Warchild

I just finished watching that race - no real spoilers here, except to say it was gratifying to see Vale finished as high as he did for his final Italian race. 👍

I had planned on taking the S1000XR for a little 600-mile weekend romp, until 30 minutes before departure, I noticed the rear tire had a short section of "ginsu knives" effect - that gnarley tread separation. It would be bare steel within a couple hundred miles, so, nope. Instant change of plans, The Yamaha assumes all duties for this weekend, because the Motorcycle Gods have Shined the Light upon it! https://www.relive.cc/view/v1vj1MKLwJq

Today I put away the ginormous FJR1300 side cases and went back to my factory hard bags, which have seen no action since the outer lids were re-sprayed gloss black last spring. I did a nice ceramic coating on the lids, and added these splendid little black/silver accents:

I do recall a lot of assertive passing on curves while climbing Blewett Pass in central Washington this past weekend, but I didn't think it was too extreme. Could be wrong, I suppose. 🤨 There are Dunlop RoadSmart IV's with 8600 miles on them.

Dunno what to make of Suzuki's model announcement strategy. One of the main reasons I finally unloaded my 12-year old Gen II Hayabusa last year was that Suzuki did not appear to be doing a Gen 3 version - and kept us hanging for years, quite frankly. But a couple months after purchasing the BMW S1000XR replacement bike, Suzuki releases the Gen 3 Hayabusa. F*#kers. 😖 And now this. As much as I like the Tracer - this GSX-S1000GT has a lot of appeal. A LOT of appeal. Full color 6.5" TFT instrument pod, CANBUS, Ride-by-Wire electronic throttle bodies, Up/Down Shift Assist, Brembo monobloc calipers, cruise control... when this bike is available, it merits a look. But I am pretty much married to the Tracer at this point. But still wanna look at one. 😃 I’m drawn to the all-black GSXS as well...

Yep, true story... read it here: https://ridermagazine.com/2021/09/21/riders-2021-motorcycle-of-the-year/

These bags are hard to find, and very spendy if you can find them. I was extremely fortunate to have a friend who painted these with the Yamaha Racing heritage paint many, many years ago... they offer a substantial increase in carrying capacity - each saddlebag can hold an XL Shoei or HJC helmet:

Factory GT bags vs 2005 FJR bags:

All true enough... had just forgotten that the 8K maint has the more tasks involved. Since I am confident my ancient mercury sticks were lost long ago, gotta wait for the new CarbTune to arrive anyway, before I start yanking panels. We'll ride the bike till then.

I am ~150 miles tardy for the 8K maintenance. Wanted to take wifely out for a spin today, so after finishing up the oil change, I thought it best to quickly RTFM to ensure I didn't miss anything. ACK! The 8K maintenance task schedule is the bigger one: spark plugs/air filter/throttle-body synch.... doesn't look like we are taking the Tracer today. Except maybe to the dealership to buy parts. I'm sure we have a gazillion threads on replacing plugs/air filters and synch-ing TB's.... thought I saw a dedicated forum on it before, can't seem to find it now. If anyone can point out a linky-link, I'd appreciate it And I think I'd better wash this bike before I starting disassembling... 🙄

Curious, are those LED lamps in the upper rear corners of the GIVI? If so - have you got them wired up?

From the website: https://pnwgrandtour.com/ Welcome to the inaugural season of PNW Grand Tour! We are trying to fill a void for riders who are eager to get out and explore the beautiful roads of the PNW without the competitive nature of a timed rally. This rally was started as a labor of love to fill a void left by two earlier GT style rallies that no longer operate for a variety of reasons. Visit as many locations as you like from a selection in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and portions of Western Montana, Northern Nevada and Northern California.

Lochsa Lodge is just awesome - little wonder it was on the PNW-GrandTour this year. We spent the night in a cabin, temps in the low 40's for breakfast. Annie was happy to have her Warm-N-Safe liner to wear:

Today on the Tracer: Warchild-wife and I completed Finisher Status in the inaugural PNW-Grand Tour event, picking up 12 of 30 Location offerings on the Tour. The final two that gave us Finisher status were: White Bird, Idaho and then Lochsa Lodge on HWY 12 west of Lolo Pass: https://www.relive.cc/view/v36AgRN8RGv

I washed my poor, neglected Tracer this morning... after 8000 miles the first three months of ownership, it's been sitting pretty much dormant since a three-day Idaho blast with wifey around the 4th of July. In fact, it was that trip's layer of bugs that got washed off! 😕 Ownership abuse, I know. At least the bike is clean.

Holy shit, this is nuts! And you are staying on asphalt most all the time, aren't you? That is some scary stuff. I have the Givi rad guard and R&G Fenda Extenda, and have been resisting a skid plate. But nowadays I am thinking a SW-Motech skid plate is probably indicated.

Another data-point in the discussion - myself and Warchild-wife recently did a stint in central Nevada. Following numbers represent 2-up, full FJR1300 side bags and a full Shad40 - so we're heavy by factory standards. Day 1, I was in a hurry to get to Ely, and really rampaged the roads in a naughty fashion. Setting the cruise-control at 85+ ranges for hundreds of miles at a time. First tank was 41mpg, the 2nd was 39mpg. ☹️ Day 2, I purposely kept the cruise control at a painful 67-mph, and was rewarded with a solid 53-54mpg. For the amount of weight the bike is carrying, I find this exceptional. It's allows for a reasonable 200+ mile range. At least the price of boredom speeds is knowing you can make it to the next dusty Nevada town, and hope there is available fuel. 👍

Howard Leight MAXX NR44 earplugs, the de-facto standard within the Iron Butt community.

The Pazzo Racing Levers are absolutely perfect in every way for the Tracer 900 GT.

Semi-synthetic 🙂

I've been riding so hard in June that I can't seem to stop for maintenance, or even long enough to wash the damn bikes. The Tracer is currently 500 miles overdue for an oil change, and I am taking Warchild-wife on a 3-day, 1400-mile blast around northern Idaho starting tomorrow morning. Forced myself to stop long enough for an oil change: And it's not just the Tracer that doesn't get washed during this frenzied time - over 3000 miles in the past 30 days for the XR. Really should to slow down long enough to wash these bikes... but not today. 😃

Now to be more accurate - the black chain adjuster is aluminum, the adjuster bolt is steel, but the jam nut and axle nut are made from gorgeous Titanium ti6alv4, and weighs in at 20g. And it's just too pretty not to share... 🥰

This, a million times. These silly-ass beaks are just embarrassing. Marketed by those who want you to believe the Tracer is somehow a mini-GS bike, and you can ride off-road, too, after installing a beak. 🙄 Please. To each their own, what-ev's, just know these goofy things look ridiculous on your road machine. At least 2021 owners won't be doing this clown addition due to their headlight location.

Those are Those are Oberon Racing footpegs from my 2005 Yamaha YZF-R1 - they are so cool, they afford an extra 5-hp put to ground:

Warchild-wife gets to have her comfy FJR1300 footpegs back just in time for a major 3000-mile tour. We depart in 6 days - can't wait. Now that the Ohlins has fixed the suspension issues, we are about set!