Thoughts on the new Tenere

• Small screen is far more effective than I would have thought and the riding position is good for extended mileage.
• Road manners are excellent - great for a dual sport bike.
• Saddle seems pretty comfortable but would help if it was flatter � the cat (converter) is under the seat so I don�t think it would be easy to cut it down.
• Michelin Sirac tyres which came as standard on my bike are really good on the road � no problem crossing white lines or manhole covers on bends � even in the wet. I haven�t tried them on anything more than fire roads at the moment. I don�t think they would compare to something like Conti TKC�s but seem OK. I may fit TKC�s when the originals are worn as they work well on and off road but do feel a little strange after road tyres � they seem to fall into corners but nothing too scary once you get used to it. The TKC 140/80 � 17 on the rear would not only look good but would improve off road ability of the Tenere with a 90/90 front. It wouldn�t do much to help correct the already optimistic speedometer though.
• Gearing is great for road use (4000rpm is about 64MPH) but too high for any serious off-road play. First gear gives you 7-8 MPH on tick over � much too quick for the more gnarly bits without lots of clutch slip.
• MPG is good even from new � over 60MPG keeping to the 4500-RPM limit while running in. I�ll keep monitoring it as the miles clock up but I�m sure it won�t change too much.
• Feels lighter than the dry weight quoted (183kgs) and is OK to manhandle about. Not sure how I would cope when I had covered 200 miles or so of trails but first impression is good � all the weight is fairly low down and not intimidating.
• Good immobiliser fitted as standard (Cat 2 � Thatcham I was told)
• Suzuki DR400 hand protectors fit with less modifying than the Yamaha ones and �30 cheaper. Come on Yamaha � keep up!
• I think vibration is minimal for a big single and the fuelling problems that plagued the XT660R/X have been cured. None of the low speed lumpiness now. The motor pulls like a train without feeling too hairy like some orange dual sport bikes, which are OK for ex-enduro riders but not for normal mortals.
• I like the digital dashboard � very clear to read and not too busy with info I would hardly ever need.
• If you are a sports bike rider you may find the Tenere a little on the slow side but don�t let that stop you � book a test ride. It is a really tall bike but can be adjusted to be more usable for shorter riders. You may come to love the Tenere as I do myself.

Well, I wouldn't have put it better myself after my first 594km on mine !!!!

- Screen: Brilliant, and I'm 1.86m / 6ft2
- road manners: won't scrape the pegs, but cornering is brilliant
- Saddle: no pb after 7h ride, well, no more than the custom gel seat on my VFR.
- Tyres: approved
- Gearing: I didn't really pay attention to it, although rev limit during break-in period forces lots of gear change
- MPG: did 320km before flashing icon on dash. Added 19l at 370km. So I like it.
- Weight: what weight ? It's a bicycle compared to my VFR
- handguards: I wish I had mine....the bars are backordered and will be posted to me.
So I had frozen fingers.....
- dashboard: very good, although I would have prefer digital rev counter / analog speedo maybe.
- Speed/power: overtaking needs planning, but I think that's mainly because I had a pillion and couldn't rev it too much due to the break-in period. It'll be fine once the 1000km done.

Mine came with the Sirac, but a new black one in the shop had the Tourance.
So it seems to be random.

I've done 30 000km last year and the year before on my VFR.
I think the Tenere will do as much without annoying me.
And now I won't stop when the tarmac does

Good comments zOU most of which bear out my thoughts - enjoy!

John

Yep !
you did most of the writing though

I thought mine was making a strange noise yesterday (i'm not used to singles) but i went down in the garage to lube the chain and the engine sounds good..
I think I was just tired.

You can get quite a bit of noise from the chain tensioner - sounds a bit worrying at times but... I am using chain wax on mine (chain) and it seems to keep it quieter.

The engines are a bit noisy and can sound alarming sometimes but its normal apparently

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ex :tenere:1200 now 660 +

That's it with a well silenced single - you hear everything!!!!!

You can say that again.

Great bike though.

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2011 XT660Z

2008 TDM 900

I'm thinking of changing my XTR soon but I do use it on trails. The XTZ is a bit heavier. 181kg for the R and 189kg for the Z. Seat height on the Z is 10mm more and the fuel tank is the same. Is there just a personal preference or real advantage between models. I must admit I have never looked at the XTZ too close before but will obviously look at all possibilites before making a decision.

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When I was a kid I got a rucking for getting dirty. When I met my misses she liked me to get dirty. Now I'm old I get a rucking for getting dirty. Can't win!

Just test rode the Yamaha XTZ660 Tenere in my lunch hour and thought I'd share my thoughts.

Impressive wee (massive) beastie. But sadly not a goer for me. :|

Its Very Tall, I could just do tippy toes or the ball of one foot (I'm 5'9 / 177cm, 30" inside leg). I got used to the height surprisingly quickly and it didn't bother me after an hour. The hardest bit was either getting off (high back seat!) or trying to push myself backwards when fiddling about when stopped. There was no chance of that happening on even a mild slope with just toe-power.

Riding was very civilised. Similar to the KTM 990 Adventure but much less aggressive in town. Definitely happier at low speeds than the speed freaky adventure, except for when stopping due to it being so statuesque. On B roads it was less positive than the KTM, but it did have shiny new tyres and 1 mile on the clock, so that probably accounted for the front washing out a bit. The KTM made me ride faster than I ever do on my 600 sports bike, the Tenere didn't have the power on tap like that, so it felt more like it was pushing it, which I find more rewarding than being on a bike with seemingly limitless potential to go and go. It also made a lot of nice pops as I closed the throttle. Definite plus points there!! With some aftermarket cans it would probably sound rather nice.

It cruised fine at 70ish (I didn't want to rev it over 4.5k on 0 miles, even though it wasn't mine), somehow the little screen directs just about all of the wind around you. That really got my hopes up for its long-distance potential. But the real pain, probably the clincher for me, was that my head got an annoying vibrating buffet at between 60 and 70mph and it was enough to make me feel a bit ill after a minute or two. That meant I got the effect on the motorway and on A/B roads. I found it quite weird because otherwise I didn't seem to get any obvious wind-blast at all and it was very gusty while I was riding it, so that was a good test environment.

Its a bargain of a bike which a heap of good character and supposed to return superb fuel economy, but I don't think I could spend a day on it with that buzzing helmet effect. Big shame for me there.

The seat was a bit of a banana shape which I found bearable but not especially comfy. Definitely better than the BMW 800GS which I found murderous on the family jewels due to the back end being higher than the front. It wasn't nearly as nice to sit on as the KTM adventure though.

Looks like I'll carry on looking, unless someone here knows of some kind of solution for my vibra-head issue!