I've had Tourance before on another bike which worked fine for me. Unfortunaly I was not able to relax with the Tourance on my Tenere in the rain (i live in Holland with lots of rain). Probably the feedback was not clear to me. The Tourance is a good tyre, but appearantly not on the Tenere IMHO

Now I am driving with Heidenau K60 which I also had before on another bike. Now I do understand the feedback again. But I've to admit that after 2000 km I am still not used to the bike.

I do not understand why this need so many time. To be crystalclear, I do love my Tenere but one seem to need some time to be confident (aka be able to play) with this bike.

@Molgan, why should the gear ratio influence that?

To save you some money,

The Transalp 650 was my previous bike. In the Dutch Transalp Association (TCN) the most popular change for this bike was progressive front springs. This already improves very much the suspension of the bike. Almost nobody changed the back spring because you have to dismantle almost 60% of your bike for that. The guys who did that - like me - notice another improvement but not as much as the front springs.

Don't know if the same is true for the XT (Kev?), but maybe front springs only (easier, cheaper) may be a nice start.

Well as I said, might just be in the head. :) I sometimes feel like I don't get enough push in the corners and together with the slow stearing it makes the bike feel like it lack grip up front. The 800 I had earlier was much more pushy and was easier to drift through corners. Do I make any sense? :retard:

you could try dropping fork legs in yokes 12 mm it will steady the bike up with some extra weight over frontend ,once you feel comfortable you can go back to standard settings,99% riding in the wet is in the head .

I'd agree with that - I love the wet, I find I have more confidence in the wet than in the dry. It might be that I spend alot of time on slippery dirt, I don't know.

I'd also agree that the bike takes a bit of rider-bike bedding in - in that it takes time to get used to the bike, and it's easy for me to comment as I've thrashed her about now for over 10,000 miles ( about 16,000 km's).

There are times when I've thought "oh sh1t" but the bike has never let go. I'm not sure what I'm doing different to other guys with Tourances, but my baby is always well planted on the road........

Asking a question related to this thread then. Having recently bought a Tenere, and definatly finding it a lot harder to adjust to than any of the bikes I've ridden so far what would people suggest I do to increace my confidence riding it in the wet/roundabouts etc?

Is there a safer way to practice than to keep going arount roundabounts until I loose grip (and drop the bike?) to determine how much grip I really have? (given I commute on it I can't really afford to drop it or ruin my kit)

Until recently I had a R1200GS(changed it for a Tiger 1050 but thats another story). The thing with the GS is the centre of gravity is very low which makes the bike feel very stable and planted in corners. The XTZ corners just as well(more flickable in some cases) but does not feel as planted. I'm sure it is but just not in my head at the moment. Just a case of being brave and building up the confidence slowly(in my case anyway)

I tried a lot of different tyres on the GS but kept coming back to the Tourance as they offered the best balance between grip and long life so I doubt it's the tyres

regards

Stumpy

drop fork legs like i said earlier ,gives more weight to frontend giving you confidence and stay relaxed.This time of year roundabouts not the best place to build confidence ,go for nice sweepers less dirt than a roundabout.

Quote:

Originally Posted by deiaccord (Post 74649) Asking a question related to this thread then. Having recently bought a Tenere, and definatly finding it a lot harder to adjust to than any of the bikes I've ridden so far what would people suggest I do to increace my confidence riding it in the wet/roundabouts etc? Is there a safer way to practice than to keep going arount roundabounts until I loose grip (and drop the bike?) to determine how much grip I really have? (given I commute on it I can't really afford to drop it or ruin my kit)

Time + Experience = Confidence

ride ride ride - just enjoy the ride, don't worry how fast/lean angle is - just enjoy the ride. Might be a case of going out while you're not on the commute - I find if I'm on the commute I don't realy enjoy the ride (either thinking of work or my tea!).

The key is enjoyment. If you can enjoy the ride through the winter, then come the spring you'll find the confidence is there - and you'll wonder what you were thinking going into winter!!

fully agreed, just ride.