[Adam Ef]

Hi all.
After a bit of input.


A few recent trips on the MT09 Tracer recently have got me wondering if it's the bike for me. All first world problems as it is really an amazing bike, but quite a few things aren't adding up to make it be the bike I expected it to be.


From a physical point of view I have had the usual problems that all owners seem to go through trying to work out how to get rid of the buffeting from the screen. I'm now on my third one and have improved it slightly by going the counter-intuitive route and fitting a short screen. Which means it has little of the protection for the elements that I believed it would when I was looking to buy one for longer trips. Essentially motorway and dual carriageway speeds have been difficult and tiring, due to the very upright position and low screen. Higher screen options seem to direct buffeting wind straight into your head, making it feel like you're being punched repeatedly. Plus I really don't like viewing the scenery through a screen, prefering to be looking just over it. Also a bit of (clean) airflow is really necessary in the heat we're having at the moment. I nearly passed out in traffic a few times with the taller screen fitted on sunny days.


Then there's the seat. The upright position means you're sitting with all your weight straight down on the seat. I have the expensive Yamaha "comfort" seat fitted that came with it and find it really painful after a couple of hours. Strangely I was fine with the seat on my SV that so many people seem to hate.


It has built in Yamaha heated grips. No amount of changing the settings stops the right one from being burning hot and the left being luke warm. A known quirk apparently.


The decel cut snatchyness is present even with the special KEVxtx mod fitted to the O2 sensor. Next stage would be an ECU flash.


The bars are wide. Very wide. Filtering into the city for work has become very limited. I spend more time sitting there as if I was in a car. The bars are also very upright... see the higher speeds comment above about having to cling on at motorway speeds, leading to fatigue and sore back, neck, shoulders. I liked my SV how I had it, with the bar conversion done, but with low bars, so I had an inbetween position from the usual riser bar uprightness and low clip-ons. I'd found a really good middle position on my SV that suited me well.



Fuel economy.. I was hoping for better than 45-50mpg at best. I even ride fairly sensibly and can't see how people claim to get 70mpg out of them without really boring motorway journeys doing 60mph constantly for a few hours. I find it hard to run a bike just for me that has slightly worse fuel economy than our 12 year old family car that carries 4 of us, a dog and luggage! (Edit: If it was something I loved and was really fun and right for me then I could probably see past this point though).


I won't list any more negative issues as there's lots of aesthetic things I don't like and there's plenty I do love about it too. The engine is the main one. I love the triple engine. The grab when you want it but smooth and subtle when you want too. I even liked the stock exhaust sound. I've fitted an aftermarket system and may change it back as it's lost some of it's tone that I liked stock. I love the practicality of the centrestand, but have an Abba stand that I used for my SV, so it's nice to have but not essential.


So I'm at a point where I bought a bike I thought would be a good all rounder off the peg and am now deciding if I need to start spending on more screen trials... an after market expensive seat.. possibly suspension upgrades... (it is comfy over the bad british roads, but at the expense of being slightly bouncy!), investing in an ECU flash etc. Or if I should be thinking about something else? My insurance runs out beginning of September so the cheaper time to change bike if I do is approaching. I got fleeced changing insurance from my SV to the Tracer a couple of months ago and would like to avoid that again if possible


I realise I should really like this bike and am extremely lucky to own it. But I am also currently struggling to feel any connection with it. I did really love and feel connected to my SV. But then I had it a few years and made it mine doing a lot of work on it. I was at the end of doing what I could with it though and could take it no further to get it performing how I wanted to unfortunately. The Tracer feels almost like I'm borrowing someone else's bike.


So I'd love some input from the org. Possible suggestions of other bikes to try too if anyone thinks I should?


I have some other ideas but I'll leave it at that for the moment, other than to say I do really like the triple engine (a great mix of power / torque, just enough engine breaking and enough power low down) and I felt very at home behind the half faring on my SV.. one aspect of it that I do miss behind the broken up dash of the Tracer.