mingo Posted December 10, 2019 Share Posted December 10, 2019 (edited) As a motorcycle tour guide, I get to ride different company bikes, most recently the BMW 1250GS, BMW 850GS, Honda Africa Twin, Suzuki Vstrom 650 and always pass on riding a Harley full dresser... too heavy and not enough cornering clearance... So when I had a chance to rent a bike for my own vacation, I wanted a lighter bike with a peppy power band and selected the Yamaha Tracer 900. I toured the Alps and the Dolomites on it for 2 weeks... Here's a good pic.. So... I returned home and thought about it... for a couple of years!! There was one thing I didn't like about it, and that was the high speed wobble even with my hands on the bars, this occured on the motorway in Germany, I was doing about 180 km/h and had to gingerly slow down.. Maybe it's due to the luggage... dunno. When Yamaha released the updated GT version, I was very interested, but could not secure a test ride. I've read the reviews, and watched countless more on Youtube and especially reviews done by Spanish and French testers and thought I might take a chance and buy one without ever riding it. So on a snowy day in December, while perusing Cycle Trader, I noticed there was one Yamaha dealer who had a "sale" and had the Tracer GT priced at about $9500 OTD... Too good to be true?? I called and asked it was a demo, not it was brand new....hmmm.. I'm very tempted... so I went over there and came home with this: I've have lots of bikes, always bought them brand new, but never had a bike with ZERO km on the odo!! It will remain with zero kms on it for a few months as it's winter here in Canada and I will be traveling for the next 2 months to warmer riding destinations. I love my job!! Hola Baja!! The bike is parked indoors in my basement, as I will be adding additional lights for visibility and I have already removed the monstrous turn signals and the license plate holder. I'd like to add some engine guards: I'm considering the SW Motech ones but I can't tell if they actually protect the engine case or just the upper portion. One thing I really like about this bike is you can see the engine. I like bikes where you can see the engine. The Givi which were on my rental bike just don't look good, but may offer better protection... I hope to learn more from my fellow Tracer owners and will try to post pics of what I've done on my bike. Cheers! Edited December 10, 2019 by mingo 6 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BugsInTeeth Posted December 10, 2019 Share Posted December 10, 2019 you gonna L O V E it ! BugsinTeeth........ "Peace is that time when everyone stands around reloading" . . . . Thomas Jefferson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bugie Posted December 10, 2019 Share Posted December 10, 2019 The bike still gets a little too light at the front at 180+ for my liking but it is an amazing bike and you are going to love the power delivery. My biggest gripe with the GT is there isn't a lot of ground clearance and it doesn't take much lean to scrape the pegs and centre stand 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnmark101 Posted December 10, 2019 Share Posted December 10, 2019 Congrats on the purchase. You got a great deal!!! After much research I purchased a 2019 GT and could not be more pleased. Never once have I had any sort of steering wobble with the bike. The stock suspension is decent and after setting sag and making the proper adjustments it works well. My only gripe was the abrupt on / off fueling in A mode, but that was fixed with a reflash of the ECU. Wow, you have a dream job. I would love to ride my Tracer GT through the Dolomites!!!! There is nothing like spending a day riding with friends in the grip of a shared obsession. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mingo Posted December 10, 2019 Author Share Posted December 10, 2019 Thanks for the welcome. My previous bike was a Yamaha SuperTenere, I had a Gen 1 then Gen 2 and loved it. It was a comfortable long distance tourer and solidly reliable. As for high speed riding here, I'm not going to even try it, 50 km/h over the posted speed limit and it's a road-side 7 day license suspension, up to a $10,000 fine, and the vehicle is impounded for the duration of the suspension, with towing and storage fees..... The other finalist was the Yamaha MT10, but it's limited range, very narrow steering lock, and the SP version isn't available here, and I'd probably lose my license in short order! On my 4000 km test ride in Europe, I really liked the power band and the power to weight ratio, I just have to wait for Spring now to ride it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gv550 Posted December 10, 2019 Share Posted December 10, 2019 Wow Mingo, that’s a smoking deal considering I got $9000 for my used GT with 35k on it. $9500 CDN is about $7100 US. This does bring to light how difficult it is to sell a Tracer in Ontario, our insurance rates have really killed a lot of sales of sport bikes. I was paying 50% surcharge and about double the rate of my SuperTenere. I enjoyed riding the GT for 8 months but the cost of insurance and the PITA chain drive took the fun out of it. I have some parts and accessories in the for sale section....... shameless plug! 2019 Tracer GT, Ontario, Canada Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supporting Member betoney Posted December 10, 2019 Supporting Member Share Posted December 10, 2019 8 hours ago, bugie said: My biggest gripe with the GT is there isn't a lot of ground clearance and it doesn't take much lean to scrape the pegs and centre stand While it doesn't have the ground clearance of an adventure bike it has more ground clearance than most super sports or large touring bikes. 5.3" is very average, within a few mm of what most non-adventure bikes offer. In my experience, I have found the exact opposite concerning lean angle and clearance. I ride the bike fairly aggressively, mostly mountain and canyon twisties and have never hit the pegs or center stand. Do you still have the stock shock? or have it set very soft? ***2015 Candy Red FJ-09*** Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bugie Posted December 10, 2019 Share Posted December 10, 2019 Suspension is stock but adjusted so that it is on the hard side. I am a heavy rider at 90kg but i find clearance to be less than that on my old naked. Regularly scrape foot pegs (and touch the centre stand) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supporting Member betoney Posted December 10, 2019 Supporting Member Share Posted December 10, 2019 37 minutes ago, bugie said: I am a heavy rider at 90kg That's less than 200 lbs, definitely not American, that's almost considered anorexic 🤣 1 6 ***2015 Candy Red FJ-09*** Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mingo Posted December 10, 2019 Author Share Posted December 10, 2019 1 hour ago, gv550 said: Wow Mingo, that’s a smoking deal considering I got $9000 for my used GT with 35k on it. $9500 CDN is about $7100 US. This does bring to light how difficult it is to sell a Tracer in Ontario, our insurance rates have really killed a lot of sales of sport bikes. I was paying 50% surcharge and about double the rate of my SuperTenere. I enjoyed riding the GT for 8 months but the cost of insurance and the PITA chain drive took the fun out of it. I have some parts and accessories in the for sale section....... shameless plug! Sorry, I should have clarified that's US$9500. My local dealer sold his entire allocation and I had to drive 2 hours to get this one, but I did so because of the price. In regards to insurance here in Ontario, I'm paying about $400/year less than I was for the SuperTenere. I'll check out your shameless plug! Bugie: Great picture! it looks like your center stand is dragging. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stumpy Posted December 10, 2019 Share Posted December 10, 2019 @mingo what dealer in ontario was selling GT's at that price? every ad i have seen is a lot more than 9500us Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chitown Posted December 10, 2019 Share Posted December 10, 2019 3 hours ago, betoney said: While it doesn't have the ground clearance of an adventure bike it has more ground clearance than most super sports or large touring bikes. 5.3" is very average, within a few mm of what most non-adventure bikes offer. In my experience, I have found the exact opposite concerning lean angle and clearance. I ride the bike fairly aggressively, mostly mountain and canyon twisties and have never hit the pegs or center stand. Do you still have the stock shock? or have it set very soft? Agree that clearance is comparable to other sport touring bikes. Once suspension was set up properly (required spring changes in my case) and peg feelers removed, hard parts touching down is rare and there's no rear tire left to use. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supporting Member betoney Posted December 10, 2019 Supporting Member Share Posted December 10, 2019 2 hours ago, mingo said: Sorry, I should have clarified that's US$9500. My local dealer sold his entire allocation and I had to drive 2 hours to get this one, but I did so because of the price. I would have driven 2 hours for that price as well, good job! 👍 ***2015 Candy Red FJ-09*** Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mingo Posted December 10, 2019 Author Share Posted December 10, 2019 I called another Yamaha exclusive dealer from whom I purchased 2 SuperTenere's and an FJR1300 in the last few years to see what's his best price and he wasn't even close, he said the price I quoted him from the other dealer was way below his cost. Who knows.. My CDN price was $2200 off MSRP, I think I got a great deal. As a recovering former BMW bike owner, ever since I've switched to Yamaha, I've not had to spend my life on forums following up on the latest "known issues". As much as I like the boxer GS but I get to ride it "on the job", so the bike I really wanted was the BMW S1000XR, the 165 hp is intoxicating, and with an all new model coming out next year, I wasn't about to be a BMW beta tester yet again. Interestingly, the S1000XR - a sports bike with upright comfortable ergos, marketed as an "adventure sports tourer" - is BMW's third best selling bike after the 1200GS and 1200GSA. Yamaha needs to create an MT10 variant to challenge the S1000XR as BMW has done to challenge the sales success of the Tracer 900 by introducing next year an F900XR. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bugie Posted December 11, 2019 Share Posted December 11, 2019 11 hours ago, chitown said: Agree that clearance is comparable to other sport touring bikes. Once suspension was set up properly (required spring changes in my case) and peg feelers removed, hard parts touching down is rare and there's no rear tire left to use. Did you end up dragging the centre stand, or, did you remove that too? I ride right to the edge of the tyre and would be scared to remove the feelers as it gives me warning that i am about to scrape the centre stand (which is obviously a concern). Without the feelers I would be fearing over running the edge of the tyre, or, having the centre stand dig in the ground and lift the rear wheel off the ground Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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