Ownership experience

Thought I might note down experiences of owning one a Super Tenere.

Bought for £7850 with 1100 miles, its a blue one.

In the last 2 weeks I've put 500 miles on it. Average mpg 52.9 according to the dash computer. More like 51.5 according to pump litres and miles. I've happily done 220 miles between fill ups with another 20-30 to go I think.

Good stuff

- I like the two power modes. "Touring" is better renamed "Commuting" as its just right for tooling around the M25 in the rain - nice and smooth. "Sport" is better renamed "Hooning" and is rather excellent. I'm quite surprised how quick it is - I was worried I'd miss the KTM, but the hoonability is very much in evidence.

- The bike is very comfy. Plenty of room for arms and legs for a 6'2" like me. The seat is fine and quite luxurious after the 950SM.

- It feels very unstressed and well engineered. The engine feels long legged and just flows very nicely at 100mph. It feels smooth, very torquey whilst being good for smooth cruising.

- With the preload wound up the handling is transformed. The bike seemed to have beem set up very soft so was slow to turn. With some twiddling on the preload it is superb fun. Not as agile as the 950SM (but what is) it doesn't half zap about the back lanes. Very reassuring handling.

- The gearbox is nice, light and precise. Gear lever is adjustable but watch for the lower nut which turns the wrong way!

- Switches etc are very nice and solid. Mirrors are nice and vibe-free at all speeds.

Bad Stuff

- The bike had a stutter or stumble on pulling away from stationary due to over-lean fuelling for emissions regs. Using this technique (http://www.yamahasupertenere.com/index.php?topic=1973.75) it is pretty much eliminated.

- The screen is poor, with a lip resulting in high frequency thrumming and noise, much like my old 1200GS. There's a turbulence zone about 3 inches in height which hits me at the top of my visor. I have a touring screen and Wasp Works bracket on the way to sort this. Needs sorting though as its annoying from 60mph up.

- Its clever but fiddly to work on. For example, the hinged tank is a masterstroke. You can lift the tank but it remains attached to all the fuel lines and pivots at the back and the removed seat can be used to hold it up - genius. However you need to remove the side panels with different types of bolts (though all the same allen key size) with some quarter turn and others full screw-in, and then unbolt 4 bolts holding the tank down instead of 2 that would be enough. Bit daft.

- The clutch and throttle are heavier than I'd like, compared to the KTM at any rate. I think I'll get used to both.

Overall, I'm very happy so far. I fitted Oxford heated grips which was easy enough to do and they are very good, although the controller is a bit fiddly.

Much is said about it being a heavy bike but I find it pretty irrelevant. Sure it feels heavier to wheel about than my KTM was, but its a much bigger bike. It has a feeling of solidity about it which I really like. It feels like you could happily just ride it away into the sunset day after day.

I'll update this every now and then to keep you posted. Feel free to pitch in with your own experiences.

Friend of mine just bought one after 3 FJR's, forwarded your thoughts on to him.

His is new white one, got a good deal with the factory luggage, has ordered a bigger screen after 200 miles.

Looks a nice bit of kit.

Enjoy

Teejay

Also, I'm pleased to have two sides to my swingarm!

Tobers said:

Also, I'm pleased to have two sides to my swingarm!

Click to expand...

Lol

After your honest reporting, I'm definitely going to give one a serious lookover & test ride in Spring

G'day mate,

glad to see you back and posting a bit more lately.

i've got a 660 and i have to say i'm mightily impressed with the finish of it - the quality is superb.

The frame paint looks like it would survive a nuclear attack and the general finish is amazing.

2yrs and 23k kms and its still looks like new

is the 1200 similar ?

It certainly seems well screwed together with nice deep paint on the tank & other bits. I heard the spokes can corrode so I'll keep an eye on them with some ACF50 as the salt appears on the roads.

Bloody spokes, hate cleaning them - dont know why I got suckered again, but they do look good!

Very helpful report.

Thanks for report

Tobers said:

I heard the spokes can corrode so I'll keep an eye on them with some ACF50 as the salt appears on the roads.

Click to expand...

Hagon can replace spokes with stainless (or whatever you fancy)

The slow steering is down to the very lazy geometery, if keeping it long term consider a Wilburs shock with the optional ride height adjuster so you can quicken the steering without losing all the sag and making the ride too harsh.

I read somewhere the computer is about 5% out on fuel consumption, although not sure if this is compared to working it out on speedo (as these are also about 5% out)

I don't think my GS one is bang on with the average fuel consumption, but at least tells me roughly what it is up to.

200+ miles on a commute sounds pretty decent, with my current (rush hour crawl past staionary cars) gives a really poor 42-43 mpg and only 160 miles to a tank, sounds like Yamaha is not too different to the GS in the real world.


Look forward to hearing more

I just fitted my adjustable windscreen bracket (here) and Yamaha touring screen and will venture out tomorrow to see what the wind noise is like.

The adjustable bracket looks just the ticket. It allows you to raise the screen and adjust the angle of attack which is just what I need.

Tobers said:

I just fitted my adjustable windscreen bracket (here) and Yamaha touring screen and will venture out tomorrow to see what the wind noise is like.

The adjustable bracket looks just the ticket. It allows you to raise the screen and adjust the angle of attack which is just what I need.

Click to expand...

Will it be at the office tomorrow? I was in on Monday and back again tomorrow talking about Application Performance Managment..........remember I sent you an email a few weeks back

Hi David - it was indeed there at the office.

Quick update on the Waspworks screen adjuster and Yamaha touring screen. The adjuster is well enough made but with overly tight tolerances making assembly a bit of a pain. Went on well enough though in about 45 mins with the touring screen on top.

I've just about found a screen position I'm happy with, which has minimised the high frequency buffeting substantially. There's still some wind roar but it is much reduced. I haven't managed to get the nice quiet "pocket" of air that I'm looking for, as the screen isn't tall enough, and if I raise it higher on the adjust the buffeting comes returns a bit. As it is, the now-smooth airflow is hitting just at the top of my visor.

Considering it's a major improvement over just the original screen, I may leave it as it is. However, I do hanker after a very quiet ride so may look at a taller screen and/or the winglet thingys.

Very interesting report, would like one of these myself, thanks for posting.

Best regards Stretch.

Givi do an Airflow for the Tenere, they seem to work quite well on the GS so could be worth trying on the Tenere.

Quick update. After much fiddling as is the way with adjustable windscreen mounts, I've found a position which is pretty quiet and smooth up to 70mph. Above that it gets a but "thrummy" with high frequency small turbulence. Not too bad but not as good as I'd like it.

Also I've come across a a cheap seat mod which stops the seat leaning forwards and rucking up your trousers:

http://www.yamahasupertenere.com/index.php?topic=2306.0

Well, the seat mod works very effectively and is quick & easy to do.

I've fiddled further with the Waspworks screen adjuster and as expected, small adjustments make a lot of difference. I had a totally superb setting yesterday but then moved the screen a tad and made it worse, and now cant get it back again. Aaarggh! A bit more fiddling is required.

Also, I'm used to a very light throttle coming from the KTM950SM, so I've embarked on a mission to lighten the throttle on the S10. It's not heavy per se, but it's not as light as I'd like it to be. I'd probably get used to it if I persevered, but a light throttle is a joyous thing on a motorbike so I'll sort it out one way or another.

The culprit is an over enthusiastic throttle return spring. I decided to have a go at it and my initial attempt hasn't been massively successful so I've got 3 alternative torsion springs on order to try. If I can sort this out I'll be very happy.

Other than that, I do really like this bike. High speed stability is excellent - it sits beautifully at 90-95 mph solid as a rock. In town the very good steering lock makes the bike a lot more maneuverable than you'd think it should be and it is very controllable at low speeds. Weaving in & out of tight gaps was initially something I was reticent about but in reality it's a piece of p.

I have the MRA screen attached via the Waspworks bracket. It sorts the whole problem once and for all.

I was (probably) the first person to whine about the corroded spokes in Oct 2010, see here http://www.xt660.com/showthread.php?t=14206&page=6

I trailered my bike to Hagon and took out a few spokes (whilst it was still on the trailer !) and they made stainless sets up on the spot. I paid £150 and when "home" changed them in a freezing tent in about 4 hours. (I am a grey nomad with no fixed abode). Page 7 of the above thread shows me fitting them. It's a peice of cake.

Tobers, some great info here, thanks for posting.
I'm trying to glean as much owner experiences as I can, and it seems to me that the S10 is becoming more popular by the day.
I haven't managed to organise a test ride on one yet, although I recently owned a 1200GS.
How do you think the two bikes compare, having owned both?
Thanks,
John.

hi wust .Aftwer having two final drive issues on my 2009 1200gs that i bought new & only done 13000 miles, i had to rely on good will gestures from bmw , so after lots & lots of research, and read Nik Saunders adventure 50,000 + miles no issues i took the s10 out for a test ride , it felt right straight away. orderd a new one in october & got a cracking deal (robinsons of rochdale ). included in the deal was top box & panniers . 2000 miles trouble free.
Yes ive added farkley bits to customise, but who doesnt
T/T screen adjuster and sat nav bracket
power bronze screen, ( no buffeting )
heated grips
spot lights
alt rider bash plate
& crash bars
wasp works decal kit
thats all for the moment
take the plunge , go on a test ride, you wont regret it

Another quick update from me. I'm delighted by the way the bike handles. It is lovely and "planted" in corners and very neutral. It is definitely chuckable but very smooth with it. Changes of direction are swift but not flighty. The GS is chuckable as well and I'd say there's not much in it either way.

The lights are very good. Unusually I am not tempted to fit HIDs.

I have my touring screen nicely adjusted now but may still consider a taller one. With the adjustment the airflow is smooth and much quieter, but I still want a pocket of still air around me.

The gearbox is nice and snicky. Much better than the GS especially 1st to 2nd which I recall to be somewhat tractor-like on the GS. The Yamaha is much more like a modern gear change.

I am getting about 190 miles before hitting reserve and dont normally fill up to 230 or so, with quite a bit left in. The filler is a bit of a pain as, like the 1200GS I used to have it has a long neck so getting it topped off takes quite a bit of time. I fixed this by drilling the filler neck of the GS to let the air out quicker so may do the same.

The only bugbear therefore is the heavy throttle which I hope to rectify shortly.

Much has been made of the weight of the Yamaha but it is pretty irrelevant to how it rides. And if a few extra kg gets me a proper swingarm and some overengineering in key areas then its very well worth it.

More later when I have sorted the throttle return spring.

Heavy throttle now sorted via some ham-fisted re-configuration of the throttle return spring so it has less pre-load on it. Now much better.

I had a very nice ride on the bike last week - a glorious sunny winter day, not too cold. I went from Slough down to Burgess Hill on motorways almost all the way, and then back along the A272 then A281. On the motorway the bike is lovely, with that lazy all day 90mph cruise which makes long distances a breeze (though Slough to Burgess Hill is hardly pushing the boundaries of endurance, but you know what I mean). It has a natural tendency to sit at about 90 and hums along very smoothly indeed.

On the twistier A272 and A281 in sport mode, it hoons along as fast as you'd like, with very neutral handling and good punch for overtaking. It feels very reassuring to ride. If I were to compare it to a GS I'd say it feels as solidly planted as an 1150 and as fast as a 1200 but not as "flighty" as a 1200, by which I mean the way the 1200 would shimmy if you just nudged the bars with a bit of countersteer.

It leans over very nicely around the curves, though I've not pushed it yet due to cold roads.

Low speed handling is super - nice feet-up u-turns with no tippy over feeling.

So, with the throttle sorted, all looking good so far.