Tracer 9 GT+ test ride

[EnnK]

I have had my ST for last 5 years and as it has turned out, I never really have got to gravel, not even talking about off-road tracks. That has made me think that perhaps I should better change to a bike with 17 inch front wheel and non-spoke rims. I have been long looking at Tracr 9GT and its newer + version, but there was none available for test ride. Until I got lucky yesterday.
Just a fast sum-up: nothing beats Super Tenere in day long ride comfort, period!
In more details:
The GT+ engine dynamics and cooperation with gearbox is fantastic, the throttle is smooth, power and torque since 3000 rpm is abundant and instant, gears flick in fast and smooth in quickshifter mode, up and down in any speed and any throttle position, absolute marvel. The clutch is light and easy to manipulate.
But... the engine buzz starts to hurt my palms and soles after about hour and a half and by the end of 2 hour ride it felt pretty inconvenient. The gear level position is a complete fail for me, I have EU 45 size touring boots and it was nearly impossible to get my toes under the shifter to upshift. Very, very annoying!
Take -off from stop feels somewhat vague, you get a feeling that the engine is on the verge of giving up, although that never happend.
The suspension is rather hard compared to ST. Combined with rather hard seat, it again became pretty hurting by the end of 2 h ride. In the other hand, it kept the bike well glued to the road and it is much more flickable and easier to ride in the tight corners and city commute than the ST.
Front brakes are very similar to ST, but the rear is far too weak.
Handlebar and sitting position in respect to back and hands position is similar to ST, however knees and hips are significantly more bent even in the highest position of the seat. And in my age and size (I am 59, 184 cm tall, 86 kg) it starts to make a lot of difference in the end of the day.
Stock low windshield gives no protection from the wind, already in speed over 50 km/h the windnoise becomes so loud that you do not hear the engine any more (I have Shoei Neotec 2 helmet). But there is absolutely no turbulence and even at speed over 150 km/h you do not feel as if the wind would try to tear your head or helmet off, the effect I have felt on few other bikes. So I am sure a proper aftermarket screen will easily solve the problem.
The engine sound is a bit like gadfly below 3000 rpm and feels like 2 stroke scooter.
The active cruise control is also very, very good. All the buttons and controls are comfortable and backlit, easy to get used to.
I was hoping that Tracer 9GT+ would be a sensible replacement to the ST, but after a test ride, there are too many items that are not on the level of ST. Riding position, engine smoothness, suspension comfort, windprotection are those where ST wins hands down. I am left scratching my head weather any of those shortcomings of Tracer can be improved by aftermarket arrangements. The engine buzz, knee-hip position and suspension stiffness seem to be incurable problems. The shifter position can be arguably changed according to dealer, remains to be seen if it is sufficient.
Coming down from Tracer after 2 h ride and riding away on my ST felt like coming off from buzzy wooden bench and sitting on the nice leather sofa with legs streched out.
Toughts and comments are very welcome.

 

[bimota]

one of the members on here a WELSH lad that lives up the road from me swopped his ST for a 900 tracer gt a few months back, i know he still on here but hhas a tracer now would love to here is thoughts on this

rob

 

[pooh and xtine]

You can read his views on UKGser, but no comparison with the ST.

 

[Mad_Matt]

I rode last year's model, and it was a compelling package, but like you, I found the ergonomics too cramped for my liking. I don't have a background riding sports bikes, and I found the pegs were too high and my knees too bent on the Tracer 9, but that engine is an absolute gem!

 

[EricV]

pegs and bars are adjustable, as is the seat, which you mentioned. Aftermarket adjustable brake and shift levers are available.

I recently demo'd a '22, (still split screen, not the mono TFT of the '24 GT+) and didn't realize it had 4 modes for D, since the ST only has S & T. Turns out D mode 1 is what I should have been trying, not 4, which is nanny mode.

For what it is and the market it's aiming at, Yamaha should bring over the Tracer 7GT with CC and it will sell better. Better still, give us a Tracer 7 series with shaft drive, I wouldn't pay more money for the current Tracer 9 GT to replace my XSR700 at this point, but will be adding a windscreen to the XSR when Puig releases their new design.

 

[RCinNC]

Nice to read a first hand experience review of this bike. I actually started another thread recently on what some viable choices would be for a replacement for my 100,000 mile plus Super Tenere, and the Tracer 9GT was one that I was considering. It's especially helpful, since the review is coming from someone that's familiar with the S10.

 

[EricV]

For me the triple didn't wow. The ST has more down low grunt, the FJR has more turbine like full range power. Over 6500 the CP3 engine screams, but I'm not flogging it like that in my daily riding, so while you are cruising at higher rpms, instead of making it feel like it wanted to romp, it made me feel like the bike needed a larger rear sprocket. I used to hate the "sewing machine" term aimed at the FJR, but coming from the CP2 motor on the naked XSR to the CP3 with the fairing/windscreen, that term certainly came to mind. I did like the ergos for my 5,11" 30" inseam 280 lb figure.

Not as much fun as the 410 lb XSR700, not as much grunt and comfort as the ST or FJR, imho.

 

[Sierra1]

Even pre-Tenere, when I would ride a different bike and then get back on my dinosaur FJ. I always had the feeling of "yeah, still the one". The new RT came close. But the Tenere was the only one that has given me the "yeah, this is the one". Excluding the FJR, but it's just an updated FJ.

 

[RCinNC]

As weird as it sounds, I haven't ridden any motorcycle except the Super Tenere since August 2014. No test rides, no "hey, let's switch bikes", nothing.

 

[Longdog Cymru]

You can read his views on UKGser, but no comparison with the ST.

That is because it is DIFFERENT from the Super 10 and I didn’t compare it with my old ST, it’s like comparing apples and orange, they are both fruit, but they are different.Personally, I love my Tracer 9 GT+, it makes me smile every time I ride it. I bought it because I wanted something a bit lighter, for the record, I am 70 years old now, I am 6’ 2” tall weigh 13stone and wear EU45 Daytona boots and I m pretty fit. One concern of mine was the more compact riding position on the Tracer 9 but so far, it has proved very comfortable, perhaps a little more comfortable even than the S10. The Tracer is certainly more economical on fuel than the S10

I loved my ST and if I could have afforded it and if I had the garage space, then I would have kept it, however, I bought the S10 because I had always liked them and I wanted my wife to tour with me, but she developed osteoporosis and fractured 5 vertebrae so she never got to ride my S10.

So now I have a Tracer 9 which I enjoy riding. Some aspects of it may be considered better than the S10, but then it should be, it’s about 15 years newer regarding technology than the S10. I will be doing some touring in Europe this summer and that will be the real test.

EnnK has done a very good job of describing the Tracer 9. I haven’t experienced any vibration or “buzziness” as he described on either the demonstrator bike or on my own bike, so perhaps his experience was not typical? I would disagree that the rear brake is weak, the brakes on the Tracer are coupled although both front and rear may be used without the other, (I forget just how it works), but the brakes are certainly very good indeed. I didn’t get along with the gear lever position initially, but it is easy to alter if required. The seat is firmer than the stock ST seat, but it doesn’t make my butt ache like the stock ST seat, which I why I bought a Touratech seat which was better but still made my butt ache! The stock screen on the ST was, in my experience at lest, simply shocking! However, a Givi Airflow cured that and so far, I don’t find any reason to change the stock screen on the Tracer 9 GT+

So thanks to EnnK for a pretty comprehensive impression of the Tracer 9 GT+, you have done a good job there. One last thing though, the CP3 motor is a jewel, it would be brilliant in an adventure type bike but I think any thoughts of Yamaha producing either a Tracer 7 or a Tracer 9 with a shaft drive are just pipe dreams, it ain’t going to happen and yes, I do miss the cleanliness and convenience of a shaft drive but modern chains are so much better now.

 

[EricV]

@Longdog Cymru - Yamaha already offers the Tracer 7 GT, just doesn't send it to the USA. It's about 40 lbs lighter than the Tracer 9 gt and uses the CP2 engine.

And I agree, as long as you let engineers design motorcycles instead of riders, shaft drive will remain rare. Engineers are lazy and always take the easy/cheap way instead of the better way. Engineers reading this, rationalize on your own time.

 

[Sierra1]

. . . . And I agree, as long as you let engineers design motorcycles instead of riders, shaft drive will remain rare. Engineers are lazy and always take the easy/cheap way instead of the better way. Engineers reading this, rationalize on your own time.

You could be right, but a chain has less parasitic loss than the shaft. Making a bike feel like it has more horsepower. They may just do it for better performance. Or yeah. they're just trying to save money.

 

[scott123007]

I'm with Longdog Cymru. I have a friend that recently bought the GTplus and we went for a 300 mile ride. I rode it half of that. IF you are more of a sport rider than just a putzer, there is no comparison. the GTplus is razor sharp compared to the Tenere. The one I rode was almost Goldwing smooth. That's an exaggeration, but the point being for me, no vibrations of any concern, and the power was strong and seamless. Wind protection did suck, but he has a laminar lip on order. The seat IS firm, but just like a Corbin, they work best AFTER a couple of hours. The suspension, shift lever and brake levers are all adjustable, so that should be no concern. It felt fine as is. (5-11" 190lbs) The radar cruise control was the bomb as was the quickshifter. Not only does it clutchless upshift under acceleration and clutchless downshift when slowing down, but if you are in too high of a gear while accelerating and want to downshift under power, it will do that clutchless too. Amazing! Just under 500 lbs ready to ride and around 50ish mpg. Great machine in my book. My buddy likened my S-10 to a couch compared to the tracer. No doubt S-10 is a more open platform, so there's that, and if all you are doing is using it the same way you would a long distance tourer with some gravel roads thrown in, the shaft drive, and extra weight are not a concern. And, the dependability with BOTH of mine (2012 with 56000 mi & 2014 with 42000mi) was second to none. I was all ready to send my S-10 off to pasture in favor of a GT+, but a killer deal on a Multistrada V-4 was offered to me by a friend so the S-10 went bye bye anyway. The V4 is just like the Tracer on steroids, so for now, I'm in love with it. I just hope dependability can be in the same stratosphere as the Tenere.

 

[EricV]

You could be right, but a chain has less parasitic loss than the shaft. Making a bike feel like it has more horsepower. They may just do it for better performance. Or yeah. they're just trying to save money.

With the current Hp of motorcycles, does it really matter if you lose a few to parasitic loss? Sure, and old R1 will do 108 mph in 1st gear... Like that's handy... anywhere. The lowly S10 still easily hits 120 or so. We aren't talking about racing bikes or dirt bikes here, no need to swap sprockets or fuss with chain lube on street bikes. My '82 Honda CX500 had shaft drive and did just fine, if under geared for the current speed limits. I think 75 mph was 8200 rpm. That bike was much happier in the 55 mph era it was designed for, but there were very hard to kill, even at modern speeds.

 

[Sierra1]

Chain is a 2% loss, but shaft is near 25%. That becomes less important as we get older and wiser.

 

[EricV]

The arguments are endless on the shaft Vs chain vs belt Vs whatever comes next. Your 25% is higher than most of what I can find. Most put it at about 4% for chain and 15-20% shaft, with several closer to 13-15% on the shaft, compared directly to chain. My point was that all these bikes make more than enough Hp/torque to get us into plenty of trouble on the street. With the counter balancing these days, few bikes suffer from the torque throttle rotation we used to see in the '80's.

Lifetime chains aren't. (note to BMW) I never needed to replace a driveshaft on any vehicle I've owned, including the 160k mile FJR or the 200k mile autos. Sure, a few U-joints. There are reasons no one makes chain drive autos any more, outside of tiny niche market vehicles. I've had to replace chains on every chain drive anything I've ever owned. Some very short life spans, others longer, none made it past 25k, most closer to 10k. That's two oil changes for me. TWO. Replacing the chain and sprockets on my XSR700 is going to cost me $200 with shipping. At 9400, I can see I'm not going to make 15k before the chain starts to go. It's been adjusted twice, once at 600 miles and again about 7k.

 

[RCinNC]

 

[EnnK]

Thanks a lot for many comments.
It looks like I have developed a rare and very sensitive feel to the secondary, high frequency vibrations of 3 and 4 cylinder engines which results in burning kind of feeling to my toes and palms on revs 5500 and above, that what I describe as buzz. I had the same issue with my FJR1300 after couple of long riding days on high revs. On S10 the 2 silinders secondary vibes proves to be low enough that they do not cause me any discomfort. So I do agree with everybody claiming the CP3 engine being very smooth and I had the same feeling for first hour of riding or so. The discomfort developed after a longer time. And was especially noticable after I sat on my S10 and rode back home. The engine of S10 felt as detached from the frame compared to Tracer.
The same goes for suspension. On Tracer I felt every surface roughness of the pavement but S10 (on normal 0 setting in ZE) was very plush on the same roads and streets. I would compare them as Toyota Corolla vs Audi A6.
If I did not have an immediate comparison to the S10, the Tracer 9 GT+ would have been a fantastic bike to ride, most of the discomforts could be solved by adjustments and aftermarket gear. But for me the question is if I should swap S10 to Tracer. Given my major riding interest is in long multi weeks travels around Europe, S10 wins by long margin in overall comfort, even if it is lacking in technology, dynamics and immediate fun.

 

[Longdog Cymru]

Chain is a 2% loss, but shaft is near 25%. That becomes less important as we get older and wiser.

I agree, but the issue with the shaft is weight and the bogey man that is Euro 5 compliance. The shaft requires more energy (due to the weight and power loss), and more energy means more emissions. Having said that, I am a massive fan of shaft drive.

 

[scott123007]

Lifetime chains aren't. (note to BMW)

Those are "BMW lifetime" chains.