The Pilot

13 hours ago, Mrtwisty said:

Back to BMW for me. Maybe an S1000XR, most likely another GSA. 1250 I think. The boost in mid  range over the 1200 was noticeable. The thing putting me off the XR is the same thing that nearly stopped me buying the Tracer. Bloody chains. I phucking hate chains.

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.  

43 minutes ago, The Cheese said:

 

How do you like that Akra?

 

What tank grip thingies are those?

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. 

Also swapped the rear rotor and added a bunch of titanium hardware.  Decided on CRG levers as well.

Finally had enough of dragging the center stand while cornering and deleted it. 

As stated by priebe, where are you?  Lots of people have stock exhausts just sitting around… me included. I’m in New Jersey 

Forgot one more thing… even with an exhaust the sound track on the RS never did it for me. A great bike has to have a good sound… the CP3 uncorked is one of the sweetest sounding engines made.  I’ll probably anger the die hard boxer guys by saying this… maybe it’s from 20+ years of doing track days and loving the sounds of high reving  race bikes… but the boxers sound like broken dirt bikes. 

Like the Grumpy Goat my previous bike was a R1200RS, It was an amazing bike by all accounts… but always left me wanting in the engine department. The engine in the Tracer is just more fun, especially once tuned with an exhaust.  I did do an exhaust and tune on the RS as well, but it always felt like it ran out of steam quickly once you approached redline… would have been more fun with another 2,000rpm.

The suspension, brakes, and electronics in the RS are orders of magnitude above the tracer though. The electronic suspension is a masterpiece and I would put it in the same class as some of the other high tech / high dollar bikes I have ridden ( Panigale, RSV4, S1000RR )… it is incredibly confidence inspiring in stressful situations.  Also the RS is one of the most stable bikes I have ever ridden in those same conditions.

The tracer brakes leave a lot to be desired, but luckily that’s easy enough to fix… I’m currently getting everything in order to swap basically all of it. With the RS after just a pad swap to a more aggressive pad they were 10 out of 10 for me. It comes stock with braided lines and linked braking… the linked braking is almost invisible to the rider, the only way I could really tell was a bit of extra line tightening when trail braking.

I have not ridden a 1250RS yet, but I hear they wake up a lot more with a tune than the 1200 did.  I’m trying not to test ride one for fear of my wallet getting lighter. 
 

The bloke that switched to the GS described the tracer as always wanting rip compared to the BMW… this is true… and I like it that way.

I absolutely love radial engines. A few years ago I broke down in Germany and while we were waiting for new aircraft batteries to arrive rented an M5 to do some exploration during the downtime.  Anyway, cooking down the autobahn at 180 mph and see a beautiful Concord suspended 100 feet in the air. Turns out it was an absolutely killer transport museum.... and they had a neat Red Barron radial bike.

+1 for the Road 5’s

I ran both the Roadsmart 3’s and the Road 5’s on my last BMW R1200RS.  The Dunlop’s performed very, very poorly in cold temperatures. I don’t think that’s a problem you have to deal with in DFW, but I spun the rear up way too many times on dry pavement with no warning. It bothered me enough that I dumped them after only 2k miles. Went with the Road 5’s and loved them. Went through 2 sets, both lasted over 12k with no drama in all weather and temperature conditions. Will be getting a set for the GT soon, at 5k miles on the stock 222 crap tires and I’m down to the wear bars.

2 hours ago, fjray said:

I don't know why so many people think they need to  put on a loud pipe.  I  guess I went through that back in the  day too.  Lighter weight? Go on a diet.  More power?  Learn to use what you have now.  All just my opinion of course.  Bike shop owner told me years ago when I inquired about a  header for my  bike, " wanna go faster, get a bigger bike."

It’s not just about volume with this bike, the stock exhaust really takes away from the nice even triple firing pulses and honestly sounds horrible. The Akrapovic exhaust with the DB killer installed is marginally louder than stock, but the tone of the exhaust is exponentially better.

Some people are happy with cheap Walmart speakers for their entertainment center, others can appreciate what a big difference there is with quality audio components like Klipsch or KEF.

Different strokes for different folks.

Averaging 44 so far.  I change the windscreen often depending on temperature and have only noticed a 1 mpg difference with the sport screen on. Typical cruising speed is only 59 mph though so aero is not a huge factor. I’m 6’5” / 240 Lbs and have the seat set in the high position.  Also bags on 99% of the time.  Akrapovic exhaust with a tune and leave every stop light in full afterburner...then set the cruise.

They lost me with 2 inches of suspension travel... neat looking bar hopper though.   Hard pass.