G'day guys

Looking at buying a 660 Tenere and have found a nice one that has all the bits that Id want for offroad touring.

Its a 2009 with 35k klm's.

BUT.....the engine number is in the middle of the range that have the 3rd and or 4th gear self destruct. (from the other threads on gearboxes)

Whats the odds of the gearbox letting go?
Is it worth perusing or should I move along and find another year?

Anything else to be concerned about in the 09's?

Thanks in advance.
Cheers

how much is it?..any service history and any work done to it?..personally i wouldnt but thats me.

I've a 2009 that appears to be in the middle of the numbers too, only 8000 miles on it, box is all good so far touch wood
It would be nice to know why the gearboxes failed, what changed 08-09 and 09-10, and why yamaha didn't do a recall

Seems a reasonable price here in Aus at around 7k.
He has had it since nearly new and has done all the servicing himself so no "official" records but thats not necessarily a bad thing, Ive been doing the same for the last 35 years.
Its apparently been faultless up to this point, its well used but not abused.

Does anyone really know what the odds are?
Is it doomed or is it like maybe 5% that fail???

Not that many of them broke compared to how many were made/sold. My 2009 has 86k miles on now.

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Great to know :-)

The odds of the gearbox letting go are indeed very small. That doesn't of course mean it won't happen, or couldn't happen, just that it's highly unlikely. Statistics are a funny thing tough; you can read them many different ways and can see what you want to see in them, positive and negative. For example, did you know that a blue '09 XTZ is statistically 90% more likely than a white or black one to go pop! It doesn't mean diddly squit though, it just happens to be that way because blue was the new colour for 2009, so a lot more blue ones were sold that year.

Don't be put off by the gearbox trouble, but do your homework and minimize the risks. Check the bike carefully for service history, receipts, signs of abuse, previous owners (speak to them if you can - a good dealer will oblige you with the name of the previous owner). A well maintained and sensibly ridden bike is quite easy to spot. A good provenance will significantly reduce the odds of trouble (gearbox or otherwise) in the future.

Good luck with your quest to find a good 'un.

Can you post a link to the advert/listing?

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Thanks for the response.
The original one in question

HERE

This was the other option.

HERE

Not much to choose between them; they're very similar bikes in terms of their setup (Teknik suspension etc.). The second of the two is very low Km for an eight year old bike, which can be a double-edged sword. The first probably has the marginally better goodies, but twice the Km... but bear in mind, 4000 Km (2500 miles) a year is a tad under normal/average for a motorcycle and on the low side for an adventure bike such as a Tenere. It is also substantially cheaper - 1500 bucks in the back pocket would be clincher for me.

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