17K mile check-in

[ValleyRider]

Hello all, new to the forum. 

Thought I'd give some feedback on life with my bike at 17K. I have a 2015 that I bought last year with 7500 miles. It goes in for a quick tune-up today at 17000 and change. 

My bike is mechanically stock but came with some nice goodies--frame sliders, luggage, Seat Concepts seat (which is OK, not great). I also installed Oxford heated grips.

I'm six foot four--the tall touring shield that came on my bike caused buffeting and contributed to an unpleasant "loose" feeling in the front end above 75 MPH, lower if big trucks were nearby. The main cause of this was that the steering head bearings were a bit loose. Mechanic said they gave them "a quarter turn," whatever that means (I'm not mechanical), and the problem was fixed. But I also swapped out the shield for a CalSci tinted shorty, which is great. Fabulous customer service from those guys, too. 

I have had one minor issue after using this bike in all weather for a year. One time on a cold day, the heated gear stopped working after I turned the bike off. It was a blown fuse. Since then I've always turned off my grips and disconnected my heated jacket lead at least a minute or two before shutdown. Then I use the kill switch first, then turn the ignition key. Never had another problem.

I've done all maintenance by the book or before schedule. Had an indy do the throttle body synch at 14K, when I was noticing things running a little rougher. After that, it still felt a little rough, with noticeable vibration in the grips,  in a very specific rev range, right around 4K.  My particular bike had always been very smooth. The mechanic went through it, did some research, and reports that it is normal wear and tear in the clutch basket. The bike shifts perfectly, and over the last 2K miles, I feel either I've gotten used to the vibes or they've calmed down.

I hit 90mph plus here and there on the wide open stretches of my highway commute and corner with some spirit in the twisties, but I've never leaned it all the way over to the peg feelers. I weigh 210 and have a top box and factory sidecases. With all that, the tires were ready to be changed after about 7K. 

She's a runner. While I was chasing down the light front end/headshake issue, I sprang for a Stoltec Moto fork cartridge kit. Stoltec's customer service is top notch. It changed the bike COMPLETELY. So much more fun and easy to ride, so much better behaved in the turns.  I had never upgraded front suspension on my 6 other street bikes over the years, though I've bummed plenty of rides from friends who have decent kit--Triumph Speed Triple and various BMWs stand out as having had good suspension in my memory. With this fork kit, for the casual riding I do, the Yamaha more than holds its own. 

Like my previous Yamaha (MT07, great bike), this thing has been bulletproof, relatively cheap to maintain, and an outstanding value. It's good at everything. It's tiring after 5 or 6 hours, much more noticeable if I need some highway time in there. For those longer trips, I want to add a real sport tourer to the garage, but can't afford two bikes at the moment. Well, I could, but I don't love the used options in my price range. I find the FJR cramped in the legs with too much forward lean to the bars, and I test rode it and found the engine far less fun than the CP3. It was also top heavy, though it was a non-issue once she was rolling and I found the handling lovely. The Kawasaki Concours seems like it may be too heavy, and after stupidly taking some test rides at Max BMW, I found that what I really want is a BMW RT.  I definitely cannot afford the maintenance on those beasts. 

My independent mechanic billed for 5 hours of labor for the last service, which included changing both tires and the throttle body synch. Does that labor figure seem high to anyone? With a set of Michelins and the sales tax, that service ran me 1400 bucks, which hurt. I hope it's just oil changes and the like from now until the big 26K service, when the valves will get checked and I'll need tires again.

Cheers to all for a great fall riding season. If any of you are in Western New England and want to ride sometime, hit me up!

-Jeremy 

[DavidS]

ValleyRider - Welcome to the forum, as I read your post, most of what you mention are typical issues with the FJ-09/Tracer. There are lots of fixes in the previous posts, you can search and find a myriad of solutions to the issues you mention.

I have been riding the FJ09 since 2015 and the Tracer 900GT since 2020. I have a friend who rides the BMW R1200 GS and there are a few things I would like to have from that bike, but for the money he paid, I'll stick with my Tracer. It is very reliable, fun to ride with lot's of character. The only thing I wish Yamaha would have done, is provide a little more ground clearance and better suspension. Well, that and maybe. better plastic strategy. It takes too long to remove all the plastics to get to the actual motorcycle parts to do maintenance. Although I'd bet that is their strategy to get us to bring it to the shop for repair so they can make some money......

Anyway, hope you enjoy your bike, and if you have any questions, I'm sure one or two folks here on the forum can help.

[peteinpa]

Welcome!  I've got to say at those prices I couldn't afford to have a bike.  I do all my own work.  If you have a work space and have/get some tools it's worth it to do your own work. Most jobs are easy with a little knowledge and even the hard ones can be done.

$1400 would buy A LOT of tools. WOW. 

[Brian]

Yep. Crazy how much people are paying for repairs and maintenance. I am happy that my dad had me out in the garage before I could even drive to repair the cars my older sisters messed up.

I am also on a C6 Corvette forum. Bought an 07 new. Read how some guys pay $1200 for a brake job. I reply that I have spent less than that on TOTAL repairs (brake jobs, alternator, radiator, hub bearings, drive axles, harmonic balancer) in the past 15 years by doing them myself.

[KrustyKush]

It’s more a matter of style. I go with what could be called KnuckleHead Style. I insist on doing all my own work even when it makes no logical economic or safety sense. I will spend $2k to buy tools I will use maybe once or twice a year. There usually is a stack of old tires in the back yard because I’m too busy riding to carry them down to recycle.

Definitely on the trashy side.

Others are more elegant. They have “people” to handle things.

The $1400 doesn’t seem excessive to me. Tires alone, we’ll done with proper balance and care, is worth an awful lot. 

[betoney]

On 10/6/2022 at 9:09 AM, ValleyRider said:

My independent mechanic billed for 5 hours of labor for the last service, which included changing both tires and the throttle body synch. Does that labor figure seem high to anyone? With a set of Michelins and the sales tax, that service ran me 1400 bucks, which hurt.

$1400 sounds like absolute highway robbery to me.  A set of tires and TB sync, that's all he did? 

My local shop charges $120 an hour so 5 hours of labor would be $600, that leaves $700 for a set of tires (which is INSANE!!!) and $100-ish for sales tax?  Look at your itemized service invoice and see where all of the money went?

[Wintersdark]

On 10/6/2022 at 10:09 AM, ValleyRider said:

I've done all maintenance by the book or before schedule. Had an indy do the throttle body synch at 14K, when I was noticing things running a little rougher. After that, it still felt a little rough, with noticeable vibration in the grips,  in a very specific rev range, right around 4K.  My particular bike had always been very smooth. The mechanic went through it, did some research, and reports that it is normal wear and tear in the clutch basket. The bike shifts perfectly, and over the last 2K miles, I feel either I've gotten used to the vibes or they've calmed down.

Just wanted to pipe in here.  You'll see this talked about a lot.  Let me guess:

That vibration around 4k happens at very minimal, neutral throttle, 3.5k-4krpm, particularly noticeable when you're maintaining a low low, steady speed and it vanishes immediately when the bike is under any load.  

You'll also find there's more driveline slack, particularly after heavy engine braking to acceleration.  This in particular we refer to as "GRONK".  

What happens is that there's oval rubber bumpers inside the clutch basket, and their purpose is to minimize vibration and shock through the driveline.  However, in the original style of clutch basket, these break down, allowing some play with SIGNIFICANT resistance. If you pull the basket apart but do not open it up (requires cutting rivets) you probably won't be able tell by hand.  A 120HP motor, however, has no such problem.  So the pins into the rubber bumpers cut a path through the rubber. 

So in the former case, as the power pulses push through the clutch basket, coupled with drag from engine braking as you maintain a low speed at low rpm, introduce some extra play resulting in that rougher vibration.  When just engine braking, or just accelerating (or maintaining a higher speed which requires much more power) there's constant pressure in one direction in the basket that stops this.

So, there are generally accepted two solutions:

1) Take out the clutch basket, grind off the ends of the rivets, replace the rubber bumpers with new ones, and somehow re-assemble the basket.  Some use screws, some rivets.  If you're a machinist, this is a *super* cheap way to fix the problem as the bumpers cost ~$16.  It's not really shade-tree friendly, though, what with the cutting and such.

2) Simply replace the clutch basket. If you look in Yamaha's parts fiche, you'll see that there's a new basket that replaces the original basket.  This new model apparently does not have the problem (which explains why it's replacing the original one.  This is not a particularly difficult job to do yourself, though the part is fairly expensive: https://www.partzilla.com/product/yamaha/1RC-16150-00-00?ref=822ecf551ed32c23ee06ad04d6069f4e829da5aa

 

But he is correct, it's considered normal wear and tear and other than being a bit annoying in certain circumstances doesn't appear to ever actually be a problem.

[Ride365]

Any idea when the improved basket was implemented?

[Ride365]

Hopefully someone knows my question above, just asking for a friend.  

[kilo3]

10 minutes ago, Ride365 said:

Hopefully someone knows my question above, just asking for a friend.  

2021 with the tracer 9. We don't have a definitive answer yet if it's better, or if it's just a rev increment. Once those whom have swapped out put a few more miles on we'll know for sure.

[knyte]

On 10/7/2022 at 7:15 PM, Wintersdark said:

You'll also find there's more driveline slack, particularly after heavy engine braking to acceleration.  This in particular we refer to as "GRONK". 

Great write up, thanks @Wintersdark.

The GRONK could also be mitigated with an APS tweak (for us '15/16 owners), no?

I plan on doing this after a major service that I can't do myself at the moment.  32,000 km's, and I had a shop pick it up for valves, install a Yamaha Racing washable air filter, TB sync, spark plugs, oil change.  Should be all ready for spring, and I hope to be, too.

Seems best to wait until after a valve / TB sync, THEN adjust the APS.

Like @ValleyRider (great name, btw, Jeremy's ROCK!), it'll be an expensive touch (I trust the shop, though.  They took my g/f's BMW F650GS in from a failed shop when it was in pieces, head off, parts scattered about in unlabelled boxes mixed in with other bike parts, puzzled it all together, got it right the first time, and was fair about it) - this is why I, too, do most of my own mechanic-ing.  Like Dad said to me as a kid, "get ready to save thousands in labour, but spend thousands in tools" 

[PhotoAl]

Welcome and great writeup.  As you have discovered there is a lot of good information and knowledgable folks here.  Looks like you have already had a good time sorting some of the issues of the bike.  I have a 2020 Tracer 900 GT with the longer wheelbase and has been rock solid at all speeds even fully loaded.  I haven't done anything to the suspension but adjust preloads and dampening but for me it does well enough.  It is soft enough for the long rides getting there (wherever that is) and yet firm enough to be enjoyable in the mountains.  It won't handle like my 600 SSs did but doesn't beat me up on a 600 mile day either.  After 7,000+ miles with the Michelin Road 6s I'm impressed,  good grip and wear and they seem to be sportier than the 5s.

$1,400 seems high but if it was tires and several other things then not so bad.  Michelin Road 6s will set you back nearly $500 and then they will charge to remove the wheels and mount and balance.  You are into it for close to $700 at that point.  TB sync does take some time to do right with removing the panels and lifting the tank to get to stuff so again not a $50 job either.   Thinking back on some of my BMW services it is not unreasonable - but it's not a BMW.  

At 17,000 miles I would have had the valve check/adjustment done as the CP3 seems to need early adjustments.  

[KrustyKush]

On 11/12/2022 at 8:14 AM, kilo3 said:

2021 with the tracer 9. We don't have a definitive answer yet if it's better, or if it's just a rev increment. Once those whom have swapped out put a few more miles on we'll know for sure.

My 2021 T9GT is coming up on 14k miles. There is no racket of the type described as, and named, Gronk. I ride most always with earplugs, but sometimes will leave the earplugs at home if just doing around town stuff. Surely I would have heard such noise if it existed. Here’s hoping Yam fixed this ‘cause I really hate crummy engine sounds.

One thing I can say is, the racket coming from the motor sitting at idle in neutral with clutch released is very noticeable. All bikes trannies make this type of rattle in neutral. But this Tracer is Really noisy. The noise goes away when clutch is pulled. Normal. 

[kilo3]

2 hours ago, KrustyKush said:

My 2021 T9GT is coming up on 14k miles. There is no racket of the type described as, and named, Gronk. I ride most always with earplugs, but sometimes will leave the earplugs at home if just doing around town stuff. Surely I would have heard such noise if it existed. Here’s hoping Yam fixed this ‘cause I really hate crummy engine sounds.

One thing I can say is, the racket coming from the motor sitting at idle in neutral with clutch released is very noticeable. All bikes trannies make this type of rattle in neutral. But this Tracer is Really noisy. The noise goes away when clutch is pulled. Normal. 

It's a ugly sound and feeling. You'd know.

[Wintersdark]

On 11/12/2022 at 10:42 AM, knyte said:

The GRONK could also be mitigated with an APS tweak (for us '15/16 owners), no?

I don't know, to be honest.  The APS tweak isn't a thing for 2018+ Tracers (mine's a 2019) so I haven't really paid a lot of attention to it.  

On 11/13/2022 at 1:21 PM, kilo3 said:

It's a ugly sound and feeling. You'd know.

Particularly feeling.  It's a very unsettling feeling when you first experience it.  As much as Yamaha insists it's normal and fine, I find it particularly telling that they've replaced the clutch basket on all the Tracer/FJ models with a new version that apparently doesn't suffer that problem.  It may not be a serious longevity issue, but it feels bad enough that I'm totally willing to drop some $300 on a new basket to fix it. 

You can also just replace the bumpers, but that requires some machine work as the original ones are rivetted in place and not readily replaceable. 

But as Kilo says... It's an ugly sound and feeling, and you'd know.  It's sort of as if you've got a significant amount of drive line slack, but only sometimes - typically when you've engine braked hard then given it a fairly sharp bit of throttle.  It's because there's some play in the clutch basket, but it's not open space.  The play exists because the rubber bumpers have broken down/torn, so the driveline <> basket has a small amount of play but with a significant amount of resistance as the rivets push through the damaged rubber.  It ends up being a single clunk when you transition from a backwards push through the driveline (engine braking hard enough to move through the rubber) to positive throttle snapping back the other way.  You REALLY feel it in the right footpeg (for obvious reasons).  You'll find it most frequently when you're in a pretty low gear but moving, so the engine can push a lot of torque quickly.  It's very rare from a stop, because you generally slip the clutch a bit when starting moving allowing the driveline to settle into forwards position more gradually.