wordsmith

Good value - about what I have paid in the past. Oz buyers will be eligible to have the European VAT (sales tax - about 19% I think) deducted as non-EU residents. But be advised that none of these BAGSTER seats fits the GT model - new seats for the GT are still in development/ early production. Please form an orderly queue behind me... This rider highly recommends these seats.

Didn't know that, bugie: thanks for the heads-up. I'll deal with that when the kit arrives. 🙁

Others have said here that they don't give rise to any balance issues. Product descripton says 'light weight, no need to rebalance wheels...' Wheel sensors apparently weigh only 50g each. We shall see! LATER EDIT! The sensors only weigh 10g per wheel...

I have just ordered one of these systems from E-Bay: Motorcycle Bike TPMS Tire Tyre Pressure Monitoring System +2 Tyre Sensors MA1713. I had a similar function on past BMWs, although that was internal to the tyres and showed the info on the bike's display screen. It was always a source of some background comfort to be able to check tyre pressures each morning, especially if far from home. This purchase should reinstate that sense of 'all's well'. I'll report back here once fitted and in-use.

I'd like something like this but as with so many other items Amazon does not ship these to Australia. BOOOO!

GT suspension upgrade - September 4th 2019 I'll have to be briefer than usual, for my supposedly-fixed PC is still sulking. The work took Joe - owner of Ride Dynamics and suspension guru par excellence - some three and half hours of steady work, with no coffee or smoko breaks and no time-wasting Facebook chat. As I had said before, his workshop is neat, clean, tidy, a place for everything and everything in its place, including the multitude of specialist tools required for this work. I couldn't imagine an amateur like me working with cheap hand-tools in a home garage being successful. We again confirmed what I was looking for, we chatted briefly about my riding weight, whether pillion and/ or luggage is routinely carried, etc., and hi ho, hi ho!, it was off to work. After I swore on a stack of Bibles that I wouldn't get in his way or want to chat constantly, Joe allowed me to stand by - not too close! - to observe and take pix. It was a very interesting experience as calm, methodical work proceeded. As the various parts emerged from the front fork legs Joe explained the function of the various bits - springs, pistons controlling oil-flow, and so on. To my novice eyes, the new K-tech components looked as if they'd just come from a high-end Swiss watch manufacturer, beautifully finished as they were. The rear shock was a more straightforward swap, and although I was surprised at the weight of the new Razor R shock with remote adjuster, the OE shock was much heavier. The new unit has adjustable length, so about 10 or 12mm (half-an-inch) was wound out, lowering the bike's rear by that much after I said that I like to be able to fully flat-foot at rest, which is barely achievable with the OE unit. Sag - which I had always believed to be what happens to a woman's breasts and a man's belly as they age (the latter has happened to me!) - was precisely measured with a cunning device as small incremental changes were made until the desired settings were reached. Joe reckons that it's rare for an owner to need to return to him for further tweaking, but of course it's there as required. After he had a short test-ride to check everything, it was my turn to ride home, with my thoughts already given after that short and brief 33km ride. Yesterday's 181km outing along very familiar roads was intended to give me more time to evaluate things on terrain of widely-varying surfaces and conditions. There is a distinct improvement in ride quality, best explained that the sharp reactions to road surface irregularities were ironed-out and a more compliant and composed and comfortable ride eventuated. A very good example of what this means was quickly apparent, as I found that I was no longer constantly being bumped-up off the seat and inched forward until my gonads were crushed against the rear of tank: I was 'planted' more firmly in the chosen spot. Of course, larger irregularities in the road-surface - and there are plenty where I went - were still felt, and I don't want to try to convince members that this was a magic-carpet ride, but certainly it was a pleasing outcome for me. Memories of subjective impressions are such that it would be fruitless for me to try to compare the new GT ride with that of my later BMW Boxer twins, which are much heavier bikes and with high-end OE components, including BMW's incomparable Telever front-end, but I am happy. I now intend to take that planned ~1000km circuit some time in the next week or two (but not at next week's end, for it will be Friday the thirteenth!), by which time a couple of shorter outings will have put a few hundred kilometres on the new suspension and allowed everything to have bedded-down. A very good question at this point might be - "was it worth the $2100 spent on the K-tech upgrade?". I'm fortunate enough to have spare disposable income, so while not quite a no-brainer the matter of cost was not a great concern. But others may prefer to take a different lower-cost approach, maybe getting specialists like Ride Dynamics to make changes to the OE components by simply changing oils, shims, springs, whatever, and tinkering with the adjustability of the ex-factory suspension. The jury is still out as far as I'm concerned on whether or not I'll want/ need to buy a new BAGSTER seat to replace the GT's OE seat, which although light-years ahead of Gen1 seats is still only 'just' for me. A new BAGSTER seat would cost $450 -$550 depending on specification, but from past experience I know that it would be the cherry on top of the icing on the cake. I'll make that call after the 1000km outing in a few weeks time, but in any case they are not yet available. Finally, big thanks to captainscarlet who introduced me on this Forum to K-tech and the whole shebang. Pix follow... a place for everything... new Razor-R rear shock work under way... new (red) and old OE shocks. spotless workshop.. draining oil from fork legs.. OE (right) and new oil-flow pistons fork off... new K-tech oil-flow control pistons beautifully machined... new rear shock installed sag-o-meter job done! Edited 2 minutes ago by wordsmith Wordsmith - a '39 model; bike - a 2019 Tracer 900 GT, Midnight Black and with many farklings. Redland Bay, SE Queensland, Australia.

Thanks, bugie - I'll order one! LATER EDIT - just ordered a pair from the UK = AUD$20.88. E Bay Motorcycle Parts and Accessories link: 2 x YAMAHA Tracer 900 GT 2018+ Dashboard Screen Protector: Anti-Glare

All same same...

But as I have observed before, much of the lettering, etc., is quite tiny and not at all easy to read, especially in bright sunshine. Here's my display - but gotta be quick to catch it!

UPDATE ON PROGRESS: Two things happened this week (since Sunday), one having a profoundly negative effect on my reporting of the other! FIRST - on Sun my PC died a death, and I lost everything, but after much furrowing of the brow and the handing over of many doubloons to an expert, it was restored to life late today. SECOND - what I have therefore been unable to report is the outcome of Tuesday's job by Joe at Ride Dynamics at Yatala. I'd prefer to scribe a full and complete report: let me just say that after the 33km ride home from RD on Tuesday I was bitterly disappointed and kicking myself - but only that I had left it so long! A longer 181km outing today along the southern end of the poorly-surfaced Brisbane Valley Hwy to the west of Brisbane showed more of what Tuesday's brief ride home had indicated, namely that the improvement in suspension compliance is considerable, comfort much enhanced, and I'm a happy chappie. More tomorrow...but with pix! BTW - my fully-kitted weight with all gear on - albeit wearing the lighter summer mesh option of my two jackets - was 84.5kg = 186 pounds. BTW -

Star washers would work well, but the kit includes 2 x very chunky split washers that should do an equal job. If not, I have some spare star washers to use. Thanks for the tip!

Is there anything more poorly designed and badly executed on the Gen1 Tracers than this mechanism - unless the rubber 'bung' that hides the front seat release lock? This carries through to the GT (and presumably Gen2 Tracers). 'Pathetic' describes it well! On my GT the rear overhanging bit of the seat overlaps the bung, making it near-impossible to remove to access the lock. I thought of investing in some dynamite (but have instead consigned the bung to the scrap-heap).

Haven't got there yet, cap'n. Mrs Wordsmith and self struck down by a dreaded lurgi of a 'flu type after a few days interstate and crowded airports and flights full of inconsiderate coughers and sneezers who clearly passed their bugs on to us. Installation postponed to Tuesday Sept 3rd (next week)...

Having received the correct mirror risers/ extenders from M-Factory - who also make many other fine parts - I've now fitted them, putting my two remaining brain-cells into 'reverse-thread' mode as I attacked the rhs (throttle) side of things. As said before , these offer the double benefit of both lifting the mirrors and extending them out sideways, thereby giving the best of both worlds. But wait - there's more: a very minor issue that I found when installing the same parts to my earlier Tracers is that when operated the TCS rocker-switch on the lhs (clutch) side marginally interferes with the riser (third pic below), although by rotating the riser around a bit I can get full clearance, albeit at the cost of losing a smidge of lateral extension, but probably no more than about 5mm. And as the mirrors seem to like to loosen, I'm gonna make sure that on all future outings I carry with me the correct 17mm spanner and Allen key to tighten things if necessary. I'm ultra-fussy when setting the mirrors and always strive to have identical coverage of what's behind in both mirrors, for as nhchris says - 'no surprises'.

Thanks for that, sterling. Can the display be set to show pressures only once (say on starting the bike) rather than being on show all the time? With a not-dissimilar warning/ advice display - of battery voltage - I find that I only need a quick glance at it once, then peace settles on me.

I cannot in honesty say that I have detected any difference, but haven't yet done any serious touring on the GT. What I do find is that I prefer the rather wider (by about 5" overall IIRC) handlebar width on the Gen 1 Tracers, and the narrower stance with the GT seems less comfy to me, giving perhaps a little less control, and not as desirable. But I doubt if it would be easy/ possible to swap given the abundance of 'bar-mounted controls on the GT's 'bars. Not a big deal in any case, but I thought it worth mentioning. YMMV....

Among all the electronological overkill of my recent and now-departed BMW boxer twins, the most useful and reassuring item was the OE TPMS, which was internally installed in each tyre. I could see this piece of kit being worth every cent, especially for those who travel long touring distances. I would very much appreciate an update after you've had it in use for some time, DK. Thanks for the heads-up.

Heaps of ~30L - ~35L non-branded top-boxes on E Bay Motors luggage - cheap too. I recently paid around AUD$35 for one, similar to another I had previously, and perfectly satisfactory.

The main annoying issue I had with the Gen 1 screen was that the material seemed pretty flimsy, and the top of the screen oscillated back and forth at any decent speed. Not so with the GT - at least in my experience. The screen seems to be a little thicker, and while it is not totally movement-free it's certainly much better in this regard than the Gen 1 screens. But we may not be talking about the same issue, for the GT screen is adjusted up and down by a completely different and fairly substantial mechanism.

A new GT, of course!

You guys and gel goddit all wrong. Cease the 'fixes' - it's time for a new bike!😎

Not 'pretty sure' - it DEF must be the tamper-proof/ security bit with added hole in the business end...

#10.

Bought a quality set of 'security' Torx bits including a nice solid handle, costing AUD$20, all of which I'll probably never ever need again. Job done - but frankly it shouldn't have been necessary if Yamaha had themselves taken this tiny extra step of using a miniscule drop of Loctite on each screw. I like my GT, but this is another example of where Yamaha has let themselves down - and their customers - by lack of attention to detail.

Thanks, Randy. Amazon is a PITA to deal with here in Oz - they do not/ can not/ will not ship much of their stuff here, plus one has to jump through all the usual BS hoops setting-up an account in order to spend money with them! But now that I know what I'm looking for - the little hole in the end of the tool does it - I'm OK with a local store.