PhotoAl

LOL never noticed it in 24,000 miles but now going to have to watch for it. Generally when I shut it off it a gas stop and I’m thinking about a break and not even watching.

Welcome, I have a 2020 Tracer GT and love it. Currently 4,300 miles into a long trip and several days away from home. You will find lots of comments about the suspension and yes it may not be the best. However mine is stock with just minor tweaking other then dialing the preload up as I’m running with full panniers and a 58 liter duffle on the rear seat plus a topcase with some stuff in it - light stuff. Yesterday rode from east side of Glacier National Park down to Helena Montana. Speed limits in Montana are 70 mph on 2 lane roads. Road conditions vary but generally the surfaces are clean and free of gravel and sand. At speed the Tracer suspension is soft enough to soak up the road undulations nicely. For the Alps tour you will probably want better settings but mine has done ok in the mountains while still being supple enough for the long rides on the not so fun roads. Speed limits and enforcement. On this trip I’ve ridden across many states and from North Dakota into Saskatchewan and Alberta over to Calgary. Canadian speed limits are a pain, quite low and they have lots of signs about photo enforced. On the divided highways folks seem to go fast and slow but always a hassle figuring it out. Slow speed limits doesn’t mean better drivers! In addition lots of gravel and sand on the roads.

Just my opinion but I’d be moving the lights and putting the panel in place. 4,200 miles into a 6,000+ mile road trip. Lots of bugs, then riding thru a rainstorm cleans some of the off but more bugs splat! Today rode a gravel road in Glacier NationalPark and then ran into 5+ miles of road construction! Think they are building the road! It ranged from gravel to dirt and gravel to dirt! Had water trucks keeping it wet down. Now my bike is absolutely nasty with dried road grime, bug guts and general road nastiness. Yea I’ll clean it when I get home but better to keep that stuff out of areas not designed to have it i there.

Thanks for helping out with corner marshaling. I do it when they are having trouble finding folks. It’s a lot of fun and a great front row seat! Love AHRMA racing, have seen every year of the AHRMA races at Barber. Sidecars are incredible to watch. Watching them exit the corners is interesting. Some just can’t get the power down. Little know fact is after WW2 many sidecar racers were formerU-boat captains. If you are close to Barberthe Barber Vintage Festival is always incredible. Can walk the paddock and meet all sorts of former racers and folks.

I would go ahead and change it now. Think 1st is at 1,000 km so close enough. I had 629 miles on mine at 1st service but that was over 3 days so only 3 of starts from cold.

Reason it jumps when putting it in first is the slight friction between the clutch plates when the clutch is poured in is causing the drivetrain to spin a bit. My 2020 900 GT doesn’t only does it very slightly. Rattling may be clutch basket, mine makes noise but not additional handlebar vibrations. my 1st suggestion is to adjust the clutch. It may be a bit “tight”. I.e. the plates are not being pulled apart far enough when the clutch is pulled in (disengaged). It is a wet clutch which means the clutch plates have engine oil on them (why you should never use car oil in a motorcycle). If the plates are not pulled apart far enough the oil on the place will have enough friction to cause them to spin the drivetrain. Also letting the clutch out in neutral causes the drivetrain to spin. If still spinning when a gear is selected the energy in the spinning drivetrain will cause the bike to jump as the drivetrain has to come to a stop. In my experience fresh oil tends to be worse than oil with miles on it - not saying the old oil is bad. 2nd suggestion is if it is an FJ09 there have been some clutch basket issues. A couple of threads on those. I’m off on a motorcycle trip to Canada and working off my iPad or would look them up but you can figure out the search function I’m sure. my CBR600RR and my Kawasaki ZX6R would both jump when putting into 1st. Wouldn’t stress about it.

Closest I got was Middlebury Indiana. Nice small town, KOA was great Next morning rode to sister’s lake house in Jackson MI. I’ve talked about my tether on my Garmin Zumo XT, well it saved the unit again! 2nd time it has come off mount! Mount works well if it is clicked in correctly but not the best locking mechanism. currently in Indian Head SK, very nice campground. Tent camping in grass, RV pull thru spot but nice grass besides the pull thru so a nice campsite. Last night was a cabin at Jamestown, ND. Also very nice but 1 mile of gravel road getting there sharpened my skills :-).

I couldn’t get to them with airbox on. 1,800 miles later bike runs great. Unscientific but bike seems to get better gas mileage. Always wonder if I got everything back together ok, particularly the cooling system. 1st day out got a good heat test. Rode their Nashville TN in stop n stop n go traffic. Coolant temp was going to 223 to 224 and licking the fan on and cooling to under 215 before turning off. Then sit and repeat! Airbox temp was over 100 a few times! Wearing full gear so I sweated! Currently in Jonestown ND and headed to Canada tomorrow. Ride up thru Michigan, across Big Mac to UP and west across UP, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

@maximNikenGT I was of the same opinion on the non-reusable ones but then realized if it is set off my bike probably has some damage so won't need it right away anyway. With a tethered I guarantee half the time I would be walking away without untethering LOL.

I'm interested in how they work for you. They may not be a tire that I would run but sometimes have friends who don't want to spend the money or are in a more limited budget. I'll recommend Shinkos and have seen Kenda's in Grom sizes but alway wanting to hear how tires work for other folks. On a tire note just pulled a Road 5 off that had close to 8,000 miles on it. Had lots of tread left and looked like 10,000 would not be an issue. 7,000 miles were long distance trip miles. In those miles were some really fun mountain miles so had more than usual side wear. Road 6 went back on.

Haven't had the bike out yet. Did run it until the cooling fan came on. Valve train seemed to be noisier than before but probably somewhat in my head and too tight exhaust valves make less noise. Standard stuff, seats off, plastics off. Siphoned most of the fuel out and removed tank - wow was the fuel line fiddly! Got it off after a while of messing with it CAREFULLY! Pulled airbox off - not too bad, loosen the TB clamps using a 1/4" drive flexible extension worked well. Took air injection hoses off - not too bad. A couple of hose clamps that were a tiny challenge. Carefully drained radiator placid 3/4 of old coolant in the pan and the rest on the garage floor. I did not remove the coolant reservoir tank simple disconnected the hose from the radiator. Pulled the hoses off of the radiator, again carefully placing coolant in the skid plate and some on the floor. I got good at mopping the floor. Disconnected the fan and unbolted the radiator and it was out of the way. As others have said it is possible to do this without removing the radiator but I choose to to make it simpler. Removed valve cover - simple. Took off the crankshaft end cover and the timing inspection bolt - left side of engine. Checked timing and then checked valve clearances - Wow, oh no, big surprise they are not in spec. Not even close LOL what did I expect! intakes were fine. Zip tied timing chain to sprockets on the cams. Removed the timing chain tensioner. Spent an hour figuring out how to retract the tensioner, Removed the cam bearing journal caps - loosen 1/4 turn on each bolt and keep going around until they are all loose enough to remove by hand. Put a cloth over the intake cam and "rolled' exhaust cam up so could access lifter buckets. Pulled buckets out along with their shims. Carefully placing each bucket and associated shim in a labeled plastic parts box - one that has a bunch of compartments so everything is kept separate. To pull the buckets used an old hard drive magnet on the top - carefully putting a piece of paper toweling between them to avoid scratching the bucket. Measured each shim with a digital micrometer. I mad a spreadsheet that calculated the needed shim thickness using the existing shim thickness and the old valve clearance. It calculate the desired shim thickness. Clearance specs are 0.26 to 0.30. I aimed for 0.28. I wound up with one between 0.26 and 0.27 and another just over 0.29. I exhausted all of the shims of the proper size from my several year old HotCams shim set. After re-assemble the clearances came out very close to the calculated values. Now to put everything back together. Used engine oil and assemble lube on all parts when putting back together. Oil on the shims and buckets but assemble lube on the bearing journals. Carefully put exhaust cam in position making sure the timing chain from the exhaust cam to the sprocket was tight. It seemed a bit loose but turned out it was ok. Lubricated timing chain tensioner with assembly lube and worked it back and forth several times. I moved very freely and don't expect any issues with it. Installed tensioner. Checked timing several times which included rotating the engine the proper direction (counter clockwise - don't trust me check the manual). All was good! Wahoo all I need to do now is put everything back together. Valve cover - had to go buy some gasket tack to get it to stick on the valve cover but otherwise just reverse of disassemble. Torque everything carefully and to specs using a digital torque wrench (strain gauge based). Those are the best for us non-mechanics who do not have top of the line calibrated frequently torque wrenches. Always torque bolts dry unless specified otherwise. Bolts with oil and grease on the threads turn easier and the same torque will have a stronger clamping force and possible stripping a bolt or nut. First start was a nervous one but it fired up and ran perfectly. EDIT: Assembly was pretty much a reverse of disassembly. EDIT: Got it all back together and took it out to bed in the brakes and tires and check everything out. Runs just the same and everything works. Before cleaning the front rotors and putting EBC HH pads on the front had a fairly bad grabby spot on the rotors. Coming to a stop it would suddenly stop and was a bit more challenging to stop smoothly. Felt like the rotors were warped. Cleaning rotors and new pads and now it stops very smoothly with good bite. Not many miles on it but did a good number of slowdowns to 5 to 10 mph from 30 to 50 mph.

So last week I finally dug into the major maintenance on my 2020 Tracer 900 GT. It is just shy of 19,000 miles most os which were put on it last year. Did a valve check and found the exhaust valves way off. I used a combination of some of the write-ups on here and the manual. Zip tied the cams and was concerned about timing but it went back together nicely - big sigh of relief. While in there replaced the plugs which only had 7,000 miles on them - set aside for future use. They looked pristine. Replaced air filter - it could have gone a bit longer but since I was treating this like the 24,000 mile service decided to change it anyway. Installed the GIVI aux light mounting bracket I bought from a member here a number of months ago. It worked great. Bought a couple of small spots from Amazon to mount. Wiring was already in so just a matter of adding matching connectors. LOL so put airbag on and tank on and it ran so then I pulled tank off and airbag back off and synced throttle bodies. While airbag and tank were out of the way I routed the wires for the aux lights using the main wiring harness path. They were routed along the sides of the frame. Mounted a set of Michelin Road 6 tires. While the front wheel was off took scotchbrite and scrubbed the front rotors and replaced the brake pads with EBC HH's. Had an issue with pulsating from brake so will see if it is fixed. Checked runout on the front rotors and looks like 3 to 5 thousands - don't laugh but spun the wheel and held the dial indicator against it while holding it in place against my step stool. Not the best for sure. While checking valve clearances removed the radiator and drained the coolant and filled upon re-installation with fresh Yamacool - or whatever they call their coolant. In the last stages of buttoning everything up and hope to leave Friday for a loooong trip. Need to get some good rides in over the next couple of days to bed the brakes and shake everything down. I've had other bikes but in general the Tracer 900 GT is not too bad to work on. Nothing really strange or bizarre and does a good job of straddling good equipment that is relatively easy to work on. Valve shim changes were easier than my CBR600RR. Very little space to work in. It does have bodywork but that is not too bad to pull off - 3 or 4 times and it becomes an easy task.

Sync'd mine this morning. Took a bit to get everything working. Wound up recalibrating the meter. #2 was a bit low at idle and a bit hight at 4,000RPM. I adjusted it more towards 4,000 RPM. My reference (white paint) is #3 - right side. I've been working on the bike for several days and am so ready to be done with it and set off on my trip.

Leaving Friday for north and west and contemplating coming back via Idaho then east. I'm open to great roads. Have rides from Arco up to Glacier on 93 think it was. Great fun road and should have taken more time to sop and enjoy the sights. Problem for me is it takes so much time to get there don't have lots of time to spare. Leaving Alabama going north to visit my sister in Michigan then to UP and west to somewhere - Canada or just west across Dakotas over to Montana and south to Idaho.

Welcome, I grew up in Chattanooga but moved away many years ago. Headed thru Nashville on Friday towards Michigan UP and then west and north. Some bikes have a pretty easy whine from the transmission. Worse at some speeds and gears. My 2020 Tracer 900 GT has a pretty good whine at some speeds in 6th. It usually is not loud at the speeds I go.

Good points. I have an old fashioned micrometer but bought a digital one just for checking shim thickness. Bought my shim kit when I checked the valves on my FZ6 - they were in spec so didn't use any. Since then I've used them on my CBR600RR, Honda Metropolitian scooter and now my Tracer 900 GT.

Which one is the one with the white paint? Have you gone to the alternate method in the manual? Alternate method is described in this thread as well as in the manual: I'm about to go sync mine.

Would there be an advantage going to the R1 rotors compared to stock rotors with no other mods? I need to clean my rotors as they brake unevenly at slow speeds but if they are warped and need replacement would the R1 be a good option? Don't think they are warped as at higher speeds there is no pulsation in the brake lever when braking.

Thanks for the source, good to know. Not sure what is the holdup on so many different parts but things seem to be getting slowly better. Have been looking for a new pair of gloves. Really like the Held Phanton II that I have but the new version is very expensive $450 and similar but less expensive versions seem to be out of stock in my size. Decided to have a look on eBay. Found pair of Phantom II's exactly like my current pair for$260! Almost $200 less than the new version. Only problem was the vendor was ChromeBurners in Netherlands. I ordered them, paid the $30 shipping and total came to $311 and a week later I had them. Perfect! Was a little concerned that there might be a catch but they are genuine and new in the original packaging. I would not hesitate to buy from them again. Seems like post pandemic there is more space on air freight and things are shipping pretty quickly.

Well if you are considering a BMW (bring more wallet) cost is not a problem 🙂 The real question is, does the S1000RR have heated grips and cruse control 🙂 Seriously cruse control is fantastic for those small towns with low speed limits. I really like the IMU and cornering ABS that the S1000RR has. Think it can control how high it lets the front wheel come up.

Wahoo I would go for it! $9 is a good price for a 2020 IMO. Heck I might even be tempted by it. I have 19,000 miles on my 2020 and love it. Haven't ridden much since my trip last year but in one year I put almost 18,000 miles on the bike! Stock suspension. Haven't ridden a FJ09 but the Tracer 900 GT is a quick bike that can put the miles down but still be fun in the mountains. Last year it saw Utah on one trip and from Michigan to Montana and back thru Wyoming on another trip - I'm in Alabama. It is good just crusing along and the cruse control is wonderful! Suspension is soft enough for the long rides but still OK for the mountains. Keep in mind the Tracer 900 GT has heated grips and cruse control and a longer swingarm. You will want to change the tires on the GT as IMO they are not good. I have added a skid pan, radiator guard, windscreen, aux lights and the small Yamaha top case. With the top case (mostly empty on long trips) it is still stable up to well over the interstate speed limit in Montana of 80MPH. I think the reason they say no top case with side cases is it would be vey easy to overload plus the weight in the top case is pretty far back. With a new spring and rear shock might be OK. i don't ride 2 up.

Yes, have to be careful. June of 2021 rode north from Salina KS to I80 in Nebraska. It was 106 the whole way, mesh jacket with the Dianese vest underneath. I was impressed how well they flowed air. I could shift position slightly and get airflow in a different spot so was always able to keep cool. I remember reading somewhere something about above certain ambient temperatures airflow causes the body to heat up. 106 in dry conditions was as hot as I want to ride. The Dianese vest claims it is like 7 back protectors but I still have a level one in my jacket as backup protection. Yea some folks seem to be out to get you. Post pandemic drivers are much more agressive and quicker but dumber. On my trips I avoid major cities whenever possible. I like riding west of the Mississippi as seems like the drivers are better, secondary roads are better than interstates most of the time.

Can't remember if I re-used mine or not. I'll check it since the bike is apart right now getting the valves checked. Several years ago I was at a WERA endurance race - 4 hours I think. One of the bikes had the sprocket come off, they hauled it to the paddock and came back out only to have it happen again! After that it stayed on!

It was not the incredible difficult job I expected. Everything has gone pretty well - well all I've put back together is the cams and tensioner and checked timing and clearances. In a day or so I'll add a good description of what I went thru. Zip tying the timing chain to the cams and then rolling the exhaust towards the intake worked out very well. I pulled the tensioner before taking the cam journals off and was careful with everything on re-assembly. I was a little worried that I might have skilled a tooth down below but after rotating several times and checking both 0 TDC and 125 BTDC timing marks it is good. I put everything back together with a good coat of oil and assembly lube on the journals. I used a magnet out of an old hard drive to pull the buckets out - a piece of paper towel between the magnet and the bucket. That worked very well! So far much easier than my CBR600RR - more valves and I had to completely re-time it. Interesting thing about that was it was not perfectly timed. Now I know what they are talking about when the say degree'ing the cams. Less than a tooth off but I expected on the engine for it to be exact but it wasn't. Maybe 1/4 tooth or less. It ran good afterwards and had a very strong top end but compared with the Tracer no bottom end - duh it's a 600 I4 with a 15,000 RPM redline.

OK, big sigh of relief! Cams back in place and timing is OK. Exhaust valves check at 0.30, 0.28, 0,30, 0.28, 0.27, 0.28 Very close to my predictions and only one was tighter than I wanted but knew that was going to be the case. It is a loose 0.25 but 0.28 just barely a no go. Compared to what they were they are perfect! Now o put everything else back together!