What did you do to your FJ-tracer-gt today?

[texscottyd]

1 minute ago, coachluciano said:

I had to use my new line wrenches and shed some blood, otherwise cutting them seems more logical. Wasn’t sure how hard they were, so I just unbolted from the blocks and fed them out. Had to bend each one on the way out. Lol.  

Fortunately, I’m well-stocked on tools that support the ‘non-reusable removal’ of existing components.  My oldest son made a label for the bottom drawer of my rollaway tool box which reads “Misc Not F*%king Around”    

[piotrek]

Head bearings inspected and repacked with Corrosion Block grease. Everything looked and felt great (51K kms). Lower race on the stem shown for reference.

Replaced fork oil (sticking with Bel-Ray HVI 3W). One year old (~12,000 km)...

New...

Will try and pack the fork seals with some Race Tech grease... thanks Dave Moss.

Edited November 25, 2019 by piotrek

[coachluciano]

2 hours ago, coachluciano said:

Just just read them. Yes. Basically the same. What they don’t tell you is how to “remove” the stock lines. When your ready let me know and I’ll shoot you some notes. On the ingenuity scale, this ain’t for the faint hearted. And you’ll need proper line wrench. Which I know you have lol.  Did this with minimal fluid drops if any. But you can see I immediately wrapped each line when removed. Makes snaking back through the frame less stressful when you're thinking about brake fluid spewing all over the place. 

I take some of that back @texscottyd  the Galfer lines really one the stock “manifold” blocks ( not sure of the proper term. The black aluminum blocks the hard lines tie into in my picture). Spiegler lines eliminates those. Interesting. @betoney no issues with ABS I’m guessing? I won’t know for 4-5 months. Lol. Eff’n winter is here. 

[betoney]

6 minutes ago, coachluciano said:

@betoney no issues with ABS I’m guessing? I won’t know for 4-5 months. Lol. Eff’n winter is here. 

After swapping the lines, I only got out for a brief test ride and everything seemed to work fine.  I didn't trigger the ABS but suppose I could brake hard over some loose dirt or gravel to make sure everything cycles as it should.  Winter-like weather here as well, if I do take it out it will only be briefly.

 

[BugsInTeeth]

2 hours ago, piotrek said:

Had a look at that site last week... and glad I did. Probably going Galfer. Just need to see whether my new bar will require me to go longer with the front brake line.

speaking of which, does anybody make SHORTER,  (less rise), bars for the Tracer ? I've looked and

looked and cannot seem to find a dang thing.... ?

 

 

[getpetey]

10 hours ago, coachluciano said:

Yes  you bought mine off eBay. Lol.  Funny how the FJ stars align. The red on the Sargent matches your bike to a T. 

I was thinking the same! Small world for sure! 

[piotrek]

21 minutes ago, BugsInTeeth said:

does anybody make SHORTER,  (less rise), bars for the Tracer ?

Rizoma (below) has several fans on here... mostly FJ owners I think. The 900/GT bar is shorter than the FJ... not sure the length. FJ-09 OE bar is 770mm wide.

Edited November 25, 2019 by piotrek

[coachluciano]

12 hours ago, piotrek said:

Rizoma (below) has several fans on here... mostly FJ owners I think. The 900/GT bar is shorter than the FJ... not sure the length. FJ-09 OE bar is 770mm wide.

I have the MA006. It’s really nice. 

[texscottyd]

Really helpful @piotrek!  I think I finally have an understanding of how rise, sweep, levels play out across all three dimensions.   These same dimensions for the stock bar would be awesome...  I may try and come up with them if somebody else hasn’t already done so.   A revamp of the ergonomics is on my winter project list, so I’m really investigating all this detail right now.  

Thanks again! 

[betoney]

50 minutes ago, texscottyd said:

Really helpful @piotrek!  I think I finally have an understanding of how rise, sweep, levels play out across all three dimensions.   These same dimensions for the stock bar would be awesome...  I may try and come up with them if somebody else hasn’t already done so.   A revamp of the ergonomics is on my winter project list, so I’m really investigating all this detail right now.  

Thanks again! 

I agree, having the factory bar dimensions as a baseline would be very helpful to a lot of people who might only want to change one dimension.  Handlebar shopping can be trial and error and little changes make a big difference.

When I go riding with my brother and/or buddies, we usually swap bikes for awhile and handlebar bend/height and lever placement is the first thing I notice (and get annoyed by). - Though I am extremely picky when it comes to rider ergonomics and control placement. 

[piotrek]

11 hours ago, texscottyd said:

A revamp of the ergonomics is on my winter project list, so I’m really investigating all this detail right now.

Ditto here. I managed to measure the following with some confidence... don't judge. Clamp down length ~130mm.

I pulled the trigger on Renthal Street Naked (819-50). Reading your posts... you're probably looking for something sportier.

[Wintersdark]

14 hours ago, betoney said:

I agree, having the factory bar dimensions as a baseline would be very helpful to a lot of people who might only want to change one dimension.  Handlebar shopping can be trial and error and little changes make a big difference.

When I go riding with my brother and/or buddies, we usually swap bikes for awhile and handlebar bend/height and lever placement is the first thing I notice (and get annoyed by). - Though I am extremely picky when it comes to rider ergonomics and control placement. 

This is really the only way too, just looking at bars, trying out bikes, and accepting that bars are only a part of all the interconnected parts of rider ergos.  

A downside of our bikes now is they're non standard diameters(at least with the stock risers).  If you're got a bike with standard 22mm/ 7/8ths bars, you can grab Emgo bars for $20 a pop and try em out with relatively minor investment.  

 

Fortunately I'm pretty happy with the stock bars, my issue with the ergos is limited to the way the seat pushes you forwards all the time. 

[wordsmith]

YMMV and FWIW an' all that, I found that I preferred the very wide OE bars on my last Gen1 Tracer over the somewhat narrower 'bars on the GT.   The Gen1 seemed to me to give the very comfortable ergos that I'd become used to on previous BMW GSs - very flat, very wide, very comfy, very accommodating of my preferred sit-up-and-beg stance.   Pix below courtesy cycle-ergo.   YMMV and FWIW an' all that...

 

Edited November 26, 2019 by wordsmith

[Wintersdark]

I'm definitely a fan of wider bars vs. narrow bars.  I rarely lane split/filter so don't benefit from narrow bars, and like how wider bars allow finer input control.  On my old MT07, swapping the bars out for substantially wider (2") ones was pretty much the first thing I did.  Being a huge guy, too, narrow bars become extremely uncomfortable vs. shoulder width - you end up with your arms pointing inwards rather than parallel, then your wrists have to twist outwards even more.  Ugh. 

The GT's bars are pretty decent, though - they're only a half an inch narrower than the FJ bars, if I understand correctly - quarter inch per side.  If it's a bigger difference than that, though, maybe it'd be worth tracking down a set of used older FJ bars.  And if the control cables will fit, of course.

 

Edit: I'm so jealous of that knee angle!  Even with the seat raised, I'm at 81 degrees; 77 degrees stock.  

Edited November 26, 2019 by Wintersdark

[wordsmith]

Thanks, wd.   My impression is that the difference between the narrower GT's 'bars and wider Gen1 Tracer 'bars is appreciably more than the half-inch you mention, maybe up around 4" or 5" or thereabouts.   But I'll have to dig into it a bit more: I did read it in some specs some time ago.   I very much doubt I'd have detected a difference of only half-an-inch!   

The original wider Gen1 'bars might not fit the GT without some/ a lot of work due to the mass of additional controls on the GT 'bars - cruise-control etc.

Edited November 26, 2019 by wordsmith