2021 GT Updates

[HGP61]

2 hours ago, ZigMerid said:

Yes, a little tongue-in-check, but motorbike rules are so weird and wonderful in different parts of the world that it might just be legal somewhere.

It must be legal in Asia I've seen some pretty ridiculous pictures. 

[betoney]

9 hours ago, ZigMerid said:

 

Question: Is it legal to carry a passenger in a motorbike trailer? Less compromise to the motorbike handling and easily disconnected when travelling solo. And way more fun to ride than a Spyder trike thingie.

Could you convince the passenger to even get in the trailer for a road trip?  Most that I have seen are fairly small, like a large dog crate with wheels.  I would pay to hear someone have that conversation with the wife... 😂

[texscottyd]

On 3/31/2021 at 7:39 AM, 2and3cylinders said:

2021 Yamaha MT-09 | Video Review | Rider Magazine

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We review the heavily-updated 2021 Yamaha MT-09! An all-new 890cc CP3...

 

To me, the most interesting part of the MT-09 reviews I’ve seen is the chassis revision.    Assuming that carries over to the Tracer9 (why would it not?), it may be a significantly better handling motorcycle than its predecessors.  

From the article above:  “The most significant change to the MT-09 is its chassis. The all-new aluminum twin-spar frame and swingarm are significantly stiffer than before, creating a much more planted and sporty motorcycle. Moreover, the KYB suspension is completely revised and much more controlled than what was present in previous generations. ”

I certainly like that sound of that! 

[ZigMerid]

3 hours ago, betoney said:

 I would pay to hear someone have that conversation with the wife... 😂

Well this rider is getting close. He's got the dog in place, now all he needs to do is convince the pillion to have a little lay down :-)

 

 

[Wintersdark]

4 hours ago, betoney said:

Could you convince the passenger to even get in the trailer for a road trip?  Most that I have seen are fairly small, like a large dog crate with wheels.  I would pay to hear someone have that conversation with the wife... 😂

Story time!

 

I had a old Mazda B2200 pickup, with mediocre all seasons.  I lived in Vancouver, British Columbia, where it almost never snows and if it does, it doesn't stick, so it'd never really been a problem - in fact, I never saw a point in winter tires until I moved to this frigid wasteland.

I'd gone to a motorcycle show in Abbotsford with my wife, and it was held at an airport.  This airport was at the end of a very long, moderately steep hill.  While we were at the show, it started snowing, heavily.  We got to the hill, and it was immediately apparent that the truck was simply not going to make it up the hill.  No weight on the light truck's rear end, kind of crappy tires, icy snowy slope.  

My wife wasn't experienced at all in driving in the snow and didn't want to do it for fear or crashing, so I had to ask her to get into the bed of the truck, over the axle, because I needed weight in the back.

There is no way to have that conversation where you come out looking good. 

[betoney]

1 hour ago, Wintersdark said:

My wife wasn't experienced at all in driving in the snow and didn't want to do it for fear or crashing, so I had to ask her to get into the bed of the truck, over the axle, because I needed weight in the back.

There is no way to have that conversation where you come out looking good. 

Awesome story.  😎 👍

[betoney]

4 hours ago, texscottyd said:

To me, the most interesting part of the MT-09 reviews I’ve seen is the chassis revision.    Assuming that carries over to the Tracer9 (why would it not?), it may be a significantly better handling motorcycle than its predecessors.  

From the article above:  “The most significant change to the MT-09 is its chassis. The all-new aluminum twin-spar frame and swingarm are significantly stiffer than before, creating a much more planted and sporty motorcycle. Moreover, the KYB suspension is completely revised and much more controlled than what was present in previous generations. ”

I certainly like that sound of that! 

Agreed.  Between the stiffer chassis and the electronic suspension, I cant wait to try it out on a test ride.

One other point of interest, at least to me, was the mention of a slightly heavier crankshaft.  The Niken has that already and it was immediately noticeable on the test ride, I liked it A LOT.  Very much like a flywheel weight on a 2-stroke for very smooth and tractable power delivery.  I think the crank inertia aided in the perception of absolutely flawless fueling on the Niken, smooth, smooth, smooth!

From the same article: "The updated engine grew from 847cc to 890cc, thanks to a revised crankshaft with a 3mm longer stroke (now 62.1mm; bore is still 78mm) and 15% increased inertia. The heavier crank has resulted in a 6% increase in torque and made the MT-09’s engine feel much more smooth, refined, and tractable."

[PhotoAl]

I have wondered about my 2020 Tracer GT's crank.  Previously I had a BMW F800GT and if you didn't give it enough gas at a start it was somewhat easy to stall.  Didn't bother me as aI came from a CBR600RR and aZX6R 636 and 600cc sport bikes are notoriously finicky about needing revs and smooth clutch releases.  My Tracer GT is very easy to start at low RPMs with smooth clutch engagement.  I still remember the first few miles on the bike - right from the dealer brand new and loaded with all my gear.  I was very worried about stalling and dropping my new bike.  It really surprised me as I expected the 850cc triple to not have more torque off line than the 800cc twin I came from.  Ive also noticed the Tracer GT doesn't spin up quite as quickly as my sport bikes did when blipped with the clutch pulled in.  I really like the Tracer GT and I expect a heavier crank would be even better while still not affecting acceleration that much.

[2and3cylinders]

#1 I'd be concerned about the 21 frame AND "spin forged" wheels due to how thin the wall thicknesses are.  They may be lighter and stronger (frankly how light and strong does a relatively inexpensive sub 900 sport touring bike need to be, is it THAT much better for + $5k?) but real world durability, impact resistance, especially the wheels, IMO is a result compromised.  I paid $8,200 for my 15 in 16, and with the flash, suspension and brake mods spent another $1,300 plus a Sargent.

#2 I like the somewhat snappy, relatively fast spin up of my FJ, it sort of reminds me of my two smokes.  Nothing like a ring ding tuned on the edge of seize-up to teach you very fine throttle and clutch technique.  A heavier flywheel on a CP3 IMO is smoke and mirrors, unnecessary except to cure the edginess brought on my the leaness and snatchiness caused by the Euro 5 compliant tuning and cats.  I've actually had a lighter flywheel waiting patiently to go in my VTR 996 V-Twin since before I bought my FJ.

Yes the 21s may be attractive but there's something to be said for the elemental, simplistic 1st gen FJ.  Less is more and to fail, and anything more than a mouthful is a waste.  How many can truthfully claim they push their steeds close to hard enough that the machines limitations often rear their head??  If it was not for the increase in used prices due to Covid, one could have picked up an already nicely farkled FJ and smoothed out any residual rough edges for the preverbial song compared to 21s MSRP+.

Maybe I'm too old to need the latest and greatest anymore, as my first several bikes were kick start only, had capacitor points ignition, magnetos plus a generator, carburetor(s) you tickled and choked, manual ignition retard, compression releases, single leading shoe drum brakes that faded when hot not that they were much more effective than dragging your feet in the first place, could quickly and thoroughly mix a can of paint strapped to the pillion, blackened spark plugs and fractured light bulb filiments with frustrating regularity, and managed on tires harder than hockey pucks.

And we still loved them, we just couldn't go as fast or far as desired, and always carried clean rags and Goop with our extensive onboard tool kit.

[Wintersdark]

I mean, I love the New Shinies as much as the next person, and have moved away from "they were just fine" in my moving to the Tracer and MT07 from my old 80's machines.  I'm all for progress of design.

However.

For me, what makes the Tracer such a great bike is how much you get, at the price you get it at.  There are comparable bikes that are simply better, but they cost substantially more. The Tracer, particularly the GT, comes with such an amazing feature set at an already great price and it has virtually no competition in it's space as a result.  Getting this pre-farkled feature set (electronic cruise, stock heated grips, hardcases, quickshifter, color tft dash) at 12k CDN?  That was nuts.  It was ~$2000 more than an MT09.  Even at the 15k it's been at recently.  But start getting to 20k, and now there's a lot of competition.  It's great if these changes make it really competitive at that level, but honestly I'd have preferred they keep the feature set fixed, make incremental engineering progress, and keep the bike at the same price point. 

I can say - I won't be trading mine in for a ride that costs nearly twice as much, I just can't imagine it'll be that much better. 

With that said, I'm excited to see what it rides like.  Maybe it will be that much better?  

[2and3cylinders]

OH, AND I SPLURGED FOR THE SHAD SH36 PANNIERS, 3P MOUNTS AND LINERS BUT IN 16 THEY WERE RELATIVE BARGIN, STILL LESS INVESTED THAN A 20 GT INCLUDING BETTER SUSPENSION, BRAKES AND McCRUISE.  AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, THE FASTEST RED COLOR!

80'S, MY FIRST BIKES WERE 50'S AND 60'S! LOL 

[ZigMerid]

7 hours ago, 2and3cylinders said:

Maybe I'm too old to need the latest and greatest anymore, as my first several bikes were kick start only, had capacitor points ignition, magnetos plus a generator, carburetor(s) you tickled and choked, manual ignition retard, compression releases, single leading shoe drum brakes that faded when hot not that they were much more effective than dragging your feet in the first place, could quickly and thoroughly mix a can of paint strapped to the pillion, blackened spark plugs and fractured light bulb filiments with frustrating regularity, and managed on tires harder than hockey pucks.

And we still loved them

Speak for yourself buddy. Speak for yourself. Those ancient, wheezy death-traps that failed at a whim in the middle of nowhere? Not for me, not by a long shot.

The only reason we think those motorbikes of yore were any good is that our memory is misted over by the exuberance and naivety of youth. And maybe a tad too much party-time.

Each generation of motorbike I've ever ridden has gotten better, safer, faster and more reliable than the previous iteration. I for one much prefer to spend more time riding and less time wiping off the fuel oozing from a leaky carby, or the oil from a weepy sump, or the cold sweat from my brow after one too many tank-slappers.

[Wintersdark]

29 minutes ago, ZigMerid said:

Speak for yourself buddy. Speak for yourself. Those ancient, wheezy death-traps that failed at a whim in the middle of nowhere? Not for me, not by a long shot.

The only reason we think those motorbikes of yore were any good is that our memory is misted over by the exuberance and naivety of youth. And maybe a tad too much party-time.

Each generation of motorbike I've ever ridden has gotten better, safer, faster and more reliable than the previous iteration. I for one much prefer to spend more time riding and less time wiping off the fuel oozing from a leaky carby, or the oil from a weepy sump, or the cold sweat from my brow after one too many tank-slappers.

I loved that, as a young lad.  Not so much now.  It's no longer a fun adventure to have the bike torn down on the side of the road trying to fix some random problem and jury-rig up a solution to get me home.  I'm still kind of traumatized by it, though, and carry a fairly massive toolkit and pile of spare cables and stuff I'll probably never need

And even with my MT07, riding it was miles beyond riding any of my older bikes.  Power, handling, reliability, range, safety - so much better.  I still love old bikes - and I keep eyeballing old bikes for projects, but then I realize I don't really want to ride them anywhere.  It's fun to tool around a little bit on a cool classic bike, but... They're things I want to look at with my rose coloured glasses firmly in place, but not actually ride.

Because I like to be able to go, and to stop.  I've been in major motorcycle accidents, I don't want to be in more.  

Of course, this is entirely just my own opinion and preferences, and I'd never say it should apply to everyone.  But when I compare riding a 35+ year old bike vs. a modern one, the difference is so absolutely insane.  I don't want that progress to stop.  

[ZigMerid]

1 hour ago, Wintersdark said:

They're things I want to look at with my rose coloured glasses firmly in place, but not actually ride

Reminds me of that saying about never meeting your heroes. You'll always be disappointed.

I too recall days of midnight repairs on the side of the road and camping on a pool of freezing mud waiting for the mechanic to wake up so I could weld a broken exhaust collector. I look back at them fondly, but keeping them firmly in the past is so much better than reliving them.

1 hour ago, Wintersdark said:

Of course, this is entirely just my own opinion and preferences,

Yup. If @2and3cylinders likes old-school, who am I to judge? Some like the destination, some like the journey and some like the Zen-like experience of road-side maintenance in freezing rain. Hmm. Maybe I will judge after all :-)

[2and3cylinders]

I am speaking for myself.

My oldest bike now is a 76 RD400, hence my handle 2 and 3 cylinders. It is very reliable, has oil injection, mag wheels, upgraded suspension and disc brakes front and rear, I installed an electronic ignition and programmable rev limiter, an it has impressive performance being light as a feather.  It even has OEM self canceling turn signals.

My 98 VTR100F is extremely reliable, upgraded suspension and brakes, electric start and performance that will leave my FJ in it's mirrors.

Different horses for different courses.

Even my 88 NT650 Hawk Gt and 81 GPz550D1 were very modern even by today's standards and performed wonderfully, just at a different pace.

My older classic bikes were not as reliable but with reasonable maintenance got me were I wanted to go without drama.  I guess my mechanical skills and expectations kept me happy with them. New and better is always nice but as I said, anything more than a mouthful is a waste.