Hi all,

I'm currently on a rtw trip on an '09 Tenere and had some problems with the clutch yesterday. Riding into Istanbul we hit some serious rush-hour traffic and were constantly stop/starting as we made our way to the centre (Istanbul is very hilly too). After 2 hours of this the bike was very hot (as hot as it's ever been) and the clutch began to slip (or so I thought). I was having to rev it to 4-5k just to get it to move in 1st!

When I came back to the bike today and tried to move it and there was no bite whatsoever, but I noticed that the free play had gone from the clutch lever (it was fine all day yesterday). I adjusted the free play (engine end), got the bite back, and rode it down to Ankara (450km) with no probs, but there was nowhere near as as much traffic in either city, so it was a pretty easy ride.

My question is, what the hell happened to my clutch? Is it about to fail? I'm not completely mechanically incompetent (tyres, oil, filters, etc - no prob), but I'm at a loss to explain this. Could it be the cable even? I'm new to the Ten, I only bought it a couple of months ago for the trip (my old bike - KTM Adventure - had a hydraulic clutch). Bike has 20k km on it, 8k in the last 6 weeks.

Any help or advice would be really gratefully received. I'm a little nervous about this as I am about to head into the Middle East and some pretty remote areas. This site has been a mine of useful info about my new bike, and hopefully I'll be able to contribute a little as I gain more experience with it.

Cheers again, JD

PS. Just in case, can anyone recommend a Yam dealer in Ankara?