Never owned a big single before the Ten and am used to multi cylinder bikes however, my Ten (800miles) does surge a tad and feels like its hunting on a constant throttle at around 30mph. Have checked chain tension and tried different fuels (BP ultimate, normal octane and Shell higher octane stuff), the bike still surges. Its not a massive amount but it does impact on rideability and it therefore encourages a more 'enthusiastic' riding style to avoid constant throttle/low-mid rpm running...
Personally i put it down to fuel injection. I feel that manufacturers going over to FI is a move backwards and causes as many problems as it claims to solve..
I'll see how the bike fares as the miles accumulate and it 'breaks in' more. Its a shame because otherwise the Ten is a lively and fun bike..

I particuarly noticed the problem at 30mph or so, mostly when filtering past traffic on the m/way. It got so bad for me that I almost stopped filtering as I just was not comfortable, i pretyt much had to stay in 3rd gear as the surgins was too bad in 2nd (about 4k rpm).
I even for the the problem at 85mph, just over 5k rpm once I was at a constant steady speed, bike was still lurching.

Like you I rode more enthusiasticaly to mask the problem but it was still there. Also I woudl have blamed the FI for the same reason, just seemed to get worse as time went on until I could harldy bear it anymore.
I went on a ride with my Mrs last weekend (her on her Honda Sh300 scooter) on lots of back roads and while she was loving it I was hating every minute because of the surging. I had not been all that looking forward to a ride together this Monday for the same reason but I have no qualms whatsoever now.

What I don't know yet however is if the Tenere caused the problem on the chain (9k miles with a scotoiler) or perhaps if the oem chains arn't up to the job. I've got a DID chain as I mentioned above now though so I should have my answer in another 4-6 months.

BTW my dealer mentioned they have had a lot more chains being replaced this winter than normal so the extra salt on the roads could account for a lot of the problem

I'll make sure to specify the best chain and sprocket combo there is come replacement time.. I'm anticipating at least 10k before i need to change them, not sure if thats unrealistic or not.. Or perhaps i'll do what i did on a CBF500 i owned and part ex-ed it before the chain/sprockets were worn out. Hmm, i hear rumours of a 'super tenere', perhaps thats the way forward :icon_biggrin:

2nd gear at 4k rpm = 50kph = bad surging

So it's either 2nd gear and 60/65kph (bad in town)
or 3rd gear and 3k rpm, not very good for engine.

my Ten has 955km on the clock, so I guees the chain can't be blamed really

You see we told you that the 'Racing Gold' version was the best. 7700 smiles and no problems here, except tiime to ride her!:clock:

All the Xt's are very much like this and i would guess this is why most people feel there bike is surging when it isnt really it just alot of chain slack

Unfortunatly mine is the yorkshire gold version! Mine went through the whole of the winter though. Also I think it got sprayed by a fiend with a pressure washer once and there was a period when my scottoiler was empty for a bit so any of those coudl be contributing factors.
As far as I coudl tell the chain linke themselves had not seized, the chain had just worn unevenly with a short length (about a foot) that was tighter than the rest.

maxwell123455: This is my suspicion but I can't generalise from my case alone. I can say that my Ten did seem quite sensitive to chain adjustment but I'll have to see if that stays the same with the new chain as well (as the uneven wear coudl have made this much worse on my old one)

It's worth pointing out to those that thing the Ten does have some FI issues that after also thinking that myself (and things going from noticable to worse to nightmare) that replacing my chain has totally restored the smoothness that was present when new. 30mph + constant speeds in 2nd and now smooth again, as is the engine breaking, even the acceleration is smooth now as well (for a single)

chain slack ---
 

I've got to agree with the above - I wasn't sure at 600 miles if it was the excessive chain slack neccessary with the long travel suspension or the fuel injection that was causing the surging effect when held up by slower traffic. Or even a combination of both - at running in revs it's hard to tell.

With 1750 miles on the clock with some free play adjusted into the throttle cable and the cush drive rubbers shimmed up enough to get rid of the free play there I'm pretty certain it's chain slack that is the root of the problem.

I've got round it by trailing the back brake when rolling off keeping all of the slack in the bottom run of the chain - ok I shouldn't have to do this but I do like a smooth pickup out of corners. :icon_biggrin:

givit

so are you sorted now?

Evolution Cap'n - evolution - the thing that seperates Man & Monkeys. The day we stop evolving is the day they can put us in the box.

The beauty of the Yamaha brand in general is that there is always room for change - not neccessarily for the better but fiddlin is good for the soul :Christo_pull_hair:

If I had wanted a bike that does what it says on the tin - no more no less - I would have bought a Transalp - it was a toss-up between that and a TDM if the Tenere hadn't been available.

So --- 'Am I sorted?' --- No - but I am working towards it :icon_lol:

cheers - givit :walk: