Nokinian

Could I trouble you for a photo of the bike, with the luggage on, assuming you have one available (no need to go to trouble of doing one specially)?

So glad you answered the page, Com3. Extremely helpful answer. I chuckled at your expedient solution of fitting a skid plate to take duty off the sump during landings with you and your GF, after giving her some air (the bike, not the GF) - er, nekkid or otherwise. I see Piotrek also fitted an aftermarket shock, in his case a Nitron (readily available here, not sure about the Penske yet). Are you able to fit a mounting plate for the top case ok, and was it an aftermarket one becasue I think Yamaha make it hard to fit their plate/bracket if you also have the side cases fitted?

Again, thanks. Another thing to check with you on, Piotrek - you mentioned uprating the spring, and reasonably substantially (roughly 17%); did the extra stiffness of that spring give a noticeably less compliant ride, when riding solo?

Very useful indeed - many thanks. I thought, possibly naively, that the FJ specs would be the same as the Tracer (same bike different market name?). I can only tell you that Yamaha quote the max payload as 365lbs (166kg) so, if it was the same specs, looks like you were certainly getting close. Good tip about replacing the spring, but whilst also noting other comments about subframe limitations.

Thank you for that. Yes, I'm hoping the wobbliness has been addressed (at least in part) by the longer swingarm and uprated suspension on the new GT model, but take your point about subframe capacity, which I have also read about elsewhere. I'm particuarly interested in peoples' experiences however, and what they actually do.

Hi - I'm new here and contemplating buying a GT. I have a question about loading and touring with a pillion. I know much has been discussed about the apparent limitation Yamaha place on payload, to the extent of even making it difficult to mount a top-case and paniers at the same time. I also believe, from what I've read on here, that it is possible to overcome this. My question is simply about the feasibility of 2-up touring. And although we'd be 2-up no more than 10% of my time spent riding, It'll be a deal-breaker if this doesn't work for us. My wife and I are both average build (ie height/weight) although oddly I am not sure of our respective weights with full clobber. My weight without gear is 76-80kg (167-176lbs) and my wife would be similar. But without getting hooked into detailed weight calculations, do people as a rule put top-cases and paniers on their bikes and go touring 2-up? Related to this, my wife whilst comfortable on a bike as a passenger, requires the security and cosetting feeling of having a box behind her with a back-pad. She doesn't lean heavily against it, but it has to be there. She's even not crazy about joining me on a test ride when there's no box. It seems kind of crazy to me that I have to ask such a question of a bike which seems designed to fulfill this sort of role, although I'm also alive to the compromises, on the basis that Yamaha have set out to design a lightweight machine which ticks as many touring boxes as possible but without necessarily claiming to have produced the perfect uber-touring/adventuring experience. That's no doubt the role of the GS (a 1250 incarnation of which I now leave behind me for complicated reasons). Your experiences would be much appreciated!