Douglas Pass
LaManga Pass
Chama, New Mexico.
Looking back up stream at Lake Powell
Been awhile since they've launched any boats at the Hite marina on Lake Powell
Yeah it was a little cold with the snow along the roads.
Hiway 12 is always a great ride.
So I guess I better talk about the bikes. I'd ridden Mark's BMW before, but since, him being 6'4”, he'd added three inches to the already high seat. I'd need a milk crate to climb up on that thing, so I opted not to ride it this time. Honestly I don't know why anyone would have one. He has street tires on it, cause he never gets it off the road, which I fully understand as top heavy as that thing is. To each his own I guess.
Now the Tracer GT9. I rode it across the desert from the top of the Moqui Dugway and across the Natural Bridges Nat'l Monument, almost to Hanksville. Not my choice of ride, but my son is a serious gadget and tech guy. So the Tracer with it's Star Wars looking instrument cluster and futuristic bike design was a huge draw to him,. Has two LED screens that tell you everything except your heart beat, and it could probably be programmed to tell you that too. Everything is digital. Not a dial in sight. He put an almost eye level GPS mount on the narrow aftermarket windshield he bought to replace the even smaller stock windshield. Also a phone mount on the handle bars. Looks like the cockpit of a fighter jet. Surprised it doesn't have a HUD. He has a communication set up where he can listen to music through his helmet speakers or talk to his wife on the phone. We could have talked to each other if I wasn't stuck in the stone ages and got a set up like his. I had to opt for the old archaic hand signals. Couldn't even answer a phone call while riding at 70 mph. Imagine that! It took me while to find the tach which is a small bar graph in the upper left corner of the left hand display. He says it changes color as the revs climb to tell you the RPM's but I didn't dare look at it that long to figure it out. I still like the old dial on the ST.
Handle bars are wide and flat. Feels more like a dirt bike. Lot's of leverage out there, but it felt awkward after riding the narrow bars on the ST. The real life cruise control is amazing though compared to my old throttle lock.
Not much of a fairing at all on this one. Just the windshield which he upgraded and a sort of lower which I guess provides some knee protection from the wind. Hands are out in the slipstream though it does have some small “dirt bike bark” type protectors that don't do much. I can't imagine how small the stock windshield must have been as the one he bought is still super narrow and not overly tall, but amazingly provides pretty good wind protection. Lots of bugs found his helmet visor though and his hands were in the slipstream and they got cold when riding in the freezing temperatures over Hwy 12. The ST directs the wind away from the hands better, so my hands never got really cold even though I only had on a pair of leather riding gloves.
The Tracer has a 5 gallon tank, so it was good for 250 miles at the 54 mpg he got. Fuel range was never a problem, but we did have to short stop a time or two as gas stations can be few and far between in western Colorado and southeastern Utah. The ST got 50 mpg the whole trip and will still go over 300 miles on a tank.
That 3 cylinder 890 cc engine is amazing. Power everywhere. Doesn't matter what gear you're in, just turn the throttle and it will rocket away. Passing a car is a no brainer. Don't even have to shift down. Just roll it on and it goes. The digital numbers on the speedo cllmb in a hurry. I have to wonder if it wouldn't give my 85 V65 Sabre a run for it's money. Ok, it would. Surprisingly the 3 cylinders are super smooth too. I expected it to shake like the 850 Yamaha I rode to back in the 70's, or even worse that '69 Mach III, but the Tracer is super smooth. Little to no vibration through the bars or the pegs. Has a pretty upright riding position, even more upright than my ST which has bar risers with pull backs on it.
He put an aftermarket seat on it as he said the stock seat slopes so you're always sliding forward onto your nads on the gas tank. My Concours did that. So he replaced the seat. I don't know how the stock seat was, but the aftermarket seat he bought is HARD. He put a gel cell ventilated pad on top of it which helps, but it's till hard. Lots of room though. Course I put and inch of gel into my ST seat too. I often ride with a sheepskin pad too, so it feels pretty comfy. On my ST, with the duffle bag strapped on the rear seat that holds my sleeping bag, mattress and tent my seat space feels a little tight. I'm always pushing against it to push it back. Not so on the Tracer. Didn't even know he had his bag strapped on the rear seat. Don't know if the passenger portion of the seat is bigger if his trunk is mounted further back or what.
The Tracer has big saddle bags. Can easily hold a full faced helmet. Not sure why they shaped them like they did except for looks as they would hold more if they weren't so “diamond” shaped. Still they hold more than the ST. He put a Shad top trunk on it which holds lots of stuff. He had to get it and the mounting bracket for it from Europe.
His is silver with the beautiful blue wheels. After seeing how scratched my gray painted wheels have gotten after half a dozen tire changes, I have wonder how they'll hold up. He's not like me though, he'll have a dealer mount his tires, which I've never done since the guy put a tube tire on the tubeless rims of my '81 Yamaha Vision. It's getting harder to mount the new stiff wall tires, but the new bead breaker I built works like a charm. I mount my own, just as I change my own oil, although I sometimes wonder how much longer I'll be able to do that after doing an oil change on the new Camry.
The Tracer handles very well. Upside down front forks that seem to be all the rage today. Always seems planted and never twitchy or squirrely in the turns although I never got too spirited in the corners as I wasn't about to take any chances with his $14000 bike. I still think he could have gotten a sweet FJR for less than 8K.
The exhaust exits under the bike, right in front of the rear tire. It's not loud at all like my buddy's POS Buell Lighting was that had the same type of exhaust. The cableless throttle is a little “too smooth”? There's no feel? I was way surprised at the cable actuated clutch. Haven't seen one of those for ever, but it pulled easily and wasn't a factor at all. Brakes were awesome, but I'm still not sold on that chain drive. Wasn't a factor at all during the 1800 mile trip, but still, I'd have opted for a shaft.
So he seems real happy with the Tracer. I would have opted for the FJR, but that's me.
As for the ST. Has a little over 37,000 miles now. Still a baby I figure. Ran like a top the whole trip and got 50 mpg fully loaded. The old Battlax's still looked good, the rear had 5,000 miles and the front had 10,000 even though the rear did have a plug. For this trip I put a new Bridgestone T32R on the rear and a Bridgestone BT46R on the front. Yes it's a rear tire that I mounted on the front, the way the arrow points, the second that I've run and it's great. My wife wouldn't let me go unless I got new tires. I have an Amazon top trunk that happens to lock and unlock with my ST key. It works fine, will hold a helmet or all the rain gear I carry and is water proof. Other than the Hagon rear shock, which is awesome, the throttle lock and the gel infused seat, my ST is pretty much stock. Everything I wear is hi viz yellow. Helmet, jacket and gloves. Didn't fit in too well last year at Sturgis, but I notice how the eyes follow me as I ride along. I sometimes think about getting something new...er, but at my age I figure the ST will be able to go as long as I can.
So it was It was a great trip with my “baby”. I'll remember it for sure. I hope he remembers it that way. I hope there's more to come.
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