Hello Stuxttr

Good luck with your new purchase sounds very exciting and btw not much longer to wait now.......

In between riding and admiring the bike, let us know know how you rate the performance, engine, economy, comfort/manoeuvrability on/of road etc

Congratulations, hopefully we will hear from you soon

yeah eager to hear more about the bike from real people.

good luck.

robin

Well, here we go! I picked up my new Tenere June 13th and already did 3000km with the bike. Mods so far: alu bashplate, centrestand, handguards, all original Yamaha parts, handlebar risers(30mm), oiltemperature gauge(instead of dipstick), Touratech rearfender bag. What'll come: Hepco&Becker pannier rack for my alu panniers(aug/sept), Leovince exhaust slip-on system, modified seat(flat and higher), WR footpegs. It's an allround allroad: powerful(enough for me, for now!), stable and easy handling and alltime control(even with rainy&windy weather), picks up from 2500rpm and the best riding range is between 3000 and 5000rpm, hardly no vibes, windshield is pretty good(only some turbulence above 140kmh, but how often do you go that fast with a thumper?), comfortable seating, even on the long haul(although it would be better all the way flat so you can change seating position) , good cornering, good brakes and suspension, good fuel economy(average 1lt to 24km, that'll get you about 500km's far!), long distance rider(did a 450km trip without a hassle). Some flaws: the fuel meter is rather pessimistic, the dash has a resonance between 3500 and 4000rpm.
In conclusion: I'm very happy with the Tenere, it's a good bike and fun to ride! Greetz, Hans.

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XT rules! XT660Z Tenere '08
make the world beautiful, get a tattoo!
http://dallastx.smugmug.com

Dallastx,
Great write up, gives a good insight into owning one , can you tell us at what rev range/speed the engine gets too vibey for you and have you tried her with a pillion yet.
Have they really cured the low speed surging from the injection system

And can you post some pics of the mods you've made to the bike...

Thanks and much appreciated

Like I said, hardly no vibes at any rpm, although the max speed I rode was about 140kmh, doing about 5500rpm. Ok, you feel a little buzz, but it's still a thumper, but the buzz isn't annoying. No experience yet with pillion seat passenger, but you can look on . : XT660.com The #1 xt660 resource : . | The #1 xt660X, xt660R and xt660Z Tenere resource where several Tenere riders share their experiences. My e-mail adress is dallastx@hetnet.nl, send me your e-mail adress and I'll send you pics of all the mods I've done so far(I took the pics today, but they are too large to post them here!). Next things to come(already ordered): Hepco&Becker pannier rack(aug/sept) for my H&B alu panniers and the Leovince slip-on exhaust system(later next week). Greetz, Hans.

__________________
XT rules! XT660Z Tenere '08
make the world beautiful, get a tattoo!
http://dallastx.smugmug.com

Hi I picked my new tenere up yesterday the dealers Tamworth Yamaha UK, were very friendly and helpful. My Journey home was good, just getting used to the bike and how it rides. Its a tall bike I am 5,7 ft and I cant get both feet down maybe just tip toes but I am used to tall bikes, once on the move the bike is very stable and will trickle along at very low revs.

I found up to 3000 rpm very smooth but over this I can feel vibes, I hope this is just running in as 3000-5000 is the ideal range for cruising/touring.

Dallaxstx was your bike like this as I notice you say yours is very smooth through this rev range. I have had big singles b4 so I am aware of vibes and this didnt feel 100 % good. I hope it smooths out and that my bike doesnt have a problem. The only thing I can do is ride some more and maybe hope to try someone elses bike.

Apart from this niggle I am very happy with my bike the looks I love but I love Dakar style bikes. Its comfortable but I have only rode short distances yet and my wife says she likes the back seat as she can see above my helmet.

Althought the bike is tall it it seems to cope well with strong wind and as I said b4 is very stable. The dash is very neat and clear and the speedo glows red when you are in the shade or dark. The lights also seem very good.

The screen looks short but works very well.

As I ride more miles and gain more smiles I will keep everyone updated. I think Yamaha have created a great bike. 6000 mile service schedules are also very good to hear. The brakes are very goood those twin front discs certainly pull up well.

I have to make a bracket for my Top box but it looks like that should fit ok.

Just a couple more bits, the bike is very easy to move around I am short of leg so I hop off to do this but its got a decent turning circle and the weight fully fueled is not bad the rear grab handles come in useful too. My BMW rt which was 100 kg heavier and much lower was much harder to move around. The tenere althought tall is suprisingly narrow so should be ideal for filtering through traffic.