OZVFR

Hmmm, I’m not sure there’s anyone left in NZ, I think they’re all here. Im also not sure they have internet, Australia hasn’t got a cable to all of its islands yet. 😀

Yeah, some people also only listen to 1970s music because their brains are full

Bugger, was referring to the 15/17 tracer. Didn't even realize I was in the Niken corner. My bad.

If you don't drink wile working on the bike, how in hell can you tell someone how long it took to do the job? It's like the standard time measurement in motorcycle mechanics.

Maxima 5 is 15.9cst@40, Motul 5 is 18.3cst@40 so slightly heavier but not much in it, for proper flow rate with what? The stock valving is badly under damped, so I would be going closer to 25cst@40, but that is just my preference. 0.85 springs are fine, I went with 0.9 but it's just my preference as I often load the bike up for long trips. You will definitely get better suspension the more you spend, but you can also get the front working reasonably well with new springs and a new shim stack. Even better if you opt for high flow valves. Not much you can do with the rear shock except throw it in the bin. It must have cost Yamaha around $15 for that metal tube with a toilet plunger in oil.

The same place where the original one is bolted.

I hear there is fantastic riding to be done there. If you're not handy with suspension work, the best bet is to find a good suspension shop in your area. There is a fix, I just gave you one option, there's no fix using the stock parts, they are rubbish. It also depends on your type of riding, some folks don't find anything wrong with the stock set up, and some people can't tell the difference between good and bad suspension. As long as it brings a smile to your face, it's money well spent.

HI’m 163lb, and found the rear shock had the correct spring rate for our weight, but is was too long to get correct sag. It also had practically no damping, compression or rebound. And my bike only had 7000km on the clock when I bought it Only way to fix it was to replace it, transformed the rear The front originally has a progressive springs, 0.7kg/mm soft part and 0.9km/mm on the hard part, again with practically no damping. The correct spring for my weight is 0.9 but it’s impossible to get correct sag with the soft portion. They also don’t have enough oil height which makes dive even worse. With the single rate 0.9 springs and Racetech gold valves the bike is a totally different beast, much better over bumps, solid on turns and very low dive under brakes I also raised the forks 15mm on the triples to place more weight on the front wheel. The bike now compresses evenly in hard turns, is much more stable, isn’t unsettled in bumpy corners and makes the brakes feel a lot better. You can brake and still have front suspension travel to absorb bumps. Its a very worthwhile expense if you’re going to keep the bike

It’s really not that hard working out spacer length even with generic instructions. It always surprises me that people knock racetech for this. It’s not meant for people that don’t have any idea what they’re doing. You just want to end up with a spring and spacer length that will squash down to the stated preload. 15mm preload means that your set up should be 15mm longer than the leg closed length. And yes, oil is different heights as cartridge is only on right leg, left leg only has spring.

If you look up “comparative fork oil viscosity” on the interweb, you will find lists of many brands and their weight so you can find one that you can buy locally.

I’ve dealt with HEL before, but also found designing your own which I’ve done a few times now and ordering them is easy and cheaper than buying the kit. Go figure.

That's the problem, all the work and cost to replace something that doesn't need replacing.

Does anyone know the thread type and size on the metal brake lines that run under the tank? There is a connection block on the front and the back where they change from metal line to trailer park rubber lines. The hard lines have a nut that screws into them, these are the ones I'm asking about.

You can get any heated grips and wire them to the stock harness, much much cheaper and still use the screen to control hem.

YSS are a lot bigger in Asia and Europe, Ohlins had a case against them for copying their design, so I thought they must be ok The same shock set up here by any of the other brands are are 50 to 60 % more and over a month waiting time. Shipping from the US has become prohibitively expensive the last few years (over US$200), it never use to be that way. The problem with the Tracer is that it needs the hydraulic preload adjuster, as a normal shock has the adjustment at the top, and impossible to adjust on our bikes. It cost me AU$950, any equivalent European or US shock were around AU$1500 bought here. It actually performs really good, played around with it today over 200km’s of windy roads and now have rebound damping and sag set up well. Works really well with the resprung and gold valve front end.

The shock is a YSS MZ456, feels good so far, traction control light no longer comes on when exiting corners hard. CCT is a manual one, not sure on brand as it was already installed when I bought the bike. Shield is from an MT10 that I modified to fit, spoiler is a Fleabay cheappie that works really well. Gone is all turbulence and excessive wind noise. I added 2 clear wings on top of the headlights yesterday, and will see how they perform tomorrow.

^ I totally agree. Even skinny adventure tyres are amazing these days. My mate with a 1200 Explorer that weighs a shit load and only has a 150 section rear tyre often carves up groups of sport bike riders with the latest and bestest. Even fully loaded with 6 days worth of camping gear and food we round up these groups once the road tightens up. The trick is being smooth, setting your suspension to the best it can achieve, adapting to how your own bike responds and buying a quality tyre.

You won’t get dry only performance tyre that gets 5k mile life. I use Rosso III’s on mine, excellent dry weather grip, ok in the rain and get around 6500km’s (4000m) out of the rear. They have a more rounded profile that makes tip in faster than a touring type tyre.

Added some red Then added some more red.

I should also add that when I first got the bike, I changed to a 10 weight oil (or cst32@40 from memory, and piotrek is right, W weight is not a standard and is very inaccurate. CST is the way to compare oil) and added 15mm of fork oil height which helped a lot until I reworked the forks properly.

People have changed to 10 weight oil which apparently helps things a bit.

There’s not much difference between your 17 and my 15. Not sure that you’re doing your set up or measuring correctly. The front has 130mm of travel, I’m 163lb and aim for 40mm of rider sag. To do this properly it’s a lot better with three people, you on bike, second person to hold bike upright and third person doing the measurement. I usually do it with my daughter who takes measurements as I can usually balance the bike for 4 or 5 seconds with feet on foot pegs while she measures. The front stock suspension is absolutely crap, way under damped and has progressive springs that introduce way too much sag and dive. Ive installed 0.9kg/mm single rate springs with Racetech gold valves and custom shim stacks. Only way to get rid of sag. For your stock front end I would adjust spring compression to the maximum, with rebound 3/4 to 1 turn from full hard. The rear has the correct spring rate for my weight, but the spring is too long. So you will never get correct rider sag. All you can do is spring preload to minimum and play with the rebound to suit. The rear shock also suffers from non existing damping so it will never give a good ride no matter what you do The lack of rear rider sag will constantly be launching you off the seat as you exit bumps, giving it more rebound will help a bit, but also makes ride harsher Only way to fix early Tracers suspension is by throwing it all in the bin Stock set up makes front dive too much under brakes and uneven squat with rear under heavy cornering which makes bike turn in fast but without control, as you accelerate out front comes up too much which makes bike run wide on exit A corner full of ripples will see the bike run wider and wider, so you cut throttle which introduces dive and lack of suspension compliance, front tyre starts to hop over ripples and makes things worse. If your bike hasn’t been flashed, it probably also has a choppy throttle and too much engine braking which magnifies all these problems. Good news is that if you address all these problems properly, you’ll end up with a great bike.

The KTM has to have thicker fork tube walls because it has much longer suspension travel and more off road bias. Sometimes techs say things to make it look like they know what they’re talking about. The Tracer was made to be light, just like sport bikes, there is nothing out of the ordinary on the parts design used. No bike is made to withstand a front on impact.

The longer swingarm places more weight on the front wheel which is what the 15 lacks. Lowering the front by 15mm (done it on both ends of mine as I’m short, with no issues with ground clearance as long as the stupidly soft stock front has been addressed) also helps. The rear shock is also soft if you’re on the heavy side which makes front wheel loading even worse. I’ve also removed the hand guards and stock screen as I found them to only induce buffeting and not much else. And if you’re always running into the inside of the corner, you’re turning in too early.

The bike will need to lean, but you won’t be carrying enough speed to lean your body with it too much unless you hit the roundabout at high speed. If you watch some of the gymkhana videos, you will see bikes leaning under the rider, not that I’m suggesting you do the same, but you’ll get the idea.