Rennie Scaysbrook | October 14, 2021
The sport-touring sector is gaining some serious popularity, and Yamaha’s come out with some heat for 2022.
One of the most neutral riding positions of any sport-touring bike on the market means big days are easy on the GT.
Photography by Ray Gauger
Yamaha has a lot to be proud of with the three-cylinder MT motor they built nearly a decade ago. It’s gone on to power three different machines in Yamaha’s lineup (perhaps four, if rumors of the MT-09 sportbike ever come true), and has morphed from a bratty, snatchy little thing to one of lovely refinement, offering pretty much all the torque you’d ever need and then some.
This motor has sat between the frame spars of Yamaha’s FJ/Tracer 900 range since these sport touring machines came onto the scene in 2015. It’s been largely the same power unit, although the bike itself has gone through two name changes and now a third in the 2022 Tracer 9 GT.
We’re still not sure on the looks but the ride is definitely better. The swingarm pivoting between the frame rails helps a lot here.
Like the name, it’s all changed on the Tracer front for next year. This is the first ground-up refresh of the model since 2015, with the 2019 edition being more of a stop-gap version.
The 847cc motor gets boosted to 890cc for 2022, wrapped in an all-new chassis, bodywork and electronics package to bring the GT into line with a few of the more expensive offerings from Europe and indeed Japan.
And best of all, you can get it for under $15,000.
KYB’s electronic suspension still requires manual preload setting.
I’ve always had a soft spot for the FJ/Tracer model. It’s a very capable motorcycle, if a little bland, but it’ll provide plenty of thrills for the money. Tech has never been one of its strong points but that’s changed for this year. We’ll start with the engine.
This is more than just a capacity increase with a new intake, cylinder head, valves, intake and exhaust cams, new injectors and throttle bodies. At the bottom sits a 3mm longer stroke crank, new forged pistons, 1.5mm shorter fracture-split conrods, a redesigned exhaust and a gearbox housing taller first and second gears and a new slip-and-assist clutch.
Twin 30L side bags look great, but we couldn’t get an Arai Corsair X helmet to fit no matter what we tried.
Yamaha’s reworked the intake system to give more noise, although I feel the old 2020 version had a bit more bark in that department. That’s always been a Tracer trait—that deep, burbly induction roar, which is something retained for this year, just modified.
The motor is matched to a revised Yamaha Chip Controlled Throttle (YCC-T) for smoother initial throttle openings, especially at low rpm where the pre-2022 three-cylinder motors were notoriously notchy. There’s no mechanical connection between the throttle grip and the throttle body—it’s all electronic—although Yamaha has tuned springs and tension of the throttle twist to feel as natural as possible. You’re handed four throttle/engine maps in the Yamaha D-Mode system, with level one being quite touchy and aggressive down to level four being very much on the mellow side.
Look at the dash and tell us it doesn’t look like a robot face.
The performance on offer is substantially upgraded from the previous generation GT. The extra capacity gives not just added torque but allows the motor a bit of breathing room, letting you surf the torque wave and not have to dance too much on the admittedly very smooth up-and-down quickshifter that comes as standard on the GT.
From 3-9000 rpm there’s torque for days. Crack the throttle and the Yamaha lurches forward but does so in a less violent manner than in years past.
The new 890cc triple is a beautiful little motor. Standard quickshifter is a nice addition, too.
This motor is wrapped in a brand-new chassis that has the swingarm pivoting within the frame rails, rather than on the outside as per conventional FJ/GT models. This has contributed to a claimed 50 percent increase in lateral rigidity, something the rider can definitely feel when cranked over on the side of the tire. The chassis is rock solid, with a perfect amount of combined chassis flex and suspension plushness to tackle almost any terrain. This was especially true on the crappy surfaces we found on our test route up Angeles Crest highway.
Nissin still supplies one half of the brakes for the GT, and they’ve fitted a new master-cylinder to modulate the pressure fed to the Advics four-piston piston calipers and 298mm discs.
Cornering headlights (below) are activated at just three mph.
The braking system is linked, and this was something I wasn’t a fan of during my afternoon on the GT. Use the rear brake only and you’ll feel the front lever depress slightly—I would have much preferred a traditional non-linked system.
The GT now comes with a six-axis IMU that feeds information to the ECU on the bike’s bank angle and throttle position, along with brake pressure and suspension stroke. The GT has thus now formally joined the tech revolution started almost a decade ago, when Aprilia brought out the first IMU (and didn’t tell anyone about it) on the 2013 RSV4.
Cruise control as standard on the Tracer is something so many other manufacturers will sting you extra for.
One of the IMU’s main talking partners is the Suspension Control Unit, part of the new KYB Actimatic Damping System (KADS). The KYB fork and shock are not the most advanced suspension units out there, with preload and compression on the fork and rebound only on the shock available for electronic adjustment. Preload on both front and rear is adjusted manually via the nut on top of the fork and the hand knob for the rear.
There are only two settings for the KADS, meaning you won’t get lost in the myriad of settings that can be found on something like the Ohlins Smart 2.0 system found on a Ducati Panigale V4. A1 for sports riding and A2 for a softer ride is all you’ve got, which is a good thing because, it’s all you need.
Yamaha has retained a very sporty side to the Tracer GT, despite increasing its touring capability.
A1 is very stiff and only really needed if you’re hammering really quickly on smooth roads. For the afternoon I had the Tracer, I spent the majority of the time in A2 with the throttle, traction, wheelie and slide control all in level one (I have no idea why you’d need slide control on this bike, but there you go).
The modes are accessed via a funky looking split screen, twin 3.5-inch TFT dash, one that looks a bit like a robot face if you stare at it long enough. With speed on the left and all trip and ride info on the right, you’ve got plenty of space to read everything easily except for the time, which is jammed right down the bottom left of the screens. It would have been nice if you could customize what you saw on the dash and where, although I suspect that would have added a few extra bucks to the bottom line.
Yamaha’s given you plenty of options with which to customize the ride position of the new GT. I only had time for a seat height change from 31.9 inches to 32.5, but you can alter the handlebar position by 9mm forward or 4mm upwards by rotating the clamps, and you can change the footpeg position 14mm up and 4mm rearwards. This should mean riders from just above five feet tall to 6’5” can find a ride position they find comfortable.
Screen height is a little low at the highest setting for Rennie’s 6’1” frame but nowhere near as bad as the BMW S 1000 XR.
The jury is out on the new aesthetic, but it does pack LED lights and separate cornering lights that operate once you’re going three mph or more with seven degrees of lean angle. It’s an odd-looking bike, but I figure you’re not looking at it while you’re riding and the ride is a good one indeed, so I can live with the looks.
One of my favorite features is the hand lever, so you can adjust the screen on the fly. Why all manufacturers who have bikes with big screens don’t have this is feature is beyond me.
There are lots of great features that come standard on the GT that many others will make you pay for—cruise control, heated grips, 12V power socket, twin 30L side bags, the cornering lights and quickshifter, the list goes on.
It’s a clean look on the new GT, if a little angry.
Yamaha’s given you a hell of a lot of bike for the money with the new GT. These features are backed up by a damn good ride experience, one that’s vastly improved to what it was in 2020. CN
VIDEO | 2021 Yamaha Tracer 9 GT First Ride Review
2022 Yamaha Tracer 9 GT Specifications
| MSRP: |
$14,899 |
| Engine: |
Inline 3-cylinder |
| Valvetrain: |
DOHC, 4 valves per cylinder |
| Displacement: |
890cc |
| Bore x Stroke: |
78 x 62.1mm |
| Compression Ratio: |
11.5:1 |
| Cooling System: |
Liquid |
| Fuel System: |
Multipoint sequential electronic fuel injection |
| Exhaust: |
3 into 1 |
| Clutch: |
Wet, multi-plate |
| Transmission: |
6-speed |
| Frame: |
Die-cast aluminum |
| Front Suspension: |
KYB semi-active 41mm fork, USD, fully adjustable |
| Rear Suspension: |
KYB semi-active shock, rebound damping, preload adjustable |
| Front Wheel: |
17 x 3.5 in. |
| Rear Wheel: |
17 x 5.5 in. |
| Front Tire: |
120/70 ZR17 |
| Rear Tire: |
180/55 ZR17 |
| Front Brake: |
Twin 298mm floating discs, 4-piston radial-mount calipers, cornering ABS |
| Rear Brake: |
Single 245mm disc, 2-piston sliding caliper, cornering ABS |
| Rake: |
25° |
| Trail: |
4.3 in. |
| Seat Height: |
32.5 in. |
| Wheelbase: |
56.3 in. |
| Weight (dry, claimed): |
485 lbs. |
| Fuel Capacity: |
5.0 gal. |
| Colors: |
Liquid metal, Redline |
