New member

[parablob]

Hi all been joined this forum  a few  weeks ago,  informative !  Been looking forward  to  getting  a new gray tracer for a while as my z1000sx  was due to be changed ,so read up on it took a test ride  and sorry that's where  I should have said no but I was blinded by the hype and a reasonable  test ride,but I noticed the problem  then  but was advisd it Will  improve , I am so disappointed with this bike I am contemplating  changing  it,the z1000sx is head and shoulders above this bike when it comes to the quality of the throttle  responds and Delivery of low speed power,the tracer is poor at low speed  chugging along. how Yamaha  allowed this to be put in to production is beyond  belief  no improvement with service or time  hate riding it in towns  and in traffic, other aspects of this bike are great I love the looks,the gadgets. and the quality of parts are good even the ride is fine but all that is worthless with the way the bikes fueling comes in at part throttle or just off cam, sorry for the downer but I am soooooo  disappointed 

[ULEWZ]

Sorry you are disappointed. Get the ECU flashed and you will be happy. Ya, it costs money to do this, and ya, it should have come that way from Yamaha, but the choice is yours.

[builderbob]

Troll?

[keithu]

Troll?

Troll or not, I can sympathize somewhat. When I bought a Triumph TT600 in 2000 it had pretty poor low-speed fueling as well. But I looked at it as a small company trying to do something that hadn't been done before (EFI on a 600cc I4 sportbike). And then later Triumph gave me free map updates that fixed the rideability.
 
The fact that a huge, experienced manufacturer like Yamaha can release a bike in this state, with no free updates pending is pretty ridiculous. But hey, H-D sells hundreds of thousands of unrideable motorcycles every year, and BMW owners get new recall notices with every payment coupon, so I guess this is our lot in life.

[parablob]

Hi Bob the builder. I am sorry that my experience with this bike does not fit in to your world,but as an adult I cherish my opinion and those of others please if you have nothing constructive to say then please keep your opinion to your self as there is no need to insult, as I stated I am disappointed with the bike if you can live with it then fine good for you I can't, I thought that these forums are for an open honest debate

[thruster8999]

Hi all been joined this forum  a few  weeks ago,  informative !  Been looking forward  to  getting  a new gray tracer for a while as my z1000sx  was due to be changed ,so read up on it took a test ride  and sorry that's where  I should have said no but I was blinded by the hype and a reasonable  test ride,but I noticed the problem  then  but was advisd it Will  improve , I am so disappointed with this bike I am contemplating  changing  it,the z1000sx is head and shoulders above this bike when it comes to the quality of the throttle  responds and Delivery of low speed power,the tracer is poor at low speed  chugging along. how Yamaha  allowed this to be put in to production is beyond  belief  no improvement with service or time  hate riding it in towns  and in traffic, other aspects of this bike are great I love the looks,the gadgets. and the quality of parts are good even the ride is fine but all that is worthless with the way the bikes fueling comes in at part throttle or just off cam, sorry for the downer but I am soooooo  disappointed 

 
I have felt the same way as you are feeling. I am still working the bugs out of it and starting to like it more and more. The main reason I bought the bike is so that the wife will ride with me and be more comfortable. For a passenger sportbikes are not fun.
I have put alot of time and money into this bike but it still is not up to the build quality at the kawi and if I had to do it all over again I wouldnt have bought the bike. So since you have the bike now here is what I would do to make it alot better. First ECU flash. I have not done this yet but Nels is the only why to go. Second GPR steering dampner is a must to make the bike more stable. After those two things add what you would like to make it your own.

[thruster8999]

Oooo and yes the bikes fueling does suck but overtime I have gotten use to it but when Nels flashes my bike look out. (But she will never be a quick as the 600).

[parablob]

Thanks thruster
When I tested the bike the demo bike had little jerkyness ? Maybe it was the excitement of a new bike ,however all other aspects of the bike is brilliant and on par if not better than my Kawasaki but to get to the area of enjoyment I have to go through this jerkyness, I Will try to they've the issues and looking at some options including a ecu flash
Thanks again

[oldfart]

I agree this bike has flaws, and I'm somewhat surprised as a long-term Yamaha rider (since 1966...seriously!) that a brand new bike comes with this many shortcomings.  My last brand new bike was a 1993 TDM 850 Yamaha that I still ride today.  And the only mod I had to do was put on a taller windscreen.  Everything else was perfect out of the box!  Now we're supposed to "understand" that for the price the seat will suck, the suspension will chatter your teeth on a rippled roadway and the fueling will be herky-jerky and that we should fix those issues ourselves to "create" the perfect bike.  But I LOVE the overall handling (on a smooth road), the power and accelleration, the lightness of the bike and its maneuverability, the basic upright seating position and so much more. So, step by step, I'll make the necessary improvements and hopefully keep this one for another 22 years!

[Cruizin]

@parablob
 

Hi Bob the builder. I am sorry that my experience with this bike does not fit in to your world,but as an adult I cherish my opinion and those of others please if you have nothing constructive to say then please keep your opinion to your self as there is no need to insult, as I stated I am disappointed with the bike if you can live with it then fine good for you I can't, I thought that these forums are for an open honest debate

 
 
Ahh, wait just a moment here. Forums ARE for open and honest debate. You can't ask for that on one hand and then complain about someone's honest thoughts on the other hand. It doesn't work that way. If he was cussing at you or being obscene, we Moderators would step in and remove the post as that would be against the terms of serrvice that everyone has agreed to by posting here.
 
 
 
Ya know, threads like this are good for my confidence. I ride the FZ-09, which is supposed to have even worse fuel and throttle manners, and I freakin love it. I have no issues with the throttle and feel now that I'm a good rider.
 
I have ridden the FJ-09 as well, same bike but it does have a smoother low throttle I guess.
 
But saying that Yamaha shouldn't have put this bike into production? Sorry, but I totally disagree and love the FZ-09 and the FJ-09. Light bike with ripping power right from the go. And mine lugs great thru town but it defiantly prefers to haul ass.
 
Dirtbike handlebars, just think about your left hand and it leans left like a supermoto. Glance at your right hand and it flicks to the right.
 
0-80 mph is fun, and not many bikes can actually catch me until we get up around 100 MPH.
 
For some, this bike is not their best choice. And every bike has it's quirks and annoying issues, continuing to ride them is called "Passion".
 
If you don't have the passion for this bike, then by all means it's time to sell it and get another.
 
Sorry if this seems harsh, but this IS the FJ-09 forum and around here, most of us love the FZ-09 and FJ-09 and some of us even like the throttle and fueling just fine.
 
I do appreciate your comments and please feel free to debate as much as you want. But, if I went on the Mercedes forum and started talking it down and threatened to trade it for a BMW, I would do so fully expecting to get reemed by said Mercedes owners.
 
Ya know??

[Cruizin]

I agree this bike has flaws, and I'm somewhat surprised as a long-term Yamaha rider (since 1966...seriously!) that a brand new bike comes with this many shortcomings.  My last brand new bike was a 1993 TDM 850 Yamaha that I still ride today.  And the only mod I had to do was put on a taller windscreen.  Everything else was perfect out of the box!  Now we're supposed to "understand" that for the price the seat will suck, the suspension will chatter your teeth on a rippled roadway and the fueling will be herky-jerky and that we should fix those issues ourselves to "create" the perfect bike.  But I LOVE the overall handling (on a smooth road), the power and accelleration, the lightness of the bike and its maneuverability, the basic upright seating position and so much more. So, step by step, I'll make the necessary improvements and hopefully keep this one for another 22 years!

 
 
Honestly? I appreciate your comments but honestly, I've been buying bikes since the late 70's and every single first year model I have ever bought had issues to be worked out. Every single first year run, from every different brand. Most of em, the issues were corrected in year three.
Every bike I have ever owned also had issues that were never worked out. Ever. We lived with em or we corrected them ourselves.
 
Go on any motorcyle forum, even ADVrider.com (the holy grail) and there are numerous posts about not buying first year bikes. Same thing on most car forums. We, the owners are the ultimate long term testers of automobiles and we report stuff, dealers fix stuff and after a while the factory gets around to noticing a trend and decides if it is in their profitability to correct it or not.
 
Go buy a Yamaha WR450 and first thing yu notice is that Yamaha ships it out minus 35% HP, and you have to buy an ECU flasher and exhaust mod to get the real tune for the bike. Heck, almost every bike is way undersprung for anyone over 180 lbs, (most americans now days).
 
Go look at KTM and all the issues they have with their so called superior bikes. BMW, the grand expensive German bikes, and all of their uncorrected issues on bikes that have been built for years and years without correcting the issues.
 
I appreciate you comments, and yes this bike has about as many issues as other new and even long term bikes, and people come here like they come to other bike forums, to learn how to correct them or live with them.
 
But to say Yamaha shouldn't have brought the FJ-09 to production? Cmon man, be real. Chose another bike and you will find just as many but different issues. Especially on first year models, and 2nd ...
 
the FZ-09 and the FJ-09 are awesome freakin bikes. You are welcome to drop yours off in my driveway anytime! lol
 
Again, I'm enjoying this debate, I'm not mad and these are just my informed opinions, I do welcome yours as well.

[jimf]

So since you have the bike now here is what I would do to make it alot better. First ECU flash. I have not done this yet but Nels is the only why to go. Second GPR steering dampner is a must to make the bike more stable. After those two things add what you would like to make it your own.

 
YMMV, but in my opinion the only "must do" to the bike from the factory is to change the windscreen to one that won't make you deaf (which is to say, "anything else").
 
Other than that, most of the "needs" people talk about are only "needs" when you're riding to extreme: very fast, or over bad roads, or for very long distances.
 
If you ride mostly on smooth roads, the kind most people do almost all of the time, the suspension doesn't need upgrading. You can ride it pretty damn hard with what it comes with. That's not true of most Japanese bikes, which tend to be extremely undersprung and underdamped. The FJ's suspension is *much* better than average on bikes anywhere near its price point, and few people ever upgrade their suspension on those bikes.
 
If you're not riding it like a racebike you don't need a steering damper. It's plenty stable up to speeds that will take your license away. If you *are* riding it like a racebike, I question whether or not you bought the right bike in the first place. :-)
 
The fueling isn't always perfect, but it's not terrible. The original FZ-09 -- that was pretty terrible. Most of the MV Agusta line since they went fuel injected are nigh unrideable. Most sportbikes have low RPM fueling that is worse, especially those from 5 to 10 years ago. The FJ is, at most, a little quirky at very low RPMs, and not even quirky there in one of its three fuel maps. I'm not saying that you won't be happy if you get an ECU flash, because by all reports it's a significant improvement, but it doesn't *need* it in the sense that it's just not any good without it. Unless you're racing, again, and only there because of the speed limiter.
 
Honestly, it's a great bike right out of the box. I love farkling as much as the next guy but it's a very capable machine even if you do next to nothing to it. Take the FJ, swap the windscreen for a cheap replacement that's not so loud, put luggage and perhaps a set of heated grips from some manufacturer or another, and you've got a machine that you can ride really hard for a really long way Just Like That.
 
 

[root]

@parablob 

Hi Bob the builder. I am sorry that my experience with this bike does not fit in to your world,but as an adult I cherish my opinion and those of others please if you have nothing constructive to say then please keep your opinion to your self as there is no need to insult, as I stated I am disappointed with the bike if you can live with it then fine good for you I can't, I thought that these forums are for an open honest debate

Ahh, wait just a moment here. Forums ARE for open and honest debate. You can't ask for that on one hand and then complain about someone's honest thoughts on the other hand. It doesn't work that way. If he was cussing at you or being obscene, we Moderators would step in and remove the post as that would be against the terms of serrvice that everyone has agreed to by posting here.
 
 
 
Ya know, threads like this are good for my confidence. I ride the FZ-09, which is supposed to have even worse fuel and throttle manners, and I freakin love it. I have no issues with the throttle and feel now that I'm a good rider.
 
I have ridden the FJ-09 as well, same bike but it does have a smoother low throttle I guess.
 
But saying that Yamaha shouldn't have put this bike into production? Sorry, but I totally disagree and love the FZ-09 and the FJ-09. Light bike with ripping power right from the go. And mine lugs great thru town but it defiantly prefers to haul ass.
 
Dirtbike handlebars, just think about your left hand and it leans left like a supermoto. Glance at your right hand and it flicks to the right.
 
0-80 mph is fun, and not many bikes can actually catch me until we get up around 100 MPH.
 
For some, this bike is not their best choice. And every bike has it's quirks and annoying issues, continuing to ride them is called "Passion".
 
If you don't have the passion for this bike, then by all means it's time to sell it and get another.
 
Sorry if this seems harsh, but this IS the FJ-09 forum and around here, most of us love the FZ-09 and FJ-09 and some of us even like the throttle and fueling just fine.
 
I do appreciate your comments and please feel free to debate as much as you want. But, if I went on the Mercedes forum and started talking it down and threatened to trade it for a BMW, I would do so fully expecting to get reemed by said Mercedes owners.
 
Ya know??

To be fair Cruizin and builderbob, calling someone a troll for voicing disappointment with the same shortcomings that have been voiced elsewhere on the site is a little harsh.  
To be fair parablob, I agree with a lot of what Cruizin said about going to a fan site and complaining.  You should expect some backlash.  That's typical internet behavior.  I agree there are short comings with the FJ-09 and you listed some of them, but I still love my bike.  I think you can work through the throttle response with some help from nels.  I know it sucks you have to do that.  If you don't live close, you have to take the bike apart yourself, mail it in which means you are without your bike for a few days or even a week and it costs money.  All that sucks, but in the end, it sounds like something that will fix most of your issues with the bike and that's a small price to pay for a first gen, first year bike to get the way you want it.
 
 

[Cruizin]

@parablob 
 
Ahh, wait just a moment here. Forums ARE for open and honest debate. You can't ask for that on one hand and then complain about someone's honest thoughts on the other hand. It doesn't work that way. If he was cussing at you or being obscene, we Moderators would step in and remove the post as that would be against the terms of serrvice that everyone has agreed to by posting here.
 
 
 
Ya know, threads like this are good for my confidence. I ride the FZ-09, which is supposed to have even worse fuel and throttle manners, and I freakin love it. I have no issues with the throttle and feel now that I'm a good rider.
 
I have ridden the FJ-09 as well, same bike but it does have a smoother low throttle I guess.
 
But saying that Yamaha shouldn't have put this bike into production? Sorry, but I totally disagree and love the FZ-09 and the FJ-09. Light bike with ripping power right from the go. And mine lugs great thru town but it defiantly prefers to haul ass.
 
Dirtbike handlebars, just think about your left hand and it leans left like a supermoto. Glance at your right hand and it flicks to the right.
 
0-80 mph is fun, and not many bikes can actually catch me until we get up around 100 MPH.
 
For some, this bike is not their best choice. And every bike has it's quirks and annoying issues, continuing to ride them is called "Passion".
 
If you don't have the passion for this bike, then by all means it's time to sell it and get another.
 
Sorry if this seems harsh, but this IS the FJ-09 forum and around here, most of us love the FZ-09 and FJ-09 and some of us even like the throttle and fueling just fine.
 
I do appreciate your comments and please feel free to debate as much as you want. But, if I went on the Mercedes forum and started talking it down and threatened to trade it for a BMW, I would do so fully expecting to get reemed by said Mercedes owners.
 
Ya know??

To be fair Cruizin and builderbob, calling someone a troll for voicing disappointment with the same shortcomings that have been voiced elsewhere on the site is a little harsh.  
To be fair parablob, I agree with a lot of what Cruizin said about going to a fan site and complaining.  You should expect some backlash.  That's typical internet behavior.  I agree there are short comings with the FJ-09 and you listed some of them, but I still love my bike.  I think you can work through the throttle response with some help from nels.  I know it sucks you have to do that.  If you don't live close, you have to take the bike apart yourself, mail it in which means you are without your bike for a few days or even a week and it costs money.  All that sucks, but in the end, it sounds like something that will fix most of your issues with the bike and that's a small price to pay for a first gen, first year bike to get the way you want it.
 

 
Just to be clear, I didn't call anyone a troll. I think that's a strong word, but it is heavily used on most internet forums. I certainly do not think the OP is a troll, and I wish that the bike was perfect for him, but then again Iv'e never owned a bike that was perfect out of the box.
 

[builderbob]

Hi Bob the builder. I am sorry that my experience with this bike does not fit in to your world,but as an adult I cherish my opinion and those of others please if you have nothing constructive to say then please keep your opinion to your self as there is no need to insult, as I stated I am disappointed with the bike if you can live with it then fine good for you I can't, I thought that these forums are for an open honest debate

Excuse my assumption. When I read a negative post by someone who, at the time, had exactly one post on this board, it's easy to assume that it is intended to stir up trouble.  My apologies. That said, my own experience with the bike has been pleasant.  In standard mode, I have no issues with the throttle.  Very smooth on my bike.  "A" mode is a different story.  Frankly, I'll never use it.
I just returned from a trip from Florida to the NC mountains and back. After all of those miles, the only thing I can complain about is the stock seat. Then again, I've complained about and replaced almost every seat on every motorcycle I've ever owned.
 
Oh, and by the way, my post wasn't an accusation, it was a question. Hence the question mark.