MCN-have they really ridden a tenere?
 

Just bought the latest MCN - In the 'what bike' mag that comes with it they are featuring an adventure bike special. Has anybody read this mag?
The bikes are split into:
Sporty adventure bikes
Middleweights
Allrounders
All terrain models
Budget models
Off road middleweights (the ten is in this lot)

To me the write up gives a very lack luster view of the Tenere. The thing is I think they have missed the point - the Ten covers all of these, ok sporty might be stretching it a bit but thats the beauty of the bike its the true adventure bike - it can do the lot and the comment about Global treks not being on the cards has been rubbished so many times that they seem to have there eyes and ears closed.
Talk about a bike being under rated!!!!

Shame on you. :bike:


Of course they haven't rode one, it's the wrong way up for them, they need to have thier backsides higher than their heads so thier brains don't run out of oxygen.

OK ok, I haven't had a chance to get out on the bike much so I needed a quick bike fix and I was bored. :sad10:

check out the quality of the research they put in to their tests
this is a adventure bike test ...
at the end of a long road ride they um and r
and say almost tutting .... who really rides these off road anyway ..... well patently not them thats for sure

then comes the gem ...the multistrada would be no good off road at all
but its fast and handles well its got fab electronics ......they all nod
so ist place to the multistrada .... more nodding

next the big gs because it "grows on you like a weed" got more charicter than the other two ...

the ktm comes a distant third .....its obviously got no credentials at all ..then one wag says if your doing any off road the ktm may be the better choice ...gasp ...no **** sherlock ...blah blah

they had em for 600 miles ferchisakes ..why dont they goand find out
the super 10 never gets a mention other than bland ...so it you just bought one you better shoot yerself

i stumled on this video last night ..what a pathetic test by people who know nothing about what we are about ...
i was quite shocked how inept they were at assesing a bike for the purpose it was built
have look and i hope its just not only me ...talk about shallow
http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/Ne...re-group-test/

visor downs review of the ten' is just as bad

:Christo_pull_hair: Thats the first time I've seen that vid - you could test 1970's muscle bikes on those roads.

Dont you wish you could take those idiots on a real test ride.

The best mag i have read for testing bikes was Dirt Bike, the american one. They would build the bike from the crate, put their favorite tyres on it , set it up, and then test it. I have never seen that done here. I get sick of journos slagging a bike off because the tyres are bad, i want to know what its like with good ones. As for the Ten, the press dont have a clue about it at all.

I never buy these mags for that reason. They dinna have a clue. Send them to me, I kin show them one or two test routes. lol.

Just been to a uni open day with my Daughter.

Apparently certain tastes are like rolling your tounge a genetic thing.

So maybee their mums did not like them getting dirtly, or Plastic bullet riders cannot see beyond race rep and pace....Or they genetically have no taste...:icon_cool:

As always I say each to their own.:respeck::respeck:

If they can't get the knee down, the bike is no good to them. If you manage to get the knee down on a Tenere fitted with Karoos, it's combined with a sickening scraping noise.

Had a few KTM's. Got a GS1200 Adv. Tried the super ten for a week end. Never rode the Duc though.

How can people who have no/little of off road adventures comment on off road adventure bike?

Beggers belief. I still think with MCN that they have to curry favour to manufactures in order to keep the free bikes coming for next year.

Adventure is a very subjective word so maybe some peoples idea of an adventure is to leave the third lane of a motorway and ride on B roads, and in that case these are adventure bikes but so is every other motorbike on the market.
MCN editors do seem to love Ducatis I must admit, oh then again I cant remember a bad word spoken about Triumphs.

..........but then, years ago when I was researching the Suzuki DR750, they did the full test with the choke on! Anyone who has had one of these beasts knows that the choke plunger is well hidden.:rtfm:
Anyhow they did the test and commented that it wouldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding, was lumpy and bad on fuel and difficult to start when hot!
The tester admitted that he had done the test with the choke on but didn't re-do it..............he published his initial results.....what a crock of pooo!:Christo_pull_hair:

Things have not moved on really, perhaps we need to get one of them on a TKC kitted Ten and then take them touring and off roading. I fancy they wouldn't take up on that sort of invite as they would have seroius egg on their faces.

Anyhow we know better!:058:

Maybe GULG could invite them to the lakeland 2012 on road / off road real adventure bike meet ?:stirpot:

heres a nother mcn poll 12000 readers voted

the tenere and africa twin fare pretty well in this but the winner is somwhat of a shock ...i should know

it seems there is a big confusion on what defines a true dual sport bike

just my opinion



http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/Ne...venture-bikes/




http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/2691/strf.jpg
By minkyhead at 2009-08-05

Stev - Jenny should do the report on the Ten and others compare and then submit it to mcn ... as I never buy the bog papper.... all bloody biest anyway .I love mine and bet so a lot of others who have them .. every bike has its own faults but our Tens are reliable than most out there anyway .

At the launch of the Tenere (660) Yamaha did.... I recall there was a bunch of them (jurno's) that Yamaha took to Morocco for a group test ride.

I read the 'Bike', or maybe 'Ride' review and they slated it, 'not enough power fo a dirt bike' amoung other misleading quotes. TBM were on the same ride, same bikes and gave a totally different review.

All of these mags are now starting to move over to 'Adventure' bikes and are trying to test them, it's just that the testers haven't moved over yet..... and I don't think they ever will. It's a whole attitude shift that gets you enjoying these bikes, less of going out on the bike, to using the bike to get out.

Sportsbikes sales are heading south, and if these mags don't get a grip, they will loose readers too.

Read it last night... TBH I think you're making something out of nothing, they were fairly complimentary apart from the obligatory comment about how noone could possibly ride anywhere on a 46bhp bike. It was a fifty word 'used bike guide', not a test.

It's MCN. What did you expect to happen?

+1

Aye, its probably the growing sales figures that are forcing them to test the 'adventure' side of things.

IMO the very fact that they have to split the bikes into the the different catagories tells me they don't know what an adventure bike is :

All terrain - is all you need surely!

Meh, I can't get too excited about semantic arguments over what 'adventure bike' means. An adventure is a thing you do, a bike is a thing you ride.

http://www.sjaaklucassen.nl/

http://www.thepostman.org.uk/

We may as well start arguing about genres of music.

MCN's definition of 'adventure bike' seems to revolve around "My back's too bad/my beer gut's too big to fit on a sports bike". :D

I tend to agree, depending on your viewpoint;

Adventure Bike - Is it an Adjective and Noun, or a Verb and a Noun ?

Me, I would stick with Verb. It's an action you do. In which case, all bikes that do any kind of travel, would be adventure bikes.

More often than not, because most humans have a need to catagorise things, Adventure Bike would be an adjective and noun.

or am I wrong all together and 'Adventure Bike' is an adverb and verb ?

Goes back to the whole attitude thing. To most 'adventure bike' riders, the bike is a tool, and this is shown by the general lack of cleaning, often crash damaged in some form (scratches, chipped that sort of thing). Where at the other end of the spectrum you have the Plastic Power Rangers on the Sunny Sunday Bikes, all shiney and clean. So what you have is people who look at them as some kind of fashion thing, and others who look at them as a means to an end.

The we all start debating what makes the best 'adventure bike', or rather what is the best tool for the job. And the truth is, there is no best, just best for you. This is what perplexes me about people asking questions like "which bike is best?" and the whole debate around what is actually best. You say Potato, I say Potait-toe (as it were)

So what we have with MCN is a bunch of 'followers of fashion' trying to debate the best tool.... imagine Cindy Crawford trying to review a socket set, and that would be MCN on what we like to call 'adventure bikes'.

Personally, I almost never buy mainstream bike mags, unless I'm stuck in an airport and there is nothing else. I find thier whole outlook a little alien to what I understand as being a motorcyclist.

I also know plenty of people with utterly abused sports bikes and others with pristine, low mileage 'adventure' bikes. And of course it's entirely possible to own more than one bike, abuse one and cosset the other. So I'm generally suspicious when the discussion on 'adventure' riding forums turns to how much more awesome we all are than these 'power rangers'. It's still all claiming to be able to judge someone's character based on what bike they happen to be riding that day.

Steady on now UT, we'll have no sense in here. Let the niche-mongering and stereotype slating carry on..

I could not give two hoots if a mainstream journal isn't really complementary about the bike I own. I made the choice, I paid my wodge of 20s out for the bike. In my own view I think the Ten is about as close to being a true do it all motorbike as is possible. Of course with that comes problems in all sections, but you take that as a given. I've had adventures on sports bikes, naked bikes, trail bikes, learner bikes, custom bikes... the common theme is the bike and using it. The adventure doesn't have to be a mega mile slog, though you might have more tales to tell, it can be just getting out there and experiencing. That is the personal aspect that you will never get, and is unfair to expect from, a journalists short test.

If I could ask for one change to the Ten it would be 5 bhp more from the factory. Second on the list would be a six speed gear box. Everything else they can leave be.
Maybe a kickstart too.

No, that's not correct.

It's still all claiming to be able to judge someone's character based on how they happen to be riding that day

The term I use, describes someone who fits a criteria, not a bike type. However, gernerally speaking, most riders of lovely shiney sportsbikes, in matching leathers (especially ones with 'humps') ride without due consideration and so would be worthy of such a title, (but not everyone) and these are the riders MCN would class as thier 'core', in my opinion. The same rider may well get on his bogging CB500 on a Monday morning and ride to work with all the courtesy you could imagine,


25 years ago we knew that all terrorists were Irish, but not all Irishmen(women) were terrorists, we know all politicians are liers but not all liers are politicians, etc etc There are always exceptions to widely held perceptions, it's just the way of things

wow it's all getting a bit deep. Its only a report in MCN and who ever thinks what cr@p they write in there or any of the bike mag is correct.

If you injoy the bike you ride that's all that counts. who gives a to%% what anyone else thinks ...Ps I hate the word "ADVENTURE " ffs

got to go.. coach trip is on the TV,

your could take a Pan on that track no problem

sorry ..It's watching Jeremy Kyle it's rubbing off on me :surrender:

I'm a deep kinda guy...... Datacomms is padded with periods waiting for others to do thier bits, so I get lots of time to ponder lifes little ups and downs. A trip through my own thoughts is often an adventure itself!

Well for what its worth I'm going to add my two-penneth;

I personnally dont buy any of the bike publications as a lot of what is written is done so by people from a different planet.

I refuse to fund this (imho) muppetry.

Problem solved, if you dont like it dont buy it.

dont know if any of you guys noticed but MCN have the tenere down as being able to do 120mph????

You mean yours doesn't?
:102:

There's a special mode you need to put the bike in to get it to do 120. You start by holding both buttons on the dash down as you turn the ignition on...

I can vouch for this statement!!

Horses for courses.

My old TDR 250 could manage this journey, but they didn't mention it - how upsetting..

All nice bikes (if you like electronics) and have their place, but the 660 Ten' would be my choice for anything off piste - strange how an adventure ride stays on the Tarmac.

1.Somebody decides to invent a new catagory for a bike.( possibly after the Ewen/charley event)

2. I am a bike company - Fiddich bikes Ltd

3. I want to enter the market in a serious fashion.

4. I look at what is needed for this catagory.

5. I decide that serious off road ability is required.

6. I decide that easy of maintenance is a must.

7. I decide that mid range capacity is a good decision.

8. I decide comfortable long range ability is a must.

9. I decide that it must be robust without fancy breakable expensive plastics.

10. I decide to build a TENERE - Simples!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well you guys might want to keep an eye out for the next issue of "Adventure Bike Mag" as I hear there might be a 'my bike' review of the tenere in it ............ by your's truly. I hope you'll be kinder to my review!

110mph absolute max has been since day one , although it wont do that now as i was advised by a officer friend i needed to get it restricted (33bhp license) or his mates would soon have me ;)