Well, I took the spanners to the Tenere today as a practice run for shipping it to the USA next week...

Fortunately I was able to blag an official Yamaha crate when I bought my bike, and the pallet base allows you to simply roll the bike on and strap it down. The sides and lid of the 'crate' are actually cardboard!, and yet strong enough to stack them 4 high in the warehouse - unbelieveable!

I strapped the rear of the bike using ratchet straps from the pillion footrest mounts, and a pair of soft ties around the fork legs above the bottom yoke at the front.

The bike is surprisingly simple to dismantle to fit in the crate - removed the screen (really to protect it), undid the two bumper cheeks (4 allen bolts) that locate the front indicators, and they pop off leaving the headlight assembly to be unbolted from the headtube (2 bolts), which was wrapped in foam/plastic and rotated 180� and strapped to the fork legs. The handlebars similarly just need unbolting at the clamps, wrapped in foam, rotated 90� and strapped to the right fork leg.

I put the mirrors and the front indicator cheeks in a box with some foam padding, and placed this inside the crate by the forks; while the screen is in a foam sleeve/plastic bag and bungeed on the top of the headlight.

It really is as if Yamaha designed it to be shipped - none of the wiring or cables need to be undone (other than the two front indicators), so reassembly will be very quick and straightforward...

Must remember to disconnect the battery and drain the fuel before it finally goes to the airport...

4 days to go!

xxx

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"Where we're going, we don't need roads..."

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