Yamaha markets the Tracer as a sports tourer, and it’s definitely happiest on the road. There’s a dualsporter lurking around under that aerody-namic panelwork, though. With a motor as good as this one, we doubt there’s much this bike couldn’t do.
The Tracer’s happy enough on dirt roads. With more aggressive tyres we reckon
it’d be a capable dualsporter.
Yamaha has two models of the Tracer in 2018. The Tracer GT has panniers, a TFT dash, adjustable forks and a few other tasty features and has had a lot of media attention. The bike we have here is the ‘base’ model. It’s mechanically the same spec as the GT, but doesn’t have some of the up-spec options. There’s compression adjustment only on the front, an LCD dash and no panniers. It still has the three riding modes, slipper clutch, an 18-litre tank and a centrestand, all as standard fittings, so at $15,799 plus on-roads it’s a tidy package at a sharp price.