As a leaving gift to me from me for leaving the RAF I decided to get a new bike, after test riding both the 800 tigers, and the 1050 non seemed to tick all the boxes of my old 955i.
Forgive me for i have sinned, I took a test ride on the new Yam Super Tenere and instantly fell in love, it does everything I love about the tiger and more, the torque from this big twin is just amazing, add in the traction control (which i got to kick in :shock: ) abs and fully loaded with luggage, engine bars and spots.
The bike feels so light once its rolling even more so than the 800 but with the punch of the 1200......
The deal was finally sealed when they offered me the demonstrator for alot less than the usual price with lots of extras thrown in, and a good trade in on my old girl.
So please done shun me if you see a 60 plate silver super 10 nod at you, it might be a old tiger owner who still loves the triple.
I shall now take whatever pennance you may offer :oops:
Quote from: "akey"As a leaving gift to me from me for leaving the RAF I decided to get a new bike, after test riding both the 800 tigers, and the 1050 non seemed to tick all the boxes of my old 955i.
Forgive me for i have sinned, I took a test ride on the new Yam Super Tenere and instantly fell in love, it does everything I love about the tiger and more, the torque from this big twin is just amazing, add in the traction control (which i got to kick in :shock: ) abs and fully loaded with luggage, engine bars and spots.
The bike feels so light once its rolling even more so than the 800 but with the punch of the 1200......
The deal was finally sealed when they offered me the demonstrator for alot less than the usual price with lots of extras thrown in, and a good trade in on my old girl.
So please done shun me if you see a 60 plate silver super 10 nod at you, it might be a old tiger owner who still loves the triple.
I shall now take whatever pennance you may offer :oops:
So why didnt you go search out a low mileage 06/07 955i ? And save yourself a nice few, no sorry, loads of cash. Interesting that neither the 1050 or 800's stacked up to the ol 955, sort of my thoughts though I have to say.
Enjoy the Yam mate, Im sure its a great bike :wink:
As for penance, sorry I will shun you till the end of time :lol:
The main reason for not getting another (younger) 955i is the handling of the super 10, there is very little dive under braking even when hard and it feels so much lighter and more nimble round the corners.
But more than anything I know I was suckered in by the joy of owning a new and modern bike
:oops:
I did consider waiting to see if the mythical tiger 1200 comes out next year, but I am just a little to imaptiant :twisted:
Oh, so your the one thats bought one. :lol:
Jeesh, Akey, It's normally a full excommunication for this sort of thing....we need to form some sort of disciplinary committee...
but as it's you...
....
Go on post some piccies!
Quote from: "NKL"Oh, so your the one thats bought one. :lol:
:D
must admit I quite liked the look of it - the one I looked at was almost Caspian Blue :D have fun hope you enjoy it..
Quote from: "nickcalne"Jeesh, Akey, It's normally a full excommunication for this sort of thing....we need to form some sort of disciplinary committee...
but as it's you...
....
Go on post some piccies!
I'll get some up once I pick it up and it has all the farkles on it :)
Oh and I will bow my head to the disciplinary committee :twisted:
saw super Ten park next to an 800 and near my 955, thought the Ten looked better than the 800 to be truthful and the guy got it new for £9500 with a load of gis it's added on. Enjoy the new ride cheers Spud :wink:
Quote from: "akey"The deal was finally sealed when they offered me the demonstrator for alot less than the usual price with lots of extras thrown in, and a good trade in on my old girl.
Always a sure sign of a bad seller,but I understand the balance of a new bike I felt the same riding a 1200 Multistrada,I've never achieved it with my 955 and spent more money than most trying :(
No need to do any pennace,it'll come when you try to sell it :D
Having taken a bit of kicking from 990 KTM the last time we were in Germany torque from a big twin is always seductive :wink:
But lucky you who ever designs Yamahas sits on a bike like I do,hence why I have had so many they build good bikes.
A little bird told me a lot of yamaha dealers are pre registering new super tens so they can sell them as secondhand/exdemo's, its the only way they can shift them. way too expensive for what it is.
Tar, feathers, burning at the stake .... the Yam is a good bike. Be mad to point a finger.... happy ridings.
heck, if I could swing a super tenere I'd have one already! Looks like an awesome machine.
Better not shout too loud,those old enough to remember the Yamaha TR1,they were selling them in crates at £1100 a piece they were that desperate to sell e'm,years on realised not a bad bike at all and fetch good money :D
If Yamaha hadn't been so daft with price on the Tenere,they would have been a much better seller.
I'll wait for the new Tiger and almost certainley there'll be a 1200 SMT :D before any decisions are made,if at all :roll:
And the pictures of the ride are where?
not mine but the same colour and some of the options I have, I have engine bars, spots and topbox to add on 8)
(http://www.metropolismotorcycles.com/images/new-bikes/yamaha/xt1200z_super_tenere/2.jpg)
The price new is :shock: but I think thats more to do with the price of the Yen and the strong £ rather than pricing by Yamaha.
I got mine from my local dealer in the UK (same one that sold me the Girly as well).
I like it, let us know how you get on with it.
You haven't really sinned until you've ridden it further than the bike it replaced.... :lol:
"You are forgiven my son - go forth and sin no more" (I heard that alot in catholic school - the 'no more' part however, was problematic) Anyway That yammie is one sweet / mean looking machine - can understand the attraction. I just did about 500 mi of dirt roads in Hells Canyon - the XC is a very capable mountain climber and with K60s, much better in the rougher stuff. The Tenere was just too big for my frame. But enjoy your sin - it was mortal, but worth it.
Is there a website for the bike??,it'll be more like a private club with 20 members assuming they've sold that many :roll:
Quote from: "Chris Canning"Is there a website for the bike??,it'll be more like a private club with 20 members assuming they've sold that many :roll:
Theres another member near me, Ive seen it twice, funny thing is the guy that rides it doesnt appear to own any Motorcycle clothing, both times hes been in slacks and slip on loafers??
Like my mate who buys a new Hayabusa every 2 years, and brags about how hes just managed to buy a new Helmet for £30, dont get it. :?
Congratulations on your new bike and thank you for your service!
I too was very interested in the Super Tenere to replace my 2006 Tiger 955. I was able to do a test ride a month or so ago. I found the engine to be very strong, the suspension was better than my Tiger, I really liked the instrument panel and the handling was pretty good for such a large, heavy bike.
Three things put me off though. A minor annoyance was how Yamaha routed the throttle cable in an arc right across the instrument panel.
The seat is pretty high and would be even higher than my Tigers when I put a Russell seat on it, which I would have to do after having a Russell on my 955 for several years.
The more serious issue for me was the large amount of high frequency vibration in the handlebars at any engine speed over 4000 rpm from the parallel twin engine.
Otherwise it was a great bike and I might test ride it again if I get the chance. Maybe setting the engine management to "touring" instead of "sport" will reduced the vibes without killing too much of the fun.
I'm worried that I might be spoiled by the smoothness of the Triumph triple. I also test road a Tiger 800 roadie and the engine was smooth as glass though it did have less power than the Yamaha. That's to be expected with the big displacement advantage the Yamaha has over the 800 Tiger. The power that the Tiger 800 had was more than enough for me riding solo.
Akey!!
What have you done? You turncoat!
Oh well, enjoy your modern technology and accessories!
Best of luck with the Yam...hope the build quality is ok. Oh, how about a ride report and some pix :)
I have just got back from a weekends riding over 500 miles so ride report will be coming soon. I am just waiting for all the extras to arrive at my local dealer and will add pics once they are fitted :oops:
They're the bits to make it look like a Tiger... right???
( decals, paint job, extra cylinder...)
Quote from: "PeteH"Best of luck with the Yam...hope the build quality is ok. Oh, how about a ride report and some pix :)
The build quality on the Super Tenere that I test rode looked to be excellent.
The one I rode was superb, no sin involved. Triumph hasn't got a bike in it's current range that competes. Now if they had the 1200 Tiger out then you would have sinned, but they don't and if they produce it with this current hideous "insect" styling I won't be buying that either.
So after owning the XT for a weekend now but doing 560 miles some of which were in a very tired state I would like to offer my initial thoughts on the bike in order to put some real world data out there amongst some of the varied and at times downright biased views of the British motorcycle press. Just to put some detail into that last statement I cant believe how skewed some of the UK reviews have been, especially when compared to other European, Australian and American reviews (and I have checked the bike is the same for all markets!).
In terms of comparison, I have ridden the Tiger 955i, both models of the Tiger 800 and an 08 GS1200, I cant reach the floor on the KTM 990 so sorry no comparison with that!
The bad
Price – Yes this is an expensive bike when new, but this is more due to the current Pound/Yen relationship than Yamaha marketing. That said, when compared to a similar spec bike its £3k more than the Tiger 800 XC with the extras I wanted, about the same as a GS with the extras I wanted and some £3k less than a Multistrada. I didn't buy mine at the list price as its an ex demo, so to compare with the same showroom I paid £1500 more for my new XT than an 08 model GS that didn't have traction control, engine bars, spot lights or topbox fitted.
ABS – The ABS cant be switched off, apparently this is a bad thing when off road! I don't know but hopefully I will find out more when I get my day with the Yamaha off road school :).
Throttle Cable Routing – Apparently this can obscure the view of the dash – although I have only experienced this when on full left lock so not really an issue as far as I am concerned.
Exhaust – I personally don't mind the look of the very very big exhaust, however it is soooooo quiet, my mates GS800 is louder with its standard exhaust, let alone the new twin cam GS1200.
The good
The engine – The UK press have described the engine as flat or uninspiring, I cant really agree with this, I love the engine even more than I loved the tiger's triple. In sport mode there is loads of punch from 2k all the way up to 6k with a redline around 7500 rpm. In touring mode the torque is flattened off making the engine silky smooth, in fact in touring mode it feels like you are constantly one gear to high. Don't get me wrong the bike still accelerates well just not as harshly as it does in sport mode, which increases MPG and increases pillion comfort. The engine is eager and smooth making overtakes and accelerating out of corners effortless with bags of available torque. It's a much better engine than the tiger, and I would say on a par with the GS, it is one of the defining areas of the bike and puts a grin on my face every time I open the throttle.
The Handling – At 260 odd KG this is no light bike, but once it starts moving, even at low speed all the weight just seems to disappear. Both at slow speed and once making progress this bike hammers both the tiger and the GS into the ground, at speed the handling is stable yet agile when needed taking tight corners, roundabouts and fast flowing bends with no fuss or alarm, the dive under hard braking is limited and far less than the tiger. At slow speed the bike feels light and nimble and very easy to manoeuvre through traffic or at slow speed. Rear shock pre-load is probably the easiest manual adjustment I have seen with an easily accessible hydraulic adjuster. Front adjustment is the stand upside down fork type and again easy to use.
TCS – This is another little gem that has not really got the attention it deserves IMHO, the traction control is superb, in fact when it kicks in the only sign you have is the warning light coming on. With 3 settings you can have it set so it comes in nice and early with no wheel spin at all, coming in a little later, allowing some wheel spin or switched off completely so there should be something for everyone. I have managed to get the TCS to kick in, and when it did there was nothing alarming going on, it just stopped me doing something stupid (I thought I was in second gear so gave it a bit more throttle than I should have on damp roads as I was actually in 1st gear!!!).
Brakes – ABS is standard on the XT (extra on the GS and Tiger), and works well, although I have only managed to get it to kick in on the rear brake. The brakes are linked on the XT but you can disengage the linked effect by tapping the rear brake first, although the linked system is so good you cant really tell. The brakes are also only linked from front to back, not the other way around.
Lights – Having ridden 6 hours through the night, I can confirm that the standard lights on this bike are superb, in fact you probably don't need the additional fog lamps, but once they are fitted to mine I will report on any improvement they do make. Both low and high beam these lights give plenty of vision, in fact they were not far off the power of a mates HID light on his ZZR1100 on low beam.
Comfort – Again this is a real plus for the XT, 2 hour stints were easily achieved with no fidgeting or adjustment required, and overall an 8 hour plus trip with no aches, pains or numb bum to speak of......... this truly is an all day comfortable bike.
Fuel Consumption – The UK press don't seem to get the touring mode, well 56 MPG while marshalling a ride along fast A roads, overtaking 30 odd bikers all 'making progress' should make the point pretty well. On Mways and fast A roads getting from A to B this makes sense, I will say that again 56 MPG. 200 miles to a tank is doable giving enough range to keep pace with the tiger, GS 800 and GS1200 (but not the 36l tank of the adventure model). In sport mode this MPG does drop, but I haven't run the bike in sport mode for long periods at a time yet but I would suspect 45-48 MPG dropping further if you are really playing in lower gears.
The unkown
Build Quality – As this is a new model from Yamaha the build quality is a bit unknown, but so far there have been no recalls and no issues are being reported on the Super Tenere forums that I can find. I would suspect this should not be an issue from Yamaha, but we will know more over the next few years.
Off road ability – While there are a number of reviews about how good the XT is off road, I don't have any experience with the bike to verify them. Hopefully I will get to play with an XT at the Yamaha off road school and will report how I get on if I do.
Well that's it really, all I can say is this bike has made a massive impression on me, even more so than my tiger did 41/2 years ago – which is really saying something. That said I have tried to be as open and honest as I can be, looking at the down sides of the bike as well as the good bits. If anyone wants to know more or thinks I have missed something please let me know and I will do my best to include it.
(http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c344/akey_uk/th_P6260060.jpg) (http://s30.photobucket.com/albums/c344/akey_uk/?action=view¤t=P6260060.jpg)
(http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c344/akey_uk/th_P6250050.jpg) (http://s30.photobucket.com/albums/c344/akey_uk/?action=view¤t=P6250050.jpg)
good to hear a review by an owner rather than a journo.. :D had only seen them in the Blue before..
I haven't ridden the new XT so I don't know,my bench mark on a bike is when a.n.other comes past me and buggers off into the distance and I can't catch e'm,I've yet to come across a trallie/adventure bike or what ever you want to call e'm do that ,there's always a first time,but it hasn't come yet,having said that,mine isn't stock either.
Good write up mate, all that matters really is if you like the bike.
The Tiger is the only Dual Sport Ive ever owned, but for the money I paid possibly the best value bike Ive ever owned, interestingly I remember road testing a 885i Tiger some years back and not liking it at all. I rode a brand new 1200GS up to North Wales 3 years ago, 2 things stick in my mind about that bike/ride:
1) I was accelarating hard up a hill and a KTM 990 Adventure came past me like it wasnt trying.
2) It broke down in Bala, and had to go back on a trailer(Imobiliser fault)and I had to go back in a f...ing Ford Ka.
Now, I have to admit to having a bit of interest in the New MG Stelvio, Im test riding one this weekend, will I buy it?, Probably not, its still £10k which means having some of it on the strap, but the ol V twin does have some appeal, as does the 32 litre tank, though what thats like when its full could be interesting, still, I have been known to make stupid rash decisions when it comes to nice shiny new things, but again, the way the Tiger now goes, and handles, it'll have to be good
Had a look through your Photobucket, did you get rear ended at a roundabout on the Tiger??
Yes mate that was on the A46 a couple of years ago now, guess the guy behind me thought I should have pulled in front of the van coming round the roundabout :shock:
Engine bars saved the bike though, dinged the rear wheel and scraped the engine bars and bar ends thats about it really.
I agree though my tiger was outstanding value for money and will always be my first adventure bike :D
Quote from: "akey"The Handling – At 260 odd KG this is no light bike,
Off road ability – While there are a number of reviews about how good the XT is off road, I don't have any experience with the bike to verify them. Hopefully I will get to play with an XT at the Yamaha off road school and will report how I get on if I do.
Congrats on your new bike. It's always a good feeling to go shopping.
Off road. Don't go alone. At that weight you'll need help.
Quote from: "akey"Yes mate that was on the A46 a couple of years ago now, guess the guy behind me thought I should have pulled in front of the van coming round the roundabout :shock:
Engine bars saved the bike though, dinged the rear wheel and scraped the engine bars and bar ends thats about it really.
I agree though my tiger was outstanding value for money and will always be my first adventure bike :D
Blimey, Where on the A46?, I was rear ended on the A4 at Bathampton, just before it becomes the A46, small world eh, same thing I was waiting for traffic and the guy slammed into me without braking!!!
Just looked at your location, probably a bit further North than me Im guessing.