As you can gather from my 'newbie' post, I picked-up a low mileage Tenere last week and rode it from my native North East to my second home on the Mosel in Germany on Wednesday and Thursday. Here's a few thoughts that might be of interest, that also raises a few questions that some of you might help answer:
- Overall, I'm very impressed with the bike. For me, it has a supremely comfortable riding position and what seems to be the right balance of ingredients for my primary intended use - maybe 85% road trips and local runs with 15% easy trail type off roading.
- Engine is typical big single but seems a lot more refined than my old '96 Ten660, with an impressive, immediate response on the throttle and a comfortable indicated 75 - 85 cruising speed. Managed to do the whole trip of 275 miles on one, full tank.
- The handbook suggests that the speedo can be toggled through mph/kph (which would be useful for me living in two countries) by holding down the 'select' button for two seconds ..... it didn't work for me as when I held it down it just jumped straight to the clock change function. Any thoughts?
- Used DFDS ferry from Newcastle to Ijmuiden (Amsterdam) and it's really easy to tie down with ratchet straps (supplied). I used the front tow hook to tether the front, pulling the left side slightly first, to keep it tilted to the side stand, then the right, gradually pulling each down. Then the rear using the pannier rails. Finally (being ultra cautious by nature) ran one over the middle of the seat (protected) and tied-off the front brake using excess strap. It was in my opinion, immovable, and the easiest bike I've tied-down (and I've done lots!)
- I used the Yamaha panniers that came with the bike, a Colemans marine bag and a newly-purchased Heine Gericke Tuareg Enduro tank bag. The bike settles quite a bit with the luggage on, even though only part filled. I can only forsee height difficulties when off-road and caught-out by sudden camber or drops (I'm 5'10''). The HG Tuareg tank bag is highly recommended. I looked at both the Givi and Kappa tank bags as well, as I wanted one that took a sat nav (I double up with my car Tom Tom One), but they were a lot smaller and almost the same price. The Tuareg seemed much better value. It has some lovely features, like zips that then press stud together to stop flapping about and opening; magnets that are in easily accessable pockets so you can simply remove them for plastic tanks; very well-designed fastening straps with leather-protected fastners that I imagine could be made to fit any enduro-styled bike.
- The suspension seemed really good to me. I come from a sports/race background and like mine firm. The Tenere did not disappoint. Haven't yet tried it off road of course.
- The weather was horrible - typical filthy November muc and rain with mist and low visibility. I thought the protection from the small screen was nothing short of miraculous. Unlike most, I found it very easy to slide back onto any part of the rear portion of the seat or to stand, allowing options of fully seated, semi standing or standing up completely.
- I panicked a bit near Spa (beautiful roads normally by the way, when the weather is better) as I think it started to fuel a bit erratically - or maybe there was some electrical trickery going on - resulting in a feeling of semi-lurching or missing, similar to what I've experienced on carbbed bikes hunting for fuel through blocked jet. Maybe I've been reading to many threads here on the REG/Rec issue!???
- Still think the pannier locks are pants (and these are warranty-replaced ones), and that they are not that easy to use - especially taking on and off) but they do offer a fair amount of space and lok watertight. I also seem to have a slightly tricky ignition barrel, whereby the key sometimes has to be twiddled-with to get the ignition on. Is this common?
- The bike like this is definately susceptible to side winds (Holland has lots of open fields by the roads) and can be quite badly affected - so beware.

I already think it's a tremendous bike, a bit of a do-it-all, looks great (especially in this white with red and black speedblock colour) and I'm really looking forward to getting to know it better. I'll be asking a lot of it over the coming year, including a 4,000 mile trip through Germany, Austria, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania and Greece mainland and Islands, as well as being a bike (along with my DL1000 V Strom) for running my bike tours business in Germany and Scotland - maybe sometimes with bigger, quicker bikes. I'll be adding various bits over the next few months (including a fair bit of stuff from OTR who are in Trier, just 25 miles from me) and will report back with my thoughts and findings.

I't be lovely to get some feedback from people who have one and are maybe doing similar things.