Cheers buddy, ill take a look at that! :)

Happy birthday Uber's Tenere! Looking good.
I hope mine passes its MOT as easy as yours......but somehow I think not :-(

Been changing tyres today, as I'm off trail riding tomorrow, and racing in two weeks time, and was looking a bit short of tread depth.

http://wildchild.org.uk/blog/images/...8_1000x665.jpg
Rear tyres. From left to right:

- Army Special at 1124 miles.
- Mitas E-09 at 5388 miles.
- Mitas E-09 at 3464 miles.
- Mitas C-02 at 3692 miles, just taken off the bike.
- Mitas C-02 at 0 miles, now fitted to the bike.



http://wildchild.org.uk/blog/images/...9_1000x665.jpg
Front Tyres, left to right:

- Mitas E-09 at 3464 miles
- Army Special at 4816 miles, reversed at about 3000 miles to even up the wear, just taken off the bike.
- Army Special at 0 miles, now fitted to the bike.


Thoughts:

I think pretty much everyone on here knows I rate the E-09s for general road and trail use. I've had four sets of them over the last couple of years, and only went to more aggressive rubber when I started rallying.

However I've been pleasantly surprised with the Army Special front. It's a bit 'flexy' on the road when it's new, due to the massive tread depth, and it's only rated for 80mph, but if you can live with that it's a much better front tyre than the E-09 for the dirt. Although it wears a bit quicker, there's so much rubber to start with that the life is comparable - there's got to be another thousand miles in the one I've just taken off if I was only riding on the road (and of course now it is worn down to that point, it handles as well as the E-09).

I'll put the Army rear back on at some point to finish wearing it out, but I doubt I'll buy another. It was possibly marginally better than the C-02 rear for rallying, but the C-02 is much better on the road, lasts much better, and is about �45 rather than �60, which makes a difference when I'll probably go through half a dozen this year.

If I wasn't racing, I think I'd probably go back to the E-09 rear, but keep the Army front. For now, I'm pretty happy with the Army/C-02 combo. About �90 for a pair of tyres which will do serious dirt riding and would last over 4000 miles (if I wasn't trail-riding and racing over the next few weeks they'd still be on there) isn't bad is it?

Interesting stuff fella. I have to say I am finding the e-09s a far better tyre than I had expected, and I wouldn't believe they came from the same factory as the horrid terrible e-07s.
They are noisy though, it's like being in a land rover with all the tyre rumble :)

I was wondering, how does the E-09 compare to an MT21 or Karoo in the mud/sand?

I couldn't say, as I've not used either of those.

Had the bike off the road for what feels like an age (due to commuting every day in the truck), but now back together with a few changes:

http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...28839270_n.jpg

Gold rims look good fella.

Very funny. :D

Anyway, to paraphrase someone on here - that's not gold, it's East Midlands Trail-riding Brown ;). I've given it a quick wash since anyway, so they're back to black-ish now.

Back in the truck for work today because I failed at tyre changing last night - front was flat by the morning. Pick up a new tube on the way home and try again.

You must have a firm pair of cahunas to do the Roof of Africa on a Ten! Most blokes run ultra light 250s & 450s. It's steep grass, rock and mud.

I had a long few weeks of no riding and hard graft on the Tenere in June, but it's now back on the road with a few significant upgrades.

http://getfile9.posterous.com/getfil...scaled1000.jpg

The main changes are to help the motor breathe a bit more easily - DNA Stage 2 filter and snorkel eliminator on the inlet side, and an MTC stainless single silencer system on the outlet to replace the Yamaha/Akrapovic twin-can system. A Power Commander V that I picked up second hand last year for a price too good to refuse (knowing I would eventually be making these mods) gives it a bit more fuel to match up with the extra air. Finally, I turned up a plug to block up the feed to the Air Induction System, which bleeds airbox air into the exhaust headers to burn up any unburnt fuel.

http://getfile9.posterous.com/getfil...scaled1000.jpg

The last one isn't terribly important in terms of performance, but stops the incessant popping on a closed throttle, and would need doing either temporarily or permanently to allow a proper dyno run without screwing up the air-fuel ratio reading. Ideally I'd take the whole system out, as it's a whole mess of complicated plumbing, but that can wait for another time.

It's not been on a Dyno yet - the PCV map came from GULGo who has been running the same filter/exhaust setup on his Tenere for the last year or so. I will get it tested and the map tweaked for my bike at some point, but my initial impressions are good. It feels a bit livelier through the midrange, but it's hard to be sure how much of that is perception from it being a bit louder with the new can. What is unambiguous is that it has now gained a good 1000rpm at the bottom of the rev range - where the stock setup would bog down below 3000rpm, it will now pull almost from tickover.

I took advantage of taking the exhaust off to remove my rear shock (the collector needs to be removed to get the top shock bolt out) and send it back to Nitron for a service and a warranty fix of the remote preload adjuster, which was sticking. Then since I had the back end of the bike apart anyway, and an enforced wait for my shock to return from Oxfordshire, I then got a bit carried away and attacked another couple of issues.

The first is that the (enormous) stock tail-light/number plate assembly is a) enormous. and b) looks wrong once you take one of the silencers away. The second is that the stock undertray has to accomodate the stock exhaust (which I've never even had). The stock exhaust is also enormous, and results in a distinct lack of underseat storage. Both issues addressed, functionally, if not prettily, with a bit of metal bashing.

http://getfile4.posterous.com/getfil...scaled1000.jpg

All just about done in time for the Ryedale Rally, which happened last weekend, but that's another story.

Brilliant Looking Ten!
 

Looks Great mate! I'm doing a few mods myself! Can I ask where you got the side number plates from and are they a direct fit? Great thread BTW!

I've been saying that for well over a year now - I'm sure no-one ever believed me!

I split the PC-V/DNA upgrade and Can, so I noticed an immediate difference even with the stock OE can, but it was the MTC that delivered the low range torque.

In a <not very scientific> drag test, me on the PC-V/DNA/MTC bike, and Keith on a totally stock bike, the upgraded bike can gain distance very easily on the stock bike. With the stock bike/rider being lighter than me !

Polisport ones for an XR250/400. Not my idea, stolen from JMo ;).

Lower mounting hole is in the perfect place for one of the pillion peg bolts. Mine is just zip-tied to the frame underneath the grab handle, and I leave the upper front bolt hole empty. I think JMo put a captive nut in the frame for the upper front bolt.

You will need to either trim the number board to make it fit around the grab handle plastic, or trim the plastic to suit the numberboard. I did the latter.

How is the paint holding up on the side panels? And if it's holding up well - what did you use? :)

Halfords enamel spray paint. Looks like this...

http://cdn.priceprobe.net/i/4888408....0a5c9.00800473

Works fairly well. There's a few flaky bits, but that has more to do with me being lazy about preparation and spraying it in an unheated garage while it was snowing outside. Also a few bits have scraped off where I've crashed, but that applies to any paint finish.

For me, it's not worth doing it any better - my bike has a reasonably tough life in terms of off-tarmac abuse, so even with the best paint job in the world it would probably need touching up every year. As it is, it looks OK from a distance, and only costs me �20 or so to redo over the winter.

If you want your bike to look nice, I wouldn't do it my way :D

Ryedale rally...

http://www.enduro-neec.org.uk/galler...1341957389.jpg

http://www.enduro-neec.org.uk/galler...1341955931.jpg

I hope there is more to come......

It looks like there were only two people taking part!:Gangsta2_9BI664:

That's about it for pictures (of me). Will be some words to go with it at some point.

More pictures from the organisers here:

http://www.enduro-neec.org.uk/galler...=0&action=prev

How did you find the bikes power delivery, now you have the upgrades ? Did it make it easier, or harder to ride the bike in those conditions ?

Good lad! Look forward to reading the Ryedale report when you get the time.

Ryedale results now out. 20th in the Rally Class (over 575cc), which when you separate the single- and multi-cylinder results ought to place me 18th in the singles and finally give me my first Big Bike Rally Challenge point.

(points awarded down to 18th, so far I've - frustratingly - finished 19th in last year's Hafren, and 21st in the RallySprint)

Brechfa Rally this weekend, which is non-championship, but I'm looking forward to it - supposed to be easier going/faster fire-road type stuff, which should suit the Tenere better than the Ryedale mudfest.

Shore looks the biz mate.Will a ktm rear shock fit off sa 625 lc4 or duke 2.?:sbike:

Not a clue. You'd have to try it and see.

Brechfa is lovely fella. Done some MTB pleasure riding and racing there. If you have time to pop by and fancy a brew and or a bed and a feed let me know.

Lovely weekend at the Brechfa...

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o...ob69/045-1.jpg

Didn't answer this after the Ryedale, because it was such atypical conditions I wasn't sure, but having since done the Brechfa under more normal conditions, it's a great improvement in at least a couple of situations...

- Getting out of corners. Can often pull the next gear up without bogging on the apex, so get a lot better drive out of the corner without running out of revs and having to shift while still leant over/drifting.

- A lot of the tight single-track stuff I was able to keep it in third and just 'tickle' it along at low revs, and still be able to give it a quick burst along the straight bits. A bit more controllable than being in second and in the middle of the rev range on slippery stuff, and I think it also made me attack some of the corners/obstacles a bit faster to avoid changing down - if I'd been in second I'd subconsciously let the revs drop right down and be going much slower.

nice rally photo there ubs, looks at if your pushing the ten on a far bit there:emoticons:

Well of course. I'd just seen someone I knew stood by the side of the road with a camera :D

Still struggling to get Ryedale and Brechfa writeups done, but in the meantime, have some video from the Saturday...

https://vimeo.com/46708987

Great clip.....

:)


.

Great clip fella, I'd be over the edge in short order I think!

ell. I think riding like that you'll wear your tyres out quickly!:YouRock:

Uber, can I suggest that you mark any similar vids with ' Not for those of a nervous disposition' or something along those lines. I'm now officially scared.

A lot of blind or tightening corners on the Brechfa course... and by about half way through Saturday most of them had skid marks disappearing off into the trees where people had overshot :D. There were some you really wouldn't want to overshoot though.

Looks good Uber - makes me want to go for a ride - what tyres are you using here?

Army Specials on both ends at the moment, but only because Gwyn at Trellesport didn't have any C-02 rears a month or so back. I like the Army front (although I could have done with a full on enduro front for the Ryedale gloop) but the C-02 rear is much better.

Blimey - I rode my first enduros back in 1992 on TrellebOrg Army Specials on my KMX200. They were ok upright but I recall a closer block pattern on the edges that made cornering 'entertaining' at best..

cool vid....you look very fast!

I'm not, trust me :D

Bear in mind that this was an untimed section, so although I go past a couple of people who started a minute ahead of me, there's no reason to assume they're riding anywhere near 100% - I'm not either, but I'm probably at 80% because I don't find it much harder to do that than ride at 50%, and it gives me a bit of slack in the schedule in case I get stuck in one of the technical bits, or just to have a few minutes rest at the start of the special. Other people prefer to cruise.