Stiffer rear spring to achieve proper sag with 2 up?

[Mark Trottier]

Hello, Has anyone added a stiffer spring to the rear shock on a Tracer 900GT?

 

Thanks

[betoney]

33 minutes ago, Mark Trottier said:

Hello, Has anyone added a stiffer spring to the rear shock on a Tracer 900GT?

 

Thanks

Prior to buying a new spring, have you set the correct sag for just your weight on the bike?  was there much spring preload adjustment range left?  did you attempt setting sag with the passengers weight included?

One thing to consider is if you get a stiffer spring to achieve proper sag for 2-up riding, it might be too stiff when riding solo.  One thing you could do is get a slightly stiffer spring so 2-up sag setting  is correct when preload is set at about 75-90% of its range, that way you have room to back off a lot of preload for riding solo.

 

[johnmark101]

If you install a stiffer spring to the rear shock, you will also need to change valving to match the new spring.  Otherwise your damping rates will not be sufficient.  Best bet is to send the shock off to someone like Traxxion Dynamics.

[Chris FJR]

I've got a problem with this too, which I just discovered.

My wife rode with me for first time, with full luggage.  I dialed in full preload, (24 clicks), but still had a problem getting the side stand to deploy without having to tilt bike dangerously to the right. This seems way wrong.

In addition, we're older.  She's not tall and a bit heavy.  She can't swing a leg over the topcase with me on the bike, so we tried her getting on the bike first without me on it, then scooting to the back seat and I then awkwardly push my foot over the seat and get on.  We used to sometimes use this method on my FJR and it worked well.  Very stable.  HOWEVER,  on the Tracer the stability of the bike is extremely precarious when on the side stand IMO.  And, in fact, the Tracer fell over at a gas stop with her on it !!!  I was getting off.  She was balancing on the rear seat.  Somehow weight shifted a bit while I was getting off and pulling my foot across the seat.  And the Tracer did something I don't think any bike I've had in decades could have done...  it "over-topped" the side stand and fell over on the side stand side of the bike.

Obviously, my wife freaked out, as did I.  For the rest of our trip, our friends helped us stabilize the Tracer each time my wife got on and off.

Anyone else experienced this problem?

[OZVFR]

A light bike that's a bit tall and too much weight up high will always be a problem.

You will never get the low cost stock shock (set up for a 170lb rider) to suit two people and luggage without major work.

How much weight are you putting on the bike?

I always thought the stock side stand sat too close to the bike which won't help things either. This shouldn't be too hard to modify. It even nearly tips over with just me and luggage.

[Mark Trottier]

Thanks for the replies

 

[Chris FJR]

I am sort of thinking that too, the geometry is just wrong. The foot of that side stand needs to be located further out board for more stability. Not a very fixable situation.

[Pupsi]

9 hours ago, Chris FJR said:

I've got a problem with this too, which I just discovered.

My wife rode with me for first time, with full luggage.  I dialed in full preload, (24 clicks), but still had a problem getting the side stand to deploy without having to tilt bike dangerously to the right. This seems way wrong.

In addition, we're older.  She's not tall and a bit heavy.  She can't swing a leg over the topcase with me on the bike, so we tried her getting on the bike first without me on it, then scooting to the back seat and I then awkwardly push my foot over the seat and get on.  We used to sometimes use this method on my FJR and it worked well.  Very stable.  HOWEVER,  on the Tracer the stability of the bike is extremely precarious when on the side stand IMO.  And, in fact, the Tracer fell over at a gas stop with her on it !!!  I was getting off.  She was balancing on the rear seat.  Somehow weight shifted a bit while I was getting off and pulling my foot across the seat.  And the Tracer did something I don't think any bike I've had in decades could have done...  it "over-topped" the side stand and fell over on the side stand side of the bike.

Obviously, my wife freaked out, as did I.  For the rest of our trip, our friends helped us stabilize the Tracer each time my wife got on and off.

Anyone else experienced this problem?

 

A lot of times I ride fully loaded with side cases, top case and wife. All this with the OEM front shocks and rear spring with full preload. I know we're a bit over the weight limit, but have never encountered problems. Most important thing is to know how the bike feels and then act accordingly. This applies to breaking distance, cornering, etc.

Also, I fixed a kickstand shoe and this decreased the angle of the bike when on the side stand. Also, my wife gets on the bike after I do. To mount, she stands on the passenger footrest and swings her leg around and gets past the top box without much effort.

[Chris FJR]

12 hours ago, Pupsi said:

 

A lot of times I ride fully loaded with side cases, top case and wife. All this with the OEM front shocks and rear spring with full preload. I know we're a bit over the weight limit, but have never encountered problems. Most important thing is to know how the bike feels and then act accordingly. This applies to breaking distance, cornering, etc.

Also, I fixed a kickstand shoe and this decreased the angle of the bike when on the side stand. Also, my wife gets on the bike after I do. To mount, she stands on the passenger footrest and swings her leg around and gets past the top box without much effort.

Yeah, I have no problem with the bike once were underway. My wife just cannot swing her leg over the top box, and there’s no way to change that. I already have a foot extender on the bottom of the side stand but all that does is make it slightly more likely to tip over in the other direction.   As I’ve commented before, I think the geometry of the stand is just inadequate. In 25 years of riding two up, I’ve never had a bike that was capable of tipping over on the side stand side, come hell or high water.

[Chris FJR]

Today I took a look at the side stand on both my Tracer and my FJR and took pix.

When looking straight down, over the footpeg, you can see the foot of theFJR stand sits quit a bit further outboard than does the foot on the Tracer. 

Both bikes rest at about the same angle when on their stands.  But the Tracer obviously needs much less "leverage" to overtop the stand because of this difference.

I don't think this is anything that could be fixed without a Yamaha redesign.  The Tracer side stand foot needs to sit further outboard, but to do that, without changing the rest angle of the bike, would mean a longer stand too.  Then with all those changes there would be issues involving where the new stand would rest when it's retracted.

I never thought this was an issue I should be looking for when buying a bike that's billed as a sport/TOURING bike.  And much as I love the Tracer, this looks to be an issue that might only be solvable for me by getting a different bike.  Maybe the new Honda NT 1100 if they bring that over from Europe next year.  Or the new Triumph Tiger 1200.  That's a shame.  But I'll know now, the first thing I check for on a demo is to put the bike on the side stand and see if I can leverage the rear tire off the ground

 

[OldBikers]

I removed the attachable foot from the side stand.  I had a drop due to added height of the foot on a very slight incline, most embarrassing.