Worth the money ??? How much out of interest ?

Cheers, Ted

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Technician, BMW Chester Motorrad.
www.TouringTed.com
1994 XR650L
2001 NX650 Dominator.

Now that's more information than I care for interpol to know :/

Thanks, I have in mind the general idea of changing the seat as one option and it may be that a combination of lowering methods is better than using one single technique.

I have sat on one or two of these bikes but not ridden one and I realise that is whole different thing.

The biggest reduction in rear height I can find online is this one which gives 50mm reduction.
Suspension lowering kit for Yamaha - XT660Z Tenere type DM02 , EUR 94,45 --> ati-bike.com - Online motorcycle parts shop...

Has anyone tried this?
Also, there has to be a limit to how far the front forks can be dropped through the frame to match a lowering link at the back. Is 50mm a practical limit to lowering the bike for this reason?

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Dave

Did the conversion as precaution due to previous bad experience on zzr600 rear shock failure when touring Europe. Did not want to take chance on middle of nowhere failure.

Compared to standard 660 shocks, I thought they were much more poised and recovered much better when cornering over bumpy surfaces. All round I was glad I did this conversion. Worth the money? Consdering a new 660 costs about £11,000 here in Norway, the price is a relative thing.

Note to Norway prices: Don't be put off touring Norway by the price. The scenery is spectacular, the people friendly and genuine and absolutely no language barrier if you speak any English!

Its good to know that most of the maintenance required on the new generation of Tenere's 660 can be carried out by anyone with a basic knowledge of bike maintenance Also all the tools I have used to do all the work I have carried out so far are carried in the tool tube on the bike ,so you wont need to carry a Tool chest with you
even the valve set up is old skool.









The standard rear shock is ok for the price of the bike { here in the uk }
That said I have up rated it due to the fact that we will be riding 2 up and will carry more weight and for longer on rough roads.
The cost for a stronger spring and the internal of the shock upgrading and serviced cost £175.

This new set up as been tested off road two up with all our kit on and its performing very well.

Quick resume after 12k kms:

Rear shock absorbers:
As I've mentioned before in this thread the first set went MIA after 4.5k kms, and I've had them replaced on warranty. I brought my bike in for the 10k service after we'd returned from Tunesia and asked them to check the shock absorbers again, and they turned out to be good as new even though we did a significant amount of offroading in Tunesia, fully loaded two-up. Either the new set is stronger than the old one of the old ones were brash when I bought the bike (it was a brand-new 2009 model purchased in Oct 2010). Now, after another 2000 kms they still feel alright.

Seat:
The stock seat is terrible. Frankly, I'd rather sit on hot coals with monkeys biting my nuts than on this POS. My dealer threw in a Bagster gel seat for free (send in stock seat, get revised Bagster gel seat) with the purchase of the bike so I took it, but it turned out to be pretty bad, too. The gel compartments are nowhere near where they should be, for both rider and pillion, but end up in the free space between your spread legs. The seat also turned out to be a bit uncomfortable for me since the seat - handlebars - pegs geometry didn't quite fit my 6'2" height. We've bought the high Kahedo seat (+4cm) in September, took it to Tunesia for a test ride, and are happier than ever. I'm very comfortable and even though the seat is 4cm higher than stock and 2cm higher than the Bagster I get my feet down more comfortably than before. My wife is very happy, too, since the Kahedo seat is longer and wider than both the stock and the Bagster seat.

Hot thighs
I've noticed that both my thighs, left one more than the right, start boiling after a while. The engine somehow reflects its heat directly onto my thighs. Not sure what to do about this, has anyone else experienced something similar?

I've had my first electrical gremlin in early November, when after a frosty night the cockpit electricity seemed to have gone missing, together with the turn signals and the 12V socket behind the cockpit cover. Turned out to be a fuse, not blown but somehow loose. After I took out each fuse and put it back in everything was back to normal. Other than that we've had no problems with the bike yet, neither in the Sahara heat (more than 40°C) nor the early November Alps chill (-10°C). I've installed a simple chain oiler (Loobman) which means the chain is still good as new, as are the sprockets. Mileage is amazing, fully loaded two-up I've managed to average around 4.0l/100km (60 mpg US, 70 mpg UK).

Walkabout: have you looked at the new 2011 ABS version of the Tenere? It's nicknamed "The Pony" because it's significantly lower than the non-ABS version.

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"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in one pretty and well preserved piece, but to skid across the line broadside, thoroughly used up, worn out, leaking oil, shouting GERONIMO!"

Weak spot on the Tenere is the regulator/rectifier unit, possibly due to the assembly....

But, if I wanted to take a spare unit, which one should I go for from a breakers yard i.e. I want it cheap, but I also want it to work if I need to wire it in - don't mind crimping and cutting, but it's gotta work when fitted....

Any idea from the auto-electricians of you out there?

At least one guy over on XT660.com has successfully used a Fazer 600 reg./rec. on the Ten. Cheap too, I think he got it off ebay.

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无名-傻子老外！

Thank you wuming - appreciate it.

I called into a Yam dealer yesterday - "the biggest dealer in the UK" to quote the sales guy and they were pretty useless at discussing this. Got to say that the XTZ looks no lower in their showroom and the sales guy has not heard of any other version than the one with a standard seat height of 895mm and the optional step ladder for mounting the bike

He offered the option of cutting down the seat and was dismissive about lowering the suspension; "only done that once for one customer, by about 40-50mm, and the handling was rubbish thereafter". I didn't bother to ask him what he was comparing the handling with - when you are surrounded in the showroom with R1s and R6s you can kind of guess what is in his mind.
As ever, "the sales staff will be the very last to hear about any new model" so he has never heard of "the pony" but there are some very trick new carbon fibre bits coming available for fitting to a super tenere; apparently there was a concept bike for another super tenere that would be made to order in the factory to the customers' specification but that has now become a kit of bolt-on carbon fibre.
And that may all be on the Yamaha website if any one is interested; it was around this stage that I fell asleep with excitement.

MJ, This doesn't add anything, so if you know any more ....................

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Dave

Interesting... I never would've thought that the ABS version is not available in the UK. It's not listed on their website (Yamaha Motor UK - Motorcycles, Scooters, Marine, ATV, Snowmobiles, Generators, Golf Cars). It was definitely introduced in Germany in 2011. How I know? I sat one one in October 2010 at INTERMOT Cologne. I drove one in February 2011 in Munich. Funny that the UK dealer should not know about a bike that was first introduced roughly 16 months ago and has been availble for about 11 months, at least on this side of the canal.

Anyhow, here's the facts:
Yamaha XT660Z Ténéré: XT660Z Ténéré 2012 Technische Daten - Motorcycles - Yamaha Motor Deutschland GmbH
Yamaha XT660Z Ténéré ABS: XT660Z Ténéré ABS 2012 Technische Daten - Motorcycles - Yamaha Motor Deutschland GmbH

You'll notice that the latter has a seat height ("Sitzhöhe") of 860mm compared to the 895mm of the non-ABS version. It seems a lot smaller when you're sitting on it because they've also changed the seat (that's right, you can't use a non-ABS seat on an ABS model and vice versa) and made it a bit narrower than before. I should also add that the front forks are not adjustable anymore and the ABS cannot be turned off for driving offroad. I'm not sure about the rear shock. Why it's not available in the UK I don't know. Maybe it's because of the special focus put on ABS in Germany - for some reason unbeknownst to me a bike without ABS doesn't stand a chance over here.

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"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in one pretty and well preserved piece, but to skid across the line broadside, thoroughly used up, worn out, leaking oil, shouting GERONIMO!"

MJ,
Unlike my posting, you have added value!

I will not be at all surprised if Yam bring this ABS version onto their UK website/dealer network in the spring, so thanks for the good factual update about what is available now in Germany.
Yep, Sitzhöhe = 860 mm is probably more useful to mere mortals like me with a short inside leg measurement. Not sure about a narrower seat - it seems narrow enough on the standard bike - but that would make it easier to reach the ground.

The ABS story will run in the UK as well; it has been mentioned, here in the HUBB and elsewhere, that ABS is "the way forward" for bikes, and, again, I would not fall over with surprise if it is an EU compulsion for new bikes to be fitted with ABS, non-switchable of course, for added safety.

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Dave

Glad to help
If you don't want to wait that long it would probably be possible to fly somewhere else to buy the ABS model, have it lowered even more if necessary, and ride it back to the UK.

The mandatory ABS on motorcycles has already been passed by the way, effective Jan 1 2016.

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"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in one pretty and well preserved piece, but to skid across the line broadside, thoroughly used up, worn out, leaking oil, shouting GERONIMO!"

I wouldn't bother. I can think of way more useful spares to carry.

As far as I have heard...

- All the problems are with incorrect assembly of the connector at manufacture, not a weakness of the reg/rec unit itself.
- There have been no failures reported on post-2008 bikes.
- There have been no repeat failures of bikes that have had the reg/rec and loom replaced under warranty (and thus assembled properly)
- There have been no failures on bikes where the owner has checked the assembly of that connector (and preferably filled it with grease).

In other words you can spend ten minutes checking it's plugged together properly and be confident it will not fail, or you can carry a spare reg/rec around all the time.

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dashmoto.net

On the ABS issue, I am in the market for a bike myself this year and have been hanging on in the hopes that the Tenere will be released with ABS soon, so I emailed Yamaha in October last year asking when they will be releasing it, got the reply below.
Only reason I wanted it was for the extra safety in the wet here up north (new rider), and assumed that someone like OTR will make a ABS override switch like they did on the Super Ten.


Thank you for your email, regarding the Yamaha XT660Z Tenere ABS.

We can advise, that for sales reasons only, we currently have no plans to include this version in our current model range.

We thank you for taking the time to contact us and your interest in Yamaha products.

Regards,

Customer Service
Service Department
After Sales Division
__________________________________________________ _ Y A M A H A M O T O R ( U K ) L T D
Sopwith Drive
Brooklands
Weybridge
Surrey KT13 0UZ

Well, I'll be carrying one as well as a spare clutch cable, tire repair kit and tire irons, air and oil filters, chain links and tool + all the usual gubbins.

But thank you for your input.