wordsmith

Where the bloody hell do your inner thighs touch the plastic panels, fifer? Have you considered surgery?? 🙄

i have owned a number of GSs over many years, the last being an LC (Liquid Cooled) 2016 R1200 GS. They are great bikes in every sense of the word, being intimidatingly massive at first glance, yet easy enough to handle when moving. I am and always have been a seven-stone weakling, but all my GSs except the last one were relatively easy to handle. I never went off-road - except when road-works diversions compelled it - but found that as a long-distance super-comfortable tourer the GS was, IMHO and YMMV, unsurpassed. One took me on a solo 14,700km circuit of Australia several years ago over about five weeks IIRC, without a single issue or problem. GS - and other R series boxer twin BMW models - traditionally had a fairly agricultural gearbox until the most recent iterations, a matter simply of getting used to it. The weight, fully-fuelled, of the GS pictured would be about 238kg or 520 pounds. A GS would likely not be the first choice for any rider commuting regularly through traffic, one who was perhaps vertically-challenged, or didn't like the quirkiness of the boxer engine, Telever front suspension (unsurpassed IMHO) and the general looks of the thing - "ugliest thing on two wheels" I once said! I parted company with BMW when I became disillusioned with the increasing cost and complexity of their bikes, but I enjoyed them all up to that point. I won't claim that the GS was the best bike I ever owned, as that's too curly a topic for here, but I definitely enjoyed my GSs more than any other bikes I owned, before or after. Pic below is me in the Outback, about to cross the NT/ WA border after 4600km, or about one-third of the overall distance during that round-Oz circumnavigation, October 2004. That's fifteen (15) years ago - where did they all go??? 😪

With the greatest reluctance I am putting up for sale my 2019 Tracer GT, old age and some growing infirmities making it essential, I’m afraid to say. I won’t post a full-scale ad here – any Oz riders or interested would-be GT owners please PM me here and I’ll send you a full description with no bullshit - below is an introduction only.. A BIKESALES ad will appear in due course. Don’t cry for me, Traceristas… "This bike has had one ultra-fussy geriatric owner who has lavished care and dollars to make it an excellent all-rounder, fully-equipped with hundreds of dollars-worth of desirable after-market enhancements, but definitely no bling. These extras (will be) are listed below, but it’s important to highlight two costly and very worthwhile enhancements. First – the $2100 suspension upgrade using Rolls-Royce-quality K-tech components from the UK, the installation and tuning work having been done by professional suspension gurus at Ride Dynamics, Yatala. The vast improvement over stock has to be experienced to be believed. Second – and complementing the suspension work to give unparalleled rider comfort – is the brand-new $540 beautifully-crafted imported BAGSTER custom seat, constructed with premium BULTEX foam. This 2019 Tracer GT has been on the road for less than five months. It is a 2019 build, bought brand-new by me and first registered in July 2019. It now has a mere 7132km on it, mostly of gentle touring, and with a full 18 months factory warranty and seven months rego remaining".

Thanks very much indeed for this, John: I said incredibly complex but didn't realise just how much! I'm going to print this diagram as large as I can and study it... appreciated!

Apparently the small notch in the nut that indicates reverse thread is a universal thing, not confined to Yamaha.

Double ditto here too as well and also! The Handbook talks of the black knurled knobs but no mention of the galv 'nuts'. The day one doesn't learn something new is the day one is dead...

I found that delivering a good hard backwards-oriented blow into the front face of the pillion seat, at an angle of 44 deg to 46 deg approx, pushes it very firmly into the lock/ latch and it is then very well secured. I haven't felt the need to fiddle with the rubber bumpers at all. Enjoy the seat!

I did exactly the same with my GT's panniers, for exactly the same reason! Mine, of course, are Gloss Black to match the bike so they don't stand out as much as jdavis's red, which indeed looks truly excellent!

I did half a job on the GT today. The set of four engine covers arrived in quick time, only 17 days since ordering, and I set-to installing them. The parts are very nicely made and finished, with metal bushings where bolts go through, and an excellent indistinguishable-from-OE finish. Clear and simple illustrated instructions too. Quality gear. The rhs alternator cover went on first, very easily, and I did not lose any oil, which the notes suggested may happen. Looks good. Not so good on the rhs (clutch) side however. The instructions say to remove the heat-shield first, but there is no heat shield on the GT (and therefore likely not on the Gen2 Tracer 900 model either). Accordingly, the shape of the OE clutch cover seems to be a little different to earlier pre-GT engines, and the new part simply wouldn't fit. In the first pic below the offending clutch cover is top right. Second pic is of the installed alternator cover. Not the end of the world: I'll take a good long look at the website the kit was ordered from, and take it from there. Pix below. LATER EDIT: would any member who has bought covers like these for the GT kindly give me a link to the vendor you used. I am reluctant to pay the around $400 asked for a legit branded product: these Chinese copies are marked GBRacing, are pretty nice, and quite good enough for me at about AUD$130 for the four- (4)-piece kit. TIA..

Here are pix. Front rider seat in high position (pic #1): and lower (pic #2), which is how I have it. Pic #3 higher, side-on and pic #4 , lower side-on. According to the Manual, difference between high and low is a mere 15mm or 5/8th of an inch. I can flat-foot on both settings. And a moan if I may - has anyone ever seen a more fiddly and less elegant mechanism than the plastic height-adjusting part under the front seat - it's a joke!

If "yes", something's wrong! Let's know how you get on...

Would it be possible for someone to post a pic of the parts, from a Yamaha fiche guess, of the innards of the behind-the-front cowling/ headlight-carrier parts of the bike that are located beneath the display screen. It's so incredibly complex and complicated down there that I'd love to know what's what! TIA./..

That'll slow you down!

They look really great - and very neatly applied too, RonZ. Well done...

What sort or brand did you fit? The lhs/ clutch side of my extenders, which both lift and move the mirror stems outwards, did slightly foul the TCS switch. I simply swivelled the extender around a bit, which fixed it, albeit losing a tiny bit - less than a quarter of an inch, I guesstimate - of outward extension. To keep things symmetrical I also slightly swivelled the rhs extender to match. These extenders are great for improving rearward vision...

Well, duhs, if the seat doesn't suit it's an easy matter - far too easy - to put on some weight and bring that butt and tailbone back to scratch!! 😃

"...use the oven for powder coating"... never knew that! Gotta try it! ☺️

Happy to do that, jm - any particulr perspective wanted, or just leave it to me? Lemme know...

YMMV, and probably will, but I much preferred the wider 'bars on the Gen1 Tracers to the appreciably narrower ones on my GT. That may be a reason behind my shoulder bursitis issues, which never arose with the Gen 1 bikes. Go figure...

That's exactly what I always have done as routine. Never before had any issues like this - it has taken years off me! ☹️

Looks like you have the OE seat on this bike, dazz. Why is it so - just don't want to wet the new perch??? 🙄🙄

LOVE AT FIRST SIT with my GT’s new BAGSTER seat Short version - my bony bum thought it had died and gone to heaven. Longer version - after a self-imposed absence from the GT for some time while allowing my very painful bursitis-affected shoulder to have some medical treatment and start to heal, I was eager to get onto the brand-new and as-yet untried BAGSTER seat. Today it was very unpleasant to be outside, as ravaging bush-fires to the south, west, and north of Brisbane have brought thick hazy air and a strong smell of burning. It’s been like this for some weeks now, so indoors is the best place to be, air-con on. Storms forecast for later. I need to heed my own words when reporting, for as I have said before - “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a new owner of almost anything – motorcycle, car, boat, house, girl-friend, goldfish, BAGSTER seat – will proclaim it to be absolutely the best of its kind ever, never equalled, and unlikely to be surpassed in the future”. In other words, some self-serving exaggeration may occur! Thank you, Jane Austen. The OE GT seat is a vast improvement over the torture-device OE seat on Gen1 Tracers, but it could hardly have been worse – on the Gen1 seat about an hour or up to 80 or so kilometres was more than enough for me. But the OE GT seat gave acceptable comfort on my recent 4500km circuit over 13 days as I only occasionally felt a need to squirm around to find that ‘sweet spot’, despite long hot days of up to 585km in the saddle. Even so, I had such fond memories of previous BAGSTER seats that I couldn’t resist the urge to splash out another $500 or so to complete the package. On today’s test-ride of about 180km/ two-and-a-bit hours, my bony bum thought it had died and gone to heaven, even though the difference in comfort was not huge, but it was certainly detectable. When I’m seated the new BAGSTER seat is quite firm, but has some ‘give’ still in it compared to the very firm OE Gt seat, which feels as though I have reached the limit of its compressibility and support, despite my pretty light ATTGATT weight of only around 84kg (185 pounds). I also seem to be supported rather more along the back of my upper thighs instead of just on the points of my sit-bones. Whatever – it was plush. And with the front seat in the lower position, where it is easily and firmly fitted, I can comfortably flat-foot at rest – heels and soles of both boots flat on the ground. The BAGSTER pillion seat does require a hefty karate-chop to get it to fasten securely into its lock – other than that the two-piece kit it is a superb product and, IMHO, worth every penny or cent or Euro if you can afford it. In summary then - on my GT, the combination of the bike’s greatly-improved K-tech very compliant suspension upgrade and the BAGSTER seat gives me near-perfection in terms of plush comfort and day-longability to ride. It is indeed “absolutely the best of its kind ever, never equalled, and unlikely to be surpassed in the future”.

Bike started first time this (early) morning. On the first start, with throttle about 1/2" wound open, it revved its guts out before I could stop it, just as yesterday. I waited a few seconds, tried again - same throttle-opening - and it started perfectly. I let it fast run and warm up while donning my riding gear, and proceeded for the day with no further troubles. As Gen Douglas MacArthur famously said when accepting the surrender of Japanese forces at the end of WWII - "these proceedings are now concluded". But I have printed and shall keep some of these words of wisdom, for which again - thanks.

Marry that woman, cb.

This can also be pretty useful if installed into the lid of a top-box. Usually, when opened, stuff wants to fall out, but a bit of netting can and will hold stuff in the lid even when raised to a near-vertical position.