If you look at motorcycles today, they are pushing the boundaries of impracticality. Manufacturers are loading them up with everything, including the proverbial kitchen sink. This is great when you want to brag to your friends or be the center of attention at a bike show, but you probably will not use most of these features most of the time.
The added features lead to another issue: size and weight. Growth is good; we are never going to deny that. But a product like motorcycles depends on lightweight and compact dimensions as its primary selling points. So the trend of bikes getting larger and heavier goes against everything they stand for. This is where premium middleweights come in.
The Middle Of The Road Is Not Really A Compromise
These bikes aren’t boring to intermediate and advanced level riders in the way beginner bikes can be, and they don’t cost an arm and a leg like the premium bikes demand, either. Middleweight bikes also allow you to think of a one-bike garage because their size, weight, and performance allow you to use them effectively for everything from the commute to long, multi-day rides. Sport touring motorcycles are extremely great at this, with the ability to cover everything from the commute to multi-day rides without kicking up too much of a fuss. There are some very good middleweight bikes that offer an excellent combination of price, performance, and comfort.
The Italian Stallion
MV Agusta is a very desirable brand, of that there is no doubt. The Turismo Veloce is its flagship sport-tourer, and it is a middleweight. It gets a fantastic feature set that includes a single-sided swingarm, counter-rotating crankshaft, and semi-automatic gearbox with the Smart Clutch System. However, it isn’t what one would call practical simply because it knows it is a premium brand. You’re going to have to pay as much as a full-size sports tourer for one of these.
The Austrian Bull
KTM only has one sport tourer on sale in the US right now, and that is the 1290 Super Duke GT. This is a very quick motorcycle; it could show a sportbike a clean pair of heels, given the right circumstances. It is packed full of technology, too, but it hasn’t been updated in two years, which is probably why it is priced lower than the MV Agusta above. It is a high-strung motorcycle when judged against its peers, and there is a definite emphasis on ‘sport’ in the ‘sport touring’. If you prefer to ride around sedately, this will probably not agree with you.
The Comfort Of Buying An Established Japanese Motorcycle
You could go to the opposite end of the spectrum and get yourself something like a Honda NT1100 DCT. It is extremely reasonably priced, especially when you consider the liter-sized engine and automatic gearbox. The ownership costs are so low that they will make you smile every time you get a service, and the six-axis IMU has brought it in line with any modern motorcycle when it comes to safety. However, you do have to give up some performance because of the power figure and size, and you can’t have it with a manual gearbox. So, for all the other benefits that you get from it, it can come across as a little boring.
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The Yamaha Tracer 9 Promises Practical Ownership, Performance, And Comfort
The modern sport tourer is the ultimate compromise motorcycle. After all, these crossover-type sport tourers today have the suspension travel of adventure tourers, the wheels and tires from sport bikes, and the tank range of a touring motorcycle. The middleweight sport tourers also tend to have features that can challenge budget full-size touring motorcycles, and the Yamaha Tracer 9 is the best of its breed.
Sure, it might have a slightly old engine and chassis, but they are incredibly refined, fun, and competent even today. Yamaha has thankfully retained all the electronic aids, which means it is usable anywhere, anytime, and it has a very good price as well to go with this fun factor.
Its Price Hits The Sweet Spot
The Tracer 9 is priced at $12,599, which might seem a little high, given that there is competition like the Honda NT1100 DCT that is priced slightly lower. However, you’ll quickly realize you have more power, luggage as standard, and a slew of other premium touches. All that means the price is pretty justified, considering this gets you a proper European experience with Japanese reliability.
The Triple-Cylinder Engine Is Incredibly Playful
The CP3 engine is over a decade old, but it remains one of our favorites simply because of its nature. It is a characterful engine that is full of torque across the rev range and has a decently high horsepower figure as well. This inline three-cylinder engine generates 117 horsepower at 10,000 RPM and 68.6 pound-feet at 7,000 RPM from 890 cc. There is no trickery here, yet it meets emission norms in markets globally.
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Basic Gearbox For US Market, But The Automatic Would Have Been A Nice Option
Its power and torque are fed to a six-speed manual transmission with an assist and slipper clutch, and a chain is chosen to drive the wheel. This engine also gets a Y-AMT fully automatic gearbox, but since the US market gets only the base model, it is not an option here. Also, the two-way quickshifter for the manual gearbox is not standard but can be fitted as an optional extra.
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Sports Bike-Derived Chassis Is Just As Playful As The Engine
The Tracer 9’s chassis uses the engine as a stressed member and has its roots in the MT-09 chassis, which is one of our favorite naked bikes to this day. The chassis is complemented with long-travel suspension consisting of 41 mm KYB inverted forks with adjustable preload and rebound damping (5.1 inches travel), and a monoshock at the rear with the same adjustability (5.2 inches travel). The brakes consist of two 298 mm discs with radially mounted four-piston fixed calipers at the front and a 267 mm disc at the rear with a single-piston caliper. These are mounted on 17-inch alloy wheels with sticky road-biased tubeless radial tires.
This Is A Fun-Sized Tourer
The Tracer 9 looks like a large middleweight, but even so, Yamaha has managed to give it compact dimensions. It is 85.6 inches long, 35.4 inches wide, and has a wheelbase of 59.1 inches. It is relatively tall with a seat height of 33.3 inches, but the trade-off is ground clearance, which is 5.3 inches. Finally, we do appreciate the five-gallon fuel tank, but with how playful this engine is, we don’t expect most owners to maximize the range. With the tank full, the curb weight is 483 pounds wet.
Premium Features As Standard
The Tracer 9 doesn’t have a suffix here like it does in Europe. But the version sold here is still properly loaded. It starts with a big seven-inch TFT display that has Bluetooth and navigation. This sits behind a large windshield (manually adjustable to four different positions). There is a USB charging socket that is very thoughtfully paired with a storage box for your phone.
Safety aids are where it truly excels. Yamaha has left in the six-axis IMU and the full electronics suite from its other CP3-powered products. That means not only do you get cornering ABS, traction control, and engine back-torque limiting, you also get sports bike parameters like slide control… In a tourer! You can also select ABS intervention levels.
There Are Some Very Good Options In The Segment
The Tracer 9 is a very good motorcycle. Then again, it needs to be because the competition is really tough. The Honda NT1100 DCT has recently gotten an update, so it is now the only motorcycle in its segment with an automatic gearbox. It is also a physically larger motorcycle than the others in its segment, which means carrying a pillion becomes more comfortable. The performance is much lower than the Tracer, though.
Another very strong option is the BMW F 900 XR. This is a light yet powerful tourer that is a lot of fun. The premium nature means that, like most BMWs, it requires additional packs that we are looking at to make it truly complete in terms of features. That said, if you are willing to pay the price, this is one motorcycle that will last you a long time and always put a smile on your face.
The Tracer 9 Is About Balance
All said and done, the Tracer 9 is a fantastic combination of comfort, performance, refinement, and reliability, all things that seem to be at loggerheads with each other. But Yamaha has managed to pull it off anyway. If you like your tourers fun yet easy on the pocket, you probably can’t do better than the Tracer.
Source: Yamaha Motorsports