THRILLING TOURERS

Sporty and comfortable? New Tracer 9 GT vs rivals

Yamaha’s virtually all-new Tracer 9 has raised the bar for middleweight, adventure sport-tourers. The old Tracer 900 was already a best-selling benchmark thanks to its invigorating threecylinder engine, decent chassis and great value, while the 2021 successor added a gruntier, enlarged, Euro5 engine, allnew chassis, uprated spec and refreshed styling. But the GT takes the touring premise further still. With new electronic semiactive suspension, standard hard panniers, heated grips, quickshifter and more, the

affordable Tracer is transformed into a lavishly-equipped sportstourer. So how does it compare to exactly that – the top-spec versions of BMW’s F900XR and Triumph’s latest Tiger 900 GT?

This is not a simple test of Yamaha’s new Tracer against its closest rivals – BMW’s brilliant F900XR and Triumph’s roadfocussed, GT, version of its equally impressive Tiger 900, both as introduced last year – it’s more than that. This is a test of the luxuryladen GT version of Yamaha’s newbie against the very best of its similarly-specced competitors. As such it’s also a test on two levels – first of the abilities of the base bikes, and second, an assessment of the extra equipment, specification and value these premium variants bring.

After all, the new Tracer 9 GT is essentially identical in terms of performance and chassis to the standard Tracer 9 except for the added spec (namely hard panniers, electronic semi-active suspension, heated grips, quickshifter/autoblipper and LED cornering lights) its £2K steeper price brings.

It’s the same story with the Triumph. The Tiger 900 GT, as introduced last year, was already the impressive, more roadorientated version of the firm’s latest, highly regarded, mid-range adventure triple. However, in this top-of-the-range Pro spec, it similarly gets an electrically adjustable rear shock, heated grips (and seat), quickshifter/autoblipper, LED fog lights and more (but no luggage) – this time for £1700 extra. Although not a preconfigured GT as such, the BMW F900XR tested here is also a far cry from the £9830 base version. TE spec (£10,690) adds a third Dynamic riding mode (on top of the base Rain and Road), Dynamic Traction Control, Cruise Control and heated grips. Exclusive

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‘All three are brilliant and sumptuously equipped’

£12,530 BMW F900XR TE O 895cc parallel twin 8v O 105bhp @ 8500rpm O 219kg kerb weight Capable, fun and comfy but which should you buy? £13,100 Triumph Tiger900 GT Pro O 888cc transverse triple 12v O 94bhp @ 8750rpm O 198kg (dry) weight £12,202 Yamaha Tracer 9 GT O 890cc transverse triple 12v O 117.3bhp @ 10,000rpm O 220kg kerb weight (AS TESTED)