Tracer Farkles October 2021
2021 has been a bit of a disappointing motorcycling year for me. We've all had to cope with Covid 19 disruptions and I'm not getting any younger which together has meant me riding fewer miles this year. So as I haven't much in the way of rides to write about this year I thought I would do a piece on my 2020 Tracer farkling activities. I've looked it up and the definition of a farkle is as follows:
I would like to think my farkles are more abount function than sparkle. Maybe funkle is more approriate?
The good thing about the Tracer 900 GT is that is comes with a few farkles, i.e. heated grips, panniers and handguards. Incredibly for these days it also comes with a mainstand. (Something I think should be mandatory for safety reasons alone.)
I acquired the Tracer March 2020 (just before the pandemic hit us). Before I picked it up I asked the dealer to fit a Yamaha radiator guard, a sidestand bigfoot, a fender extender and some engine guards (or crash bars). Other than the radiator guard I wasn't specific about make. The bigfoot and engine guards the dealer fitted are both Givi. To this list I added a Garmin GPS mount, a SW Motech rear rack, a SW Motech engine guard (or bashplate), a SW Motech tank bag, an MRA Vario Touring Screen and a GoPro mount. In the past I have found that third party accessories can be of indifferent quality so I tend to stick to SW Motech, Givi and the motorcycle brand accessories, in this case Yamaha.
Screen
The standard Tracer screen seems to come in for a lot of criticism and although I didn't find the standard screen too bad there was a bit of turbulence so I deceided to replace it. There are a number of screen products for the Tracer including Givi, Puig and MRA. If you Google reviews for Tracer sxreens you'll find a few rider's views on the effectiveness of the available replacement screens. Often you'll find as many positive as negative reviews about a particular make of screen. I think this is because screen prefence has a lot to do with your type of riding (commuting or touring), riding position and how tall you are. After reading through various reviews, one very positive one from an MCN test rider, I came to the conclusion that an MRA Vario Touring Screen was what I was after. On my first ride after I fitted it I was a bit disappointed as I was getting a fair bit of wind blast over the top of it. I'm around 6'1" so I adjusted the MRA screen to its full height. It was better but I'm still not entirely convinced it's that much better that the standard Yamaha screen. Also, the MRA screen is wider than the standard Yamaha sceen and, on full steering lock, it touches the handguards.
Bashplate
Although I don't intend to do any green laning on the Tracer, its downpipes are a bit exposed so I decided to fit a bashplate. SW Motech's engine guard looked a good choice for a bashplate. I liked the look of it and I thought its cooling slots were a good idea. As I've I've come to expect of SW Motech, its well made and straight forward to fit. On a recent trip around Wales it did a good job deflecting large stones flicked up by the front tyre. The only problem with it is that it has to come off for an oil change which wouldn't be so bad if it was just a case of taking the bashplate off itself. Unfortunately one of its mounting brackets doesn't allow for a torque wrench to be used to tighten the sump bolt which means that the mount has to be removed for an oil change if you want to make sure the sump plug is at the right torque.
Luggage
The 2020 Tracer 900 GT I bought comes with a pair of smallish panniers which are fine for me but which are not big enough to hold a crash helmet. (The 2021 Tracer GT panniers have been enlarged to allow for this.) To store a couple of crash helmets I needed a rear rack to mount my Givi TRK52N Trekker topbox. I looked at the options from Givi and SW Motech and decided on the latter. Although the Givi rear rack allows the Tracer's original grab rails to be retained it looked a bit of a faff to fit it. Looking at both options, the SW Motech rear rack looked much simpler to fit and I was happy enough to replace the original grab rails. The SW Motech rear rack (with the Givi fitment option) has worked well. It's well made and was straight forward to fit.
There was plenty of choice when it came to tank bags. I chose SW Motech because the tank ring solution looked a lot more elegant and simple to use than comparable offerings. A lot less likely to mark up the Tracer's paintwork. Also, I only wanted a small tank bag for travel documents, etc. and the EVO micro tank bag looked ideal. I've been very happy with it. However, some people are put off the SW Motech tank bag because it involves using a template to drill holes in the bottom of the tank bag to attach the plate that mates with the tank ring.
Other
I've found engine or crash bars a good investment. They have saved me a lot of money. Replacing broken plastics when you drop the bike is expensive. The radiator guard stops a stone going through the expensive to replace radiator and a fender extender keeps the crud off the Tracer's underbelly. Unless it's a Harley, side stands tend to be be small and narrow with a tendency to sink into soft ground so I always fit a bigfoot. It gives you peace of mind that your bike will be still standing when you return to it and not propped up against your mate's bike! I usually fit a rear hugger to protect the rear shock but the shock looks very well shielded as is so I didn't bother.