Sick of Yamaha

[Bill H]

On 7/1/2022 at 8:40 AM, BVEBRAD said:

I bought my Tracer 9 GT in July of 2021.  After several issues which had the bike laid up for over 6 months they finally have it right, well almost.  I find their latest ECU reflash to suck, you know, the one from the recall.  The bike runs terrible when cold and there's a flat spot in the powerband that's very noticeable when accelerating hard from second gear at low revs.  I would tell you at what RPM's but I can't begin to see that sorry ass TFT that Yamaha decided to give the bike. The bike also has a strange trait when engine braking.  It will slow down as expected but then the compression just seems to release itself causing the bike to lurch forward just a bit.    My latest complaint is that Yamaha has made hardly any accessories available for the bike.  I want the heated comfort seat but it isn't available in the states.  While I find the Tracer 9 GT to be a great bike I must say that I enjoyed my 2015 FJ09 a lot more.  I was just more fun.  I'm not sure how long I'll keep the Tracer, this one has just left me with a bad taste, especially the way Yamaha has decided to run their enterprise.

I'm waiting til the new Honda NT1100 becomes available.  Hopefully I'll find that more to my liking.  Sorry for the negativity but my latest attempt to get the seat mentioned earlier has me pissed.

If anyone else is experiencing the flatspot in the powerband or the lurching when engine braking please let me know.

Funny how you trash it then call it a great bike ,,its a love hate relationship for sure ,,I feel the same about my 2020 GT . If it makes you feel any better I have same excel issues even after wasting $350 on a flash ,,5 K rpm in 2and and hammer it and there's a slight bog or flat spot  ,,very annoying ,,its like that throughout all gears ,,I just got into the habit of pulling in clutch for a split sec and the bike responds nicely . Some of the crap Yamaha does is mind boggling ,,I don't get that newTFT snorkel , whenever I use hand warmers I feel that cheep plastic push wheel is going to break,,one step forward two steps back ,,anyway I hope things  work out for you 

Edited July 15, 2022 by Bill H

[DavidS]

On 7/1/2022 at 5:57 PM, Heli ATP said:

Sorry to hear of your situation Brad. Have you considered adding heat to the stock heat. Home project or find a local upholsterer.

Saddlemen Seat heaters.

Or call Corbin seats and buy one of their heated seats, and get an actual seat that is comfortable too......

[petshark]

After 2 weeks of ownership I am still over the moon. I enjoy the upgrade from the 2019 (perfect ECU flash and full Ohlins) to the stock T9 much more than I had ever anticipated.

It's so fast, smooth, refined and easy to ride. I honestly do not think it's fair anymore to talk about all tracers as if there are just slight variations between the models. It is a completely new bike. The endlessly repeated cons (dash and looks) mean nothing to me now that I own one. It's just a non issue. I made a deposit on a 2021 S1000XR but the Tracer 9 is just so much better for me. I made the right decision for once.

But I do believe that lemons are a real thing. I've had my share. They do seem to be very rare though.
@OP You could consider selling the bike and just buying another one for the same price. 

[KrustyKush]

I can't make the comparison to earlier Tracers, because my 21 GT is the only Tracer I've ever ridden.  It took me some getting-used-to for sure.  I had been off bikes for 6 months, and my experience of the previous six years was on Harley tourers, mostly riding two-up.  The Tracer is a MUCH more athletic ride!  My early adjustment problem came with the shift lever, specifically the very tight area of operation thereupon.  I was all but unable to get the toe of my 20 year old Sidi On-Road boot reliably under the shift lever.  I bought a new pair of boots (Gaerne) and worked daily to break them in so as to be flexible enough to let me shift without thinking about my foot position.  After a few thou miles, things got better, but even now after 10k miles, I still have to work to get my boot toe under the shift lever.  The QS device does not permit any adjustment for this purpose.  There is a specific length of the QS mechanism, period.

Then, I had weeks of squirrelly take-offs because I could NOT seem to get a smooth interaction between clutch friction zone and throttle.  Pretty sure this is a function of the very quick engine response to throttle, compared to the Harley, which is fairly sluggish.  I still sometimes have a jerky take-off, but at 73 and after years of rheumatoid arthritis my hands are damaged, so maybe this is how it will be.

Then, seating position, which got blown up by the purchase of my Corbin saddle.  The saddle took a lot of break-in, and I had to buy a Heli adapter to move the bar assy back and up an inch.  

I didn't care for the windscreen early on.  In an upright seating position, unless the ambient wind flow is just right, the stock screen delivers up lots of turbulence, unless I lean forward closer to the screen.  I have found this to be a very comfy riding position, even for long hauls.  The fuel tank provides a nice flat area to lean either forearm upon.  Set cruise control, scrooch back in the Corbin, and enjoy a clean-air ride.

The drive chain.  'nuff said, after many years of shafts and belts. A drive belt would be the ideal solution, but I understand why a belt is not do-able on such a machine.

Now, I've passed 10k miles.  The bike is well broke in, and my 73 year old body is broke in to the bike, and I'm a-diggin' it.  

[motoontheweekend]

Quote

Then, I had weeks of squirrelly take-offs because I could NOT seem to get a smooth interaction between clutch friction zone and throttle.

Same here. I don't know what it is with the T9GT but I just cannot seem to get a quick and instant take off. Clutch engagement feels very weak and then there's a weird vibration before fully releasing the clutch lever.

[Greasyjonny]

The dead spot in second gear is done to meet noise and emission regulations. Not fun,  but can be corrected with a flash, But it’s easily overcome but not granny shifting into second. Rev 1st out to 9k and you’ll never come close to hitting the dead spot in second. My first gear goes up to 64mph, 80 something for second and 3rd tops out at 100mph. Also 3rd will accelerate faster under 5k than 2nd so you could always just shift up. 

[peteinpa]

Watch this, get flashed, be cured.

You may turn the throttle WFO, but the ECU is laughing at you.

This and worse is our future. 

Glad I lived in the era of real power in motorcycles. All you needed was carb. jets.

 

[texscottyd]

36 minutes ago, peteinpa said:

Glad I lived in the era of real power in motorcycles. All you needed was carb. jets.

Funny you say that:  I found the jetting box for my old race Hawk last weekend, and showed it to my kids.  You would have thought it was some sort of mythical holy grail… 

[ZigMerid]

3 hours ago, peteinpa said:

All you needed was carb. jets.

Oh man. I'm so glad not to be dealing with jets and carbs. I'll take a few flat spots any day of the week rather than deal with that troglodyte magic. But maybe that's just me. Heck I could hardly balance carbs on my single pot Honda 😀

[peteinpa]

Heck, just did the jet dance last winter on my QT50.  Bigger bore, bigger carb, and pipe. Hard part is finding where to begin.

Only thing to go on was WAY off.  Main was bigger than any logic.

It's now doing 45 mph.  Stock from Yamaha it did 27 mph.

[tktplz]

1 hour ago, peteinpa said:

Heck, just did the jet dance last winter on my QT50.  Bigger bore, bigger carb, and pipe. Hard part is finding where to begin.

Only thing to go on was WAY off.  Main was bigger than any logic.

It's now doing 45 mph.  Stock from Yamaha it did 27 mph.

Yeah, I've got a 2008 ZUMA 2-smoke with the carb mod. It used to do 35 on the flat and 38 down hill. Now it does 40 on the flat with me, 240 lbs. and 45-46 down hill, LOL!

[Greasyjonny]

17 hours ago, ZigMerid said:

Oh man. I'm so glad not to be dealing with jets and carbs. I'll take a few flat spots any day of the week rather than deal with that troglodyte magic. But maybe that's just me. Heck I could hardly balance carbs on my single pot Honda 😀

Same. FI is way better, just gotta weight for a flash to  Also not like oems weren’t pulling this bullshit back in the carb days. They would put brass plugs over the adjustment screws to keep you from messing with the stock settings.  Bikes and cars are so much better and faster now than in the era of “real power” 

[peteinpa]

15 hours ago, Greasyjonny said:

Same. FI is way better, just gotta weight for a flash to  Also not like oems weren’t pulling this bullshit back in the carb days. They would put brass plugs over the adjustment screws to keep you from messing with the stock settings.  Bikes and cars are so much better and faster now than in the era of “real power” 

So you had to drill out a brass plug. Get a "D" shaped pilot screw tool.  Big deal.  

I got this bike and had to pull it's heart out and send it cross country to Wash. state. Just to get it to run right.

You haven't lived till you pulled that carb. bank out of your CBR11 for the 27th time.

[2and3cylinders]

2 hours ago, peteinpa said:

So you had to drill out a brass plug. Get a "D" shaped pilot screw tool.  Big deal.  

I got this bike and had to pull it's heart out and send it cross country to Wash. state. Just to get it to run right.

You haven't lived till you pulled that carb. bank out of your CBR11 for the 27th time.

Making adjustments to the jet needles on my fastest red 81 GPZ550D1 was a challenge until I decided to just bend the linkage connector out of engagement to enable removing the carb cap; then bend it back once "calibrated ".  Seems like they made the piece out of malleable metal to enable this hack.  Otherwise the shop manual said you had to withdraw the linkage shaft with all the snowballing work that necessitated.  It was a great bike though for its day.  Still a looker with its semi Cafe bend and cute bikini headlight fairing.

[Greasyjonny]

44 minutes ago, peteinpa said:

So you had to drill out a brass plug. Get a "D" shaped pilot screw tool.  Big deal.  

I got this bike and had to pull it's heart out and send it cross country to Wash. state. Just to get it to run right.

You haven't lived till you pulled that carb. bank out of your CBR11 for the 27th time.

Not a big deal, just illustrating how these oem restrictions are nothing new. Still though, buying a tune online and installing it via my phone is much easier than physically modifying a carburetor.