2026 Yamaha Tracer 9 GT Ride Review

We spent 3000 miles and eight months on the Yamaha Tracer 9 GT – here’s how we got on…

It’s arguably the most practical bike Yamaha sells at the moment. And certainly, the most capable touring bike in the Japanese firm’s lineup. It’s also, perhaps surprisingly, the joint-most-powerful bike with a tuning fork logo on the tank available in the shops right now.

It is, of course, the Tracer 900 – and I spent eight months and a few thousand miles riding one last year as part of a long term test for the good folks at Motorcycle Sport and Leisure (MSL) magazine (which you should definitely be reading!).

From urban chores around south London to jaunts to the Midlands, the south coast and a mega tour right up to the Highlands of Scotland, I spent a fair bit time living the Tracer 900 experience. And that gave me a really solid understanding of that bike – what it’s like to live with every day, what’s good and what’s not so great.

I’ve got previous with the biggest Tracer too. I had another long term test 900 back in 2018 when working at the Visordown website, and had the same sort of experience. Back then, the technology was much less advanced – we had to put up with a monochrome LCD dashboard if you can believe that – but the basics of the bike were mostly as they are today.

That means a nicely-tuned grunt-heavy triple (847cc back then, 890cc now) making around 115-120bhp in a capable roadbike chassis, equipped with slightly taller suspension, sporty brakes, wheels and tyres and a relaxed riding position. It’s not an adventure bike, nor is it a pure sport-touring machine; rather, it’s a sort of semi-dual-sport bike, like the BMW F900 XR, Kawasaki Versys or Suzuki GSX-S1000 GX bikes.

You’ll struggle if you ever try and go properly off-road on one, but the odd gravel track will probably be do-able, and the extended suspension travel plus softer damping means added comfort on bumpier roads.

I picked the Tracer 9 up directly from Yamaha UK on a very pleasant late spring morning. I was lucky enough to bag the ‘GT’ version, which adds an electronic semi-active suspension system, plus the wild-looking ‘matrix LED’ headlight setup, as well as a hill-hold brake system and keyless-controlled ignition, smart fuel cap and central locking hard panniers to the basic Tracer setup.

I’ve not gone for the Y-AMT automatic version though – not because I don’t rate it (it’s actually a really good auto box option) but because Yamaha had a manual version available first. I’m also missing out on the GT+ variant, which only comes in Y-AMT form, with radar-assisted cruise control that really works best with an auto box.

Sitting in the comfy, relaxed riding position, you’re surrounded by high-tech kit. The up/down quickshifter works a treat, an enormous colour dash is bright and clear and the switchgear makes it easy to access gizmos like the electric windscreen adjustment and cruise control (though the indicator switch is a bit ungainly and I never quite gel with it, even months later).

But it’s the fundamentals which define a bike’s success I reckon, and here, the Tracer is very well sorted indeed. The heart of the matter is the engine of course, and Yamaha’s 900-class triple has been amongst the best since it launched as an 847cc unit in the MT-09 more than a decade ago.

It’s not super-powerful, even in this 2026 890cc format where it churns out around 118bhp, but as I would find out over the next seven months, it’s an extremely satisfying all-round motor: an engine for all seasons if you like. Potter about town, and enjoy the smooth bottom end and instant drive.

Cruise along a motorway at legal-ish speeds and appreciate the great 55mpg fuel consumption and vibe-free running. Turn the wick right up on a fast, sweeping country A-road, and chuckle at the free-revving upper mid-range and angry intake roar.

The only place the CP3 engine really misses out is when you compare its slightly wheezy top end power with the big boiz in this sector – the full-on 1,000cc (or more) superbike-engined ‘tall-round’ road-focused adventure touring machines. Against the mighty BMW S1000 XR and M1000 XR, or the Ducati Multistrada V4 S, the Tracer feels a bit weak, no doubt about it.

But this is a corner that Yamaha has painted itself into by neglecting its big-power inline-four 999cc platform, and not switching it for anything else. The R1 and MT-10 both fell foul of tightened EU5+ emissions regs last year, and are no longer on sale, and there’s no replacement as yet (we might see something for 2027 apparently). And that means you’re an easy 50bhp down on the top contenders in that full-bore sector.

In fact, the 118bhp CP3 triple (also used in identical tune on the MT-09, XSR, Niken and R9) is the most powerful motor Yamaha sells in Europe these days, which is pretty wild when you think about it. You have to go all the way back to 1983 to find a time when Yamaha’s most powerful bike made less peak power.

The XS1100 sold that year made just 95bhp, while the 1984 FJ1100 made 125bhp, topping the Tracer’s 118 ponies. Since then we’ve had the V-Max 1200, FZR1000, Thunderace and R1 all as the top Yam bhp beasties, making up to 210bhp. A full-on 1,000cc (or 1,100cc) Tracer would be an incredible thing I reckon, and you have to think Yamaha is missing a trick by not keeping its hat in the ring here.

Having said that, the 900 motor is a more than decent match for the ‘second division’ litre adventure tourers: the Kawasaki Versys 1000 and Suzuki GSX-S1000 GX, both of which have a bit more grunt, but not in an earth-shattering way. It also just pips machines like the BMW F900 XR twin and Triumph’s 800 triples.

That excellent engine lives in an equally-capable chassis. The frame and running gear is high-spec stuff, there’s no nasty budget steel tube frame or basic-spec suspension, rather you have a premium cast aluminium main frame, with semi-active electronic forks and monoshock from KYB.

The usual excellent Yamaha brakes are present and correct too: a pair of silver-spot radial-mount four-piston calipers up front, acting on 298mm discs. If I’m being picky I’d ask why we don’t have 310 or 320mm discs to give that extra level of performance and style, but tbh I’m not sure the Tracer needs much more – you get all the power and feel you’re likely to need, certainly for road riding.

Ditto the suspension: the semi-active function really makes a difference, swapping between modes is easy on the move and there’s a handy remote preload adjuster for the rear shock.

Finally the stock T32 Bridgestone tyres are a great fitment, with loads of grip and feedback together with decent wear. After 3,000 pretty hard miles on the Tracer, there was only a hint of squaring-off on the rear tyre, and they work really well in poor conditions as well as on warm sunny Tarmac.

The result of all this is a properly sorted handling package that, again, is a treat for all sorts of riding. Round town, the Tracer carves through jams with ease (especially if you’ve taken off the panniers and are just using a top box), thanks to the narrow profile and good steering lock.

Potholes and speed humps are soaked up by the long-travel suspension, and you can select a softer damping mode in seconds to suit. The brakes and sticky Bridgestones easily handle sudden stops when pedestrians step out or a taxi pulls a random U-turn, and the Yamaha triple has the feel of a much smaller, lighter, more nimble supermoto-style machine when you’re fighting your way through the urban jungle.

Head out of the mean city streets, and the character of the Tracer remains super-usable. All that chassis tech gives fine handling when the roads get twistier even as the speeds creep up. Then, when you venture onto a motorway for a big high-speed run, the touring side of the bike comes into its own.

Crank up the electric screen, turn on the heated handlebar grips, dial in a navigation route on the big colour dash, and settle down into cruise-controlled ease. Yamaha might not have a heavyweight touring option like the old FJR1300 any more, but to be honest, the Tracer is well up to the job. I spent a few days riding to the Scottish Highlands via Birmingham, and it reminded me of doing the same trip 20 years ago on an FJR1300.

On the face of it, the 1300 should have been a much better choice – it came with shaft drive, big hard cases, electric screen, massive seat and barn-door fairing. There was even the option of an early automatic transmission system (which wasn’t great tbh). Back then, the Tracer 9 equivalent would probably be a Fazer 1000 or perhaps the 600, and while they would make a decent fist of a 500-mile trip from London to Glencoe, they were short of much in the way of luxury touring kit.

Now, though, the Tracer 9 GT is definitely on par with the FJR13: it has the electric screen and with the touring windshield fitted, it’s got similar wind/weather protection levels. There’s cruise control, plus hot grips for when the temperature drops, and while the 19 litre tank is a good bit smaller than the FJR’s 25 litre fuel capacity, the modern 890cc triple motor is a bit less thirsty than the big old 1300’s inline-four lump.

As a result, you can easily top 200 miles between fuel stops, putting it in the same ballpark as the FJR.

The 1300 would be a better option if you had a pillion – and shaft drive brings its own long-distance benefits of course. But as it is, the Tracer makes an excellent middle-long distance tourer, no question about it.

I had the Tracer on loan from April to December, so it was actually a while before I had a proper test of the wild-looking Matrix LED headlight setup featured on the new Tracer 9 GT and GT+ models. It’s a complex system that uses technology seen first on posh cars: there’s actually a computer-controlled camera pointing forwards in the centre of the fairing, which analyses the road ahead, and controls the various powerful LED segments of the headlight system, switching them on and off to suit.

It has a cornering function too, linked to the IMU, meaning that it will light the way through bends, as well as automatically dipping the beam for oncoming traffic, and dimming the lamps when you’re in a brighter urban environment.

It was a wild November night when I gave it a real try-out, riding through some unlit country roads in Sussex on a miserable wet run. In ‘automatic’ mode the system does a decent job of dipping high beam, although it’s not totally flawless, sometimes dipping the main beam mid-bend when you’re not expecting it.

I don’t reckon the cornering function makes a massive difference to what you see, but it definitely works, lighting the side-angled light units as you tip into a bend. Broadly though, it’s a very impressive system, and a genuinely useful application of technology. My super-dark ride was quicker, safer and less stressful with the added ‘smart’ luminance, no doubt at all.

So – eight months of hard-core testing miles done, what was the final verdict of the Tracer 9 GT? It’s very much an ‘A-minus’ pass I say. The combination of a sweet motor and capable chassis package, together with the high levels of tech and useful equipment means the Tracer never let me down, and always did a fabulous job, whatever the ride.

You can have proper fun on it for the proverbial ‘Sunday blast’ when you like, and it will go the distance when you need to cross a country or two before tea. It’s also a worthy companion for day-to-day chores: taxiing kids about London, picking up some shopping, getting to an airport for an early flight: they’re all a breeze on the mighty Yam. I work from home, but it would certainly be a great tool for long or mid-distance commuting, being equally at home on the motorway and in town.

Criticisms? It’s arguably not a very handsome bike – but then you can’t see the funny insectoid headlights and top fairing when you’re in the seat. I’ve already whined about ‘only’ having 118bhp, which is probably only a real handicap when you’re racing Porsches on unrestricted Autobahn sections, but is worth considering if you’re used to 150bhp (not uncommon in 2026). The switchgear is a bit fussy and I hated the indicator switches till the very end.

Finally, while the decent-sized panniers are a good design with internal lighting and keyless pushbutton locking, they’re a bit of an odd shape, and I sometimes struggled to fit items like adventure helmets, large camera bags and laptops in there without lots of faffing (you need to put helmets in upside-down, which is a useful tip).

And that’s it! If you’re in the market for just such a useful all-round hooning machine, get yourself along to your local Yamaha dealer for a demo ride. And book in the Tracer 700 twin as well while you’re there: it provides much of the same fun in a smaller, cheaper, lower-tech form. www.yamaha-motor.eu.

The best Tracer 900 bolt-on parts

Over the year, I tried a selection of aftermarket bits for the Tracer, including luggage, crash protection and touring gear. Yamaha UK provided a couple of handy touring add-ons: a taller/wider touring screen and a comfort rider seat.

Both were super well-made and fitted perfectly as you’d expect, cancelling out the high price a little (£203 for the seat and £180 for the screen). The screen is a little taller but much wider than stock, and makes a big difference on long trips.

The comfort seat is thicker and better-padded with more support than the standard perch, but I still got a bit of a numb backside on really long riding days.

I also fitted some crash protection from UK firm GB Racing (www.gbracing.eu) – a set of tough nylon crash mushrooms that attach to the engine mounting bolts in the usual way. They’re easy to fit – though you need a torque wrench, some large Allen bits, and ideally a jack to support the engine as you loosen the mount bolts.

Well made in the UK and well-priced at £95 too. GB Racing also supplied some engine case covers, which were equally simple to fit, added some WSBK style and even more protection, for around £300 for the full set both sides of the motor.

Finally, I tried the official Yamaha ‘urban’ top box. It’s a little small at 34 litres, and doesn’t use the central locking feature so you need a key (what a drag). It’s a decent price at just under £195, but needs the stock Yamaha rack fitted as well which costs extra if you don’t have one on there.

It’s easy to fit and remove, and will take a full face helmet, just about, but you’ll struggle to get a big rucksack in there without a squeeze (it’s also not ideally shaped for a large laptop case).

2026 Yamaha Tracer 9 GT SPECS

Price: £13,958

Engine: DOHC 12v, inline triple, l/c, 890cc

Bore x stroke: 78×62.1mm

Compression ratio: 11.5:1

Carburation: ride-by-wire fuel injection

Electronic rider aids: six-axis IMU assisted traction control, slide control, wheelie control and ABS, power modes, up/down quickshifter

Max power (claimed) 118bhp@10,000rpm

Max torque (claimed) 93Nm@7,000rpm

Transmission: six-speed manual gearbox, wet clutch, optional Y-AMT automatic transmission. Chain final drive

Frame: cast aluminium diamond type

Front suspension: KYB 41mm USD front fork, KYB Actimatic Damper System (KADS) semi-active damping control

Rear suspension: dual-sided aluminium swingarm, KYB monoshock with KADS semi-active damping control and remote preload adjustment

Brakes: dual 298mm discs, radial-mount four-piston Sumitomo calipers (front), 267mm disc, single-piston caliper (rear), cornering ABS

Wheels/tyres: spin-forged aluminium/Bridgestone T32, 120/70 17 front, 180/55 17 rear

Rake/trail: 24.25°/106mm

Wheelbase: 1,500mm

Seat height: 845-860mm

Kerb weight: 227kg

Fuel capacity: 19 litres

Equipment: Standard panniers, central-locking luggage with LED interior lighting, electric windscreen adjustment, heated grips, keyless ignition, keyless fuel cap, smart matrix LED headlight, 7” colour LCD dash with navigation integration, cruise control, adjustable seat.

2025 Yamaha Tracer 9 GT Tech Highlights

Three-cylinder 890cc CP3 engine, delivering 119ps with 93Nm of torque at 7,000rpm

Yamaha Ride Control features six-axis IMU and some of the most advanced electronics seen on a middleweight motorcycle, including lean sensitive traction control, slide control, wheelie control and brake control systems

CF aluminium die-cast Deltabox frame

Specially-tuned Bridgestone BATTLAX sport touring T32 tyres combine with spin forged wheels to save weight and create light and precise handling, while offering a reassuring and comfortable ride.

Comes pre-equipped to fit the optional three-box luggage system, which is compatible with the GT and GT+ models’ keyless locking system.

Premium 7″ TFT dashboard with smartphone connectivity (as standard for TRACER 9 GT and TRACER 9 GT+), integrated Garmin navigation (as standard for TRACER 9 GT and TRACER 9 GT+), three display themes, and additional layouts for music, phone calls and navigation.

Optional Y-AMT transmission offers choice between fully automatic or finger controlled manual shifting with auto clutch, delivering more fun, comfort and confidence to the rider.

Full LED lighting on all models, with camera controlled adaptive Matrix LED headlight on TRACER 9 GT and TRACER 9 GT+ models,

New switchgear (illuminated on TRACER 9 GT and TRACER 9 GT+) designed for intuitive control of new features.

Electronically controlled KYB KADS (KYB Actimatic Damper System) suspension automatically adjusts damping based on settings detected by IMU.

19 litre fuel tank

Redesigned rider seat with more padding and two height settings.

New ergonomics with more space for rider and pillion.

Adjustable windscreen (electrically operated on TRACER 9 GT and TRACER 9 GT+)

New self-cancelling turn signals with two-stage flasher and ESS (Emergency Stop Signal) function to automatically activate hazard warning lights when hard braking is detected

Heated handlebar grips. 10 levels of heat with three programmable user settings.

Tyre Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) standard on TRACER 9 GT+

Smart key feature unlocks all functions including ignition, steering lock, fuel cap and luggage (TRACER 9 GT and TRACER 9 GT+)

Vehicle Hold Control. TRACER 9 GT and TRACER 9 GT+ is the first Yamaha model to feature a hold control function, which holds brake input to maintain a stopped state on inclines and declines. Customisable riding modes. Three factory settings with two user definable custom maps.

Third generation quickshifter for clutchless upshifts and auto-blip assisted downchanges.

Adaptive cruise control (TRACER 9 GT+ only) or cruise control and speed limiter.

Integrated storage box with built-in USB port in fairing

Larger and more padded seat for improved comfort for rider and pillion.

Image Credit – John Goodman, Jason Critchell