Testing the Dark Side of Japan - MT-09 Tracer Review

First topic message reminder :

I took a MT-09 Tracer out for a test ride, I don’t do test rides – the last one was 33 years ago, I’ve also not ridden anything more modern than a Thundercat so what I was about to experience could be more radical than someone coming off a recent model.
 
I was allowed 45 minutes, so planned the route as best I could to take in various types of roads, in-spite of being on the outer reaches of London it is still very built up so having a good run in the countryside was out of the question. When I removed the cover off the Thundercat earlier in the day, I could hear the ice cracking and confirmation it was cold was displayed on the Scottoiler , a mere -1C; so the roads weren’t going to be their best.
 
Paperwork formalities done, the Red Tracer was wheeled outside and started – a rudimentary demo of the controls, here’s the starter, the hazards, the engine modes, oh and a button to change the dash display, enjoy, and off the salesman  went leaving me to the bike. The starter isn’t what we are used to, starting and stopping the engine is done on what we know as the kill switch, push the button where we’d expect the starter to be and the hazards come on!
 
First order of business was to adjust the mirrors, quite a bit of fiddling later and I gave up, I could kinda see behind me but wasn’t ideal – I wasn’t going to burn my time sitting on the forecourt. Decided to start off in B mode, the most docile of the 3 modes – a healthy clunk into first and ready to go. It felt really weird, being upright and higher but only took a  minute or two  to get used to though. First left turn, wow! The bike is well balanced and turns so easily you just don’t feel the weight of the bike at all. I am now aware of the narrower tank and my legs are not as far apart, being taller in the saddle the foot pegs are further away making it more comfortable. I find myself at a rather nasty and busy skew junction and discover my visibility  was far better. I’ve never been able to move my head to the extreme left or right, my lid hits against the shoulder protector – being upright I had full movement.
Some may find the bike too high for them, my tester was on the highest setting and I liked it - it will go lower and there is also a lower seat and a lowering kit, seems like plenty of room for adjustment to suit all heights.

Rode through a high street, low speed machine control is mind blowing. I was reticent at first to filter but there was nothing to worry about, it was so easy. Then wanted to see what the torque was like so changed up, oops can’t get passed 3^rd, tried a few times and into 4^th we go. Not sure but I think the bike has only done 40 miles, probably explained the problem. Pootling in 4^th and I can hear a funny noise from the engine as if it was cutting out, but didn’t affect the ride – trust me to have found the fuelling problem; this happens when the system changes from closed to open (whatever that means). It is particularly bad on the MT-09’s but Yamaha have done some major changes on the Tracer and felt very few people would notice. It didn’t affect the riding of the bike, so it’s just one of those quirks.

Had a go at changing mode to Standard, this is the default each time the bike is started, rode a bit and thought, you know what I can’t tell the difference – a glance at the display confirms I hadn’t made the change . Did get into Standard and you can feel the power build up much quicker, now I’m into the twisties speed limit is 40 but the road is quite technical, so 40’s fine. What I hadn’t banked on was I was getting around them at the speed limit! On one bend though I felt a slide, not bad and had corrected itself before I could sh*t myself. The tyres are new, they are Dunlop’s, think Smart Max – I’m a tyre snob and wouldn’t choose them given a chance, but they seemed OK. Might have been the tyre telling me to behave or could have been some black ice in which case no tyre would have done any better.
Speaking of behaving, this bike is very naughty and teases you ride – if you not careful it could help you to lose your license.
I’m now at my turn for home, the ride back is to be along dual carriageway. So for this I select A mode, what some may call hooligan mode. I am sat between two cars heading into a roundabout with two forks within 50 yards. Drivers notoriously get into the wrong lane, so getting away from them was fairly important. It then dawns on me I have all of this to contend with and the bike is set to ballistic. Grab too much and I had visions of the thing wheeling into the island, too little and the cars would have closed my gap. Perfect, smooth pull off, fast enough to clear the obstacles, get out the roundabout and give it welly – wanted to see if the front end was going to jump at me. If it did then it would have been a fail for me, I like to keep both wheels on the road.
Within what seemed like 2~3 seconds after me cranking the throttle, the engine noise starts again – oops you numpty you just redlined it - Gawd was that quick !! It can do hooligan and it is equally happy doing docile.

The demo model was tricked out with a lot of accessories – the most expensive being an Akrapovic exhaust. I didn’t like it, it makes too much noise – there will be many who will love it, but not for me thanks. It also had the touring screen on it, didn’t care much for that either, it whistled at fairly low speed – might be OK for touring though. Speaking of touring, it is billed as a touring bike, but the legal beagles at Yamaha have made sure that the genuine luggage can be either the side panniers or a top box, but not both. The concern is too much weight on the back and the bike might wheelie too much – so two up touring would require a support vehicle to comply, big fail on that one. I see Givi are already getting their rails ready which will allow both hard side and top boxes.
Yamaha are offering the side brackets free, but have just found out it is conditional that you buy the cases - bit sneaky!

Mine will be ready 1 March

Oooh  So tempting Yamaha finance offer on a Tracer PCP I guess.

The 'Cat is no longer mine and the Tracer has now taken over the small bit of pavement, its' new home.  Some phone pics, quality not good - partly due to the phone and partly due my shaking (from cold).

Shouldn't take it over 4k RPM for the first 100 miles - right 70 down only 30 to go till the next max is 6k RPM. Service is due at 600 miles two week waiting for a service booking, think I'll book it in tomorrow  Short ride stopped at a supermarket, miles per p very low in cold weather !! Then I thought I best take some pics


IMG_20150302_170836271 by stevephi, on Flickr


IMG_20150302_170859562 by stevephi, on Flickr

If I forget my reg, then I've forgotten my name - time to put me down


IMG_20150302_170912187 by stevephi, on Flickr

Not being jammy, that not a personalised plate was in the list the dealer had

Very nice bike Steve, it's a great feeling picking up a new bike, enjoy & good luck keeping the revs down.

Paul

Very nice indeed Steve, don't run it in too carefully
There is proven evidence it slows 'em down lol

Looks the business! Happy riding Steve, great colour, great plate, great chap!!

Ohhh... shiny!

Very nice Steve! Hope you'll enjoy it as much as I do the MT-09

looking forward to seeing that in the flesh Steve

Davie....

Like the colour Steve, if I bought one it would have to be red.

Thanks guys, I know I ought to be all bouncy bouncy and get on the bike every minute I can, but frankly it was biting cold tonight. Also I made a pact with myself I couldn't get a new bike unless I shed a few kilo's, have been pretty good at doing my torture with the rowing machine but it did go t!t's up last night (can't imagine why ) Half hearted attempt tonight, at this rate I'll never fit in my black and grey leather jacket again and have to stick with the red one

I don't think the 'studio' pics of the bike Yamaha had done actually do the bike justice, think they were trying to portray an aggressive bike - fair enough but it way better looking in the flesh, think even my non focusing phone cam caught that.

Patience is a virtue, so they say, and looking forward to better weather at the weekend when I can put some miles on the dial. Have revved Pam up to it, she not been on the road yet - told me, not too far for the first ride and then suggested one of the further ride-outs we do I suppose I ought to oblige

I don't do things by halves, first service booked for Monday in the Netherlands! That's a week after I picked it up  
I'm off to Amsterdam on Sunday and by the time I get there I would have reached or most likely exceeded 600 miles. My dealer can only offer me the 19th and I really don't want to have to park the bike up for so long.
Now have to try and get the satnav on with the original bracket, see if I can get my Autocom under the seat because I doubt my Interphone BT headset will arrive in time and rummage around the cupboard to see what soft luggage I still have as I don't have the Givi rails!

All this cobbling thanks to a friend of mine from South Africa who told me this afternoon he'd be in Amsterdam this weekend and begged me to go over and see him - nice on mate, thanks Don't even think lastminute.com does this short a notice!!

Fair play Steve!
I ran my last bike in within 24 hours, collected it on the Sunday & serviced on the Monday.... Your story is just so much better, especially given the time of year!
I'm sure you will enjoy every minute of it & I applaud you

Impressive .... Both of you.

Sounds like a great way to run the bike in!

Hey... why not make it a long weekend and pop over to Bavaria! It's meant to be warmer this weekend and the snow should finally melt!

Nice idea Thomas, thanks, but will try and ration myself this time to only doing 900 or so miles Saturday to Monday.

Coming up for nearly two months now, the bike so far ...

In my test ride review I mentioned the problems I had with gear changes, mine did have a bit of an issue in the beginning but it's silky smooth now. A number of people had the same issue and co-incidentally Yamaha have recalled many of the bikes because the Transmission shift cam segment stopper has sharp edge and may crack or break. Mine was not part of the affected batch.

I have also been fortunate with some of the Yamaha accessories I ordered, the heated grips were delivered before the bike and were fitted by the dealer, not everyone was as lucky, their stocks are completely depleted and next shipment will be in June! An expensive add-on but worth it, the controller is part of the bikes' electronics and the control is integrated in the dash display switching - rather nifty.

The side case rails were offered as a 'freebie' as long as you bought the bike and the cases. Was a high uptake on this offer and the delivery was delayed. As mine was one of the first in the ordering system I got mine first, it all arrived last week. The assembly instructions were not as clear as they could have been making Ikea assemblies look easy.

Haven't been so fortunate with the SatNav bracket, item is in the catalogue, but Yamaha haven't gotten around to having them made yet!  Had a frustrating wait on the Givi rails, but that arrived eventually and am very pleased it plays nicely with the side panniers - not that Yamaha 'permit' the use of both together. All the rails have been well thought out.

The problem I had adjusting the mirrors on the demo bike turned out to be they are too short, a £10 fix from a place in Hong Kong. These extenders were not well thought out though, the left hand one interferes with the dash control

Apart from the Scottoiler, the Belly Pan from Ermax in France pretty much finishes the fettling I've been doing.

Yeah, Yeah, but what's the bike like?

I'm enjoying it very much, done around 1 900 miles ( I know, slacking ). Leave it in STD mode most of the time, have used  B once or twice in very congested traffic, a couple of squirts in A mode  It was during one of the latter I felt the front end wobble, something I'm going to have to watch as that episode happened (albeit going reasonably swiftly) with no luggage load - so loaded up with a pillion could be 'interesting'. Will find that out this weekend.

Pics of the bike from first day till now.

Very nice Steve - I did have a sit on one at the Scottish Motorcycle show at the start of March and very nice it was too. 

I'm enjoying your updates, and looking forward to seeing the girl in person at the weekend.

Ride safe

FatCat wrote: looking forward to seeing the girl in person at the weekend.

Sounds like Pam's got another admirer

SteveCat wrote:Leave it in STD mode most of the time,

I am sure I know a pharmacist who could sort you out Steve.

Now you mention Billy..

a couple of squirts in A mode

It doesn't read quite the same way 2nd time round... 


Might explain the need for a trip to the chemist.

I won't ask how you know Billy thanks for the offer though, can he sort it on bikes too


At least I know the post is being read

Glad it is basically well so far. Look forward to seeing on Friday for the ride up to Scotland.

I rode one its' rivals this week a XC800 Tiger. I preferred the clocks on the Triumph and it had slightly more planted feel. Tough call between the two bikes, both excellent and characterful bikes

Bike Meet Review

A friend of mine has just test ridden a Tracer, thought you might find his opinions of interest:

http://bikemeet.net/index.php?topic=7992

I test drove the normal mt-09 at mc live last November. The power delivery was astounding, almost no sense of acceleration. No kick what so ever but still gaining speed (if that makes sense)

But I really couldn't get on with the seat position, seemed to slide me into the tank so I ended up with crushed nuts for most of the ride

dudeofrude wrote:I test drove the normal mt-09 at mc live last November. The power delivery was astounding, almost no sense of acceleration. No kick what so ever but still gaining speed (if that makes sense)

But I really couldn't get on with the seat position, seemed to slide me into the tank so I ended up with crushed nuts for most of the ride

I liked, but didn't love the standard MT-09 I test rode:

http://bikemeet.net/index.php?topic=7509.0

@Radar good write up. I totally agree with your first points, the tacho was nearly unusable to someone used to clocks (like me) Way too much info crammed into that small screen.
As for the silly start button/killswitch, I didn't like it but I can imagine it's saved plenty of people the embarrassment of trying to fix they're not broken bike lol

dudeofrude wrote:@Radar good write up. I totally agree with your first points,  the tacho was nearly unusable to someone used to clocks (like me) Way too much info crammed into that small screen.
As for the silly start button/killswitch,  I didn't like it but I can imagine it's saved plenty of people the embarrassment of trying to fix they're not broken bike lol

Glad you enjoyed it, fair point on the start/kill switch