Everybody's copying the Tracer!

[norcal616]

I find its mainly driven by what my friends have for a motorcycle that drive a person's choice in a motorcycle... 

[Guest]

My Ducati experiences have been the exact opposite. Been a great company to deal with and they stand behind their products. That said I still love my FJ-09. They are 2 different bikes at 2 different price points. Throw all the money you want upgrading a Tracer and the Multistrada 1200 is still a better package as it should be, it’s twice the price. Is the Ducati more fun, do I smile any bigger riding it, no I do not. I do however wonder if it’s worth the extra cost of ownership and I guess it must be because I still own it. They both have good and bad points, I enjoy them both and they both make me appreciate the other. 

[wordsmith]

I suspect that the phenomenon known as 'pride of ownership' has a lot to do with it.   I certainly felt a degree of 'p of o' from my various BMWs, and can quite imagine Ducati owners experiencing the same.   And no! - it's not necessarily the same thing as brand-snobbery: one-upmanship: or 'I'm better/ more well-off than you".   Having said that, I don't really know what 'pride of ownership' is, except that it's a pleasurable thing to experience.

Edited November 12, 2019 by wordsmith

[rodb47]

I mentioned on Facebook how the new BMW 900 XR looked like it was copied from the Tracer and I sure pissed off some BMW fanbois. It sure looks more like the Tracer than the 1000 XR it supposedly is from. I think that is an attaboy for Yamaha. Good design language.

[nevada72]

15 hours ago, wordsmith said:

Strange to say, over many years of riding I've become accustomed to seeing far more H-Ds on the road than any other brand of motorcycle.   I'd reckon that at least 50% of the bikes that pass me by in either direction are H-Ds.   When    you consider the very small percentage of new road bike sales here that are H-Ds (<5% last time I looked, about the same as Yamaha) two possible reasons suggest themselves: either H-Ds last much longer than other brands; or H-D riders get out more (usually in a posse). 

Any comments and/ or similar experience in your neck of the woods?

In my travels all over the US I can say I mostly see Harleys out on the roads. Despite the decline in sales they sell pretty well still. And then there's decades worth of older ones out there as well. Despite the fun metric riders like to have at the expense of Harley riders, the bikes are actually pretty reliable and a lot of the riders tour quite a bit. The "armchair" position of the touring line lends well to our long, flat, straight interstates. Honestly, if my ride is over 400 miles I'll always take the Harley. It's just easy to ride for long distances. I've knocked out a number of 1000+ mile days on mine and if there were a better bike for me to do it on, believe me, I would buy it.

[Guest]

Harleys are like any other bike, they have good and bad traits. Regardless Harleys sales are still more than 50% of total bike sales in the US. You’re gonna see them out there. They’re not for me but obviously a lot of people like and ride them. 

[keithu]

On 11/12/2019 at 1:00 AM, wordsmith said:

Strange to say, over many years of riding I've become accustomed to seeing far more H-Ds on the road than any other brand of motorcycle.   I'd reckon that at least 50% of the bikes that pass me by in either direction are H-Ds.   When    you consider the very small percentage of new road bike sales here that are H-Ds (<5% last time I looked, about the same as Yamaha) two possible reasons suggest themselves: either H-Ds last much longer than other brands; or H-D riders get out more (usually in a posse). 

Any comments and/ or similar experience in your neck of the woods?

During my one visit to Australia I got the impression that the motorcycling culture there is very similar to the USA. I saw a lot of cruisers including Harleys, Indians, and some of the Japanese brands. I was actually surprised by how many Indians I saw. So perhaps a lot of the bikes you see on the road merely look like Harleys? 

Here in the USA, Harleys are certainly the most common brand you see on the road, which makes sense considering they have around 50% market share here. But it also varies by region. I travel all over the USA for work, and in the middle part of the country where roads are flat (Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, etc.) it seems like 4-of-5 bikes I see are Harleys or other cruisers. But in places with more curvy roads (Tennessee, Virginia, California, Oregon, etc.) cruisers are maybe 2-of-5 bikes I see. This is all just anecdotal observation, of course. 

Here in Oregon I actually see FJ-09s and Tracers pretty regularly. I've seen two others in the parking lots of my work, someone in my neighborhood has one, and I commonly see them out and about. Power Yamaha east of Salem seems to sell them by the dozens. 

[wordsmith]

15 hours ago, keithu said:

So perhaps a lot of the bikes you see on the road merely look like Harleys? 

Here in Oregon I actually see FJ-09s and Tracers pretty regularly.  

Fair point, that, keithu - a lot of the Harley lookalikes are very - well - Harley-like! 

And I still see more Unicorns than Tracers here... they are very rare beasts indeed.   The majority of Yamaha local dealerships don't even have on-floor GTs for punters to see.

 

Edited November 22, 2019 by wordsmith

[maximo]

I dunno, pricepoint, maintenance, reliability…. All good things to look at on a spec sheet, but for me it all disappears once I’m on the bike. Some of my favorite bikes have been ones that are thoroughly panned for one reason or another – take the Virago 535: I bought it for my wife to learn on and I ended up riding the wheels off of it all the while my shiny and powerful FJ1200 sat in the garage. Going the other way I’ve bought bikes based on spec sheets and turns out I didn’t mesh nearly as well with it as I would have thought. My FJ-09 is in that category. After two years and 10k miles I’m still trying to make friends with it. Some things I love about it, some things I think are unforgivable. Despite the spec sheet giving it an A+, I don’t consider it my go-to bike. OTOH my BMW K bike – it’s big, heavy, and somewhat unwieldy, and it has lived up to its reputation and has left me stranded on the side of the road twice in 30k miles. But the riding experience is so well suited for what I value that I actually don’t care if it strands me again. It’s the price of admission.  And take my 20 year old SV650. It’s my Camilla Parker Bowles. It might have been something back in the day, and now even though it’s long past its shelf life she continues to be faithfully by my side, giving me a thrill every time I take her out, despite the performance being barely above that which Fred Flintstone would ride.  I dunno, I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t have many fckus to give. I just ride whatever puts a grin on my face and I allow others the same. If whatever they’re riding makes them smile, more power to them, even if it wouldn’t make me smile.

[stevesweetz]

FWIW the BMW F900 XR is a production practicalization of the 9 Cento concept design.

I think the F900XR is ultimately better looking than the current Tracer.  The 2018 redesign is better, but Yamaha still hasn't made the front fairing panels look well integrated with the rest of the bike, and their penchant for painting them high contrast colors just make them look that much worse.

 

World Premiere: BMW Motorrad Concept 9cento

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At this year's Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este, BMW Motorrad...

 

 

[betoney]

20 minutes ago, stevesweetz said:

FWIW the BMW F900 XR is a production practicalization of the 9 Cento concept design.

I think the F900XR is ultimately better looking than the current Tracer.  The 2018 redesign is better, but Yamaha still hasn't made the front fairing panels look well integrated with the rest of the bike, and their penchant for painting them high contrast colors just make them look that much worse.

 

World Premiere: BMW Motorrad Concept 9cento

---

At this year's Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este, BMW Motorrad...

 

 

I really like that 9centro concept.  I just hate how watered down most concept bikes become when they get to production. 

I also like the Honda CBX4 concept but expect reality to be super vanilla.  I hope not.

Honda CB4X concept at EICMA 2019

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The Honda CB4X concept made its debut at EICMA 2019, potentially...

 

[Guest]

Yamaha’s idea on styling leaves me wondering. The whole “dark side” thing is a turn off.  Great products but they’ve  lost the plot on style and paint.  Certainly they could do a better job of colors for the Tracer/GT. It would be pretty easy to make the bike a whole lot classier looking. 

[Dodgy Knees]

For me, the 900 Tracer is the class leader for mid weight sports touring and adventure.

Agree, colours ain't the best, less contrast would be better, infact all in one colour scheme may be the way to go. 

Monday i went to the nec bike show in Birmingham. I came away happy in the fact, that there was nothing there that I would replace the T9 with. There are some exotic bikes about for those with the cash, rocket 3, CCM looked good, Nortons,  but for a single bike owner wanting a ,"do it all" the tracer still comes out on top.  Imo.

[Guest]

Well as a multiple bike owner I still am glad to have my FJ-09 in the herd.  FJ-09 has a certain appeal that makes it unique even when parked next to “similar” bikes like my FJR and Multistrada. I believe it’s because the bike is both easy and fun. 

[Dodgy Knees]

Two good word's there Donk, I will add 'practical'.