maximNikenGT

On 9/24/2020 at 10:49 PM, MrFritz86 said:

Ok on the Tracer I tapped on the tail light which is the connector with 2 cables

black is ground as you can see, and tapped the white/red I have a different connection bc I have a aftermarket plate mount now

where the OEM cable was brown to blue on the tail light

so this is a live wire when turning the key on

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!

11 minutes ago, TheBigG said:

Oj! Har Du svenska rötter?

Nej, jag gillar att hälsa människor på sitt modersmål. 

Trevligt att träffas!

1 hour ago, betoney said:

This was after a ride about a week ago, Bridgestone S22.  I'm not sure about actual degrees of lean.

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

9 minutes ago, peteinpa said:

Saw on Youtube that Niken tank is alloy. I'm assuming alluminum.

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

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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?

On 9/18/2020 at 3:39 PM, TheBigG said:

I would like to know how it compares to the Tracer 900. Is it as nimble and sporty as the Tracer? How does the weight feels compared to the Tracer 900? How is the wind protection (legs, body, hands and head)?

BTW - Hallå! 

56 minutes ago, knyte said:

Best typo I've read all day.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, btw.  Very interesting machine!

Actually true on both fronts. 😀

23 hours ago, daboo said:

I'm not going to be the person to help you here.  I joined the forum because the Yamaha FJ-09 was on my short list, and the Tracer GT still is on that short list if I replace my current bike.  Plus, there's a lot to share and enjoy from one motorcycle forum to another.  There, I said it...I'm a forum junkie. 

I hardwired mine directly to the battery.  I'd suggest getting something like a "fuse box" where you connect it to the battery and have everything else connect to it, whether switched power or not.

As for keeping it out of rain, I've invested in a stock of zip-lock bags.    If you think about it, during the wet weather, you probably dial back the throttle a bunch anyway.  (If not, you'll probably not be riding for long anyway.)  In town, I ride with the traffic and really the radar detector is an expensive toy at those times.  It's when I'm out riding country roads that I'm more likely to exceed the speed limit...and I'll be doing less of that in the next several months anyway.

Chris

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!). 

On 9/16/2020 at 3:47 PM, texscottyd said:

The tank on my 2015 FJ is definitely steel, and I can’t imagine it would be any different on a newer Tracer or a Niken.   I just double-checked with the magnet in my RokForm phone case, and it stuck firmly wherever I put it on the metal portions.   

That said,  there is a lot of plastic covering the front half of the tank, plus the area where the seat matches up to the back edge of the tank.   I can see why a magnetic tank bag wouldn’t work, since the front edge/half of the bag would have nothing to cling to.  

The steel part is painted red, but only aft of those elevated plastic covers & center black trim panel... 

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. 

1 hour ago, betoney said:

One thing you have to remember is not many here are familiar with the Niken, most have never even seen one and as far as I know, you are the only one posting on here that actually owns one. 

Recommendations for specific wiring or connector locations will be guesses or assumptions on our part as the basic engine is mostly the same but the rest of the machine is different from the FJ or Tracer.  I know where auxiliary power leads are on the FJ and Tracer but don't know for certain they are in the same location on the Niken.

Most of us on here are more than willing to help but that doesn't mean that our responses will be 100% accurate for your particular case.

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. 

1 hour ago, betoney said:

One thing you have to remember is not many here are familiar with the Niken, most have never even seen one and as far as I know, you are the only one posting on here that actually owns one. 

Recommendations for specific wiring or connector locations will be guesses or assumptions on our part as the basic engine is mostly the same but the rest of the machine is different from the FJ or Tracer.  I know where auxiliary power leads are on the FJ and Tracer but don't know for certain they are in the same location on the Niken.

Most of us on here are more than willing to help but that doesn't mean that our responses will be 100% accurate for your particular case.

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. 😃

On 9/18/2020 at 3:39 PM, TheBigG said:

I would like to know how it compares to the Tracer 900. Is it as nimble and sporty as the Tracer? How does the weight feels compared to the Tracer 900? How is the wind protection (legs, body, hands and head)?

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. 

52 minutes ago, BBB said:

I’m pretty sure one will be ground (black), one will be for rear light and one for brake light. In other words, none will be the switched live that your looking for [These are not the droids you are looking for <waves hand>]

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...

21 hours ago, MrFritz86 said:

Outside the forks wouldn’t be possible since the lights were hitting the fairing, maybe lowering the mounts it would have been possible, but it that case I needed the extension cables

there is a fender mount option, but depends on the bike you might need the extension cables.

with the single intensity relay I had to tap only in one cable (i.e. tag light).
There are different ways of setting them up based on what you’re looking for.
I’m buying another switch bc I want the aux lights to be controlled independently without tapping in the stock lights and control them with the stock light controls

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. 

18 hours ago, betoney said:

Personally, I don’t wire anything directly to the battery, you could if you have an in-line switch but anything directly from he battery is technically always drawing power.

Did you locate the 12v aux power leads? On the Fj and Tracer they are behind the screen.  Those are really convenient to use because they turn on with the key. 

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. 

6 hours ago, 1moreroad said:

I've had PIAA 270 fog lights (not driving lights) on the fender bolt mounts for about a year with no problems. I did use blue Loc tite since there's nothing besides screw torque to keep them from rotating. PIAA sells a bracket to mount the lights and reduce rotation. There's also not any protection for these lights except maybe the handlebar if you crash. 

I tried taking pictures but they don't do the illumination justice. Basically the fog lights add width, not distance. You can kind of see it on the far left side of the photos. The lights illuminate maybe an extra 10 yards to my forward right and left to see what's coming at me from the side of the road. The temperature/color of the light is very close to OE. 

 

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. 

19 hours ago, daboo said:

I have a Uniden DFR9 I bought from Costco a year ago.  I've been using the RAM magnetic mount.  I put the detector where it had a nice clear view of the road ahead.  Uniden doesn't offer a "concealed display", so I figure that if I get pulled over, not only will I deserve it, but I'll get the performance award.

The problem you'll get is trying to keep it out of rain.  The Valentine One is like my Uniden in that they are designed for use in a car.

I found the double-sided tape for the metal piece that sticks to the underside of the detector, needed some help.  The paint on the metal plate needed some sandpaper applied to it to scuff it up and help the tape stick.  Before I did that, it was actually coming loose on a hot summer day with the vibration.  Since then, it hasn't budged.

If I understand it correctly, the Valentine One has a nice feature in that you can get a verbal warning in your headset.  My assumption is that it is using the smartphone app to do this.  For those who don't have that capability, Marc Parnes will add LED lights to your detector that will get your attention if you're picking up an LEO.  I've been using it for most of the riding season and it works great.

Motorcycle Radar Detector Visual Alert

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Ultra-Bright Visual Alert flashes in concert with your Radar...

Chris

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. 

20 hours ago, knyte said:

Yep, I've experienced this, too.  No matter what kind of adapter you insert, it seems to vibrate out - super annoying.  Could zip-tie it down I guess, but then you wouldn't be able to replace the cover.

My Garmin Zumo 396 LMT-S came with the cable to hardwire directly from the battery (easy to install).  This is both good and bad.  It's good because...it was included!!  It's bad because the live traffic receiver is NOT included nor supported in this configuration.  The default motorcycle mount has a two-pin power connector when it's all assembled.  For the traffic updates, there is a seperate power cable that uses a micro-USB cable instead.  Garmin assumes that you will be pairing with your smartphone on your motorcycle, so receives traffic data through the phone.  However, maybe not everyone wants that.  I could install a vehicle mount instead, but then, using a different mount and power connector, there is no protection from rain.  Arg!

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?

6 hours ago, MrFritz86 said:

I didn’t take pics during nighttime yet, but I can definitely do it
I'm planning on buying the dual intensity relay and hi/low switch pretty soon

here some pics of the lights and mounts
please consider that I have the DM 2.0 kit

D2 2.0 kit is a step up

Denali DM lights

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Imgur: The magic of the Internet

 

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?

9 hours ago, MrFritz86 said:

I added Denali DM 2 Kit with the fork mounts on my tracer bc I had the same issue

Dark in the area from the front wheel to where the beam started to hit the road

it made a huge improvement, now the front road is well lit and it made the road ahead better illuminated, also on both sides

you might want to consider the D2 if you want a wider and deeper illumination 

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?

On 9/22/2020 at 1:09 PM, BBB said:

@maximNikenGT, lots of info in here about the spare connectors under the windshield. I’m guessing they are there on the Niken too.

I replaced the cigarette lighter adaptor completely, with a dual USB outlet that had a volt meter display in between the two outlets. There are a myriad of these on ebay.

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

12 hours ago, knyte said:

I've tried a light plastic adapter, and a heavy metallic adapter.  Both rattled out, warm or cold.

Nuts. Good info though. Not much user of the cigarette lighter adapters then. Unless.., anyone know if you can use the old school push in auto cigarette lighters into these ports? In case I ever needed a match at least the ports could do that?