Tempted by the devil.

[dazzler24]

I found myself in my local Yamaha dealership today while my wife mused herself in the nearby 'shops'.

The devil appeared in the form of a salesman and tempted me with these '23 model beauties.......

I do like the much more refined look of these later models compared to my vintage '15 Tracer.

Over here ~$25K ride away.

[texscottyd]

I love the gold wheels, and the white is surprisingly nice & clean looking to me.  

I need to ride a T9 and see what it’s all about.  I’m sure it’s an objectively ‘better’ motorcycle in almost every way than my old FJ, but I still love the raw, semi-unrefined, hooligan nature of my bike.   It’s hard to believe I’ve owned this thing for 7+ years, and I still enjoy it immensely.  

[HGP61]

I swapped tracers with my riding buddy a few weeks ago and tried his T9 out for part of the trip. Loved the quick shifter although it was a bit of guess work using it as I couldn't see the tiny wee indicator light on that split screen display without my reading glasses on, the T9 felt a bit smother on the road, (I still have the stock suspension on my 17 Tracer) would be nice at times to click on the cruise control. But, as much as I loved it I wouldn't be tempted to get down to the Dealership and give them my bike and £7 or £8,000 to trade up.

[dazzler24]

3 hours ago, texscottyd said:

I love the gold wheels, and the white is surprisingly nice & clean looking to me.  

I need to ride a T9 and see what it’s all about.  I’m sure it’s an objectively ‘better’ motorcycle in almost every way than my old FJ, but I still love the raw, semi-unrefined, hooligan nature of my bike.   It’s hard to believe I’ve owned this thing for 7+ years, and I still enjoy it immensely.  

Yea, I must admit I thought the same about the white too when I saw it in the flesh.  But I also like the basic black look with the gold accents.

Ditto for me too with respect to your reference about our vintage 2015 bikes.  While our bikes might a look a bit dated compared to the T9 GT the price differential is hard to justify - for me at least.  They did look pretty though. 🙂

 

1 hour ago, HGP61 said:

I swapped tracers with my riding buddy a few weeks ago and tried his T9 out for part of the trip. Loved the quick shifter although it was a bit of guess work using it as I couldn't see the tiny wee indicator light on that split screen display without my reading glasses on, the T9 felt a bit smother on the road, (I still have the stock suspension on my 17 Tracer) would be nice at times to click on the cruise control. But, as much as I loved it I wouldn't be tempted to get down to the Dealership and give them my bike and £7 or £8,000 to trade up.

Yes HGP, it is very hard to justify the large outlay in cash for the newer bike especially when (in my case) virtually all aspects of the vintage bike have been upgraded to GT specs anyway.  New suspension, cruise control, slipper clutch, etc.

Have you ever considered a suspension update on your beast?  Much cheaper than a new bike for a similar ride experience.  Similar story adding a McCruise too.

[2and3cylinders]

I don't get to ride near as much as I'd like the 5 bikes I have.  Plus I'm sinking dough into refreshing the engine on my RD400 and it restoring back to street from when I raced it. I still look ridiculous on it, like a gorilla on a Schwin Singray.

Installed slab anchors in my wife's garage spot because she's had mommentos from her mother sitting  in MY spot for two+ years.  Had to PAY someone else to change doughnuts during thar span.  It's hard to pressure her to go through it and get over to the storage unit we've been paying for since last winter.  I do have a ton of parts and the 01 Sporty XL1200S in there at least. 

And other than a RT1250, there's not another bike I'm really interested in other the new Guzzi V1000 Mondello..

[Heavy]

8 hours ago, dazzler24 said:

The devil appeared in the form of a salesman and tempted me with these '23 model beauties.......

So the devil was the salesman ... It had nothing to do with the inner voice that lead you to the dealership?  😄

 

[betoney]

11 hours ago, texscottyd said:

I need to ride a T9 and see what it’s all about.  I’m sure it’s an objectively ‘better’ motorcycle in almost every way than my old FJ, but I still love the raw, semi-unrefined, hooligan nature of my bike.   It’s hard to believe I’ve owned this thing for 7+ years, and I still enjoy it immensely.  

I have had the same feeling lately.  I swap riding with my VFR, a day trip on the FJ and then a day trip on the VFR. 

As much as I enjoy the smooth and refined feel of the VFR, every time I get back on the FJ and get into some spirited riding it brings a smile to my face, the motor still impresses me every time I ride it.  For an "older" bike with almost 75k miles it never misses a beat, I cant imagine NOT having a CP3 of some sort in the garage.

[KrustyKush]

I think the words "raw" and "unrefined" describe the ride of the new Tracer's also.  I never rode one of the older ones.  Only my 2021 T9GT.  Now past 16k miles.

Every time I ride it, I reflect on the various noises it makes.  Clunks, snicks, whines..  a multitude of whines superimposed on each other.  The barky motor.  Very unrefined, and Very satisfying.

[dazzler24]

10 hours ago, Heavy said:

So the devil was the salesman ... It had nothing to do with the inner voice that lead you to the dealership?  😄

Ha!  You're on to me heavy.  Maybe this is what actually happened.....

 

[Jayzonk]

12 hours ago, betoney said:

I have had the same feeling lately.  I swap riding with my VFR, a day trip on the FJ and then a day trip on the VFR. 

As much as I enjoy the smooth and refined feel of the VFR, every time I get back on the FJ and get into some spirited riding it brings a smile to my face, the motor still impresses me every time I ride it.  For an "older" bike with almost 75k miles it never misses a beat, I cant imagine NOT having a CP3 of some sort in the garage.

Which vfr do you have?  800, 1200?

[betoney]

9 hours ago, Jayzonk said:

Which vfr do you have?  800, 1200?

I have the VFR1200X.

I had always wanted Yamaha to release a sort of Tracer/FJR hybrid, larger, less hooligan, smoother and more relaxed for longer road trips. 

The 2 bikes look very similar but engine characteristics couldn't be more different, 1200cc V4 with shaft drive and DCT.  Extremely low stress motor will cruise at 80mph @ just over 4k rpm all day long, I just had to add cruise control.  Although significantly larger, the VFR is surprisingly agile and can definitely hold its own on the "fun" roads, if you have seen the older guys ride larger FJR's, C14's and similar on twisty roads, you know what I'm talking about. 😎

My tank bag, GPS and Shad side bags swap from bike to bike in minutes depending on which bike I am using.

[kilo3]

Dang that white and gold is hot, they should have match the wheels to the forks though.

[OldBikers]

The black and gold is Killer.  John Player Special livery.

Edited May 19, 2023 by OldBikers

[Seafz8]

The black with gold wheels caught me off guard. Didn’t think I would like that….but it’s nice. I would have bought it. 😵‍💫

[Heli ATP]

Talk about gold wheels and paint... While on a work trip I saw a 2022 Kawasaki Z650RS in green with gold wheels. She had been on my mind all week. I have a Suzuki VanVan 200 that is not getting ridden so today I rode to Kawa dealer that has the 50th edition Z650RS reduced to sell. When I saw the Red/Brown of the 50th edition it did nothing for me. Thats when I realized it was the green paint I liked. I always thought I would like Matte paint on a vehicle, but my Niken GT in matte blue is hard to clean. I wonder how the Niken would look in the Kawa Z650RS green and gold?