Five weeks on, modifications and thoughts...

[Mark Jackson]

Yup, been a bit of a busy five weeks since I rode my 2015 Tracer back from Doncaster. I've wanted a Tracer for a long time so I've had a few years to plan what I wanted to do to it. Firstly, off with the hand guards, I've never been keen on them and I found out on the ride back in the rain that they offer zero protection. If you suffer from Tinnitus and want to cut down on wind noise I feel there are only two ways to go, very large touring screen or very small sports screen, anything in the middle just doesn't seem to work, for me at least, so I got a Faco sports screen from Italy. Bar end mirrors also helps keep turbulence down as well, I've added my ZRX1200 bar ends to cut down on vibes, they weigh 230grams so are weighty.

Radiator protector and crash bungs are a must and I chose Evotech, quality stuff. I came across the GB racing casing protectors, since the casings stick out quite a bit I thought it would be prudent to get these as well. FJR footpegs followed along with a JTech tail tidy. I bought the Black widow exhaust and mated it with the Evotech headers and finally the Nitron R1 shock. 

So how has this all affected the bike. The screen is pretty good although there's still a bit of wind noise so I'll cut it down a bit. The handling has now entered another dimension, man it's so good now. I've altered the default rebound settings to suit my riding and am well chuffed. The preload is very easy to adjust using the Nitron tool, took just seconds to wind it up for my pillion. I've also changed the handlebars, I prefer a more swept backed sweep so a Pair os Renthal street bars went on.

I'm getting more used to the bike, it's very feisty compared to my ZRX in both handling and power but that's why I got it, I just wanted a different experience and this bike certainly delivers. Out today and I noticed the bike was stuttering at slow speeds, this is new so will be the exhaust. It's got an end baffle in and I'm waiting for an inlet baffle which I think will sort this out as I think there's not enough back pressure being generated. I'm looking around for someone local who can reflash the ECU. 

Now the downer, GRONK! Yup, Within minutes of collecting the bike I was aware of the horrendous grinding vibes between 2k-4k, checking up on this forum revealed what the problem is and that, for a 26k miles bike it isn't unusual. Thankfully I have a 3 month warranty so I've contacted the dealership and they are sourcing the parts I need to replace it. Rather than a 460 mile round trip and two days off I'm just going to do it myself. I've checked out a few videos to get any extra tips but if anybody out there has any pearls of wisdom I'd be grateful to hear from you. Can't wait to sort this out as it is really spoiling the riding experience.

I've changed a Lot of things, have I bought the right bike? before the Tracer came out the Triumph Tiger 1050 was the bike I lusted after. It's a nice bike although I find the styling a bit 'awkward', it's also physically bigger and heavier than the Tracer. I'd also previously had three Hinckley triples during the 90's and had problems with two of them while I had them (broken cam chain, and blown head gasket related problems) and the third broke a cam chain tensioner a year after I sold it to a mate. Ok, that was a long time ago but I just wasn't too keen on tempting fate, but here I am now having to change the clutch basket on my Yamaha! ye gods! At the moment I don't regret buying it, yes the GRONK is driving me nuts but at least I know it'll be fixed soon. The Nitron has moved the handling up to another level and the exhaust sounds lovely. I wanted a different experience after 20 years of riding the ZRX, I certainly got it!

 

 

 

[HGP61]

I do like the slimmed down look of your bike with the smaller screen and lack of hand guards. I was thinking of doing something similar later this year to see how the smaller screen feels. My bike is set up more for touring just now and it'll stay like that until our week's trip to Ireland in May. I had also thought about a suspension upgrade but after I set the sag and fiddled a bit with the settings i haven't had any issues with the standard setup. The clutch should be an easy fix and then you can get out properly and enjoy your bike.

[Instinct28]

Good looking bike. I like my short slip-on and I just used the stock header, just painted it black. 

[DubT9]

Great mods there Mark.  Just wondering will you do the xsr slipper clutch mod when doing the basket?  I've got the xsr parts here myself, done my back in so haven't been able to ride or work on the bike for last few months.  My 15 tracer also has the 'GRONK' and was hoping the xsr clutch would sort it but wondering now do I need to replace the basket also?

[Mark Jackson]

HGP, cheers glad you like the look😃 I’d highly recommend the suspension upgrade, I’ve been able to dial in a level of comfort which was impossible with the standard shock.

instinct, nice can, have you done a reflash?
Hi Dub, no not bothering with the slipper clutch, don’t really feel it’s a necessity for me. Researching the ‘Gronk’ I read of a forum member who did the slipper clutch mod and it didn’t make much difference, it’s the clutch basket which is causing all the problems. Apparently it has a new part number which suggests an update🤓

[Skidood]

"gronk"........onomatopoeia !!!

[Paladins31]

Looking good!  I too have a shorter, dark-smoke windshield and opted to go with the bar end mirrors.  Much better view and reduces the blindspots.  Mine are CRG Hindsight lane-splitters.