Super Ténéré test ride-First impressiosn

[tim dew]

Super Ten Road test-

After three years of happy low cost ownership the itch to change my F800GS is back , this week’s MCN prompted me to look again at the Super Tenere with prices being reduced to sub £10k (rang a view dealers and this for the non first edition is correct).

I pulled out my old BIKE magazine collection and read the launch review again from July 2010, good all rounder but the £13.5 price put the Super Ten into the GS1200 with accessorises territory and price was king in the test.

I went ahead and booked a demo ride for Saturday morning, the England V France game I hope would allow some quiet roads to test out the Super Ten on motorway, B, lanes and A roads.
First Impressions, reminded me very much of my previous bike (1150 Adventure) from a size and weight feel, you definitely sit in the bike rather than on like my 800GS. The controls felt light and the gearbox a little clunky pulling out into traffic.

My test route had me pulling out of Bristol via the M32, glad I was awake as a ‘friendly’ Astra driver thought he would take a closer look at the Super Ten and cut straight into my lane, a quick grab of the fly by wire throttle and I was out of trouble.

Pulling on to the M4 allowed me to test out some acceleration up through the gears, very impressive mid range but left me wondering which gear I was in, it was fifth with a lazy six for high speed cruising, mpg was around 43.

First and only real problem, I am Six foot three and with the standard screen fitted at around 80mph my head was being buffeted around and noise levels with ear plugs was very high , I did not have time to adjust the screen and I notice Yamaha supply an extend version.
Pulling off the motorway I took in some sweeping A roads, this bike for its size impressed me with its handling and safe overtakes.

The clear vibration free mirrors and clocks kept me update with information, the need to push buttons on the clocks to change the read out felt dated compared with the handle bar mounted one on the GS. The seat and room on the bike was very comfy and high mileage days with a screen change/adjust felt very possible.

The linked brakes felt positive and lacked the dive from the front forks I have with the 800GS. After 40 miles and around two hours I returned the bike reluctantly to the dealer.

Yes I was impressed with the Super Ten, small issues of the screen and a low mpg (45) did not put me off. I like the First Edition colours and package and now need to have a serious think GS1200 or Super ten?

Any thoughts on longer term ownership please?

Thanks

Tim

 

[Rushy]

Buy this months BIKE magazine and you'll see an article on what happened to Nick Saunders Super Ten after he did 51k + hard miles up and down the Americas in 4 months.......zero issues .....he also did 150ish miles with no oil in the FD after a strap got entangled in the wheel and did the seal in.....

 

[MarkShelley]

Buy this months BIKE magazine and you'll see an article on what happened to Nick Saunders Super Ten after he did 51k + hard miles up and down the Americas in 4 months.......zero issues .....he also did 150ish miles with no oil in the FD after a strap got entangled in the wheel and did the seal in.....

A good article that. They stripped the engine down completely and found no wear to speak of. Impressive.
I remember a similar article years agoi when they did the same to a VFR750 engine that had a high mileage on it with similar results.

 

[Rasher]

I rode the Yamaha back to back with my own 2008 GS and a Stelvio on the same day.

The Yamaha is physically smaller than the GS and lower to the ground with a more "in" than "on" position which makes the extra weight completely dissapear, I reckon low speed manouvres were easier on the Yam.

Once moving the Handling seemed OK, to be honest it is hard to compare to a bike I had done several thousand miles on (plus has £1200 of Wilburs fitted) but I was certainly impressed with the stock Yamaha's handling, and an almost total lack of dive, it felt as composed as the GS on the brakes (The Stelvio pitched badly) - The Yam felt much closer to the Telever setup than I could believe considering it has long travel suspension.

The engine has a load of low down grunt and felt far more potent below 4-5k, but the GS feels quicker towards the top, although it could be the Yamaha feels flatter up top just because it has a flatter curve - would love to get the bikes side by side for a thrash-off.

Luggage ain't up to BMW standards IMHO, although good looking ally they seem a shade smaller than Vario's and the key system is not quite as neat.

The heated grips (although apparently very good) are a few hundred quid more and are bolt-on jobbies, similarly the computer gizmo's are not controlled from the bars. I would also miss the oh-so-easy wheel removal of the BMW.

There is also an issue with severe power restrictions at low revs in 2nd / 3rd gears, seeing as the bike has Traction Control as standard this is bloody stupid and pisses me right off - some companies offer to remove this with some remapping but it costs about £500! (Reminds me of my early ZZR1400 with a crippled bottom end, seems a very Japenese thing trying to protect us from ourselves)

The biggest up by far is almost certainly going to be reliability, the Nick Saunders jaunt shows this, I would guess far less BMW final drives get past 50k than those that don't - and that is with a load of pampering.

I am not surprised the Yamaha took a pounding for 50k with little servicing, and it is the main reason I want one, the GS has the handling and performance I require, I don't mind the quirky engine (and therefore am not too bothered about the Yams awesome smoothness) but I would not be constantly worried about the bike breaking down / costing a fortune to maintain

If someone offered me either bike free with a support van following me everywhere with mechanics and spares I would probably prefer a new GS, in the real world where breakdowns can ruin my limited free time and eat into my limited funds the Yamaha wins by virtue of a no contest - the GS just ain't reliable enough to be considered a viable alternative for my next bike.

The Yamaha will be considerably cheaper to service and far less likely to break down, and I won't feel the need to buy extra warranty on a 3 year old low mileage vehicle, it is a bike I could see me keeping for ten years.

If only BMW would make some luggage for it, but as they don't I reckon a set of SW Motech luggage will do fine instead. And I guess I can live with an extra 30 minutes work on tyre changes once or twice a year

 

[jetjock]

The engine has a load of low down grunt and felt far more potent below 4-5k, but the GS feels quicker towards the top, although it could be the Yamaha feels flatter up top just because it has a flatter curve - would love to get the bikes side by side for a thrash-off.

Mine felt like that during the first 1000 miles but now its done 2000 its loosened up considerably and now has a top end.

Im quite sure it would beat the BM now on a drag race .

 

[Simon_h]

The tenere luggage may be smaller, but they're much lighter and they weather a million times better.

 

[tr6 trophy]

xt1200z

tradeing in my 2009 1200gs 14000 miles for a new yam xt1200z.
for the same reason as every one else, reliabilty !!!
new fpc at 3000miles , crown wheel bearing 8500 miles & 13000 miles !!!
no confidence to mile munch, & the bike as been looked after by me from new.
cant wait to pick up my blue one with lots of goodies fitted

 

[rdj001]

Got my black Super Ten at the start of the year. Absolutely love it.

Comfy, quick and chuckable. Luggage is functional (I agree it's not as good as beemer stuff but lots of aftermarket options around).

I got had the yam crash bars, winglets, spot and tall screen fitted. Chuffed with everything although I still get a fair bit of buffeting (perhaps more a consequence of my lanky 6ft 4in frame).

Rod

 

[Simon_h]

I've heard that the taller screen actually makes the buffeting worse because it's more bent backwards

 

[(RIP) Kaister]

all 500cc plus jap engines are virtually wear proof if looked after even slightly.

i remember bike,i think taking apart a GS550? years ago after high miles and showing no wear.

with the japs its the ancilliaries that wear - almost the opposite of bm's.

i think the yam xtz range is built up to a standard not down to a price as they are trying to muscle in on the bm 1200 and 800.

i think there are many more 800 failures than any 660 failures. - probably same for 1200's.

 

[Bryn]

I think the fact that Nick Sanders did that trip on a Super Ten with minimum fuss will in itself help them sell.... good PR... a different take on the LWR effect

 

[NLC]

Good looking bike for sure. A bit of question mark as to Yamaha's strategy though in getting the model establish with such a high asking price. They should have priced them below the GS like BMW is doing with the S1000RR. Once a critical mass is established they sell more bikes (and BMW responds quicker with new models and more aggressive pricing). Everybody wins... we'll almost everyone.

 

[Georgeeboi]

There prices have dropped a lot ive seen one with only 1000 miles for £9500 and there doing o% as well got to be good value now.

 

[Rushy]

Got my black Super Ten at the start of the year. Absolutely love it.

Rod

I do like the black with the black wheels, much nicer than the silver wheels

There prices have dropped a lot ive seen one with only 1000 miles for £9500 and there doing o% as well got to be good value now.

Its the time of year , been into two Yam dealers recently and they have both had some good deals on the Super Ten......get haggling