Greetings from AL eventually

[PhotoAl]

New owner of a 2020 Tracer GT.  Have been looking at them for several months and had planned to trade for a Tracer and then add heated grips, side cases and cruse control.  My bike was a 2016 BMW F800GT.  Nice bike but a very dull engine and pumped lots of heat onto riders inner thighs in temps above 90F. Bike before that was a 2014 ZX6R 636 ABS - a good bit of why I thought the BMW engine was dull!  Planned a 6,000 mile trip to Idaho and up to Missoula MT and back thru Wyoming.   Bike had 30,000 mile service at the dealer the week before I left, put a new Michelin Road 5 on the rear.  Left on August 26, first day was 575 miles, second 504 miles.  At the end of the second day as I pulled off on the exit ramp at the KOA in Grand Island Nebraska, lots of lout popping from the bike and an occasional shudder!  Catastrophic failure of the left side bearing in the rear hub!  Fortunately made it to the KOA.  No BMW dealer in Grand Island or even a BMW mechanic!  One of the nice aspects of owing a BMW is how reasonable and available the parts are Hahaha Hahaha!  $995 for a hub!  The F800GT is a single sided swingarm and belt drive.  I’m thinking it would be really nice if I could find a Tracer GT and trade my pristine broken down BMW for one.  Talked to Chris at Verne Eide in Sioux Falls SD, yes they would trade but not for a broken BMW it would need to be fixed!  Now home is 1,100 miles the other direction!  Oreded a complete swingarm from eBay, add $95 for 2nd day shipping.  While waiting get my wife to send title and checkbook (that would equal permission), got a rental car, Spent $100 at Harbor Freight buying tools.  Owner of KOA was super nice and let me use the shop area to swap swingarm - 3 hour job.  Loaded BMW and set out for Sioux Falls SD - 250 miles away.  I cannot say enough nice things about the folks at Vern Eide.  They quoted me a price based on pictures and what I told them about the BMW - yes I did tell them the dealer said it had a slight webpage from water pump and they thought clutch wasn’t right because it was hard to get into neutral.  LOL now that it was out of warranty they started noticing stuff, it had always been hard to find neutral particularly after an oil change.  Folks at Vern Eide checked BMW and gave me the price they quoted - I was expecting some price haggling but there was one!  Very pleasant experience!   After finishing paperwork too my new Tracer GT out for a short spin - I had to pull over and figure out how to turn grip heaters off, they work very well!  Back to dealer and loaded bike an d rode to Yankton SD an 87 mile ride that turned into 110 thanks to my skilled navigation!  Tracer GT sidecases are smaller than BMWs but not as much as I expected, their shape is very good.  My old tank bag went with the BMW, my new tank bag is a 12” took bag from WalMart.  Decided to hang around and have 600 mile service don by Vern Eide on Saturday.  Spend a couple of days riding around putting miles on it and trying to break it in right.  After the service I set out for home.  1st stop Yankton SD where it was 82 at midnight and I was in a tent!  Next day Grand Island Nebraska.  Yesterday rode from Grand Island to Springfield MO via Wichita to a out Kansas City traffic.  500 miles, lots of wind and I afternoon was hot with temperatures of 95 to 96F.  Today only did 280 before I stopped in Memphis, a bit tired from yesterday.

i love the bike!  Great power but able to cruse at interstate speeds with no effort.  Wind protection needs improvement but is ok with stock windscreen.  Quick shifter is really nice when accelerating briskly but I do better using the clutch when just poking along.  Power is fantastic, even fully loaded it is great on 2 lane roads - need to pass, it’s a rocket.  Makes me smile like my ZX6R did!  Seat needs improvement, currently have a AirHawk on it and it is not perfect.  BMW had comfort seat which was broken in and with an AirHawk was a good seat for lots of miles.  Fully loaded means sidecases packed full, large duffle bag on rear seat and a 12” WalMart tool bag on top of it.  Today was the first day I’ve been on roads that were not straight, bike feels very nice but didn’t corner hard, need to get a better feel first.  Tomorrow I will finally make it home with my new bike and it will have over 2,000 miles on it and a long trip already.  IMO it is the perfect replacement for the BMW F800GT, similar good chassis but fixes problems in the engine.  I bought the BMW on a whim and while we had some great times together (26 months and 26,000 miles) over 5 long trips out west I never liked the engine.  The Tracer is every bit as good as the BMW but it has a fantastic engine.  In case anyone is reading this and contemplating the F900XR I would pick the Tracer every time,  thought about a F900XR but similarly equipped they are $3,000 to $4,000 more and then there is the question of dealer service.   I have not noticed any vibrations at all, compared to the BMW it is silky smooth.  The F900XR is a red is genes engine but I don’t trust the comments I read about the vibrations I the bars on the Tracer vs theF900XR.  I have a Michelin Road 5 rear with 3,800 miles on it that will go on the rear soon along with a new Road 5 front.

Edited September 8, 2020 by PhotoAl
Fix spelling and omissions

[Heli ATP]

Talk about turning a disaster into an adventure. Nice way to break in a new ride. Great story. Congrats.