KrustyKush

No two shops/techs do things the exact same way. I'd be inclined to believe they overfilled the engine oil, because that's what has happened to me on the few occasions I've used a shop to do my oil changes. First, almost every bike I've bought (most cars, too) come to me overfilled. The 21 T9GT I just bought came with the oil filled all the way up to the top of the sight glass such that I had to tip the bike to see the oil level. This was the factory fill. At 600 miles I dumped the factory oil and replaced it with exactly 3 qts of Yamalube, plus enough oil from the 4th container to fill and presoak the Yamaha oil filter. That is just a hair over 3 quarts. That brought the oil level exactly to the lines on the sight glass. Properly filled, not overfilled. If 4 qts are dumped into this motor, it will be overfilled. That's why "rounding up" is the technique of the dumb-butt tech. Obviously, though, it probably doesn't matter all that much. They overfill them slightly at the factory so I feel like the motor probably would need a lot more oil than just the 4 quarts to cause damage. However, this much extra could possibly cause oil to breather into the air box more than is usual. Many engines, including many Japanese engines, actually want to be a little below the upper limit because of this.

Same here. My 2021 T9GT has run perfectly for 3500 miles since I picked it up new in January of this year. At times, I have thought the throttle response was a little muddy during takeoffs, but at this point the bike is still new to me and I need a long time to become thoroughly familiar with a new bike. Therefore I doubt that my sensations of “throttle muddiness” are to be trusted. Overall, the engine is a fantastic little power plant. I’ll get the recalls done ASAP but “daily therapy” is why I bought it. Daily therapy is essential!

Best bet is to use the Yamaha oem filter. Especially so during the warranty period. Those oem filters are easy to find at the Yam dealers, and online. They don’t cost much, and each filter is good for up to 8k miles. It’s hard to find a reason not to use the oem filter.

On the other end, we got up to 90f today in my area of southern CA. Hottest day of riding since I got the bike in January. Up to now it's mostly been chilly. Hot grips weather. Today was denim shirt and kind of sweaty. The 9GT loves the heat as well as the chilly. 3200 miles and going. It is perfect.

Isn't March the "cruelest month"? We have similar swings here in southern California. Just that, the swings are less dramatic. A cold day here is a high of 55f and a low of 35f. Some days a high of 88f and a low of 48f. All within the same week. Every day is a riding day. I've lived all over the U.S., in every quadrant and in between. SoCal has the best weather.

Well, I've been riding for 59 years, and I used to crack up pretty regularly. Finally, in 1998 I had my last crash, a biggie that messed up my bike and broke a collarbone. After that, I stopped crashing. I never adopted any particular "good luck" routine. For sure, I've been very, very lucky a time or two, or three, but not so much as a tip-over since 1998. I'm not sure what I've been doing so right since then, but whatever it is, not only have I not crashed, I haven't gotten any tickets, either!

I bought my 2021 T9GT in February as an almost Impulse buy. I’d “retired” from riding, due to age and health, six months before thinking I’d never ride again. I sold my Harley FLTRU and gave away a huge amount of gear and tools. I didn’t know jack about the Tracer. I was feeling the urge again to ride, and thought to go back to my Japanese roots for a new bike. I wanted this bike because of its capabilities. It has a center stand. Cruise control. Panniers. Etc. I didn’t much care for the bike’s looks especially in the front end. Took me 1500 miles to get my body set up to ride this thing competently. After 6 years on Harley tourers I wasn’t accustomed to the close-coupled riding positions of the Tracer. But now I love the Tracer. It’s hard to get through a day without putting at least 50 miles on it. Love the looks, love the sound, love the every-day usable power from what, to me, is a small motor. The build quality is superb (typical Yamaha). I had thought that the Tracer is an “anonymous” bike, looks like so many others, nothing much to distinguish it. But people do notice it. I observe people watching it in traffic, and standing over it in the parking lot. A groovy motorcycle that has given me a new lease on riding life.

Great info on the Scottoiler. I've been thinking of getting one but I figure the time I spend hand oiling would just about equalize what I'd spend dicking with the oiler. I went partway with Scott and have been using the blue Scott oil on my new OEM chain. I hand oil drops on each link about every 75 to 100 miles. I get a fair amount of fling and have to keep the rag going all the time. With this much personal attention to each link I'm curious to see how long this new OEM (D.I.D.) chain lasts.

2021 here six weeks old with 2100 miles on it. Chain is perfect. What do you use for lube?

It is possible no seal. Especially if it isn't shown in the schematic. I had two Harley tourers over the past 7 years, and those have wheel bearings without any seals, the bearing cases themselves act as seals. They also have had a lot of wheel bearing failures, though neither of mine did, in over 80k miles combined.

I’m only a hundred miles from Hollister and would LOVE for Corbin to use my 2021 9GT to develop a new saddle. When I emailed them about a saddle I was kind of hoping for an offer, but no. Whoever answered my email said I should keep an eye on their site for coming info. I take that to mean they have a model bike and are working on it now. I’ve had Corbin’s on most of my tourers including my 2014 FJR now gone. They make a great saddle that usually fits me perfectly without further ado.

BVEBRAD, yes I also had loose fasteners on the hand guards! I noticed them after the first week, before anything fell off. I saw a pic recently showing one of these bikes being uncrated. Seems like they are shipped minus the handlebars and windscreen, so these must be installed by the dealer boyz and I do mean BOYS! They forget so much! Which is why I almost never visit them after buying a bike. They mean well but are in a big hurry. Not like me I take my time to check and triple check everything.

Yeah I am also on the lookout for a new saddle. The stock saddle on my T9GT is not horrible, but needs to be better. I’m hoping Corbin will soon build a rider saddle for this bike. I messaged them about this and got a cryptic but encouraging reply. Meantime, I have found ways to tolerate the stock saddle for about an hour at a time. Mainly involves consciously moving the butt about while riding. Avoid sitting very still for very long. At stops, stand up get the weight off the butt for a moment. Grip the tank with my knees. Stand up on the pegs when possible. Stuff like that.

Sorry about the problems with throttle bodies. Hopefully, replacing the throttle bodies will actually fix the problem. Someone elsewhere wrote that it did not, for him. My 2021 T9GT now coming up on 2k miles and one month of ownership, with no problems apart from a handful of loose fasteners. Got my eye out for this throttle problem for sure, and so far the bike is superb, so glad I chose this one among the several bikes in this category. I have owned quite a few Yamahas, including a 2014 FJR and two Road Stars, a Royal Star and a 2007 Venture. Probably put over 200k miles on these Yams and had my share of problems and interactions with Yamaha dealers and corporate customer service. I can say that Yam dealers have been mostly very helpful. Most of my complaints have been overwrought, the way people will get angry about these things, and understandably so. Based on my experience, the best way to proceed is to be polite and persistent. They will want you to quietly go away. But you just stay on the doorstep. Let them know by polite letters that you are spreading the word to your riding friends about this problem. If every morning Customer Service in LA has a letter waiting for them from the handful of sufferers, pretty soon they will find new bikes and new parts to make the noise go away. If your problem isn’t fixed by these new throttle bodies, demand a new bike. Keep demanding it until either they give you a new bike, or you dump it and go another marque.

I’m 73, live and ride in southern CA. I’ve had motorcycle insurance most of my life. Terrible driving record in my early years but haven’t gotten a ticket or had an accident in almost 20 years. I carry only liability, with coverage 100k/300k/50k. Costs me $240 per year from Geico.

It would be a good idea to check your valves' clearance now. Reason being, if the previous owner was a hard rider, the valves may need looking at and adjusting a little earlier than the maintenance schedule calls (26,600 miles). This is a long interval compared to most engines. Yamaha makes their engines very well, but sometimes during assembly they are not set up precisely. If a valve left the factory a little close to the tight side AND the engine was ridden hard, you could have a situation now that needs attention.

I’m new to QS. Never had a bike with such capability. My 21 T9GT is only 3 weeks old. I read the manual about the parameters in which the system works, ie above 2d rpm etc. I gave it some workout and must say I love it especially on upshifts during hard acceleration, such as a freeway entry. I don’t care for it so far on downshifts. It’s hard for me to shift any way other than how I’ve been doing it all my life. I fear damaging the trans by shifting like this. Old Dog, new tricks. So, for now I have turned QS off. Until I am thoroughly familiar with the bike, say in another couple thousand miles. On my bike QS is turned on and off in the menu. Not sure how done on a bike that QS was added later. Also note that engine speed must be above 2krpm and throttle must be open for upshifts, and closed for downshifts.

Bike running crooked could just be bent fork tubes, or maybe just tweaked in the fork holders. Frame is hard to bend. Or even just bent handlebars. Here’s hoping for inexpensive and quick repairs.

I’d suspect that there was a mixup at the dealer. Where I bought mine they had 3 Tracers on the floor, two black one red. One of the black and the red had their bags fitted while the black that I chose did not. The salesman said the panniers are mated separately. In fact, mine had to have the pannier locks keyed to my ignition key. Dollars to donuts there’s a black Tracer somewhere with red paneled panniers.

Most motorcycles have unit engine-transmissions that run everything in the same oil bath. There are only one or two that use dry clutches. The unit design is very good. The oil filter removes the debris, and in any case the debris doesn’t hurt anything. These designs are nearly universal and have been in use for many decades. There should be no worries about unit engines and transmissions. How many FJRs and Goldwings still running way past 100k miles using these designs?

I’ve been negotiating with the saddle and riding position of my brand new 2021 Tracer 9 GT. It’s been a couple of weeks. Here’s where I am: the overall riding positions are fine, in fact, quite ample and potentially comfy. It is the rider saddle that chafes. At first, My instinct was to sit as far back on the saddle as possible. To fight the sliding forward nature of the seat. But now I have stopped fighting. I allow my butt to move “naturally” forward until my balls are up against the front “horn” of the saddle where it meets the tank. Riding forward has alleviated most of the discomfort in butt and arms. The thing still gets a little chafy after an hour or so but is much better than before, where I would be aching after 10 minutes. Being I am 73 and have many aches and pains I accept that a motorcycle will not be as comfy as a car. If I can ride for an hour before needing a short butt break, I am fine with that

Speaking of valve clearance check... Years ago I bought a brand new 97 Yamaha Royal Star. At around 26k miles I did the normal valve clearance check myself. I've done this on many motorcycle engines, so I knew how. 15 of the 16 valves were within tolerance and needed no adjustment, but that 16th valve was tight. It was an intake valve and it essentially had no clearance at all. I couldn't get even my .0001 feeler gauge under the cam. This made me glad I'd actually done the clearance check. Many don't. The fact that a single valve was so tight made me think that, on the first valve clearance check, it might be wise to go a few thousand miles early. It may be that when the motor was set up at the factory, the assembler didn't do all that terrific a job setting the clearances. And 26k miles is a long time to let it go. That's why, ever since that Royal Star, I've gone early to the first valve adjustment. After you do it once, and set all the valves at the wide end of the range, then you will know that all will be well for the next 26k miles interval.

Question about the stock "risers": The manual says there are two positions. Is there any way to know what position the stock risers are in? I'd like to try them in the closer position, but the bike is as it was at the factory, and I don't know what position they put them in there. I hoped there would be a marking on the pieces to indicate position, but I don't find any. I just want the bars as close to me as possible, and don't want to do any of that adjustment work if they're already as close as they can be. Thanks!

My first post here... I bought a new Tracer 9 GT ten days ago and have just done my first oil/filter change at 603 miles. I love the bike so far. I vote NO on the extended warranty. I'm 73 and have been buying, riding, and working on my bikes most of those years. A few times, with larger, more expensive bikes, I've bought the extended warranty. And never needed any of them. The bike comes with a good warranty, one year and unlimited miles. If something is going to break, it will most likely break in that period. I've had many Yamahas, and some of them have given me a little trouble. Usually nothing that needs to go to the dealer shop. I avoid the dealer shops, because most of them are a waste of time. The techs there may actually make things worse. Learn to do your own work, avoid the dealer shops. Very unlikely you will have a major expensive problem that you can't address yourself. If in that unlikely event you have to take the bike to the dealer shop for, say, an ABS or engine problem, you pay then. If you buy the insurance policy, you already paid even if nothing ever breaks.