First Ride: Yamaha Tracer 900GT
The popular Yamaha Tracer 900 gets a mild makeover — and a premium GT version
COME TO SPAIN, they said. Ride the new Tracer 900 and the GT, they said. It’ll be great... Nobody mentioned the snow, rain or slippery roads. But even so, there’s no doubting that the updates to the Yamaha Tracer 900 have made an already good bike better, with the addition of a premium GT model moving into traditional sports tourer territory.
From the moment it appeared in 2015, built around the 847cc triple from the MT-09, the Tracer was a hit. For us, the appeal was obvious — a comfortably upright, do-everything allrounder with a cracking engine for less than £8400? That kind of value made it one of Yamaha’s best-selling bikes. But updating a popular machine has to be done carefully.
So the 2018 Tracer 900 uses the same engine as last year’s bike, weighs the same 214kg fully fuelled, has the same suspension and even the same ergonomic relationship between seat, bars and footpegs. However, the swingarm is 60mm longer, extending the wheelbase and changing the rear geometry so the seat is 5mm higher (adjustable between 850mm and 865mm), though Yamaha stresses that the revised shape of the new, multi-density foam saddle makes it just as easy to get both feet on the floor.
There’s a new rear subframe with new, moreslickly integrated pannier mounts. There’s a bigger, more comfortable pillion seat, better grabrails and lower pillion footpegs. The
bodywork has been revised for a sleeker look, with a new screen that can be adjusted with one hand. The bars are 16mm narrower but the new handguards take 10cm off the width of the bike.
But the buzz is all about the GT model, which is the same bike but for six key differences. First, it has 22L plastic panniers, shaped like those on the FJR1300 but with flat lids reducing width and capacity. Second is the suspension: as before, the base Tracer 900 has preload and rebound adjustment at both ends, though the settings for the shock have been updated; the GT gains a compression adjuster at the front (rebound on the right fork leg, compression on the left) and a remote preload adjuster for the shock. The third is a quickshifter (though this, like the panniers, can be added as options to the base Tracer).
The fourth difference aids touring: the GT
has cruise control. The base Tracer’s lefthand controls appear to have space for the buttons but the system can’t be added as an option because the GT uses a different ECU and different throttle bodies. Indeed, all its switchgear is different as it operates the two final differences between the bikes: the heated grips; and the colour TFT dash.
I start my day riding the base Tracer 900. It feels very much like the MT-09 Tracer I had in 2015 but with narrower bars. As before, there are three engine modes: all offer the full 113bhp, but with varying throttle response: A is the most immediate but isn’t snatchy; STD is smoother; while B responds gently, as if nursing a hangover.
The riding experience is... 100% Tracer, with the unchanged engine still precise and easy, with a light clutch, decent back brake and good steering lock for low-speed riding through town. This transforms as the speed limits are left behind and grinbroadening acceleration is demanded. The power builds smoothly, rapidly, with no snatchiness or flat spots. Handling is light, instinctive and accurate, feeling planted over the bumps as that longer swingarm tames the old bike’s slight flightiness.
Better still, after the bends there’s plenty of go to demolish any straights. Clutchless shifts flick eagerly through the box, with that larger, reshaped screen doing a little to divert the wind. I grab it with my left hand and lift: there are 10 stops but I yank it up the full 5cm. With only a slight crouch, it’s quieter and less windy than the old Tracer.
In riding terms, the GT turns out to be more or less identical, though the remote adjuster makes it easier to add rear preload to cope with my 100kg. As revs rise, the GT’S tachometer on the slightly small TFT changes colour until a discrete white shift light suggests tapping the quickshifter. This doesn’t work for downshifts but does make hammering up through the gears effortless, on the way to a logged 143mph top speed.
Even flat out, there’s no flightiness or weave with the panniers fitted. Mind you, they are on the small side… fine for a weekend away but not a fortnight in Europe. Especially as Yamaha says a topbox shouldn’t be fitted at the same time.
At a more sensible velocity on the motorway, the cruise control is easy to set, holds the speed accurately regardless of gradient, is easily trimmed up or down and returns to the set speed without hunting.
Sadly, the weather turns as I get off the motorway for what should be fun in the hills with the GT. Instead it’s slithering around time and while the traction control light flashes only occasionally, the twochannel ABS pulses a few times and stays on a second longer than is comfortable.
It’s at this point I’m glad of the heated grips, set with a thumb wheel on the righthand bar that also controls the clocks. This might get easier with familiarity but it’s too much while concentrating on a wet road.
Overall, the updated Tracer is very good — just like the old one but with slightly better looks, better provision for pillions and a better screen. Yamaha has kept its essential character — though at £9392 on the road, it perhaps seems more premium and less bargain-priced. The GT with its excellent cruise control, quickshifter, uprated suspension, watertight (if small) panniers, TFT screen and heated grips is £10,792 on the road — in the same ballpark as a Kawasaki Z1000SX Tourer or Triumph Tiger Sport. This is no longer budget motorcycling: this is the premium sportstouring big league — and the Tracer 900 GT looks right at home.
“The updated Tracer is very good – just like the old one…”