Okay so a bit of an ownership update. Having just done a 2200 mile trip up and around Scotland in about
nine days, I’m now in a better position to comment……….
Screen - Puig with flip up lip is still not great. Clearly better than the original but far from perfect. I wasn’t
brave enough to use the Ermax Sport screen on such a long trip, not knowing what the weather
was going to throw at me. Now I’m back though, I’ll be swapping them out.
I always have to have the screen in the highest position to minimise the turbulence / noise. I’m
only 5’09”. Beginning to think it might actually be better with no screen at all?
Speedo - Wildly optimistic. I reckon it over reads by up to about 7mph at 60mph real. I’ve thought this
for a while. When I’ve had my sat nav with me, that has always read significantly less. But it
was reinforced in Scotland when I was fortunate enough to have to follow a traffic car for a few
miles in a 60mph limit. I was also able to compare it to my mates 2021 model Kawasaki, which
also seemed to confirm the above figures.
It maybe a small issue, but I can’t quite bring myself to pass a speed camera with 67mph
showing on the speedo in a 60 limit.
Seat - I have now fitted the “Comfort” seats and whilst I’d say that they are an improvement over the
standard, I’m not sure it’s a £167 improvement. But I guess, as stated earlier in this thread, if
you sell them on again for £100 seperately, I’d definately say that they were worth the
additional £67 cost.
For that reason, I made sure I bought some padded cycling shorts before the recent trip and
they made a big difference.
Economy - Difficult to say really when your speedo AND trip meter overread by such a large amount. I
“thought” I was getting between 60 -64mpg, taking it steady. But I guess now, with an easy
10% inaccuracy, I’m looking at 54 -57.5mpg. Still not bad to be fair.
Issues - I couldn’t get the accessory plug to work so asked them to check it at the service. They
replaced a fuse and said that it was fine. However when I tried to use it, still no joy. So I
checked all of the other fuses and found an additional fuse was blown. Replaced this and hey
presto, it worked. Sort of….
Knowing that I had an accessory socket to power my Nav5 by, I didn’t bother wiring up a
powered mount. Alas, when I turned the Nav5 on, plugged into the accessory socket to charge
it, the Nav went into some sort of automatic power save mode. It would only allow a maximum
of 30% brightness on the screen, which, frankly, was unreadable. This “may” be an issue with
the Nav itself, ive still to investigate further, so I’ll reserve judgement at this stage.
Warm starting - it seems to quite regularly stall, moments after starting the engine when it’s hot (after
filling up for example). . It only ever happens once and restarts immediately, so I’ve not
bothered taking it back as yet. I believe that there was a recall for a similar issue with the new
MT09 model so I’m surprised that I haven’t had any info from Yamaha as yet.
Luggage - whilst the panniers are an odd shape, I bought a cheap pair of pannier liners for my trip and
found them to be great. The panniers do wobble about a bit but remain completely secure, are
easy to open and close and remove. The Yamaha top box, when full, can be a little more
awkward in operation to close, but it has, thus far, remained waterproof.
Overall - This is a tough one. If I compared myself to a stick of rock, I’d have GS running through the middle of me. I’ve had soo many of them over the years 11** / 1200’s (no 1250 though).
IMHO the 9GT does pretty much all of the things that “I” would do on a 12GS. I would also say that it does them at least as well and in some cases better.
Clearly what it won’t do is go off road or allow you to drop it without sustaining any damage,like a GS with crash bars would.
I love the handling and slow speed balance of the 9GT particularly. The lower height and 30kg less weight, make a big difference to me confidence wise when slow manoeuvring, with or without a pillion.
I began to find with age, that the 12GS TE was becoming quite top heavy two up. Once the ESA had adjusted for the pillion, it left me on the balls of my feet, robbing me of confidence at off camber junctions / u turns etc. The 9GT gives me back this confidence.
However, as good as the GT is, I still can’t quite bond with it in quite the same way that I have over the years with the GS’s. It can’t be an aesthetics thing either because, well, frankly, neither a GS or the 9GT are a thing of beauty are they?
I can see myself with another 12GS in the not too distant future.
For now though, I’m saving up for a new pair of tyres.