Well I have owned the Tenere for a month now so thought I would put pen to paper so to speak.

Brakes - Ok, had to tweak the front preload suspension to give the brakes a little more feel (remove a little of the soft front end). Helped enough for them to be ok now. I guess a trail bike does not want XTX levels of braking performance and it certainly has not got it. 6/10

Suspension - Rear 9/10, I have not ridden off road yet but on road it has performed ok. the front had adjustable preload and its ok. 9/10

Handling - Wind! or shall I say the Tenere is hugely affected by the wind. Today I rode in medium wind and rain and it was not a pleasant experience. I have a turbulance stopper so dont really know how bad it can be and I ride with a road type full face helmet. Best not to dawdle behind lorrys as the buffetting is immense. Its pretty stable under braking and I am still learing its limits. 6/10

Engine - Sweet as a nut with enough power for me. No surge what so ever. 10/10

Vibes - Considering its a 660 single its great. 10/10

Tyres - Michelin Sirac - In a word horrible. To be fair the rear has squared off a bit so its not a huge help in assessing them. Riding in rain is not a good experience. I want a road biased tyre next. I plan to fit the Avon Distanzia's. 4/10

Looks - Marmite. 9/10

Comfort - The seat is poor. Holds you in an unnatural position. After every ride so far I have had a back ache. Hoping I get used to it. Considered a contour change but want to keep the bike as stock as possible. That said its got the great XT upright postion that commands the road space. 7/10

Weight - Its a little heavy for serious off road IMHO. Its good at high speed though so swings and roundabouts. 6/10

Overall - Happy so far 'ish, need to tweek the ride height down I think (possibly just the front). At first I thought I could handle the Tenere's height but the truth has hit home now. At 6ft (me) the Tenere is too big and if I venture offroad then it will be too much of a handful and I guess I will drop it constantly. I need to live with it a little more. I guess I wont be venturing off road.

I dont plan to modify the bike (from what it currently is) at all so if it cannot be tweaked to satisfaction it stays as it is.

__________________

Nice one Tony, I can see in a nutshell that you would greatly benefit from a seat reshaping, if you get someone to unstitch the vinyl cover and remove the "hump" you will then get a lower riding position, much greater confidence off road when the bike goes sideways as you would have feet ready to be planted on the ground and, all you need to do for the front is to lower the the fork legs distance by adjusting the yoke to your required meaurement.

Then apply the "Law of Kev-relativity" i.e. heavier grade oil in the fork and set of spacers will make the action perfect for your requirements. I would have suggested a set of high performance coil springs such as ohlins but you don't want to mod it too much. Yet springs and seat can be easily and quite cheaply returned to original.

oh... and slap a set of Distanzia on that beast pronto!

I was holding off as I am a little skint at the moment but I may have to do that sooner rather than later as a good set of boots will help massively.

__________________

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tony660z I was holding off as I am a little skint at the moment but I may have to do that sooner rather than later as a good set of boots will help massively.

Hi Tony,i like the way you did your report ,i would just do the boots for the time being if funds are short because this time of year you need to trust your grip levels ,

You are both right, I have ordered a full set of Avon Distanzias. I am going to drop the front suspension a little and tweek the preload. Hopefully that will help. I may soften the rear a little as well.

__________________