34L Tenere - Over it

[dougM]

Well after looking at the cost of rebuilding this pox ridden 34L Tenere, it was going to cost $2100 australian for a total engine rebuild,and that didn't include the cost of gears 3rd , 4th and 5th, which would bump it up to around the $3000AUS mark, I have decided to only do a bottom end rebuild and install the 1vj oil pump. Although I had visions of using this bike to find isolated surf breaks, the fact that it is a basket case of a bike has prevented me from doing so. So once it is back together will flog it off to some dumb kunt asap, I have 2 other bikes (a 90 XT250 and 01 YZ250) which are far more robust and reliable than this basket case of a model (read bucket of useless shit). To anyone thinking of purchasing a Tenere, be prepared to shell out a shit load of cash because as far as I am concerned Tenere suck shit nuggets and should be ghostied off the highest cliff accessible.

[This message has been edited by dougM (edited 12 February 2003).]

[Geoff van de Merwe]

Ha-ha,
SOunds like someone saw you coming too!
If it's any consolation, my bike (which was supposedly in mint condition when I brought it from FC Trott)
has had £950 spent on a top end overhaul and probably another few hundred pounds on basic repairs and maintenance.
When I finally took the engine apart to rebuild it, the fact that she was still running well, let alone running at all, was amazing when I realised the damage inside.
I'm impressed with the way that this bike has kept going with the amount of abuse that it suffered with it's previous owners.
Now that the money and time has been spent on fixing her up, with a few more modifications, I'm confident this bike will get me to SA.

Geoff

[giorgioXT]

I'd ridden for long years and approx 75.000 kms a 34L whitout ANY problem...but - as always- all depends on the previous use -and care- of the bike ! Tenerés and XT's 595 are -by experience- the sturdiest of engines (even heard of Honda quality? try to find a used XR or XL head ...) but they broke too ! I made a seizure on my 1VJ when hurrying to coming back to work from Alps run at 140/150 km/h for one hour and half ...forgiving that the "short" 14 pinion was mounted and the rev-counter broke ...was running flat out thinking of the mess at work and suddenly the speed was lowering to 110 ...stop to see if she needed some oil (yes ) and luckily still carried me home with the usual horrendous clanking sound ...

the moral of the story : instead of getting a Tenere ...get two ! or even three ....then it will be simple to swap pieces..rebuild engines and so on - fortunately in Italy there is plenty of XT & TT , some of them "demolited" (plates retourned to MOT to don't pay property tax) ...
Otherwise there are LOTS of newer & more performant bikes...but I wouldn't scary you with my friend "list of broken things" of a KTM 520 2001...or other scary stories about a DRZ-E (that's a pretty reliable bike too!)