super tenere

[Dr Psyko]

Cycle World says the Super Tenere is coming to the states next year. Pretty cool.

[plumber mike]

Are you going to get one? A little too rich for this poor plumber. Very cool bike indeed.

[Dr Psyko]

I think it looks to big for any tough trail riding (I know, all you 9fidty and gsa guys disagree), but looks like a very cool day to day and travel bike. I was surprised at the cost though. Seems steep.

[Dr Psyko]

I saw one last night at the local yamaha dealer. Apparently, yamaha has about 6 of these in the country, and they are touring them form store to store to generate orders. I sat on the bike, and it has a good "feel", slight forward lean to reach the bars. The front instrument, dash and windshield seem a long way away. The saddlebags seemed decent quality. Has allot of traction control junk. Some of the bodywork felt flimsy and too "styled". First impression is that it would make a killer day to day bike or great long range tour bike, but waaay too much to hustle down a trail. Then again, you "big bike" guys might feel differently.

[Scoobynut]

The Big Black Beast has Arrived.

Picked up today (8/4/11); so far I REALLY, REALLY like it.  Anyone want to buy a KLR and Concours?  I haven't lit it up too much yet, only up to 25 miles on the odo today, but when it's in 'S' mode, hang on tight!  Crazy good torque.  Handles very nicely too and just comfy, comfy, comfy.

[Lonesome Dave]

Oh man!  That's very cool.  Congrats 

[jacin theis]

i hope to see that at the fall rally. thats awesome. did you get panniers or are you getting aftermarket?  hows the seat? I hope the tires are a size more readily available than the bmw's.

[JoniJo]

Hey Scoobynut,
That bike is flippin' awesome!!!! When are you going to Alaska???   
Please let me know what you want for your KLR.
                                                            JoniJo
P.S. You're garage is way too clean.......   

[Scoobynut]

Thanks Dave, Jacin. 

Not sure I'll be bringing it to the fall rally, that KLR is really too big already (for me anyways).  And this new one, well, let's just say she's a Big Girl!

Jacin, I ordered the factory panniers, but got a really good deal on them, quite a bit cheaper than aftermarket.  Seat is thick and CUSHY.  Has a neat feature where you can move a little plastic bracket that sits on top of the sub-frame under the seat, to raise or lower the seat by 1".  The windshield is way out ahead of the bike which I like for some reason.  I rented an Aprilia 650 dual-sport (Pegaso?) when I was in Central America and the windshield was way out front like that and I liked it.  Still, for serious touring duty I might have to get a bigger shield, might even go with the taller one Yamaha offers.

Tires are front 110/80R 19M/C, Rear 150/70R 17M/C; mine came with Metzeler Tourances, I guess some are coming with Bridgestone Battle Wings.  Not sure if those are sized like tires for BMW GSs.  There's a guy on the Super Tenere forum who sells the Hiedenaus in the factory sizes for this bike, so if the Beemers have the same size tires, that's where I'd go for the more agressive tires.

[Scoobynut]

Hey Scoobynut,
That bike is flippin' awesome!!!! When are you going to Alaska???   
Please let me know what you want for your KLR.
                                                            JoniJo
P.S. You're garage is way too clean.......   

Hi JoniJo, nice to hear from you. 

Yeah, Alaska is in the future plans, but not gonna happen this year, probably a little too late for that anyways. 

To be honest, I'm not totally committed to selling the KLR yet; I am planning on using it again at the rally, and then I thought it might be a decent light touring/dual-sport bike for my son -- he's already ridden it on the road and seems to handle it fine.  But, then again, he's involved in a lot of stuff, so if it starts gathering cobwebs, up for sale it goes.  But I'd give a DDSR member a good deal on it, say $4500 or so.  I paid $5k for it new last summer, but have added about $1k worth of farkles in the meantime.  Still has 4 years of factory warranty left too.  It sure would be a nice stable-mate for your KLX!

I just did a 1300 mile round-tripper -- did 650 miles each way two days apart -- on it (KLR) and it ran flawlessly as usually.  My butt is still mad at me though!

[Bogus Jim]

That's a very cool bike Scoobynut. You'd better get some miles before the snow flies...

I'm not sure how the ABS and traction control work on the Super Tenere, but I'm pretty sure the guy in this video has them turned OFF. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdEh3kEagZY

[jacin theis]

I think Yamaha should hire that guy to demo bikes. Since he wasnt a super clean rider, i assume he's not a pro. Its nice to see an (almost) average guy put it to the test. I cant believe the tourqe it has. He was spinning that tire through everything. I know my 1100 wont do that. Josh, think youre 800 would. I really am interested in that bike now. I wonder how much a guy will be able to pick up a farkled out one next year going into winter??

[greatbuffalo]

Thats an awesome ride. I've been eyeballing those for some time but not in the budget yet.

I rode a Triumph Tiger 800xc this weekend and really loved it. Already being a Triumph guy, its high on my list. But that Tenere is SO well engineered.

It'll be nice to get an update after you've ridden it a few thousand miles.

[Scoobynut]

Bogus Jim:  If my side bags get here in time, I'm going to ride it to the Beartooth Beemers rally in Red Lodge in a few weeks.  If not, will probably take the ol' Concours.

Bogus Jim and Jacin:  I've seen that video before myself, dude is a lunatic but a damn good rider.  Oh, and you're right about the torque -- I've only been up to about 5k rpm in 'S' mode and you can literally feel your head being pinned back when you whack the throttle.  A Vmax didn't feel any faster to me at the same rpm (I'm sure higher rpm is a different matter).

GreatBuff:  I like the Triumph, also the 800GS, but the Tenere isn't a heck of a lot more money -- the real difference to me is there's a dealer just down the street from me, and just about everywhere else too.  And I just plain like and respect Yamaha.

[greatbuffalo]

Ya, that dealer closeness does mean a lot. The closest Triumph or BMW dealer to me is at least 3 hours away. That may make my decision as well.