5000 MILES ON TRACER 900
Yamaha’s resurgence, predicated on the return of the MT, has been widely applauded. But they’re now on their ‘difficult second album’ and they’re having to tweak the recipe. Thankfully 2018’s fettled Tracer 900 is none the worse for it…
Yamaha’s fettled 2018 Tracer 900 tackles 5000 long British miles.
FIRST CAME THE MT-09 – A STORMING 847cc triple engine in a lively naked chassis. They charged £6932 and it was instantly successful. Then Yamaha bolted on a top fairing, screen and a chunky rear subframe complete with bungee points. They named it the MT-09 Tracer and charged £8149. To ride, it kept much of the MT-09’S manic attitude, aggressive throttle response and a propensity to wheelie off the slightest crest. It was more supermoto-tourer than sports-tourer. Successful? You bet, to the tune of 30,000 units. Highlights of 2018’s fettling are quick and easy to list, but what Yamaha have done has had a huge impact on how the bike feels to ride. The banana swingarm has been lengthened by a huge 60mm, there’s firmer suspension, a thicker seat, narrower handlebar and a redesigned front fairing for better stability at speed. The Tracer 900 is now a more serious proposition for long journeys, more stable at speed and better at blatting through corners. But it’s also £9392 on the road – closer than ever to highquality competition such as Honda’s Crossrunner and Ducati’s fantabulous Multistrada 950. So, is the 900 still great value?
The 847 triple is a blinder of an engine, a gurgling, punching, engaging lump for the road. Peak torque and power figures don’t tell the whole story, because it delivers a fat wall of thrust in first, second and third gear that makes it a brilliant and flexible accomplice when tackling Britain’s varied road network. Riding in a city? There’s punch in second from as low as 3500rpm. Exiting a 40mph countryside corner? Third has the power to bark forward. It’s as fast as you need a road bike to be. When you accelerate on the short MT-09 the effect is eyewideningly immediate. It’s difficult to keep the throttle pinned because the front wheel is always searching for a way to leave the tarmac. But this isn’t the case with the long 1500mm wheelbase on the new Tracer. In second, you simply get hair-raising forward thrust. First is the same on marble-smooth tarmac. Clutchless shift between gears and you won’t remember to breathe until you click into fourth – at around 90mph. This thing is very fast. ‘That’s a great motor,’ reports Mike Armitage. Bike’s contributing editor has used the Tracer 900 on his daily, 80-mile, commute. ‘It’s got wheel-lifting urgency and turns engagingly buzzy when thrapped. Yet it’s also flexible and friendly when you just want to click off miles. It’s the nearest thing there is to KTM’S sadly absent 990 SMT, though still a fair stride from achieving the KTM’S blend of excitement and practicality.’
Handling and ride
Here’s where you notice the biggest difference between new and old Tracers. The first model was known for high-speed weave when weighed down with luggage, and a vagueness about the suspension meant you’d run on in the corners. Push the old Tracer out of its 70mph comfort zone and it would quickly lose composure. No such problems on the new bike, thanks to a narrower handlebar and redesigned fairing that reduces frontal area drag. That means you’re less of a sail at speed. Add in the super-long new swingarm (wheelbase is now 1500mm from 1440mm) and you can ride hard through fast corners, squirm through tight switchbacks and top out fourth gear with hardly a quibble. Dual four-pots at the front clamp down hard on the 298mm disc brakes. It’s strong enough to make the front wheel squirm. If you’re smooth with buildup, the ABS doesn’t cut in too early either. That’s impressive on a sub-£10,000 touring machine. But, disappointingly, these changes have also tamed the youthful exuberance you felt on the old machine. Mike explains. ‘We took three firstgeneration Tracers to the Yorkshire Dales a few years back. All three wheelied off every crest. That was good fun. The new bike doesn’t do that. They’ve sensible-ised it.’ But he’s still impressed by the bike’s ride. ‘If we’re classing it as an adventure bike then it’s far lighter, more agile and easier to manage than the go-to big-bore options, say, an R1200GS, Super Ténéré or Triumph Tiger. Full-lock low-speed fiddling is easy without dropping a foot, skirching a footpeg on roundabouts is great fun, and it flits down rolling country lanes with light and breezy deportment – and all with perfectly acceptable ride quality.’ He also notices a concerning issue that is hopefully unique to this particular test machine. ‘This one’s wonky. It looks like the dash is on the piss, but it’s actually an out-of-line chassis – the forks aren’t square in the yokes, and with the front wheel pointing straight the ’bars are out to the right by a couple of degrees.’
Electronics
‘Ooh yes,’ starts Mike. ‘I am glad the traction control lets you do power wheelies.’ He’s talking about traction control mode 1. There are two settings and off, controlled by a button on the dashboard. Off-the-crest wheelies are up for grabs in 1, but disallowed in 2. Hold the button down when the bike is stationary to stop it completely. It’s much easier to change riding mode, as the toggle’s on the right switchgear. It’s changeable on the fly, too, so you can swap between throttle responses as the journey unfolds. ‘A’ has a digital connection to fuelling, meaning that a throttle input will snap the rear wheel into action. ‘B’, on the other hand, is beautifully smooth, with a controlled and careful build of power on the throttle. It’s not just a ‘rain’ mode. Use it on the motorway to help keep a constant speed without surging.
Controls and Comfort
There’s a posh Tracer 900 GT with stacks of goodies for £1400 extra. But this is the bog-standard 900. The GT gets the TFT screen from the R1, a remote rear preload adjuster, gold KYB stanchions, cruise control, panniers, heated grips, and an up-only quickshifter. That’s stacks of extras for £800 less than a base model Ducati Multistrada 950. In contrast, our standard Tracer feels like it lacks goodies. The left switchgear carries a space where the cruise control buttons go. The mode switch operated by your left trigger finger is used to switch between info and heated grip control on the dash. But it’s useless if there are no heated grips. For two-hour morning commutes I most miss cruise control, but this isn’t an available accessory. And it’s disappointing you don’t get the quickshifter (£251 extra). Even the £8542 MT-09 gets that as standard. ‘I like the Xt1200-derived dash,’ says Mike. ‘I know it’s been around for a while, but it’s easy to read, has a pleasingly functional appearance, and carries ample
‘Wheel-lifting urgency and turns engagingly buzzy when thrapped’
data. Ambient temperature? It tells you that. The only thing I’m missing is remaining range. There’s nothing really wrong with the layout or function of the Fjr-based switchgear either, and the controls all feel robust and high-quality.’ So, your interactions with the bike – using the switchgear, referencing the dash – all feel top-notch. Until you’re spending hours on the motorway, that is. Mike: ‘I’m surprised to find a few grumbles through the ’bars and ’pegs at 80mph. It doesn’t induce white finger and isn’t an issue, however leaping from a luxurious, sheet glass-smooth Triumph Speed Triple makes the Tracer feel less refined.’ Upgrades from the previous model include LED lights (bloomin’ marvellous at night), and a grabn-slide mechanism that gives the screen 5cm of adjustment in 0.5cm increments. In reality you end up slamming the thing into top or bottom position in frustration because the Tracer’s wind deflection is utter rubbish. Noise and buffeting are shockingly bad at 70mph cruising speed. So bad that I’d say they sabotage the Tracer’s touring element almost entirely. It ruins long journeys, as you sit there hating the ride, mind and reflexes dulled from the incessant droning vibration on your helmet. Yamaha do a high screen (£143) to replace the standard ‘Achilles’ version. The test bike’s got it in the pictures you see here. Unfortunately, even this can’t stop the pain and discomfort. We’ve worked our way through four different solutions to the problem (Bike, Nov ’18) and none of them fix it perfectly. If I had to recommend a solution, it would be the Skidmarx Tall and Wide screen (£90). Mike is so tall he doesn’t normally notice the effects of screens. Therefore, he benevolently thinks that most must be doing their jobs well. But even he can’t stand the current set-up: ‘The accessory screen is a pointless sheet of head-buffeting, ear-battering, eye-watering plastic. Remove it immediately.’
Practicality
‘A centrestand that comes as standard!’ exclaims Mike. ‘Brilliant. It’s wonderfully useful, for lubing the chain and rear shock linkage, cleaning the rear wheel and swingarm, and for keeping the bike level when strapping on crates of ale.’ Either side of the generous pillion seat are two huge grab handles. They give pillions comfort and confidence and make good bungie points. Witness I’ve been lugging a 10kg waterproof holdall from York to Peterborough and back, held on by two criss-
crossed Rok Straps (the 25mm HD model, £17). They’re secured to the grab handles and run diagonally to pillion footpegs. Sticky plastic stops the straps from rubbing paint away on the subframe cowling. Yamaha’s own hard panniers are £780 per pair, but I’ve made do with a soft Givi set, the EA100B. They expand to a total of 80 litres – 40 more than Yamaha’s – and only cost £95. Notably there’s none of the high-speed wobble you get on the GT, with its added pannier weight. Over 50mpg on the motorway is similar economy to big touring bikes. You get 210 miles to an empty tank. Ride at 70mph to eke the 18 litres to over 220 miles. If you’re used to long Eurotrips on full-size tourers, the Tracer’s smaller tank might frustrate.
Quality and Finish
It’s definitely improved over the old model. Fixings buff up well, as do the engine covers, but downpipes are rusting gently despite the gorgeous summer of 2018. Disappointingly the 3D ‘TRACER’ badge is peeling at the ‘R’ end, and we’ve lost a zero from the model number. Now it looks like the bike’s called a Tracer Go. The other disappointment is the base bike’s choice of colour schemes. Understated is the most positive description – the beautiful matt blue from early press shots is only available on the GT model. Poor show.
‘Clutchless shift between gears and you won’t remember to breathe until you click into fourth – at around 90mph. This thing is very fast’