Contents:
Everyday use
I use this bike almost everyday to go to work. It’s about 30 kilometers round trip ride from Nice to Monaco and back.
To go to work in the morning I have to do a lot of lane splitting, passing between cars etc as there is almost always a huge traffic jam when entering Monaco in the morning. I am talking about 1h30 to do about 1,5 kilometers (1 mile) if you were using a car. Yeah it’s quite bad.
By the way lane splitting is tolerated here in this region and most cars will pull to the side to let you pass when they see you behind.
Anyways, I don’t have any particular difficulty maneuvering the bike in tight spots at lower speeds, it’s very nimble with it’s 196 kilograms and most of the times the handlebars pass above or below the cars mirrors.
Very often I will also go into town with the bike as parking the car in the city center without selling your organs to pay for it is mission impossible (okay I might be exaggerating a bit but you get my point). The Yamaha still does very good in the city center below 50km/h – stopping every few meters etc
She seems to quickly heat when at a stop, especially in the summer but it doesn’t seem to bother her. Or me. As luckily I don’t really feel the hot air from the fans (not that I am not already melting when it’s 35 degrees Celsius outside, but every bit helps !)
Longer road trips – holidays and riding with a passenger
For now, I did only one bigger road trip in the region of Aveyron – that’s above and in between Montpellier and Toulouse
Okay, let me grab a map for you:
I will write a separate post about this 4 days and 1500 kilometers (930 miles) long road trip through mostly hills and rural areas.
The entire trip was done with my girlfriend in the back, fully loaded with a top case and side bags – so I would say that it’s a good benchmark for a pillion comfort.
So how did she find it ?
First of all, a lot better than on the Honda CB500X on which we did a 2 weeks and 2000 kilometers long road trip through Corsica.
But not perfect.
After 4 hours on the highway (with 2 breaks somewhere in the middle), our backs were hurting and our butts were starting to beg for something more comfortable.
On the secondary curvy roads it was quite better, but after a day full of riding it still wasn’t good enough.
A custom made comfort seat like the one that I have below is a must for longer road trips. From what I heard the comfort seat proposed by Yamaha isn’t very good, it’s just a nice looking seat – some people find it even worse than the standard one.
Why did I switch to the Yamaha Tracer 7 from a Honda CB500X ?
After owning my Honda CB 500X 2022 model for 1,5 years and 15000 km (9300 miles) – I think I just got so used to it that the bike bored me. It’s still a very good and versatile bike but it’s so predictable and lacks torque (which might be good for a beginner). It wasn’t fun anymore for me to ride it. So I have decided that I need a change.
What annoyed me the most is the lack of torque, I like to feel that pull in my arms !
What annoys me a little
There are a few things that annoy me on this bike, where I feel that Yamaha could’ve put more effort into a better design.
One of these things is the key. God. On my Honda the key wouldn’t give you any problems, it would just do what it was designed for – go into the bike smoothly and fire it up. Unfortunately on the Yamaha, it’s not designed that well.
Most of the time I have to take care to align it correctly and even then, sometimes it just doesn’t want to turn. I have to put some WD40 every now and then to make things better for some time. Yamaha why ?
Another one is the quality of finishes. I found that the Honda CB500X quality of materials and overall how the bike is built is very satisfying. Unfortunately that is not the case with my Yamaha Tracer 7 – there are some spots where I can see surface rust (after only 6 months), bear in mind that the bike is parked outside. I don’t think it’s a big deal.
There is a little spot of rust where the kickstand touches some part, a little of rust near the clutch cable – I can live with that.
Also, the bike feels more plastic than the Honda, and the cables are more apparent.
Lastly, on the 2023 year model Yamaha have included a TFT screen with some mobile phone connectivity. While the screen is nice and I don’t have anything bad to say about it – the mobile phone app (I am on android) is useless.
Most of the time the app won’t connect automatically to the bike, sometimes you have to switch the ignition on and off a few times to connect. Then there isn’t much useful information from it really a part maybe how much battery is left on your phone.
I am supposed to see some notifications, who’s calling me or something yes ?
Well, all I saw when someone called me is that they call me. But wait, who calls me ? Oh no sorry, it seems that it’s too much to show on the screen…
Hopefully a future update can make this thing more useful, as for now I don’t use it !
Nobody’s perfect I guess, I can live with that.
What I like on this Yamaha Tracer 7 ?
Comparing to my previous bike which was a Honda CB 500X, this Yamaha Tracer 7 does better in almost every category.
The standard seat comfort is better, the windscreen is easier to adjust (15min on the CB500X vs 2 seconds on the Tracer), the rear suspension is also easier to adjust (could be better though), the engine is way more fun and punchy.
The overall bike is better suited to ride with a pillion and is a bit lighter.
It’s quite hard to compare both bikes as the Honda is very reassuring, it’s more like: “Come, let’s have a ride together, it will be fun – I won’t bite”. It’s this cute kind little puppy – still a very capable bike.
The Tracer is more like “Grrrrrawr, rev me ! – that’s all you’ve got ? I have a lot of torque, be careful or I might life my front wheel and surprise you !”. It’s mean and I like it.
Are there any downsides switching from a CB 500X to a Tracer 7 ?
There are but not many !
First of all, the fuel consumption is a bit higher.
From about 3,2 liter per 100 kilometers on the Honda up to about 5 liters per 100 kilometer on the Yamaha. It’s not that much, but I definitely notice that I have to go to the pump much more frequently.
Then there is obviously the price, the Honda is a lot cheaper.
The last thing that I definitely found annoying is the standard Yamaha exhaust whereas the Honda’s standard exhaust was more than fine.
The Yamaha exhaust is very ugly with all the apparent welds and very quiet. It’s perfect for someone who would want a very silent vacuum cleaner ummm… I mean bike. Fortunately I fixed that with an aftermarket Arrow Works exhaust.
I would say that that’s all the cons I see, but these are perfectly normal. Those bikes aren’t in the same category. The tracer has a bigger engine, is bigger, has more power etc
Conclusion
This is a great all rounder, quite hard to beat at this price.
I definitely recommend it as you can go everyday to work and when the need arises, you can go on a bigger road trip even if it means equipping the bike with bags, a comfort seat and why not a better sounding exhaust. You can even bring a pillion with you and they should be quite happy about it.
Do you have this bike or plan on buying it ? Leave a comment.