The Pilot

With the M Endurance chain all the usual chain problems are gone. I have a friend that is putting pretty serious mileage on his S1K and he says it’s legit… no lube, no adjustment… just ride it. https://www.shopbmwmotorcycle.com/products/bmw-m-endurance-chain#:~:text=With the M Endurance chain,%2C enclosed by X-rings.

I would probably go with the S1000XR, to me it’s the same mission statement as the Tracer just taken to “11”. I have ridden an early first gen XR and the only thing that put me off was it was exceptionally buzzy in the bars. I have heard the newer ones fixed the issue. That XR engine is a riot though, there have been many times (daily) on my Tracer I wished for another 40 horsepower or so… and this thing definitely does it. lastly the XR quickshifter and blipper is just a riot… so many good sounds violently shooting out of that bike… yup… when my Tracer dies someday the XR will be mine.

Put a new chain and sprockets on today. Managed to get almost 20k miles out of the stock one, not bad.

I use an Antigravity restart battery, it senses if it is discharging too much and will shut off the battery. It always keeps enough stored to start the bike, you just push a button on the battery… think built in jump pack. Also significantly lighter than the standard battery. https://www.sportbiketrackgear.com/antigravity-atz10-yamaha-fz-09-mt-09-14-18-lithium-ion-battery/

Most aftermarket clutch manufacturers recommend soaking the discs in non synthetic oil and also breaking it in on that. But then you are fine to switch to synthetic. I have been using full synthetic over the last half million miles on motorcycles and never had any issues.

Yeah, that looks like the kit I got. As for the Akra it’s slightly louder than stock with the stock DB killer in and does sound amazing. There are lots of posts on here and FZ09 about modding the killer. Some people drill holes in it, others cut it down a bit.

Love the Akra, I did trim down the decibel killer a little bit just to up the volume… with it fully removed it’s beyond obnoxious. Nice weight reduction though and with a tune the throttle smoothness is beautiful. The tank grips are tech spec, great for a daily rider. I have always run stomp grips on my track bikes, but I think they are too uncomfortable if you’re not wearing leathers. These are a more sedate option.

Grey and raining morning in Jersey, decided to clean the bike a bit.

I have noticed a pretty hefty MPG drop since getting the flash done… most likely rider induced because I can’t get enough of how much harder this thing pulls now!

Hopefully your passenger peg mounting bolts come out easier than mine… an absolute nightmare to remove for me… even with heat they did not want to come out.

I ordered a set also, thanks for posting that link! I just want the extra 2 inches of foot clearance the older generation passenger pegs get you. Shockingly fast shipping from Italy! 3 days to New Jersey.

The snatchy throttle is reduced on the newer bikes, but disabling the injector decel cut makes it much smoother. https://www.vcyclenut.com/other-settings.html

Motorcyclist magazine said it best about the 9 GT’s suspension. I have ridden lots of higher end systems on BMW’s and they were great… the 9 GT’s left a lot to be desired. Servicing it is not much different than a normal suspension, just a few wires to disconnect typically. “The KYB semi-active suspension is decent, and it’s neat that Yamaha added this feature to the bike. But the actual function of the semi-active suspension is meh; we’ve ridden other bikes with semi-active suspension that performed near-magically. Around town the Tracer 9 handles nicely, soaking up the bumps well. But when you’re getting some in the corners on a favorite curvy road, it has a tendency to get a little bit unglued. Still, most can certainly live with the minor disappointment given the bike’s day-to-day capability.”

Finished the front brakes over the weekend, just need to finish with the lines now… I need more hobbies.