knyte

Sounds like we got the same deal! I also found a red '15 with ~11,500 km's a few years back. So, yours is just broken in You won't be disappointed - these things are easy to ride (as in agile, but light, too), yet offer tremendous power when you want it. Welcome to the forum!

I feel your pain, brother. Fortunately, a flatter seat profile did the trick for me. I've heard (here) that Seat Concepts no longer make this kit, however there are plenty of others to choose from.

That... ...was some pretty amazing troubleshooting!!

Oof. that's got to be close, if not exceeding, the value of the bike?

So much THIS. I've been tempted to flash my ECU, but the cost of flash + shipping etc etc - ugh. For a bit more, I could install this semi permanently and flash whatever map I want whenever I want. Spendy, but suuuuuper tempting - the value seems to be there. I'd be interesting in hearing your experience with it!

Hopefully still ache & pain free, @betoney? Soft tissue can be a, well, a PITA.

I've noticed this, too. I think Yamaha intended them to be used with some Loctite instead of more torque...

Very cool, congrats and welcome to the 3-cyl club

It really is. I found a '15 exactly like mine for sale with nearly 3x the km's when I bought mine - listed for $2k more than what I paid a little over 3 years ago...

@Wintersdark I have one of these, except single-burner. It + a radiant electric heater + space heater still seems to take forever to warm up my single car garage (granted not THE most airtight, but carboard door sweeps have helped tremendously...). I think it's 15,000 BTU or something (the propane heater), which doesn't seem to be quite enough. I recently picked up one of these on sale; which should do the trick just fine: https://www.princessauto.com/en/35000-btu-portable-radiant-propane-heater/product/PA0008944985 Who needs oxygen - I need HEAT!!

If it were to be written off, would you entertain the idea of buying it back anyway, and transferring some of your mods to the new bike? I did something like this with a Toyota in the 90's. Got a cheque from the insurance company, got to keep the car & all the accessories I'd added, did all the bodywork myself & fixed it up, and drove it for several more years. It was more than the insurance co. was willing to spend, but a fairly easy DIY repair.

It's easy to get custom vinyl decals made; about as easy as a custom t-shirt. My g/f had a pair made from a booth at a flea market. IIRC it cost $12 or something. I'm sure there's a plethora of vendors online.

awww MAN!! That's a bit of a heartbreaker. Hope it goes well. Best wishes from Edmonton! I'd be interested in hearing your follow-ups re: bike, and you.

Very cool!

Exactly. OEM engineers usually understand the tolerances and whatnot far better than I, so I tend to stick with whatever they recommend (as a general guide). Personally I'm fine with the higher cost IF the economy is there - ie longer plug change intervals.

Agreed; if someone finds a platinum or Iridium plug that runs well in our bikes, I'd totally swap them out!

Yep, I've had to deal with this one. Thankfully, if you've access to a MIG, it's a fairly quick fix.

I've had this occur in a 4-wheeler, too. Same thing. Replacing the iridium plugs back to standard sorted it out. Some people swear by them, and I've had success with them as well as failures, but it seems to depend on the engine. They're great if they do run reliably because you don't have to change them out nearly as often.

Another Albertan Welcome!

Yamaha took a pretty big risk on the Niken, which I appreciate. Why stay in the 'safe zone' all the time? I see it as sort of like the Prowler - it may not be for everyone, but absolutely has its merits.

@Wintersdark Meh, my -45C rated Canadian Forces winter parka does the trick: Eventually you learn to find small pleasures in a winter city - x-country skiing, snowshoeing, doughnuts in 2wd/rwd in a parking lot, tobogganing, flying saucers...just layer up and it's all good.

Aw c'mon, what's an NDA among friends ? We won't tell anyone

lol, yep, there's a lot of Carboard Aided Design in my house, too.

That would be EPIC, I really want to go, too. What an event!

That's a SWEET looking bike - looks a lot like my '83 Nighthawk 550...love those classic UJM styles. To the OP's question, my g/f and I inspired each other! One day she said, "I think I want to learn how to ride a motorcycle" - in an offhand and casual way. As a farm kid, they used to give us XR100's to get to the fields and such, so that's where I'd learned the basic controls. So I said, well let's get you a dirtbike! ...and we did. I showed her the controls, and off she went, just like she was made for it. After two seasons of dirtbiking, with a couple of obligatory small-scale wipe outs, lol...we happened across a screaming deal on an '08 Ninja 500 with less than 500 miles on the odo - she was hooked the instant she sat on it. We both took the course, and loved it...got our Class 6's soon after. Later, we found her an F650GS for a do-all tourer. I'm seriously hoping she can take the leap, give up the dead-end job she hates and move towards a motorcycle instructor position...she'd be great at it