maximNikenGT

I became a sighting the other night when I rode out to Lake Lure, NC. As I was rolling through some of the smaller towns I had a passenger bust out his cell phone and video me while I was just riding down the highway. So far I haven't had too much attention from other motorists.

Ok so you only have two cables to pick from for your taillight. For some reason I've got three cables (brown, yellow and black) before they hit a connector where they change colors on me (black, yellow and blue) before going to the tail light. I already tried to tap yellow and that didn't work, so it must be brown. Will try that next for my live wire once my shipment of positaps arrive . Thank you!

Nej, jag gillar att hälsa människor på sitt modersmål. Trevligt att träffas!

Think I have to excuse myself to go sit at the children's table now. Wow that is close to the edge!

Is definitely not magnetic steel. I didn't know they make motorcycle gas tanks out of aluminum. I knew they did frames, swingarms and wheels, just not gas tanks. Learned something new!

Placed an order for SW Motech Kobra handguards after calling up Barkbusters and being told they currently do not have a handguard kit for Nikens. My KOBRA handguards, MV Augusta Brutal 800 - SW-MOTECH KOBRA handguards offer protection from weather conditions and falls and... hands were cold during an evening ride earlier this week and these should help fight that.

Was checking my tires on my Niken and noticed how close to the edges I was scuffing the tires. According to the Niken manual, one hits peg scrapers at 43 degrees with maximum steering locked out at 45 degrees. I can say confidently that I never went that far over on my R1150R. Before I start imagining crazy stuff like being the next Valentino Rossi, how far does everyone lean into the corners as evidenced by scuffing on your tire photos?

BTW - Hallå!

Actually true on both fronts. 😀

Greatly appreciate the help and support of fellow gear heads while I'm learning more about this wonderful machine. This is my first Yamaha (although I suspect watching all the videos on YouTube from YammieNoob has influenced my subconscious somehow - BUSA!).

My tank appears to be metal (non magnetic). I checked the underside to see if it was just plastic cladding - looks like only the front part is plastic cladding.

Trying to tap into live wire. Tail light wiring didn't appear to work (tried yellow). Will attempt tapping into the 12v rear auxiliary adapter since there is only a brown and black (assuming ground) cables and the adapter is always on. Photos below were my attempts at finding the tail light wiring locations. Photo with the nitrile blue glove is of the wiring going into the tail light. Other photo is of the 12v auxiliary rear adapter that I'm going to attempt to tap into.

Understood. I'm hoping Yamaha shared electrical wiring configurations across their models since I'm not able to find any other Niken owners to compare notes. This is my first Yamaha so I'm hoping the collective intelligence of the forum will help me avoid major mistakes since this is all new territory. Part of the fun of discovery. 😃

I've not ridden a Tracer but I can compare to an '04 BMW R1150R,'95 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6E, and a 2018 BMW K1600GTL. Not as nimble as my R1150R, but probably more sporty because I take turns in the Niken way deeper than any other bikes I've owned (as evidenced by my high wear marks at the edges of my tires). Weight is heavier than my R1150R and ZX-6E, but not as heavy as a k1600gtl or 2018 Honda Goldwing. I'm a heavier guy (195 pounds / 88 kg) so your experience may vary but in my case, Niken GT speed and acceleration on the triple was plenty adequate. I've test ridden Ducati 1200 multistradas and BMW S1000XRs and for me those bikes, while plenty powerful, were more of an exercise in throttle restraint because of the monster engines that for me, I wouldn't really ever explore the upper limits on the street safely. Once you're at speed it's not so much the feeling of heaviness so much as the feeling of stability that surprised me. It somehow gives the feeling of being planted like a car yet still able to turn/lean like a regular motorcycle and it still confuses my basic motorcycle senses that have been conditioned over 30 years of riding. Wind protection is not as good as a K1600gtl or Goldwing, better than the R1150R, about the same as the Ninja ZX-6E. I genuinely thought the wind protection would be a lot better given how big the front end is, but my head was in the airstream despite the taller GT windscreen, and I could feel the cold of 55 degree Fahrenheit /~13 degrees Celsius night air on my shoulders, hands and legs while highway riding. Riding position is wonderfully upright comfortable and I banged out a 150 Mile /241km ride on my second outing with my only fatigue coming from my neck muscles not used to wearing a helmet again. Legs were not cramped (I'm 5' 11 inches / 180cm tall with a 32" / 81cm inseam) although I am on the balls of my feet at stoplights. I was surprised at how tall the seat height of the Niken GT is for me. I rode a friend's '95 Honda CBR 600 once and that was my benchmark for motorcycles that just loved to turn and was built for the turns. Although the Niken doesn't turn in quite as easily as that CBR 600, the Niken loves to turn by letting you go way deeper and safely into turns that I would not normally attempt while street riding.

Clarifying question please - my Niken tail lights are always on (not the brake light) when I switch on the ignition - doesn't that mean one of the wires is always live? I think I'm missing something on what it means to be a live wire...

How many wires did you have going to your tail light, what colors were they, and which one did you tap into? I'm trying to tap into a live tail light wire for my arboreal systems Aurora power distribution module but am unsure as to which wire is the live one.

Glad you reminded me of these - I am going to try and tap one of the these 12v auxiliary power leads for my arboreal systems Aurora power distribution module since my attempts at tapoing into tail light wiring didn't seem to give a live signal (can't tell why). There are three cables for my tail light , yellow, brown and black and I tapped into yellow but nothing on my Aurora.

Super helpful. Looks great! Thank you.

Need some assistance please with trying to connect my power distribution module to my tail light cables please. According to my instructions I'm supposed to connect the yellow cable to an active wire e.g. Generally the tail light. I think I've found which set of cables it is however there are three cables as part of the tail light cabling. A black, a brown and a yellow cable. I'm assuming black is ground, what are the brown vs yellow cables?

So far I've got recommendations for Denali D2. Was also looking at the PIAA 270s and Clearwater Darla. Would help if anyone had night photos of the beam patterns for these lights please.

Super helpful. Did you hardwire directly to the battery or did you tap into another wire for power? I've got the same concern of keeping it out of the rain and moisture. Not sure I've got a great answer yet. Any pics of your dash setup would help since I'm trying to figure out optimal wire routing please.

I am actually considering getting this Zumo so that info on the traffic alerts is very helpful. Clarification please - so I have to use alternative power wiring for the GPS and bluetooth pair my iPhone to the Zumo in order to get traffic alerts?

Looks great! Did you have the option to mount the lights on the outside of the forks instead of the inside? Not sure I can do an iside mount because of my front Niken suspension mechanism. Also did you wire the lights directly to the battery or did you tap into the headlight wiring?

Do you have a picture of what it looks like mounted on your forks as well as nighttime pictures of what the light throw pattern looks like with and without the D2s?

You mean like one of these? Any pix of how it looks installed?