Hi T�n�r� riders!
Here is a small “adventure” report of my first trip on my then newly acquired T�n�r�. I bought it in December. I live in a small town in the middle of South Africa surrounded by farms, good dirt roads, bad dirt roads, good tar roads and not so good tar roads. My arrangement for the day was to ride to a nearby town to a bike shop and pick up some groceries as well- an easy 80km round trip to get accustomed to the Ten.

Here is the bike in North Africa by the PO

Here is the bike arriving at home after I bought it from him.






The first "trip" consisted of 20km good dirt road and 20km of good tar road. December-January-February is summer in SA and the rainy season. When I set off the sun was shining in my town but in the distance I could see rain clouds over the destination town. Although it was wet and rainy it was not cold at all. You could ride with a t-shirt and shorts. The ride to the town went smooth. The bike rolled along effortlessly When I got near the town the tar was soaked, with light rain but the E07’s were fine. Sadly, the bike shop was closed so I picked up the groceries and headed back. However, just outside of town is a dirt road that heads towards farms in the mountains and hills lining the Vaal river. So I decided to take a detour and head towards the rugged parts. My folks used to own a small, secluded plot between farms there and I haven’t been there in years so I decided to check it out again, plus see how the Ten behaves on dirt.

The first few kms went smooth, say for a few corrugated sections. No worries. But a short while later I came across mud patches. The rain had obviously moved over here. Not familiar with the higher\heavier T�n�r� (or anything about it) I rode tentatively over the first blobs. Not too bad. Then soon after another blob, and another. And another. It was all going fine until I got a FREAK! from the bike jerking to one side on the mud to the other, sliding out of any traction or control! I remember one particular section I thought ‘for sure this is it, luck’s out, Im going to fall now!’ as the bike plucked randomly side to side, leaving me behind with only my feet clinging to the footpegs to stay on. One’s adrenaline smashes through your veins in these situations (oh yeah, you know what I mean!). Hurting myself in a fall was not my biggest worry; hurting my ego was. I mean I had just gotten the bike and I didnt want to be the wuss who dropped his bike on his first trip, you know what I mean? Anyway, I adjusted my riding style a number of ways but settled on good ol’ slooooow riding. That helped somewhat. I managed to stay on but how I didnt fall off seven, eight, nine times is a mystery—(I think the bike’s heavier weight’s got something to do with it, when I “fell” off it stayed up straight each time as if too heavy to tip over—thanks Yamaha developers!).

I eventually (thankfully) got passed the mud sections with a pounding heart, and continued my journey. The road was getting more remote. Every now and then rocks and stones would pierce through the red ground like scales on a crocodile’s back. The Ten handled that easy but the mud was always not too far. I eventually reached my folks’ old house and took a breather and soaking up the view, peace and quiet—no telephones, no cellphone signals, no TV. Its a place where the braai smoke moves lazily up in the air in a straight line. Its a place where you can forget the busyness of life and get back in touch with yourself.










After reminiscing about the place and the good times I decided to roll on. The road was scattered with puddles of water, occasional mud patches and crocodiles, to go with the bends and twisty inclines and declines. Make now mistake my heart and mind was still fresh from the first mud slides and I was in no way at ease, though only handling it a bit better. Then I made a left and bam!.... A MASSIVE pool of red oxide rain water right in front of me. Ohhhh crap! Just learning the Ten’s nuances I was not at all ready for this hindrance. Mind you, I was also only wearing civvies and no riding gear. This part of the road was new to me and only my second time ever on it. The water lay across the road like a guard securing a threshold. There was no way through on a bike I didnt know on an isolated road I didnt know with the slipperiest approach ever. Who knows what is hidden under the surface of the water? I parked the bike and as soon as I set foot on the ground I started slipping and sliding. I decided that for me the best route would be to go around on the bank. I spent about 20 minutes finding a path around the 20m pool. I carefully made my way back to the bike, pushed it backwards with great trouble and kicked it into gear. I remember thinking “damn, this bike is heavy”. I proceeded to walk the bike up over the side bank and through the tall grass. This took about 30minutes of inch by inch pushing, hauling, calculating, controlling, steering and balancing through rain ruts, hidden rocks, fallen trees and water. With draining determination I eventually dropped back into the road. Guard defeated.

--Just a side note on the bike there. The whole time it did exactly what I wanted it to do, even to the centimeter. When I wanted gentle throttle, low torque, it went “yes, sir”, when I wanted a bit more throttle (to get over a rock), it went “done, sir”, when it wanted to get too excited it immediately behaved when I reigned it in with the slightest clutch pull, and when I wanted it to stop outright, it stopped dead, and waited obediently for my next orders. Total control. Thanks Yamaha developers!--


The picture (poor quality) does not do justice