Looking at fitting some hand guards. Dont want Rally type guards, so I have narrowed my search down to either Yamaha DT 125 guards £17, look neat but mounting to lever mounts may not work on the Tenere. Or one of the many types of sepretley mounted guards ie acerbis, cycra or Tusk these look good and only cost $24 so looking in to the shipping. Will probably go for the understated Yamaha guards as they look like the offer the best in weather and brush protection. plus the ease of availability.

Will keep posted of the results.

At first we tried to fit Rally-handguards(acerbis), didn't fit. Then we tried the XTR Yamaha handguards, didn't fit. In both cases the brakefluidreservoir on the bars was the cause they didn't fit. Now I got the original Tenere handguards and deflectors and they fit very well, although the deflectors aren't that large they do a good job. Only problem is that they're expensive: guards&deflectors together around 190,- euro's! Greetz, Hans.

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

joined your forum tonight to say what a brilliant bike the new tenere is after buying one yesterday.everything a couple of members have said have been right well done yamaha, and of course this site

Well done and welcome jackspratt (what colour did you get ?) Mine is just due its run in service, vibes seem less every ride or I am just more used to them !

I am managing over 200 miles before reserve shows and thats another 6 litres so range is great.

Seat is a little un comfortable on long runs I think maybe it slopes too much so you cant shift your weight so easily. To be fair that run was over 200 miles non stop I set off 210 miles later I got off the bike so I guess it was an extreme test.

The bike pulls lovely handles well. I was getting blown around a bit but the winds were crazy.

The bike stops very well, believe me I had to stop fast and I just grabbed a load of front brake and stopped. I didnt know if I was going to stop but I pulled up with a little room to spare. (note to self dont worry about looking in mirrors at cop that was following me watch van in front !)

At 4000 rpm the bike is doing about 68 mph if you wind it on it soon gets up to 80 mph. It trickles through slow speed traffic very easily.

cant wait to get some more miles on the clock so I can go for a proper burn up.

I have not sorted the hand guards yet cheers Hans but will post update when I find a good low cost solution.

current miles about 660 and lovin it, need to get a better lock and ground anchor so the bike stays mine. thinking about fitting an inline fuel filter.

My Tens just had its first service, they even cleaned it (saved me the job !)

Its running great the fuel economy is about 58 mpg but most of that was 70 - 80 mph on motorway 4500 - 5000 rpm.

It did over 230 Miles before reserve so I think with an easy throttle a range of 350 is achievable.

I opened it up yesterday and saw about 105 mph on the speedo so I think when the engine is looser a real world 100 mph is probably the best you can go in standard form.

I am ordering some DT handgaurds £18 from Yamaha they may need some tweaking but I am happy with the price and protection from the elements.


The mechanic said the seat will get comfy with time ! ? ! I cant see that myself and will look into a air hawk seat pad for long runs.

Need to just have Key to ignition no key ring as this is marking the plastic.

If it wasnt going to rain all day I was off for a blast to Wales but its too far to travel not to get the views
to sum it up loving the bike and the Height is not really an issue.

Well ladies and gentlemen. Time to wrap up my initial 5809 kms on my Midnight Black (fancy name for what's essentially black...) XT660Z Tenere. I bought it in the 1st week of July and broke it in during my vacation. I loaded it with my daughter (11), soft panniers and a roll-up bag and set out together with my wife who was on her Guzzi Breva 750.

The short summary is: The bike is freakin' great! It's a keeper, by far!

These are the upsides:
- Enough grunt for me
- Works great on road AND gravel!
- Very nimble, even when loaded up
- Very stable at the occasional highway speed stretches
- Fairly easy to stand on the pegs when your bottom starts to complain or when the terrain demands it.
- Have bad roads, gravel roads and sandy stretches for breakfast - even two-up!
- Long range: I did some 420-450 km's between fill-ups. It will be capable of more than 500 km's on a full tank. But then I was in the process of breaking it in taking it very easy on the throttle.
- Surprisingly good wind protection for someone of my height (178 cm)
- Not too sharp knee angle - I like that
- I leave most sportbikes in my wakedust when the roads are somewhat bad, narrow and bendy. Which they tend to be where I live :-)
- Instrument panel is top notch!
- All controls (brakes, clutch) are light, easy and predictable. Enough stopping power even when fully loaded.
- Springs and dampers are better than I expected

Not soo good:
- I have to do something with that seat, even though I can manage long miles by standing up once in a while
- Fuel gauge is somewhat misleading, but I got used to it.
- The speedo is off by at least 10 percent.
- Not roomy enough for my pillion passenger. May be better when I have the proper alu panniers and top box mounted though.
- Not comfy enough for my pillion passenger. May be better when new/reupholstered seat is introduced
- Why on earth doesn't this kind of bike come with center stand as standard?? My dealer didn't get it to his shop before I left for my holiday so I had to leave without it. Awkward when it was time to grease the chain etc.
- The standard tyres are ok for asphalt but not to my taste for gravel stuff. Need to change them to something more knobbly I think. Conti TKC 80 or thereabouts.

Mods that will be done:
- New/modified seat (will be done in September)
- Centre stand (done)
- Hand protectors and wind deflectors (done)
- Proper alu panniers and top box (on order)
- Proper bash plate (on order)
- Handlebar risers for better standing position (next week)
- Broader footpegs for better standing

I'm not in the market for more power, so I'll leave those mods for later.

All in all: My objections to the bike are few and minor. I'm very pleased with the bike and I'm looking forward to years and years of fun with it. Although for two-up serious touring, my trusty Guzzi Quota will be called into action. The Tenere will be my companion on my solo trip to Morocco, though.

__________________
HansP
All you wanted to know
about riding in Norway

Hans great feedback glad you are of similar opinions as myself. I love the bike but like you think the seat is not good.

Do you know if Yamaha are planning a better seat or are you going to modify yourself. Maybe I will get in touch with Yamaha UK and discuss the seat issue, If you dont ask you dont get !

Happy Trails

I will have to borrow a GPS to check my speedo

Hi Stu, thanks.

I have no idea whether Yamaha is going to do something about it or not. I'll modify the seat myself and I'm turning the seat in to a pro in September for reupholstering and putting on a proper rally suede cover ;-)
I do believe though that Touratech or the likes (OTR, Motec) will offer a seat pretty soon as this is the major complaint against the Tenere. If you do ask Yamaha, pls let me know what they replied, will you?

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HansP
All you wanted to know
about riding in Norway

Hey, guys! Visit . : XT660.com The #1 xt660 resource : . | The #1 xt660X, xt660R and xt660Z Tenere resource and then to the XT660Z Tenere specific forum and hter's an example of a british memeber who had the seat of his '08 Tenere redone and now is flat and little bit higher: looks good! I'll have the seat of my Tenere redone by Ray(Rayz zadels - Motorzadels:), when he gets back from his trip to India. Greetz, Hans.

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

evening guys....

great to see a few familiar names here too as well as in . : XT660.com The #1 xt660 resource : . | The #1 xt660X, xt660R and xt660Z Tenere resource

Hello CaptMoto!

Been a hangaround here for some years now. Together with the XT660.com this is THE best site around. Good to have you on board!

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HansP
All you wanted to know
about riding in Norway

Indu

Captmoto is a very hidden man, and romes around a bit on many different forums, bit like myself.

By the captmoto is the big chief at . : XT660.com The #1 xt660 resource : . | The #1 xt660X, xt660R and xt660Z Tenere resource and has setup a great forum for anything to do with the xt660 motor which is used in quite alot of different bikes. Just for anyone who doesnt know

Maxwell you make me sound like some weirdo I just do the rounds a bit everywhere to keep an eye on any info available for the XT bikes and yes I have been a member of the Hubb for quite sometimes but since I am not a "traveller" as such I don't really write much I just read stuff here and there.

Have fun and see you ... "next door"

Hi everyone have just joined the site. I've been a Harley rider for many years but really thinking of changing to the Tenere XT660. I am a bit concerned about 2 issues that have been already raised, and i have read a couple of posts on these bikes.
Firstly i'm wondering how the guys are getting on with the bikes now they are well run in, in the vibration department. I'm not an overly fast rider (like i said i ride a Harley) but i would like something that can cruise through France at 80mph. Most of my riding is just commuting with maybe the odd 200 mile run at the weekend and Europe twice a year.
The second is the seat. Did they "bed in" any??
I see that the 2009 Tenere has a 23Lt Fuel tank opposed to the 22Lt on the 2008, so i'm wondering if Yamaha themselves have done anything with the seat, perhaps through feedback on the 2008.

Love the site.

Hi Portmarco - believe me, the Tenere is like a magic carpet compared to a Harley x

I've done around 1900 miles on mine now - I never found it particularly vibey in the first place (but then I'm used to big singles), sure there was a touch more vibration through the bars when I removed the bar-end weights (to fit hand guards), but the engine itself is very smooth. You can certainly sit at 70-80mph all day on it.

I also did a 300 mile day recently on it, and again, while I found the seat a little uncomfortable initially, I had no problems with it after that...

Either you do get used to it, or the vibes to lessen... either way, don't let that put you off - it's a fantastic bike (for any money, but especially at the price it is!)

xxx

ps. the 22/23 litre thing I think is a missprint at some point, I can get 23 litres in mine - I may just be how far up the filler neck you fill the tank?