Forgive me brothers I have sinned

[rf9rider]

I like it, let us know how you get on with it.

[oxnsox]

You haven't really sinned until you've ridden it further than the bike it replaced.... :lol:

[jphish]

"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.

[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:

[Timbox2]

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. :?

[Brooks Short]

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.

[Blackadder]

Akey!!

What have you done?  You turncoat!

Oh well, enjoy your modern technology and accessories!

[PeteH]

Best of luck with the Yam...hope the build quality is ok. Oh, how about a ride report and some pix :)

[akey]

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:

[oxnsox]

They're the bits to make it look like a Tiger... right???
( decals, paint job, extra cylinder...)

[Brooks Short]

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.

[John Stenhouse]

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.

[akey]

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.

[akey]

[NeilD]

good to hear a review by an owner rather than a journo..  :D  had only seen them in the Blue before..