wordsmith

Thinking further about this, if the rubber stem of the pumpkins makes it a chore to install them, I could always buy and fit some generic aftermarket indicators from the local auto store.

Fitted a very small (6" x 3.5" x 4" or 15cm x 9cm x 10cm) hard-shell bag ($14.99 from a cycling store) to the handlebars of the new Tracer. I've done a similar thing to several past bikes, as I like to have my camera handy so that I can stop beside the road and snap a few if it's not safe or convenient to get off the bike and access a top-box or pannier. I realise that a conventional tank-bag would carry much more, but I don't care for them - or need one. The bag fits very neatly between the 'stanchions' (correct term?) of the handlebars so it doesn't move about. I also carry my mobile phone in there. I don't want to have fragile yet hard items like these in my jacket pockets as an 'off' would doubtless break them, and maybe a few fragile ribs too! Other bits 'n' pieces I squeeze in are a tiny spray bottle of Windex and some paper towel, as I hate riding with a dirty visor: a small notebook and pen: eye-drops: spare hanky. There's a useful little net divider inside the bag which helps to pack it all in. When leaving the bike out-of-sight for any amount of time in a dodgy spot it takes but moments to remove the camera and phone: if anyone is desperate enough to want the rest they can have it! Off to the hills and lakes tomorrow... but very early: road traffic here is insane at this time o' year.

If I may offer my approach (tho' it all depends on the type of top-box you have). I had an el cheapo generic sort of box. Around the inside of the lid opening - where it abuts the body of the lower part of the box - was a 'rib' or collar, presumably to stiffen the thing. I simply drilled some fine holes at about (IIRC) 6"-8" centres, screwed-in some very small hooks from the local hardware store, stretched the net to fit - et violin! Worked a treat. Here's an ancient pic from April 2014- in this early approach the trial 'net' was some sort of elastic rubber material, but mellow's is better, inexpensive too. In this 'prototype' of mine the hooks were of the stick-on variety, but they didn't stick, so the screw-in metal ones were put in. The bike here was a BMW F800 GT, a lovely little machine with belt-drive, but seriously under-powered. Put a CP3 engine in and you'd have the perfect sports-tourer!

That's a good point! I'll take one of them off and have a good look. Have done so before when installing the smaller LEDs, so I'm aware this is a bit fiddly, but it would be useful to see what's in store.

Before I saw rusty's helpful link above I had been giving a lot of thought to my 'dilemma'. Which is simply that the OE pumpkin indicators do not allow OE hard panniers to be fitted - they interfere with them. Also, I'd like to install some form of tail-tidy to remove that hideous 'crane' from the rear. I have on order a very neat rear luggage rack, one that I'd fitted to earlier Tracers. It occurred to me that it would probably be pretty simple to mount the pumpkins on this rack, in a neat manner, making it then possible to fit the panniers as and when needed. The tail-tidy, without pumpkins, would then also come into its own, or I could take ulewz's early low-cost DIY approach to relocating the existing rear light assembly sans the crane. Using this rack would also give a minor bonus and put the indicators a few inches higher, not a bad thing. Here's the rack (unassembled) - I'm sure many of you have one fitted. As you can see it has many holes, slots, and other openings to which it would be very easy to attach a small bracket to take the rubber stem of the pumpkin on either side. Unfortunately I have no pix of one of these racks on a bike, for my camera's SD card decided to suicide a few days ago - I have irretrievably lost about three years' worth of pix, many irreplaceable.

Thanks a lot, rusty. That truly does look like a seriously good piece of kit - very impressive too, as is the vendor's website.

Someone here recently and kindly referred to a rear light assembly that incorporates the indicators in the body of the light - that might be the answer to a maiden's prayer for me as I could then proceed with that shorter tail-tidy without pumpkins getting in the way. As I'm almost (temporarily) blind at present I cannot find that reference: a link to the vendor would be very much appreciated.

That net in the top-box lid is a great help while on the road, ensures that stuff in the lid doesn't end-up on the ground each time you open the box! I've done the same on several past top-boxes. To go further I also pack into the lid stuff that's likely to be less used.

I still don't know how they do it for the money!

Thanks again, betoney - you are a great source of info! Yes - I do plan to keep the OE pumpkins. I know they are neither fashionable nor attractive, but they are highly visible, and I'll take that over and above fashion any day! Call me old-fashioned if you will...! I don't plan to carry the panniers all the time, in fact it will be only rarely, but it would be my luck to run across texting Blind Freddy - or the pleece - at such a time if the indicators are obscured. I've had slimline LED indicators as stock on the past few BMWs (R and GS) and fitted a set to an earlier Tracer too - they all looked good, but I felt the lumens were compromised somewhat. I'm still debating whether to buy the tail-tidy we're discussing - when my eyes get back to normal I'll have another good look at everything and take it from there. Thanks again...

I put the rhs pannier onto the bike to try and get a better perspective on whether or not I can retain the pumpkins - see pix below. I also had a closer look at the pix on the vendor's website, and this time it became clear to me (which I hadn't picked-up from your photo) that the indicators are mounted off the tidy. I guess this is what is meant by the vendor's claim that "you can use the OEM turning signals". I'm a little put-off by their 'no refunds' policy, and frankly reluctant to ask the question as to whether or not the use of their item will allow the OE pumpkins to be used with OE panniers - much may be lost in translation! It's not that I cannot afford to lose or waste $50, but I'd rather not... take a look at my pix, please, against your own tail-tidy installation and give me your thoughts. I'd be grateful. (My assessment of 'fit or not', and my typing, is not being helped this morning by the fact that I sat on my specs and am wearing a very old pair at present! Hurt almost as much as the OE seat).

Thanks - I'll do that and also shoot off a query to the vendor. Thanks...

OK, thanks betoney. On your assurance that it will allow the hard panniers to be used (as it also suggests in the on-line product description), I'll order! Looks neat and not too expensive - USD$35, AUD$50, both including shipping..

I like this neat look, but it's pretty expensive. A minus for me would be the stated fact that it does not work with the Yamaha hard panniers (standard here) and the OE indicator pumpkins. New slimmer LEDs would be needed.

Does this in fact fit a Tracer? If so, I'll be ordering one, as it's pretty inexpensive, and looks OK. Later edit: in this country at least the MT-09 is not the same as the MT-09 Tracer - though many parts and aftermarket accessories may be identical. In any case, looking more carefully at the link, this item does not ship to Australia. Bummer! But thanks anyway...

Thanks, guys, but I don't understand why if the 'tube' is the cause the cable had to be changed. Someone please explain...! Whatever, I'll get the necessary done at the first 1000km service, probably mid-January. Meantime, I'll put some oil into the cable end to help...

I don't blame you!

As I get to know my brand-new but '06 2015 build MT-09 Tracer, I have another question for those who have been around for a while. I recall that early FJs/ MT's were prone to premature clutch-cable fraying and breakage, and that Yamaha introduced a fix, which I think had to do with the metal 'tube' that carries the cable on its first few inches out of the clutch-lever housing. IIRC, the bend in this was too much and promoted the early cable failures. In the pic below I highlighted the bend with a piece of white paper underneath it. My VIN is: JYARN29K8FA000433. So many numbers.... Is this likely to have the faulty part, and if so, would it be corrected at no cost to me under warranty? Thanks for advice.. -

I do hope that this response doesn't imply that I was peeved at your having pointed out the longer pin issue, tktpplz, for although I had certainly noticed it I wasn't overly concerned until your comment opened my eyes, as they say! I'm grateful for your observation! If I may - does tktplz suggest 'tickets please'? If not , it's my warped soh at play! If so...???

What does 'peeling potatoes' mean?

Thanks for this observation, tktplz. The lhs clevis pin is, indeed, too long, but it's what came in the pack with the new foot-pegs, and the clevis pins in that pack are not drilled to take a split-pin - they need circlips (E clips actually). Because the circlips were absent from the pack and I couldn't get new ones quickly enough, I replaced the split-pin on the rhs clevis pin, so that's perfectly secure now. But I put a new E clip on lhs footpeg clevis, and I'm conscious that being so exposed that I might accidentally kick it off with my boot heel while riding. That could end in tragedy! I recall the same problem with an earlier Tracer on which I fitted these rubber-topped pegs. Just now, Christmas Day and all - but what the heck! - I have removed the clevis pin from one of the pillion pegs (both secured with split-pins) and fitted it to the lhs rider footpeg. BTW, the OE clevis pins are a good 5mm shorter than those supplied with the new footpegs... This has fixed it, and since I never carry a pillion the swap won't matter. Thank you for drawing my attention to this, tktplz, I'm glad I've been prompted to remedy things.

I'm pleased to say that having now installed these rubber-topped foot-pegs today, irrespective of whether or not the vendor's website says they may not be compatible with our Tracers, they are (or at least mine are)! Usual difficulty in drilling-out the lhs blind rivet or pivot-pin that secures the lhs peg, but that only took a few minutes and a bit of brute force. The OE rhs peg was secured by a split-pin - for the life of me I fail to understand why Yamaha choose to do things differently on each side! But both pegs are now secured by clevis-pins. Note the shorter-than-OE hero-knob, a.k.a. feeler peg.

Good question, dingo! I happen to have a leftover roll with some gold pinstripe left on it. Holding it onto the fork, it's not a good match at all: when contrasted in this way the fork has more of a coppery note to it, but then - I couldn't swear that my 'gold' tape is in fact a 3M product. Keep on searchin' I guess. Sorry...

I'm also gonna muscle-in here, for I came to the pre-GT Tracer after a long ownership of many BMW boxer twins, Roadsters and GSs. Bearing in mind my age and the fact that I'm physically not at all strong - BMWs became too heavy for me, on the road and more so when shoving them around in the garage. They also became far too complex, especially in their electronic gadgetry, and I said more than once that I would never keep a BMW after the warranty expired for fear of bankruptcy should repairs be needed. Very expensive now to buy - a new R of the kind I had would now set you back around $26,000 depending on spec. They do keep their values well, especially GSs, but Roadsters (R and RS) can be very hard to shift, not being much sought-after in the marketplace (like Tracers here in Oz). Excellent reputation for reliability, but accessories are expensive, and spares and servicing costly to fix when things go wrong. Relatively small dealer-base here in Oz. The Tracer belies the fact that there's only about 20kg weight difference between an R/ RS and a Tracer, both full. The lighter weight subscribes to a much perkier feel on the road, flickability, lighter handling, more 'fun' (I switched for all these reasons). I found it very much easier to move it around in the garage too. The Yamaha models also benefit from a vast range of aftermarket accessories that can be very inexpensive without sacrificing quality. Overall, I also think that the Tracer's - and probably (when it arrives here) the GT's value for money is/ will be exceptional.

Thank Dog, there's always a silver lining! I haven't touched the bike since riding it home 15 hours ago, and it sits there in its red dust glory awaiting a good clean - where's that GURNI? I sent a brief e-mail to the dealership - as promised - to the effect that I had safely collected the bike, but advising - kindly and politely - that it was filthy, but not making a big deal of it. An agonised reply came back to the effect that it had been cleaned and polished before despatch, and wrapped in GladWrap. I felt compelled to reply that GladWrap is for sandwiches, not for a motorbike being transported 1800km on the back of a truck! But the good news is that I went to the panniers just now to retrieve the paperwork prior to beginning the cleaning later. Now, red outback dust is colloquially known here in Oz as 'bulldust', and it is notorious for being so ultra-fine that it get inside everything, especially everything with two or more wheels. Well, when I opened the panniers (much more easily than with some others, where I'd had to struggle) there was not the slightest trace of bulldust inside either pannier, so I reckon that proves their waterproof status as well!