Hi Cibernauta,
Not at all. I've met several riders doing long trips on stock - or near stock - Teneres. I was lucky - a lot of money had been put into mine before I bought it. I just 'topped it up', so to speak.
I've always preached that you can do a big trip on any bike (see The Perfect Adventure Bike, or The Perfect Adventure Attitude? | HORCA MOTO), but I think a few changes to most bikes in stock form is prudent. I dropped my bike so many times and crashed a few as well; I doubt the stock bars would have survived, I bent a bar clamp, the levers would have been broken without Barkbusters and the stock pegs would have surely got mangled. My bike is a 2010, so the plastic bash plate had to go.
Things like upgrading the suspension is a luxury if your riding only moderate off road. And the stock exhaust just means a bit more weight and a little less power. Better rims are nice becasue the Tenere stock rims are not too strong, but when I bent mine I simply rode carefully until I could get it fixed.
It's all a compromise in the end, with cost being an important part of the equation. And I guess it also depends on how much the actual riding is part of your experience; if you're just travelling on a moto, any bike will do, but if part of the fun is riding fast of rough tracks, you'll enjoy it more (and it will be safer) on an upgraded bike.
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