Problems with my XT660Z
 

Thought I'd tell you my little story of problems with the Tenere over the last 6 weeks.

It was due it's 6000mile service on 7th September, bang on 12 months old.
Having pre paid for a service schedule at the local dealer I obviously took it back there to have it done.

For a few months prior to the service, the rear suspension started squeaking badly. So I asked them to look at it for me, they found the bearings and swingarm spindle badly corroded and arranged to have them sorted under warranty, no problems.

I took it back a week later to have the work done, no squeaking now.

However, when I got it back it started handling very strangely. Didnt want to turn into low speed corners, bike felt very stiff steering wise while riding. Didn't seem too bad stationary, and the original Metzeler Tourances were very worn in the centre, so thought it might be the tyres.
I then fitted a brand new set of TKC80's on it, hoping it would be fine, but it was the same, and getting worse. So I asked the local dealer if they had touched the steering on the service or during the warranty work, they said no.
So dropped it into them to look at, and lo and behold the steering bearings have also corroded.
But this time they seemed less interested in doing under warranty, as they said it could be wear and tear.
I havent had a final answer off them yet about the warranty, but surely its not wear and tear.
Oh and my cush drive rubbers are falling apart again, had them replaced under warranty 2500 miles ago.

Shame really, I have loved riding this bike for the last year, but why didnt they build them better.
Rugged adventure bike my butt.

Hopefully they will agree to do them under warranty and I can enjoy for another year.
Phil

Seems crazy to me as it's just general mechanical common sense and good practice but manufacter these days seem to hold back on grease...

It's nothing new as I have an XR400 from 2004 and even the legend that is HONDA didn't put enough grease on the rear swing arm spindle and they seized if you didn't sort it soon enough....

I know it is something you shouldn't have to do but as a matter of course I get my trusty tub of grease out and go over any bike I buy, new or old.

That said mate, if the bike is in warranty then kick their arses until it is sorted out properly and tell them you want everything greased and greased again...

if you have any issue contact customer services and they will beat the dealer up for you.

Wear and tear my ar$e. the stearing head bearing is probably the least used bearing in existence.

Hmmm as the steering bearing is checked and adjusted at the 6000 mile service, could it be possible that they nipped it up a fraction too much when serviced I have done that in the past with similar results as you described. If it is not the case why did they not pick it up when the bike was being serviced as the steering head bearing is to be checked at every service.
unless the bike has been badly abused or neglected etc I think I would be asking more questions or take it up with Yamaha uk
Good luck

I don't think it's on the 6k, only the 12k, and from previous experience the chances of a dealer actually bothering to do it if you say "please do the 12k service on my bike" rather than saying "grease the steering head bearings" and standing over them while they do it are about zero.

just checked the manual the steering head bearing is checked at every service including the first 600 mile service
"Steering Bearings, Check bearing play and steering for roughness."

And that is exactly why I service ALL my vehicles myself...

:sbike:

IMO I would rather buy a bike from someone with a Halfords toolkit in the garage and who has done all their servicing their self, than one with full dealer service history....

Too many dealer nightmares out there lately...:091:

Sorry to hear of your woes Phil - all of them are well documented and unfortunately nothing new in the world of Tenere ownership. The only answer is strip the headstock, swingarm and linkage and re-grease the day after you buy the bike. Yamaha aren't ever going to sort it out - they've known about it for 5 years. I first thought it might be just "Italian" build quality and poor quality control/workmanship, but the Spanish built ones were just the same and clearly the French built ones are no better either.

All down to penny pinching and keeping the manufacturing costs down. I'm convinced they just fit the bearings as they come, straight out the packet, with just their light coating of protective grease. One might think it's easy to slap a bit of extra grease on the bearings on assembly, but it all adds time and money multiplied over thousands of units assembled each year. It might not seem it when you hand over the cash for a new XT, but (rightly or wrongly) it is a built-to-a-budget bike in no uncertain terms.

Take it back. Have a go at them and see what they'll do for you, but bearings are one of those warranty grey areas when it comes to what is deemed as "reasonable" wear and tear, and what's not.

At the end of the day, you're probably going to have to do it yourself in order to know it has been done properly, and to gain that all important "peace of mind".

Good luck.

To be fair, in my opinion/experience, I've come across more neglect/bodges on home-maintained bikes than those I've had with a dealer service history. For every one good conscientious home mechanic out there, there are quite probably nine who don't have a clue! Don't get me wrong; I'm not a great fan of dealers either and do my own maintenance/repairs, but I've seen some truly comical DIY maintenance over the years, things that would reduce a grown man to tears!

Wow funny that is.

I have been riding and servicing my own bikes for 10 years.
Guess i was sucked into the its better to have stamps in the book at the right interval than have a properly serviced bike. Never again.

Still got 3 more prepaid services to go. Ill have them do them, the do it properly myself when i get it back.

Mine were done under warranty but I've a good relationship with the dealer and they know I go online a lot on forums as well as my own website! Being devil's advocate I should point out that these problems have been reported on here repeatedly so maybe you should have greased em up yourself? :)

I've just bought a stem nut socket off ebay to do this very job. It's on the list along with the swinging arm bearings. Should keep me busy for a while.

It is fairly poor we have to do these things ourselves or badger a dealer to do them right. But thats cost cutting for ya.

I would take my bike to a decent Yamaha dealer (and there are some honestly) and get the work done properly. AND contact Yamaha UK to make sure things are done under warranty. Good luck!!!!

Steering bearings are checked every service, but a check is just a play with the steering. They will check for free movement, they don't strip it down.

At 12,000 (20k Km) or 2 years they should strip and lubricate. As you've not got this far yet it will not have been done. There is a thread that shows you how to do it yourself.

So, it's a consumable part that has failed before it's time for an exposed check. It's clearly not of serviceable quality or suitable for the job it was designed for. This is undoubtedly a warranty repair.

You have two options, push the dealer so they get authorisation from Yamaha.

Or, invoke your rights under the sales of Goods Act, and go after the selling dealer. I can almost guarantee that if you take this action, the dealer will suddenly become a lot more persuasive with Yamaha.

Steering bearing, under normal use (excluding racing, being a wheelie king or use in extremely wet weather for instance) should not fail before the first exposed check.

I rang them yesterday to find out what the verdict with Yamaha is, only to be the only guy in the dealership who can do warranty claims is off work for the week, sick. I did say that's not good enough, and the chap said he'll try and ring the sick guy to find out how to do it.
He rang back a few hours later to say he'd put the claim to Yamaha which can only be done online.
It will take a few days to get the verdict, so hopefully they will fix it.

Its not the dealer saying no, they just said Yamaha warranty may see it is wear and tear.

I don't race, tho I don't hang about. No wheelies, except maybe a little light under acceleration. It does get used in the rain, but that shouldn't be an issue.

And to why I didn't do it myself having read loads about it on here, is I don't see why I should. I paid good money this bike.

I've used a Yamaha Thundercat and a Suzuki SV1000S for the same uses for the previous 8 years with no steering problems whatsoever.

Thanks for all the replies, I guess I new it was gonna happen, just letting you all know there's another on the crap build quality list.

Phil

Bike Fixed !
 

Good news, I picked up my bike tonight with its nice, smooth steering.

Apparently, the parts just turned up this morning, and they pretty much got straight onto it.

Still feels a bit weird, but it turns now.

Phil

The weirdness could well be the TKCs? They feel a bit that way to begin with, especially if you're not used to them.

Anyhow, good to see its all sorted and behaving well. Now all you need to do is buy yourself a good stock of grease and keep it that way! ;)