PeterL

I second that heartily. I've owned two of these, both pre-2008 models which I highly recommend, and while they have their downsides (heavy, 'doohickey' issues, weak front brake) none were dealbreakers for me. I'm a plonker not an MX'er, so 'heavy' wasn't an issue, especially as NOTHING seems to be able to stop one of these from running forever. (Almost nothing. See for an amusing exception) By now most any used KLR you find should have had the doohickey replaced. And upgrades to the front brake can range from steel lines and better pads up to larger rotors and caliper upgrades. All well documented online. Yes it's carbureted. But as the KLR is contemporary with stone knives and bearskins, and just as basic, that's generally acceptable. Carb tech is a century old and fairly dependable. Lots of used bikes out there worthy of consideration. Make a list of your wants and requirements, weight each item for importance, then look at old reviews online and make notes for any bike you are considering. It may not identify the perfect choice, but it should at least weed out the ones you would not find suitable per your list, and should give you a 'top 5' or so to look at seriously. You won't get cutting edge here. But you will get affordable (relatively these days anyway), cheap to insure and repair. Best of luck in your hunt.

If this happens a lot (as postings seem to indicate) you might consider posting your design up on Thingiverse so it would be available to all. Thanks for your efforts (sez the guy currently trying to model his way out of paying Audi $$$ for their 'special' wiper fitting)!

The 2019 Tracer and Tracer GT are the same bike, the GT just has more options loaded. The seats are interchangeable (Yamaha part #'s are the same for both versions). I know a few owners here have the Bagster seat and seem to like it well.

Is it the pullback, or is the angle wrong for your wrists? If the former, consider something like these adapters (eBay type shown, lots more varieties and spacing specs out there) easier and cheaper than swapping bars. If it's your wrists, and rotating the bars up or down doesn't help, then bars may be your only recourse.

Instinct28 sez: bars have vibration that makes my ... hand go numb after 20 minutes of riding First thought- get both tires rebalanced.

Just a word of warning: if you cut the centerstand legs, you need to reinforce (via either an internal rod or an external sleeve) when you reassemble as the welded joint will NOT be as strong as the original virgin tubing. Yes this adds a bit of weight, but it's better than having your stand fail and your bike winding up on its side.

Yep. I've had the cables on and off enough times since I inherited it when my friend passed. Only had 463 miles on it too, what a shame. Other than the original oil change, I've been the only one to wrench on it. Of course, the shop he bought it from was run and staffed by idiots, so maybe THEY mucked up the original setup. I'll play with it the next time I have it down to work on, but it's given me no problems thus far. Thanks.

I think the point is to not exceed the rated carrying capacity of the MC overall. If you're not carrying a pillion, you ought to be able to carry all 3 bags full, I certainly do. As others have stated, you should put all your heavier items in the side bags, roughly balancing the loads, to insure you impart minimal effect on the handling characteristics of the bike. (Add some pressure to your tires if you normally ride light as well) Check your topcase rack for the spec of allowable weight, which is of course inclusive of the case itself! And just from my own experience, adding a canister of helium to your luggage does NOT help reduce the weight. Hardly seems fair... 😉 Sounds like a great trip. Hope you'll post some pics on your return.

Again, no offense meant, but you might check that the physical markings on the battery case itself ("+" and "-") are connected to the proper (red and black) cables on the bike. (My 2019 GT also has an upright battery fyi, works just fine) A voltmeter test can insure everything is labelled correctly as well prior to installation. The case markings should ALWAYS be correct due to the construction process itself. Anything requiring user intervention, like applying color coded sleeving or such say, can and will be done wrong sooner or later. Texscottyd has the right of it that you need to check your fuses before turning the key.

Nope. The keys used on those are pretty much what was on your high school locker door, or maybe your sisters diary, too small to accommodate the Yamaha key.

Note the Tuono does not contain the entire catalog of electronic aids that the RS660 encompasses unless you shell out a couple hundred extra for the upgraded IMU. Rather a curious decision on their part, especially given the development history and endpoint of its big brother. I'd give it about a year before Aprilia yields to the pressure and drops in the entire kit as base configuration. And the quickshifter costs extra as well... I love what Aprilia has done with this bike/engine. But after seeing the RS's rampant overheating at the MotoAmerica Twins Cup rounds at the Ridge, I'd want to know they'd fixed whatever weakness exists in the cooling system before adding one to my stable. YMMV however.

FWIW- I took a 30 minute test ride on the latest gen of the Can-Am Spyder RT (that's the touring version w/bags and such) a few months back. These days they are using an electric power steering system. The original model had NO power assist, and going around corners took a lot of grunt. Aside from a touch of hunting at VERY low speeds, this new system worked quite well. The transmission will work in either fully automatic mode or via bar-mounted switches. No manual option is offered. And the braking system is linked (arguably good) and operated by a foot pedal reminiscent of a VW bug or a 60's Vespa (which just felt weird to me). Reverse was kinda neat, especially compared to grunting through the chore manually on my C14. Ergonomics were well thought out, and all the controls fell readily to hand. The engine was smooth and seemed to have plenty of power, but bear in mind I did NOT get it on the freeway. It was actually a lot of fun to drive, and I can understand why I seem to be seeing a lot more on the roads these days. Still loves me my two wheelers, but if the creeping decrepitude ever catches up with me, I might take a closer look.

Training for a career in NASCAR?

I think "oil" might be the key word here. I've found that that single factor can have a huge impact on how the clutch and transmission 'feel'. I've run either Shell Rotella (synthetic) or Mobil Delvac (dino) in my bikes forever, basically because I've found them to work well. For my last oil change on the Tracer I tried Castrol Actevo 10w-40, but that seemed to make things 'notchier' so I'll be reverting next time out. Wear-wise, after the first few thousand miles, things like the gear meshes should have achieved 95+% of their normal wear, everything past that point that isn't a critical failure should be almost imperceptible. Of course your foot might just be better calibrated than mine... 😉

I agree wholeheartedly with only your last I'm afraid. Trials is a motor sport, and arguably at it's best when at 5mph or less. Flat track? Fast, but not THAT fast. And I know I'm not brave enough to run that close to other riders on big iron, in a situation where traction is largely a theoretical concept. And sport IMHO can be found when any 2 or more individuals wish to determine who is 'best'. I used to compete in hang gliding events. Dozens of flyers, often not in visual range of one another, as you hunt for thermals and tailwinds to navigate waypoints and reach a goal first. Airspeed: 20 to 60+ mph. Difficulty: as a species we were not DESIGNED as flyers, so yeah, rather demanding to learn to do it well ('tis more art than science). But at the end of the day, sipping our beverages and telling our tales, we all felt like sportsmen and women. Don't care about the odds. I drive a car only when riding is impossible. So where my car may log 5k in a year, my bikes cumulatively manage 10 or even 20 times that. Driving is transportation, riding is life itself to me.

I just demo'd a 1290 SuperDuke R (among many others) at the IMS at Sonoma/Sears Point last weekend. Aside from style, handling, and ludicrous amounts of power it has absolutely nothing to recommend it. Well, OK, *I* recommend it! I loved watching the Super Hooligan round at Laguna Seca a few weeks ago. I'm still curious why Fillmore and DiBrino (who finished 1-2) were on the 890 rather than the 1290? Can't argue with the overall results, nobody else could touch those two, but the 1290 isn't all THAT much heavier, and the HP/torque difference is just staggering. On a track like Laguna, I'd think you'd want the extra grunt, especially if you've all the aerodynamic efficacy of a chunk of concrete.

It's not that you have a problem. Just that you're hanging out with the wrong people. Us! My friend had a fixation on owning just one perfect bike. Of course he never found it, spent an ungodly amount of money trying, and bitched endlessly about how much he missed damn near every bike he ever sold. I, being of unsound mind and proud of it, have always wanted a garage that would be easily mistaken for the Barber Motorsports Museum. My wife thinks I'm crazy, but who is she to talk? She married me after all... Stop worrying, grab your gear and go take a ride. You'll feel much better.

One thing I always do with a new acquisition is to swap out the OEM windshield screws for some button-head hex drive items, which I find much easier and faster to deal with than those accursed Phillips items. With a standard hex key I can swap a windshield in under 5 minutes. If I grab my powered screwdriver I can do it in under 2. It takes me longer to check my tire pressures!

In general, batteries not being actively used/cycled fare best if either kept on a charger full-time or at least topped up regularly. The worst thing is to let them sit in a discharged state for extended periods. FWIW- I do a whole lot of electronic DIY. When I need stand alone power I use commonly available 18650 Li-ion batteries as they are flexible and pretty much universally supported. You can buy a battery case like this off eBay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/402904626042?hash=item5dcefcb37a:g:66AAAOSw5WZgvYBr and you have a pretty much plug and play setup. Battery capacities (mAh ratings) vary, as do their pricing in roughly direct proportion. Two side benefits to this approach- 1) batteries can be changed/upgraded as desired leaving you with a 'new' unit all over again, and 2) most cases includes a USB port for charging cell phones or such. If you are comfortable with basic electronics, you can save a lot over an OEM battery pack and gain significant flexibility. Basically, you'd require: a battery case unit with 12v output a charger for topping up the case between usages. A simple wall-wart type works well and is portable enough to carry on trips easily. Bigger power rating charges faster in general. sufficient 18650 batteries for your chosen case, capacity rating of your discretion but best QUALITY is highly recommended. No-name units rarely meet their stated specs in my experience. a DIY cable to connect the pack to your clothing

The advantage to GIVI/Kappa is that the side cases can be used on any GIVI rack, no matter the bike underneath it all. Topcases get to worry about Monolock/Monokey variants. (Quick- who else has had to look up the difference. Repeatedly?) The downside is that, being universal, they do not fit as snugly to the MC as a purpose built item such as the Yamaha bag/rack combo does. If you lanesplit, it is worthy of note.

We have a pair labelled "OlarHike" (dunno) bought off Amazon maybe 5 years ago. The packs are very well insulated, which was a big factor in our purchase decision. When out for a long day of riding, we'd stuff the bag about half full of ice, then top it up with water. At days end, even if we'd added water during the day, there would often still have a bit of ice left. Note that we'd wear the units OVER our jackets rather than under to avoid the body heat issue. If I can, rather than wearing the unit, I stuff the bladder into my tankbag and wrap it in spare clothes or a towel for insulation. Then I just clip the (long) tube to my jacket and run the nozzle up to my helmet. Much more comfortable.

Uh- that would likely be the same engineer who put the scroll wheel on my 2019 on the THROTTLE-side housing, whilst crowding the left with the TCS and MODE switchgear? Yeah, he's probably the chairman's nephew or something...

Any details you care to share? I'd also done the "eBay lever" thing, with the same result. I put the OEM clutch lever back on for the nonce, just have not done the work to design and print a fix as yet.

A friend gifted me with a bottle (42 pairs) of SOUNDOUT Earplugs, which also come with a rubber case for carrying spares in your pocket. I've found these to be quite comfortable even on an all-day ride. They are now a permanent part of my kit.

I'll design one for ya. Although I shudder at the possible options for a hot water supply... (How DOES Prestone mix with creamer I wonder?)