New Tracer GT takes on Z1000SX
Big, fast and comfy but can either tame the super-tough MCN250 test route?
Think affordable sports tourers and it’s hard to think past these two. Yamaha and Kawasaki cornered the market with these slick, do-it-all, dependable gems which sell by the bucketload. Long, low, powerful and comfortable, Kawasaki’s Z1000SX is a sports tourer in the traditional sportsbike-turned-tourer sense, but Yamaha takes a fresher, more modern approach. Just like the Multistradas, S1000XRs and Super Duke GTs of the world, the Tracer 900 sits
taller than the SX, with wide bars and private jet levels of legroom.
The two bikes you see bathed in British summer sunlight are special versions, but don’t worry, neither will break the bank. In the blue corner we have the £10,649 Yamaha Tracer 900GT and in the green there’s the £10,669 Kawasaki Z1000SX Tourer. Base models cost just £9999 for the Kawasaki and the Yamaha a highly sensible £9249.
Full of fuel we head out of Oundle. I start on the Tracer and towering over gentle morning traffic it’s a lovely place to be. This GT version has an R1-style TFT colour dash, cruise control and heated grips all as standard. The 22-litre colour-matched hard panniers I’ve just kicked while getting on are included in the price, but make tight filtering a challenge. A familiar sound on the roads since 2015, Yamaha’s rasping threecylinder 847cc MT-09 Tracer (as it was called then; now it’s Tracer 900) remained unchanged until this year, when Yamaha injected a generous dose of refinement. New ride-by-wire mapping has almost banished the jerky throttle response, rider and pillion bums are cossetted with larger, plusher seats and the pegs are lower for an easier time on the knees. Improved wind protection comes courtesy of a larger adjustable screen, and in a bid to improve handling and stability the new Tracer gets a 60mm longer swingarm and updated suspension. All of this is on top of the Tracer’s already impressive standard equipment: traction control, riding modes, ABS, centre-stand, assist and slipper clutch. Wide bars and deep pools of gravelly bottom-end and mid-range power make the businesslike run to Northampton on the A43 and the back roads to Silverstone a joy. Any time a decent space appears ahead it’s hard not to give the motor a squirt to feel the addictive whip of acceleration and marvel at the triple’s yowling induction racket.
The GT’s gearbox is sweet without the quickshifter, but when you use it the lever action is stiff and crashy. Old-fashioned clutchless gear changes are the smoothest way. Unlike those early MT-09s there’s no issue with harsh power delivery on the Tracer, but at speed there’s too much engine braking, so rolling on and off the throttle still has you jerking back and forth slightly. The assist and slip clutch may facilitate a beautifully light lever, but could do