How are you getting on with your GS? Any issues to report?

I've had a fair few adventure bikes over the years, mainly Honda. Dominator, early Transalp then there was a XT600E which was a hoot. Then 4 Africa Twins and 4 Varaderos then a 800 Transalp which I delt in for a Tenere because my riding now is 75% off road and the Alp was too road orientated for harder tracks but a nice engine and sh1t fuel range. To me the Tenere is perfect. It's fast enough, it has ground clearance, it will do 240 miles without a refill, it has a good choice of tyres and it floats my boat. Touring two up loaded and graded tracks thrown in ? A Varadero is awesome. A BMW is over priced, over rated and over here unfortunately and the riders sure don't wave in general. I like my Tenere.

The GS so far
 

Not really. Bought a '10 model so all the issues were sorted by then. I get excellent service from the shop I bought it from. I get around 370k's on a tank, with a max of 430km once. Hmm...what else is there?

Suspension is not great even with HyperPro progressive coils. Find it a bit of shocker that I can adjust Low and High Speed Compression, sag AND rebound on my mountain bike's fork, but I cant on my $$$ damn BM.

Right up there tied with the suspension as most annoying std "issue" was the twitchy throttle. I could ride the Yammy smooth from the off, same with my buddy's TransAlp. But the BM stalled on me a couple of times. Takes some getting used to. Then riding off road and in/on/over technical stuff was also tricky with the throttle being so on/off. Have since fitted an Booster Plug and its MUCH better now. A bit annoying when paying this much for a bike.

No dings in the rims yet even though I ride off road as much as possible. Bike's been easy to handle off road, but its no plastic.

Riding pillion is not fun with the tank back there. Not an issue when seated, but when standing its tiring.

Have fitted wider pegs, two finger levers, top box, TKC's (came with Anakee II) and a Zumo 660. All good.

If I had to buy again? It would be tough all over. ABS is great in the wet and when commuting. Can't say that it has up to now saved my life, but I've had to stop on a nickel a couple of times and who knows how std brakes would've behaved. Remembering to switch them off every time I hit gravel is a pain though. Having have to stop only makes matters worse. Recently on a steep, loose technical descent it actually helped to switch it back on. Kept the rear from locking up and sliding out underneath me. Tricks of the trade, hey...

But I genuinely like the look and feel of the Tenere. It's quite a bit of dough cheaper, but when you add the heated grips + ABS (std itmes locally) and the bigger engine then the difference is not THAT big in South Africa. The biggest difference then is servicing and parts cost.

The heart says Tenere...

You'd probably find similar annoyances with the Ten, so just be happy with the one you've got :)
I've got the ABS Ten and I don't think you'd want to do much proper offroading with it since you can't turn off the ABS and the suspension travel is 5cm less than the non-ABS both front and rear.

Btw - Still waiting for someone to figure out how to disable the ABS if anyone reads this! Which fuse??

That's no good

Well, here's my tuppence worth . . .

Only had the XTZ660 for a few months and a couple of thousand miles, but wasn't sorry to see it go. Something between it & me didn't connect. I know several contributors on here will say that it was me & the ground that didn't connect :hismiley: Jim, but I tried the lowered route and still couldn't find a connection with the machine.

So I sold the XTZ and took a good look around . . . . . . . and found a second hand 800GS that I could afford :026:. Wasn't looking for the 800 specifically, just happened upon one in a local dealers that was in a condition and at a price that I was happy with. I tried the new triumph XC800, but nothing about it said it was for me.

Only been putting the miles on it for a short while, but for my way of riding, where I ride, the 800GS ticks all the boxes.

Sad that the XTZ didn't, cos I lusted after that bike from the day it was released and glad I tried it.

Happy that I've found something that could well replace my trusty Africa Twin.

As said at the beginning of this rambling, only my thoughts.

Steve T

:cool:

Thumpers aren't for everyone. Most people, and there have been some exceptions, who like thumpers love the Tenere.

Most of the guys who didn't or don't like the Tenere appear to go back to twins, V's or in-line 4's

For me things were the other way around, I had the XJR1300. Smooth as you like, more go than you could shake a stick at,,,,, but it just didn't have 'anything', I mean such as a soul ! There was nothing there to get excited about but the turn of speed, which just doesn't do it for me.

What I like about thumpers is they have a 'personality', the TTR and the Tenere, for all they are close cousins, they have completely different attitudes, as it were. I've ridden a few thumpers and they all feel different to me. If I get on a inline-4 they all feel the same, Twins of today (that I've ridden) feel the same. The only thing I do have a soft spot for are V's

As SteveT says, the Tenere's not for him, just as multi's aren't for me. Doesn't make either of us right, nor wrong, just different. But we both ride bikes, and that's the important thing.

I agree with that sentiment. Thumpers do have character tho. When I think back to the 650 Dominator, it was a brilliant machine. The XT600E was a real hoot and had a real off road lust. I had a sucession of 4s like CBR 1000s which were like silk and a couple of VFRs which were techno icons but the Tenere just does it for me now. I don't have the urge to go ballistic now because I've been there and now I think, 'big deal' and ? I can now go 100 miles to get to a good off road experience like scraping the mainstand and swiming in a shark infested Highland river and getting stuck in a wet peat bog and getting loadsa photos ( I have around 800 photos on my facebook ) then riding 100 miles home with a smile on my face and probably didn't need fuel at west highland prices and poured a dram for a nightcap still with a smile and veiwed the photos and all with a feeling of ' Jeezus, that was a good day. I really like this bike.

my riding now is 75% off road

Jimmy, I have Maps that a bought from a mob who did off road tours in the highlands an Skye, if ye want a copy o them a could send ye them.a have around 50 o them all different routes,, they tell you the terrain,, the time to do it, any obstacles.. easy middle or hard goins... i`l need tae come up an ye kin show me around....... as am intae off roadin as well.

I havent had the privelage wi a Ten.. buty a sure like ma off roading onma xt. its ok fur trails an a bit rougher depending on yer tyres. but ma last xt 600E was the berries fur off road...... jimmy, ye say ye ve had varas an TA`s,,,AT`s Dommies,,,,, me too... 4 varas... 10 dommies. 10 KLR`s. 4 TA`s. nae AT`s. an ave also had 5 XJR13`s. 5 xl500`s. 4 250 s`s.3 185`s 3 Tlrs. an many more. oh aye nearly forgot., 12 xt 660`s 5 o them new. R`s anX`s