OZVFR

You also need to let the bike lean underneath you as you won’t be going fast enough to lean with it. Put your weight forward and hands lose on the bars. You might also need to ride the clutch a bit to keep revs up. I also find going in with throttle and rear brake helps keep back end under control.

Great problem solving skills. That would work very well.

You couldn’t use the lines in the swingarm in the 80’s, the 90’s, and you still can’t use them. Using callipers is also not accurate as parts can be different sizes within tolerance. Photo Al is right, the only accurate way is to stringline it. Just out of curiosity I went and checked my recently stringlined chain adjustment and found the swingarm lines are out by half, and calliper readings out by 1mm.

US$169 is very cheap considering I paid AU$500 for my last set of Rosso III’s that last me 8000kms. And they were a good tyre in their day.

Z6? Bloody hell, they were made in 2003 (and onwards). Are you sure they're not out of date? Tyres have come a long way since then.

I can’t see why you couldn’t leave the handrails on. It shouldn’t interfere with the side case brackets. Here is is on a camping trip last weekend:

and the gear whine.

2015. All I needed was some gal packing washers and longer high tensile bolts. Cases go on no problem.

I have the same Shad bracket and have no problem with the stock side case brackets, I use the side cases all the time.

With bike switched off, does the screen go black or back to normal? My only concern would be Aussie summers and heat inside cluster created by sun.

Hmmmm, I really like the flipped LCD. It's the way it should have come out from new I think. Tell me more...

Maybe I’m being a bit harsh on the old Deauville, it took a room full of Honda engineers over a million work hours to produce a motorcycle completely devoid of any character.

They’re stating it’s aimed at people who liked the Honda Deauville, so its for grandpas that also own a Toyota Prius.

Yes, it has transformed the bike. Stock springs are progressive, with the soft section just too soft, and together with nearly non existent damping it really lets the bike down. Way too much dive under brakes, continuously bottoms out on any bumps and can’t handle ripples mid corner. I only weigh 74kg and had the preload up to maximum and still couldn’t get the right sag. I’ve done lots of mods, but the front suspension and flash were the best bucks spent. The rear shock is ok if you’re a bit heavy, for my weight the spring rate is fine, but spring is too long so even at the lowest preload I can’t get enough sag (opposite to front). It also suffers from not enough damping but it’s not terrible. Screen is very personal, everyone differs to what they want or like, I opted for a sport screen from an MT10, and installed an adjustable spoiler which works very well for me +1 for the real size rubber foot pegs from a FJR1300.

Changing the way I ride has been the biggest issue I’ve had with the Tracer. Specially hard braking as I find it hard to not put weight on the bars. Both on my VFR and the Sprint I could brake really hard coming into a corner with very little weight on the bars as both bikes were wider and easier to grip with your knees and the tank held you in place. It’s hard to brake 45 years of muscle memory. I changed the bars as I found the stock ones kicked my elbows out too far, and changing the stock suspension also helped as it has very little dive now, but it will still take me a while longer to fully adjust. I do like how easy it is to change lines mid corner, and how much better the brakes are now with the ridiculous dive gone. Remapping to get rid of the fuel cut off on closed throttle has also helped as I didn’t like the excessive engine braking. Like any bike, it takes a while to make it your own.

So you’re saying the problem with some Tracers doesn’t exist because it doesn’t happen to yours?

I didn’t say all bikes, just nearly all bikes. BMW also made some, but the majority have straight cut.

All gears on the Tracer, and for that matter nearly all bikes ever made are straight cut. Mine is really bad in third and sixth, but also audible in fifth.

I got rid of our trusty old toaster that never missed a beat because it looked dated. Bought a new one with LCD panel and multi program. It does everything great except produce toast as I like it. Theres a lesson there for everyone I think. Don’ get me started on the electric kettle.

It beat the KLR650, Royal Enfield Meteor 350, Honda Rebel, BMW R18, Indian Super Chief (or whatever it’s called). I like my bike but that would have to be the most pointless comparison ever. Its a million times better than a toaster

You might be right, it was the 9 GT I looked at, but the RRP is 23. Seems a bit high for a Tracer considering where they came from, but it does have a lot of tech.

Sad to hear that the gear whine is still a problem with some of the newer Tracers. Third and sixth is a problem with mine, and it’s nearly a deal breaker as it’s so bad. If the rest of the package wasn’t so good I’d be quickly unloading it. Not really sure what the cause is, or why some bikes suffer from it and some don’t. No oil issues with mine though.

Not sure where you got pricing from, but I looked around here (Sydney) and found them from $20,490 ride away. And it has a lot more tech than the Suzuki including panniers.

I tried this when I had the linkage off after setting to 10mm and going for a ride. It sounded terrible, like it was really straining the output shaft and bearing. Got back and went to 35mm straight away, there's no way that spec is right in the owners book. With linkage off, I set to 10mm and then moved the swingarm through its normal arc until it reached full shock travel, the chain was so unbelievably tight at this point that in my opinion you're risking failure.