Bob K

18 hours ago, Manxkiwi said:

Ah, I didn't realise that. I haven't ridden one, but believe they are very good.

Oh well, you'll have to make do with a 900 then! I see you found a non GT bike. If that doesn't work out for any reason, I would highly recommend trying to seek out a GT. There are a good number of differences, all of them good to have IMO.

Can anyone confirm that the non GT has unadjustable forks? Or am i mistaken? 

 

My 2020 GT has adjustable Spring preload & Rebound damping settings for the forks .

4 hours ago, kyle J said:

I'm leaning towards the 2020 tracer 900 gt , there is one for sale near me only 1500 km on it .

I would definitely b e replacing the wind screen , any suggestions?

Get the shorter than factory , racing screen . No wind to your neck area & clean air at the helmet . Also the bike tracks straight down the road in the wind . If you want to set back & smoke going down the road get a HD .

Hands down go get the 900 GT . The FJ is a shorter wheel base wheely machine . You will need to change the seat & install set back bar mounts . That electronic cruse control is better than sliced bread ! I am 6'1 200 pounds , I too had a Night hawk in the 80's blue & black now a classic .  

Has anyone tried using 87 OT in there Tracer 900 ?

I feel your pain man, I had most of the same energies in the spring of 2019 ,no broken arm but a smashed up ankle where the bike landed on me . I was getting tired & cold riding a state road I had never been on came around a sweeping curve , state road ended & turned to mud & gravel . The bike did not have ABS .  I tried to slow back end came around & I high sided at 50 MPH . The collar bone is slow to heel , do exactly what the doc says , I still have pain in the area the metal plate is Take care of your self get healed up for next year .    

Thanks every one for the replies .

Someone with a manual know the torque in ft. pounds of the front motor mount bolt ?

I bought a set of Woodcraft frame sliders . They look nice & may save damage from a parking drop . I am old as dirt you know .

3 hours ago, TomTracer said:

I bet the there is only miniscule visible difference in the sight glass either way. Why not check oil level both ways and compare. As for me, I will check with the bike in the position it's in when I ride, upright with both tires on the ground. !!!👍

I am with Tom on this both wheels on the ground to check . It may be set up that way because they do not want you to warm engine on the center stand for safety reasons . Running on the center stand the rear wheel will turn even if out of gear . I have read that will cause a code to appear in the dash ? 

According to my 2020 book , the check should be made on level ground with the bike held upright not on the center stand . It makes quite a difference at the sight window . 

I wounder if there might have been some fueling changes made at the factory, since I have seen nothing lower than the low 50's in the 2200 miles I have road the bike ? According to the paper work I got from the dealer my bike only came to there dealer ship in Jan of 2021 .

I could not be leave what my dash was telling me about fuel consumption . So after a 200 mile ride on different types of roads  some using cruse & some not , at times gassing & having fun with the engine. I put it to paper and got an amazing 55.6 MPG.

My MT07 never got over 49.0 MPG .   😀

Corbon 

[1]  #5 considerably more comfortable

[2] #4 slope is a bit better , I like a bit of slope , it puts you in position to flat foot at red lights .

Rain finally stopped here. I set out to test my new Corbon seat that had only 200 miles logged on it . I logged 192 miles on it without getting off the bike , even passing a ice cream shop because I was testing the seat , that's a first for me !! The plan was to run a full tank out without getting off the bike . I ran out of time with 1/4 tank left, & I was not conserving fuel , just having a ball with the engine . Seat was fine , I sure would never done that with the stock seat .  😀

9 minutes ago, Heli ATP said:

I love my Corbin. With my short inseam I slide forward for stops, and sit back in the hug zone for the faster sections and never a sore butt. The stock seat caused all kinds of discomfort. I tried different pants, underwear etc to no avail.

Today I rode 160 miles and my butt feels like I could have spent the day on the couch. Had I been on the couch my back would tell me, but I feel great after 3 hours on the Corbin.

You pretty much hit it out of the park explaining the function of the Corbon seat . The Tracer is a tall bike ever a fairly tall rider needs to be on the front of the seat when coming up to a stop . The leather cover allows you to slide forward easily . The one I had on my MT 07 I could ride out a tank of gas 190 ish  miles with little discomfort .   

58 minutes ago, TomTracer said:

My Sargeant seat cost that and it is very comfy. I had a Corbin on a BMW years ago that was awful. Hope your experience is good. The black seat back doohickys dont work with my seat, had to cut off half of the step, worjs great now. 

I put a Corbon on my MT 07 that was great !

1 hour ago, tedski said:

Does the Corbin seat pan still use the plastic adjuster thing that the stock seat does or does it work around that?

With the Corbon seat you remove the plastic height adjuster & the front part of the seat goes into the  lower mount position .

Simply push down at the back of the seat & the key lock snaps .

6 minutes ago, TomTracer said:

What seat?

Corbon , what else . $622.00 TMD 😢

I will try to post a better pic of the seat .

Well it finally came today , over 5 weeks , but it is a beaut !! It is 100 deg. with 105 deg. heat index but I took a short ride anyway .

Seat is much improved over stock , sets you up about like the high setting with the stock seat .

9 hours ago, Wintersdark said:

I never ride without gloves, on account of being in a few accidents and tearing apart armoured gloves.  Couple that with googling "degloved hands".  Gloves for me are the step below helmets. 

But, that's all for my preachiness - I'm the last person who should be preachy anyways - No.  I don't remove mine.  On the newer Tracer 900 and Tracer 9, the hand guards don't cause any appreciable turbulence.  I can't speak for the older FJ, but for us?  

I tend to just set cruise control and ride home hands-free more often than not when commuting to/from work, and even down windy streets at speed there's no problem at all to have smooth control without hands on the bars - and Calgary is a windy town. 

With that said, the flip side is that the hand guards aren't very good as far as hand guards go.  They'll reduce the amount of bugs splattered (which is a huge deal for me, we've got LOTS of bugs at dawn and dusk, and that's where my daily riding happens), *almost* always protect from rocks and hard hurty things, but only kind of protect from the elements.  Aftermarket handguards are much better if you're riding in cold conditions.  

Basically, the stock guards are kind of mid-way between full, "good" handguards, and no guards at all.  Which is either great if you don't want big wind-grabby things on your bars and only want moderate protection.... or garbage if you want actually good protection.

I agree with the protection of gloves , I had a bad high side crash in 2019 with gloves & cold weather gear on & had no skin abrasions just lots of broken bones . I been having trouble with elastic cuff cutting off circulation in my throttle hand , I may try to remove the elastic around the cuff . For now then the hand guards stay , thinks for your input .

This is the first bike I have had with hand guards . Does anybody remove them for summer riding ? I wounder if they cause extra turbulence ? I kinda like them for keeping the sticky bugs off the hands when riding with no gloves .

On 6/7/2021 at 8:33 PM, Skidood said:

Reviving this thread simply to ask, is it OK  (with the sidestand down)  to put all my weight on the inboard peg and mount the bike?  When just standing beside the bike  I find it very difficult to swing my right leg over the back when getting on as I have a top case on the passenger seat and I am not a very flexible dude.. I worry about overstressing the stand.  I weight 205 lbs with gear..

I have wondered the same thing , with the tail bag it is hard to get the leg over . I found that placing the right knee firmly in the seat before putting my left foot on the peg takes a lot of weight off the side stand . 

Has anyone used the Walmart Dupont brand chain cleaner & wax based chain lube ? I bought a couple cans , & seams ok but you don't see the white film on the chain like some other brands of lube . I wounder if it is doing its job ?

6 hours ago, TomTracer said:

The Annual Mile is held at the IL State Fair Grounds, FWIW. Neat racing!

Yes Tom brain fart on my part . Another sign of aging we all face . ☹️

Glad I seen your thread Tom , I some times think I am getting to old to ride glad to know there are plenty of others . I am 72 & been riding since I was 14 or 15 years old , I did the flat track thing all through the mid 60's & 70's & lived through that !

I am still working 4 days soon to be 3 days a week so my rides for now are day rides usually 200 miles or less , but I do enjoy going to Springfield , ILL. to the mile race , 500 miles if I come back same day . For now it's just day rides because my wife is not well & must have someone home with here at night . I bought the tracer so if I ever get the time & still able I can go places unknown .