea.  

Done.  Nothing seems abnormal.

18 hours ago, micah2074 said:

I did something similar last summer. It didn’t harm the fork. We went to the dealer to buy another rim....3 month wait and I needed it a week before my yearly big trip. Thankfully, I found one on eBay a 100 miles down the road. 

Yep, just got off the phone with the dealer.  None in the U.S.  Five available in Japan (only five?!).   Placed my order, dealer estimates 3 month wait.  Three months must be dealers' stock answer for parts ordered from Japan.  Seems excessively long, maybe it'll arrive sooner.  Anyway, $344 + sales tax.   That's actually less than I expected, so not too bad! 

Thanks for the replies everyone.  On the upside, I was just about ready for new tires anyway...perfect timing!  

Hit a good size rock today at about 50 mph.  Bent the rim but fortunately I didn't lose control of the bike.  I'm amazed that the tire didn't blow or even lose any air.  I was able to limp home at 25 mph.  Felt like the suspension bottomed out on impact.   It steers kinda wonky now, which is to be expected with the rim damage I suppose.   But I'm wondering if I may have also dorked the the suspension?   

I need to decide whether to bring just the front wheel to the dealer for replacement, or trailer the bike there so they can inspect the suspension, too.   Anyone dealt with this before?  TIA

QFT....  

On 8/9/2020 at 8:53 AM, tktplz said:

Well, made a new bike trailer for trips to Deals Gap, NC each year. Until I retire, 5 years, 9 months but who's counting? Don't have the extra time off to ride it, 2 days there and 2 days back while riding a week there. The stimulus check was the stimulate the economy so this is what I did for my little bit for the economy.  the deck with "add sand" so the wood is like sand paper, grippy!  Wheel chocks "like" Condor's but 75 bucks a piece instead of 165.00 bucks or so a piece. 6,000 lb. test tie downs just to be sure, LOL! Turned out well and am happy with the investment. I ride to The Hill Country in Texas, 450 miles each way and Eureka Springs, Mountain Home, AR trips at 400 miles each way approx. At 1600 miles round trip, home to Blowing Rock, NC and then on down to Deals Gap, NC and then back home the trailer is a necessity at this point in time. Found the perfect Licence Plate Frame too. 

Great looking trailer!  Outstanding price, too.  And good choice on the 15" wheels.

I used to trailer my bikes from Chicago to Estes Park, CO every summer for years, until I finally moved to Denver in '96.  World-class motorcycling out there, best 14 years of my life.

Funny you mentioned Eureka Springs.  I'm retired now, living in NWA.  I zoom through Eureka Springs fairly often just for the nearby twisties.  From there, I head up into SW MO where the roads are great, the terrain is varied, and the traffic is sparse.   Haven't made it over to Mountain Home yet, but will eventually.

Enjoy your upcoming trips!

Very interesting and some good info in this thread!

$0.02....

If all the 2021 Tracer changes are actual improvements, then the extra $$ is well spent and kudos to Yamaha.  I'm not in the market for a new bike any time soon, but I'd def like to test ride the '21 GT.  IMO, the addition of up/down QS is HUGE.  Yamaha claims "more power" and "better handling".  If true, who wouldn't like that?

The hardbags look kinda goofy, but if the new system helps stabilization at highway speeds, then great.  

Electronic suspension (if I'm reading the new Tracer ads right) means almost nothing to me.  Had it on my FJR...84 possible settings that I never bothered with.  The FJR lean angle sequential cornering LED's proved less effective that I'd hoped, so basically the $2K upcharge for the ES was a waste for me.

The addition of lowers on the Tracer might be nice too....unless they (can't tell by the pics) interfere with mounting a pair of frame sliders (aka hwy pegs).  Given a choice between the two, I'll take the sliders over lowers.  

Improvements I would have preferred to see on the new Tracer, instead?...

> Switchable driving/fog lights, instead of cornering lights.

> Bigger, brighter turn signal indicator lights on the dash.  No real need for self-cancelling signals IMO, just some form of dash lights that can't escape the rider's attention.  

> Premium OEM tires and brake pads.

> Better (read; bigger) hand guards instead of the stock ones that offer zero protection from the elements.

> On-the-fly mode changing.  Dunno about other GT owners, but I'd really like that.

> An FJR-style gas gauge, with seven segments that disappear in a linear fashion.  The current GT gas gauge is virtually useless IMO.   I'm using a trip meter for that task.

> And last but not least....a comfortable seat, or at least one that's easily modable (is that a word?).  

As always YMMV, TETO.  Cheers.

Edit:  Forgot one.....thumbwheel placed closer to the right hand grip.  

6 hours ago, nhchris said:

Maybe, but they hold a full face helmet.  And that's a BIG improvement.

That would be nice....but will they hold all helmets?...some helmets?...only modular helmets?

Looks okay to me.  But then, none of the MT/Tracers look particularly attractive to me anyway.  That's not why I bought mine.  Even so, just to nitpick.....I would have preferred a full gloss finish on my '20 GT...not a big fan of matte paint jobs.  

 "As for the chassis, the same ones used on the new MT-09 will most likely be adopted into the new Tracer 900..." 

I wonder if they made room for a more comfortable seat design for 2021?  That would be a detail worth Yamaha's attention, IMHO.

20 hours ago, betoney said:

Was there some issue with the bike not running correctly with the radiator guard installed?  Maybe I missed something, I have never heard of issues while running a radiator guard, 10's of thousands of riders have been using them for decades.  I have also used them on my dirt bikes forever and in tight singletrack riding you might be lucky to maintain 8-10mph average - almost zero air flow and never had a radiator overheat.

I think you are missing something...the fact that not all radiator guards are constructed the same.  Obviously, some are going to allow more free air flow to the radiator than others.  Ones with stiff wire mesh screening e.g. aren't likely to have much (if any) effect on air flow, while others (like mine) that have more solid surface area are going to restrict air flow to some degree.  This was evidenced by the fact my C-temps were running higher than normal across the board with this particular guard, especially noticeable on the hottest days.  Will that hurt anything?....prolly not.    One thing for certain, running hotter isn't going to "help" anything. 

Because I don't feel the need for radiator protection, I view *this* guard is simply a pointless farkle that makes my bike run hotter.  Others may love theirs and need some radiator protection.  Diff strokes.  Cheers.

51 minutes ago, texscottyd said:

That looks fine, and very similar to other radiator guards many of us have been using...  I don’t know why that would be causing you any issues.  

I look forward to hearing how this works out for you.  I’ve been stuck in slow-moving traffic on 100+ degree high-humidity days, and never had any sign of overheating.  

I don't expect that running the engine noticeably hotter than normal is necessarily going to cause "overheating".  And I'm not questioning whether or not the engine can "take it".  I do question the wisdom in running any engine needlessly hotter than designed, though.  It may not matter at all...or maybe it will matter in the long run, dunno.  

  As I see it, the Tracer is not a dual-purpose bike, or even an adventure bike.  In my case, I'm not going off-road on a Tracer, and I avoid unpaved roads with it, too.  With that, I know the odds of me needing an expensive radiator replacement are minuscule.   So I ask myself...in the risk/reward equation, where's my reward for diminishing the cooling effectiveness of my radiator in extreme hot weather?   There doesn't appear to be any upside for me.

As always, different strokes, horses for courses, YMMV, etc.  Cheers.

8 hours ago, texscottyd said:

Interesting.  Does the guard you’re using seem to block a large percentage of the radiator’s surface area?   

Will be looking for your findings.   I’ve used the Evotech guard on my FJ, and haven’t seen any signs of concern.  

I don't know how to measure the solid vs open areas.  But we can see by the pic below that it certainly blocks a substantial portion of the surface area.   It mounts pretty snug to the radiator, too.  It might be better if it stood off a half inch or so from the radiator?  If so, it would still provide the same protection.

I rode about hundred miles today with the guard off and saw only "back-to-normal" C-temps, same as on any day pre-guard.  But today was only 84 and cloudy.  A better test will be on a day that's 90+ and sunny.   Cheers.

Removed my radiator guard (the Amazon one).  C temps have been noticeably higher during these hot Arkansas days, fan kicking on way more often than before.  Didn't take accurate notes, but I think it's been running ~ 20F higher on the hottest days, with the guard on.  Will test tomorrow sans guard.  

Order placed.  Thanks guys!

31 minutes ago, betoney said:

No.  The engine has 5 mount bolts.  I just did one at a time.

Thanks,

I PM'd the seller, he can't/won't say whether they'll fit the GT.  I'm assuming they will, but haven't seen an FJ-09 up close to know for sure.  Wondering if the frame/engine layout is the same on both?

On 5/10/2020 at 12:13 PM, betoney said:

I use these and find them simple, cheap and effective.  I can rest the bottom my foot on them like a stirrup or extend my legs and rest the back of my ankle.  With damaged knees, I use these almost every time I ride.

EXTENDED 2014 2015 2016 Yamaha FZ-09 FZ09 Frame Sliders FJ-09 2018 USA

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This set of sliders will fit on a 2014, 2015 or 2016 Yamaha FZ-09. Will also...

 

Cool.  These may be the answer for my GT.  Did you need to support the engine from below to install?  TIA

Huh.  Good info thanks for posting.

1 hour ago, betoney said:

Plan the route efficiently and try not to be tempted to want to 'see it all' in one trip.  Since I have limited vacation days available, I was originally overwhelmed with trying to pack in as much as possible.  I finally ended up cutting a lot of 'must see' from this trip, focusing on exploring one region, covering less miles each day and rescheduling the other parts for future return trips.

I agree that's the best way to ride Colo.  The mountains are spectacular, but they're vast with lots of roads criss-crossing the area.  Virtually impossible to properly absorb the whole state on vaca.  Even as a 14 year resident I never made it to the SW corner of the state..Durango, Telluride, etc.  Didn't miss it, though.  Way more than enough grandeur closer to home (Gilpin Couny and Denver).  Such privilege!...miss it.  Enjoy your CO trips!  Cheers.