We rode this Tracer in standard form and it was horrible. It’s got major issues and you can feel every time the lambda chimes in or out leaning out the mixture, and on a constant throttle when the ECO light comes on snatchiness follows instantly.
It’s a great engine hamstrung by its power delivery, and the only way round it is to ride very aggressively and constantly keep the gas tapped on – which your average road rider used to a smooth four-cylinder is not going to appreciate. We’d go so far as to say that stock the Yamaha 3-cylinder is nowhere near a similar Triumph.
Very poor – and while Yamaha may have to deal with stricter emissions testing (our feeling) they seem to have missed the point, and to get it through they’ve blessed it with awful off-throttle and part-throttle (cruising) manners. Rolling around a roundabout you’re never quite sure what you’re going to get…
Now before we start with the ECU remap we just want to say one thing; anybody buying a full Akrapavic system for one of these is wasting their money. With the baffle in it kills the bike dead, losing 30bhp. The bike was running poorly and massively rich so we stopped work to have a rethink. And what we found is a de-catted standard pipe gives the best results for minimum spend.
So after we’d gutted the stock pipe, remapped the ECU the results were amazing – smooth off the bottom plus a linear feel with all engine modes intact as well. The engine also remains completely consistent. Job fully done!
This bike can be fantastic, but needs major attention to the ECU mapping.
