wordsmith Posted April 5, 2020 Share Posted April 5, 2020 (edited) There are some tests, comparos, and reviews now coming out about BMW's supposed Tracer/ GT slaying 900s, their R and XR 900s. I'm a dyed-in-the-wool and rusted-on BMWer from 1997 to the present day, but have to say that from a brief scan of a couple of such reviews they were not exactly sparkling! IMHO, BMW and others would have to go very far to beat the Tracer/ GTs value-for-money and all-round package... XR 900 looks familiar, doesn't it! Edited April 5, 2020 by wordsmith Riding a fully-farkled 2019 MT-09 Tracer 900 GT from my bayside home in South East Queensland, Australia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daboo Posted April 5, 2020 Share Posted April 5, 2020 I like some of what they say...and I also noticed they had a caveat that will be interesting. I find it interesting that the model you see in the dealerships is the stripped down version. To anyone familiar with BMW, that's different. Normally, if you want that model, you have to order it from the factory. And that's where the caveat will be interesting. The reviewers have commented on the suspension being harsher than they liked. Hmm...you wouldn't believe how bad our roads are here in the Seattle area. Potholes are multiplying faster than the rabbits in my back yard. What I would want, is something that would soak up those potholes, not let me feel every bit of them. Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mingo Posted April 5, 2020 Share Posted April 5, 2020 As a former BMW owner of many many bikes, give this bike some time before the recalls and known issues begin to become known, and the parallel twin will never have the hooligan character of the Tracer's incomparable triple. As a former BMW owner (650GS, 800GS, 1150RT, 1200GS, 1600GT, to name but a few), I no longer need to keep up with the latest known issues on the forums, but instead hang out on this "boring" forum.. or previously the SuperTenere forum. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kilo3 Posted April 5, 2020 Share Posted April 5, 2020 I tried to get a test drive on one of these, no dealership within 300 miles would let me, not even the piss yellow one. End of the day it came down to parts and third party support. Besides I already own one used bmw and thats enough risk for me. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted April 5, 2020 Share Posted April 5, 2020 If it was a 1967 R69S I could get excited, but............ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member DavidS Posted April 5, 2020 Premium Member Share Posted April 5, 2020 Hmmmm, my closest riding buddy rides BMW's exclusively and I always marvel how much money he spends on his bike. Not just the initial purchase, but also for basic repairs/maintenance. Nothing about his bike is accessible and easy to fix. That being said, it's the character of the engine that makes the FJ/Tracer so appealing. I'm sure BMW can copy the design, but they can't bring themselves to make an engine that makes your heart rate soar like the FJ09/Tracer! 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mingo Posted April 5, 2020 Share Posted April 5, 2020 58 minutes ago, DavidS said: Hmmmm, my closest riding buddy rides BMW's exclusively and I always marvel how much money he spends on his bike. Not just the initial purchase, but also for basic repairs/maintenance. Nothing about his bike is accessible and easy to fix. That being said, it's the character of the engine that makes the FJ/Tracer so appealing. I'm sure BMW can copy the design, but they can't bring themselves to make an engine that makes your heart rate soar like the FJ09/Tracer! The engine is made by Loncin in China and BMW uses its customers as their beta testers. Just witness the 800cc initial stator design which did not have enough cooling ports, so every single 800cc (and it's 650 / 700) variants will have a stator failure between 20 and 40K miles, and no, you can't just buy the redesigned rotor to prevent this failure, you have to buy the stator and the rotor for around $1000. And the latest mess from BMW? They take their best selling bike, the 1250GS and switch from Brembo front calipers to Hayes calipers which caused a stop sale order because the calipers are leaking. This also applies to 1250RT, so the calipers need to be replaced. How much testing did they do exactly before switching to a new and presumably a cheaper supplier? Oh yes, BMW uses their buyers as beta testers. That being said, the 1200 and now the 1250GS is my favorite bike but I did not buy one because the company that I work for owns 20 1250GS's and 2 of them have had catastrophic engine failures and needed all new heads on one side at between 16K to 20K miles. Since I switched to Yamaha, at first with two SuperTenere's and now Tracer, I'm not concerned with long term reliability and maintenance costs. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supporting Member betoney Posted April 5, 2020 Supporting Member Share Posted April 5, 2020 1 hour ago, DavidS said: Hmmmm, my closest riding buddy rides BMW's exclusively and I always marvel how much money he spends on his bike. Not just the initial purchase, but also for basic repairs/maintenance. Nothing about his bike is accessible and easy to fix. That being said, it's the character of the engine that makes the FJ/Tracer so appealing. I'm sure BMW can copy the design, but they can't bring themselves to make an engine that makes your heart rate soar like the FJ09/Tracer! I actually like a lot about the 900XR but agree with @daboo the reviews I have read mention the harsh suspension and it is NON-ADJUSTABLE😲, not to mention the less power and less character than the CP3 motor. 1 ***2015 Candy Red FJ-09*** Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member keithu Posted April 5, 2020 Premium Member Share Posted April 5, 2020 12 hours ago, wordsmith said: I'm not a fan of the stubby tail look that's so in vogue right now. It's one thing on a sport or naked bike, but it's especially dumb on a sport tourer. Where am I supposed to bungee camping gear? Presumably there is a luggage rack that can be added, but only as part of a $3500 "tour pack." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supporting Member texscottyd Posted April 5, 2020 Supporting Member Share Posted April 5, 2020 20 minutes ago, keithu said: Presumably there is a luggage rack that can be added, but only as part of a $3500 "tour pack." Makes me miss the Honda UJMs... “Very well, sir. Would you like your CB750 in K, F, C, or A flavor?” 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stumpy Posted April 5, 2020 Share Posted April 5, 2020 13 hours ago, wordsmith said: There are some tests, comparos, and reviews now coming out about BMW's supposed Tracer/ GT slaying 900s, their R and XR 900s. I'm a dyed-in-the-wool and rusted-on BMWer from 1997 to the present day, but have to say that from a brief scan of a couple of such reviews they were not exactly sparkling! IMHO, BMW and others would have to go very far to beat the Tracer/ GTs value-for-money and all-round package... XR 900 looks familiar, doesn't it! good to see your still sniffing around the motorcycle forums Wordy. didn't think you disappeared that easily 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpippin Posted April 5, 2020 Share Posted April 5, 2020 There's an article on the 2020 BMW F900R and F900XR is the current issue of Cycle News Direct link to this week’s issue: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1227783-cycle-news-2020-issue-13-march-31 HTML5 is all the rage and works everywhere.Try that here: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1227783-cycle-news-2020-issue-13-march-31?m4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supporting Member betoney Posted April 5, 2020 Supporting Member Share Posted April 5, 2020 9 minutes ago, dpippin said: There's an article on the 2020 BMW F900R and F900XR is the current issue of Cycle News Direct link to this week’s issue: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1227783-cycle-news-2020-issue-13-march-31 HTML5 is all the rage and works everywhere.Try that here: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1227783-cycle-news-2020-issue-13-march-31?m4 This format is much easier to read. 2020 BMW F 900 R & F 900 XR Review - Cycle News 2020 BMW F 900 R & F 900 XR Review | The 2020 BMW F 900 R and F 900... ***2015 Candy Red FJ-09*** Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daboo Posted April 5, 2020 Share Posted April 5, 2020 BMW owners can be a little "wierd" at times. That's a non-scientific word, and probably someone can come up with a better word for it. I was on my first summer after retirement and going to a rally in Spearfish, SD. It was mid-afternoon and I thought a vanilla shake at the McDonalds ahead of me sounded great in the 95F temps. As I was pulling in, a rider on a R1200GS pulled in ahead of me. Inside, we talked for a few minutes. He was just absolutely frantic about finding a BMW dealership that would change the oil on his GS. This is the bike that supposedly can go anywhere. But the owners baby them like they will fall apart. I'm looking forward to the reviews of all these adventure-touring bikes. Walking up to them in a parking lot, they all look similar, but there will be subtle (and maybe not-so-subtle) differences in the way they ride and handle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wordsmith Posted April 5, 2020 Author Share Posted April 5, 2020 (edited) 2 hours ago, betoney said: I actually like a lot about the 900XR but agree with @daboo the reviews I have read mention the harsh suspension and it is NON-ADJUSTABLE😲, not to mention the less power and less character than the CP3 motor. Harsh suspension? Yamaha perfected harsh suspension in the early years of the Tracer, but improved it somewhat in the later GT. See how many Tracer/ GT owners spent megabucks improving it (I was one!). But IMHO, that marvellous, exhilarating, intoxicating CP3 engine rather more than made up for it! I wouldn't buy a new BMW R or XR 900, for having owned the predecessor to these two - a BMW F800 GT - I have first-hand knowledge of how asthmatic some twin-cyl medium-capacity engines can be, despite the fact that the new engines are both bigger in capacity and markedly different internally to the earlier BMW GT's 800cc unit. Even as a dedicated BMW-er myself, I say again that the Yamaha Tracer 900/ GT cannot be beaten for outstanding all-round value for money and performance. Edited April 5, 2020 by wordsmith 1 Riding a fully-farkled 2019 MT-09 Tracer 900 GT from my bayside home in South East Queensland, Australia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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