In love with a Tracer
Discussion
Yet to test ride one, but the Tracer ticks every box me. Coming from my latest steed (xt660x) I'm sure it'll be sharp/quick/comfortable enough. Now I just need to work out how to afford one! Hoping (but not to hopeful) that at some point over winter they knock them out on 0% finance. When do they usually anounce next years colour schemes?
Test ride it first before falling in love. No such thing as a perfect bike.
Rubbish cheap suspension, noisy screen, hard seat, restricted to 128mph. Everything else utterly perfect for me and I'll sort out the issues.
Dream scenario for me is 2016 model being available with cruise control and in sexy R1/R6 gloss blue.
New colour schemes out in a few weeks at EICMA, Intermot, NEC etc.
If the new colours are a bit meh I'm buying a grey 2015 one and spraying it.
Rubbish cheap suspension, noisy screen, hard seat, restricted to 128mph. Everything else utterly perfect for me and I'll sort out the issues.
Dream scenario for me is 2016 model being available with cruise control and in sexy R1/R6 gloss blue.
New colour schemes out in a few weeks at EICMA, Intermot, NEC etc.
If the new colours are a bit meh I'm buying a grey 2015 one and spraying it.
Been riding the xt for the last year so I don't think that I'll notice the budget suspension. Its not a patch on my 950sm before it but I've enjoyed it in a completely different manner. I just find it a bit limiting, great for short runs but I can't do long journeys on it.
Fully intend to demo one first, but surprisingly theres not a Yamaha dealer on the doorstep. Got to go down into Yorkshire to test one.
Fully intend to demo one first, but surprisingly theres not a Yamaha dealer on the doorstep. Got to go down into Yorkshire to test one.
LiquidGnome said:
Budget £1500 for decent suspension. Great bikes other than that.
Silly question but if you're spending 1500 quid on suspension for the Tracer, surely you're now in the price bracket for substantially better machinery?Putting 1500 quid into the Tracers suspension isn't going to up its resell value whereas a bike costing 1500 quid more will retain more of its value further down the line no?
And not sure how a bike can be considered great if the standard suspension is so woeful it needs 1500 quid throwing at it to make it work.
Steve Bass said:
LiquidGnome said:
Budget £1500 for decent suspension. Great bikes other than that.
Silly question but if you're spending 1500 quid on suspension for the Tracer, surely you're now in the price bracket for substantially better machinery?Putting 1500 quid into the Tracers suspension isn't going to up its resell value whereas a bike costing 1500 quid more will retain more of its value further down the line no?
And not sure how a bike can be considered great if the standard suspension is so woeful it needs 1500 quid throwing at it to make it work.
Fleegle said:
Steve Bass said:
LiquidGnome said:
Budget £1500 for decent suspension. Great bikes other than that.
Silly question but if you're spending 1500 quid on suspension for the Tracer, surely you're now in the price bracket for substantially better machinery?Putting 1500 quid into the Tracers suspension isn't going to up its resell value whereas a bike costing 1500 quid more will retain more of its value further down the line no?
And not sure how a bike can be considered great if the standard suspension is so woeful it needs 1500 quid throwing at it to make it work.
Steve Bass said:
Fleegle said:
Steve Bass said:
LiquidGnome said:
Budget £1500 for decent suspension. Great bikes other than that.
Silly question but if you're spending 1500 quid on suspension for the Tracer, surely you're now in the price bracket for substantially better machinery?Putting 1500 quid into the Tracers suspension isn't going to up its resell value whereas a bike costing 1500 quid more will retain more of its value further down the line no?
And not sure how a bike can be considered great if the standard suspension is so woeful it needs 1500 quid throwing at it to make it work.
Fleegle said:
Steve Bass said:
Fleegle said:
Steve Bass said:
LiquidGnome said:
Budget £1500 for decent suspension. Great bikes other than that.
Silly question but if you're spending 1500 quid on suspension for the Tracer, surely you're now in the price bracket for substantially better machinery?Putting 1500 quid into the Tracers suspension isn't going to up its resell value whereas a bike costing 1500 quid more will retain more of its value further down the line no?
And not sure how a bike can be considered great if the standard suspension is so woeful it needs 1500 quid throwing at it to make it work.
At most, springs, valving kit in the front and a decent oil and set up. At most 500 quid all in fitted.
But even so, it's not good that the suspension seems so shonky in the first place.
jcelee said:
Besides the Tracer, what do people rate as a reasonably lightweight, upright, moderately powered sports tourer with at least ABS in terms of modernity?
I'm comparing it with a Tiger 800 and a KTM 1050 ADV. Cheaper would probably be a 990SMT, V Strom, Versys or one of Honda's midweight bikes.
The forks on the MT09 reminded me of the soft forks on early FZR 600's. To cure the problem of soft springs I had a piece of pipe that I would cut bits off and fit them onto the top of the springs.
It did work and this is what I would do if I had a MT09/Tracer.
£1500 for suspension work! Send the forks to me and I'll make them work for 50p.
It did work and this is what I would do if I had a MT09/Tracer.
£1500 for suspension work! Send the forks to me and I'll make them work for 50p.
Biker's Nemesis said:
The forks on the MT09 reminded me of the soft forks on early FZR 600's. To cure the problem of soft springs I had a piece of pipe that I would cut bits off and fit them onto the top of the springs.
It did work and this is what I would do if I had a MT09/Tracer.
£1500 for suspension work! Send the forks to me and I'll make them work for 50p.
Funny, that's how people fix a lot of HD's too.It did work and this is what I would do if I had a MT09/Tracer.
£1500 for suspension work! Send the forks to me and I'll make them work for 50p.
Hooli said:
Biker's Nemesis said:
The forks on the MT09 reminded me of the soft forks on early FZR 600's. To cure the problem of soft springs I had a piece of pipe that I would cut bits off and fit them onto the top of the springs.
It did work and this is what I would do if I had a MT09/Tracer.
£1500 for suspension work! Send the forks to me and I'll make them work for 50p.
Funny, that's how people fix a lot of HD's too.It did work and this is what I would do if I had a MT09/Tracer.
£1500 for suspension work! Send the forks to me and I'll make them work for 50p.
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