Tracer 9 GT review

[kingfisher]

I'm no expert or journalist, just a guy with many miles and years of motorcycling behind me, with a great fondness for Yamahas and bikes with the 900 triple engine. My FJ 09 was fantastic; light weight, and quick with that great triple powerplant. The GT 900 replaced it, and was a joy to tour on. Cruise control was great to have. The lure of the FJR replaced them, and after about 90,000 FJR miles, found myself missing the mid weight and kick ass triple of the 900 again. So, a '22 Tracer 9 GT replaced the aging FJR.

After the first 1,000 miles, a few impressions are present.

Engine: The new 890 cc version of the triple is fantastic. Very tractable linear throttle response, and an excellent powerband. Mid range torque comes on sooner and stronger, great for overtaking traffic or powering out of a corner in a middle gear. At 7,000 rpm, a very strong top range rush occurs, that carries all the way to redline. The front end gets light even in 2nd gear with the throttle. First gear, you appreciate the lift control feature for sure.

Suspension and new more rigid frame: Probably the bikes best feature, even over the engine. The semiactive suspension is comfortable and accommodating over rough roads, but also has good dampening that keeps the tires on the roadway in turns, even over washboard surfaces. I've kept it in the A-2 setting so far. The bike is very stable at speed and in wind buffeting situations, such as riding behind a semi on the highway. 

Seat: Many of the past bikes, including the FJ and the GT 900 have required an aftermarket seat for long rides. So far, with a few multi hour rides, I'm surprised to find the seat works fine for me.

Brakes: Strong, with ABS, now including the cornering version. No complaints here.

Panniers: Odd looking at first, but actually quite good. Very easy to mount and remove, with more usable capacity than even the FJR bags. I really like the key setting that allows for keyless entry. 

Headlights: Very good light output and beam spread on both low and high beam. The cornering lights do readily illuminate in turns and makes the light brighter into the turn, but really doesn't reach much farther INTO the turn. That could be improved. Also the tiny but powerful low beam doesn't inspire confidence for visibility to others on the road.

Handling: Pretty much addressed already, but it is excellent. Light, but stable, composed on the highway but a joy in the twisties.

The dash: lots of info, but hard to see at times. I wish they had left the ability in to change from a black background to white with black characters that the GT 900 had. Not the bikes best feature, but well overshadowed by all of the other aspects of the bike.

Overall, I'm enjoying it as much or more than any previous bike, of which there have been quite a few... Only mod so far is a Givi monokey rear rack.

[KrustyKush]

Great review. Thanks. Particularly noticed the appraisal of the stock saddle. I agree the Tracer saddle is way better than the one they put on the FJR. But still painful for an old prostate, so I went Corbin and got a very nice improvement over stock.

My 2021 Tracer does everything my 2014 FJR did, in some ways even better, handles better, uses less fuel, and is a lot more fun to ride in the corners. 

[Larz]

Damnit man, stop posting these great reviews on the 9 GT; trying hard to remain satisfied with my 900 ( not that hard to do) 🤣

[BarryGT]

Great review, I can agree with every one of your points.

[nhchris]

Looked at a 2022 9 GT and liked what I saw.  Then we talked price…

…and I was shocked !   MSRP plus $1600.

No  November deals, minimal for my FJ 09 trade and take it or leave it attitude.  Hummm.

I also found it really hard to get the GT up on the center stand!

Edited November 21, 2022 by nhchris

[Ride365]

34 minutes ago, nhchris said:

Looked at a 2022 9 GT and liked what I saw.  Then we talked price…

…and I was shocked !   MSRP plus $1600.

No  November deals, minimal for my FJ 09 trade and take it or leave it attitude.  Hummm.

I also found it really hard to get the GT up on the center stand!

Damn......$1600 is an absolute steal!!!

[Kenny A.]

6 hours ago, BarryGT said:

Great review, I can agree with every one of your points.

Ditto. 👍

[Larz]

On 11/21/2022 at 6:16 AM, nhchris said:

Looked at a 2022 9 GT and liked what I saw.  Then we talked price…

…and I was shocked !   MSRP plus $1600.

No  November deals, minimal for my FJ 09 trade and take it or leave it attitude.  Hummm.

I also found it really hard to get the GT up on the center stand!

so they wanted just south of $17K? And this isn't the GT+ you're talking about, I take it.....hmmm🤑

[1moreroad]

On 11/20/2022 at 9:17 AM, kingfisher said:

 My FJ 09 was fantastic; light weight, and quick with that great triple powerplant. The GT 900 replaced it, and was a joy to tour on. Cruise control was great to have. The lure of the FJR replaced them, and after about 90,000 FJR miles, found myself missing the mid weight and kick ass triple of the 900 again. So, a '22 Tracer 9 GT replaced the aging FJR.

After the first 1,000 miles, a few impressions are present.

 

 

 

Wait... you had an FJ, then a Tracer, then put 90,000 miles on an FJR, then bought a Tracer 9? 😲

[kingfisher]

Yes, I’ve had an FJR during the time of owning the FJ and then the GT 900, then was without the triple since the most recent FJR was acquired about 3 years ago, so most, but not all, of the FJR miles were since the GT.  I do three trips annually of 3,000 to 3,700 miles each, and a lot of local miles also. I live in an area of long, open highways, and put on about 40,000 miles per year on more than one bike. If it is not snowing or icy, or less than 32 degrees, I’m usually riding in my free time. Being on a bike gives me happiness; I’ve been fortunate to enjoy motorcycling since the late 60’s.

Edited November 23, 2022 by kingfisher

[PhotoAl]

On 11/21/2022 at 7:16 AM, nhchris said:

Looked at a 2022 9 GT and liked what I saw.  Then we talked price…

…and I was shocked !   MSRP plus $1600.

No  November deals, minimal for my FJ 09 trade and take it or leave it attitude.  Hummm.

I also found it really hard to get the GT up on the center stand!

I knew of 2 in Auburn AL that the dealer wanted to sell, said he'd make me a good deal and sure wasn't talking over MSRP.  

Thanks for the review.  I'm at only 26,000 but when I read reviews like this makes me want to jump from the 900 GT to the 9 GT.  Do lots of long trip miles and would have had north of 35,000 but only did one long trip this year.  Love the way my 900 GT is comfortable on long rides and soft enough to soak up some road imperfections but still be controlled and yet when I find curves roads it is capable of handling that nicely as well.  Yea not as sharp in handling as my CBR or ZX6R but close enough.  IMO a good balance and from the reviews I see the 9GT is a further refinement and improvement without loosing what makes the Tracer such a nice bike.  Not too big and good power.   

[SlowBo]

On 11/22/2022 at 8:11 PM, 1moreroad said:

Wait... you had an FJ, then a Tracer, then put 90,000 miles on an FJR, then bought a Tracer 9? 😲

I was thinking the same thing.

@Kingfisher - envious of the miles you put on!  Thanks for the great review.  Looked at at the new 9GT in a showroom last month - what a great looking bike!

[Larz]

Spurred on by this review, just had to go look at a 9GT a local dealer has sitting in the showroom. Luckily, it's red; normally, that'd be the color I'd desire.... not in this case, however. Does not appeal to the eye the way the red FJ-09 does. Too Ferrari red, too much of it and the gold stanchions look way too "yuletidey" against the red body. The other hicccup is the $$$: 14,999 MSRP+ frieght& setup $1400+ doc fee $300+ sales tax... didn't get that far as I left at that point. Not to mention shipping and/or setup damage - broken left front turn signal, marred plastic on the right pannier, missing reflectors with the sticky pads still on. WTF, sloppy putting it out on the floor in that condition. ( breathes deep sigh of relief, woulda had to sell the GT900, the TW200 and still scrape up around 5K).

Edited November 24, 2022 by Larz

[texscottyd]

36 minutes ago, Larz said:

woulda had to sell <snip> the TW200

Nope.  That would be totally unacceptable.   😉

[kingfisher]

A few more observations on the bike, FWIW. Now at 1,700 miles. 

Transmission: Smooth shifting, and quick shifter works well. The ability to use it to downshift is a positive, but I’m kind of set in my ways and prefer to use the clutch for the most part.

Dash: Still not my favorite feature, but it is growing on me. There is a lot of information displayed, with no need to toggle through selections. The deletion of an estimated range selection is odd, but the estimated fuel consumed feature is pretty accurate, and helps to plan the next re fueling. Bike still has the strange fuel gauge that doesn’t show movement until after the first 100 miles, like on past Tracers. Speedometer reads 6% high, according to radar roadside speed monitors. 

Windscreen: This is one of those things that works for some and not for others. It works ok for me. No buffeting, so I’ll keep it. 

Easiest bike to change the oil on that I can recall. No body panels in the way, no header pipes for oil to drip on with oil filter removal. 

Heated grips: works great, like on the GT 900. 

The thumbwheel: Still tricky to operate. A nice feature is the ability to select the heated grip feature with the cursor, and to depress the wheel for 2 seconds; the thumb wheel then only operates the grip heat adjustments with it’s ten settings.  Then you can make heat adjustments on the fly without distraction. Another 2 second depression reverts to normal wheel function and cursor movements. 

Tires: the Bridgestone T 32 tires are excellent. Good dry grip, no rain riding yet.

Chain: it’s good to see that Yamaha no longer calls for the overly tight chain slack specs that they did for previous iterations.

That motor, still is amazing. I watched a video recently where the reviewer said it was one of the best street bike engines designed. Have got to agree. The combination of low and mid range torque, coupled with plenty of top end HP is hard to beat. Any more power would be hard to utilize unless on a racetrack, IMHO. Plus typical Yamaha reliability. When I first joined this forum in 2015, I recall a poster that alleged that the triple showed signs of wearing out early. That has proven to be incorrect; many of you on this forum have high mileage on your bikes, including the gentleman from  my home state with over 300,000 miles on his FJ 09.

I’m sorry to see the experiences that several of you have had when checking out the bike at your local dealership, in regards to bike prep and pricing. I’ve had better luck at my local dealer. I did not get a price much less than retail in this current market, but the price was just under retail OTD, prior to tax and title. It’s been about 3 years since I last bought a new bike. I was a little apprehensive to part with the money required when buying new, but am happy to have done so in this case.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 26, 2022 by kingfisher