Thanks Ted.
Electrical components are handy to share but I assume then that the chassis are different- cables etc.
There will be no hard core off road - typical gravel tracks in South America, maybe the odd one more difficult but we will not take any risks.
FF

BTW - do you know if late model Zs have 02 sensors, there is a lot of talk about the ‘Kev mod’ to stop low speed surging.
Thanks again

The Z models do have O2 sensors. Avoid 2009 models as there are a batch of almost 2000 bikes that are prone to break third gear with total engine failure as a result.

I have now been on the road almost 5 years on an around the world trip with my Tenere and my bike has passed 200 k kms a couple of weeks ago. To be honest the bike has been a utter piece of garbage. I would not recommend it at all if you ask...

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In the end everything will be fine. If its not fine its not the end....

- Says bike is utter piece of garbage
- Rides 5 years around the world on it.

K

Theres many things I could have mentioned but you still wouldnt have the capacity to understand but here are a few things...

1. If you give up you have lost...I dont give up that easily...

2. If you take a bike into a country in another part of the world YOU HAVE TO TAKE THE BIKE OUT OF THE COUNTRY whitin the given time frame. So bring it in - take it out.
3. After 200 k kms - I can truly from the bottom of my heart say this bike is an utter piece of crap! I belive I have adequate experience to say so. 200 000 kms and 5 continents and 5 years should be enough I belive...

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In the end everything will be fine. If its not fine its not the end....

Thanks for the reply. A shame about your bike, these are a popular long distance travel bike due, at least I thought, to their reliability. Maybe I’m mistaken and people take them because of their specifications and then have problems - although I’ve always heard good reports from owners about trouble free high mileage.
Do you think your bike might just be a Friday afternoon one or do you have info from many other XTZ riders about bad reliability.
I’m keen for any knowledge you can offer as reliability and comfort are my top 2 priorities.
Thanks again

I certainly hope other Tenere riders dont have suffered the same amount of problems that I have. However have a look on the Facebook site of Yamaha XT600Z Tenere and its quite obvious that this bike certainly has its fair share of problems - if not more than fair share. Ask the young brit Mark Waters which bike broke down in Mongolia last year and that to the extend that he chose to. ship it back to England. Ask the belgian guy Djonas Ananas whos gearbox blew up in Mexico and he had to truck the bike here and there and then get it fixed. Not an easy or cheap task when youre in another part of the world than youre from. I also know an aussie guy who spent a fortune on his bike in Salta Arentina and lots of time only to find that his bike broke down again 200 kms down the road - and he hava had it at that stage. Trucked the bike to nesrest port town and shipped his bike back to Australia.

The socalled reliability of these bikes are imo highly overrated. Gearbox potential issues on ~ 2000 bikes, Regulator/stator failes on many bikes, cush rubber drive are absolutely rubbish, a huge single cylindered bike that are set up very lean with only 520 chain and sprockets - it eats chain and sprockets for breakfast, lunch and dinner! Convert to 525 makes it a bit better though.
The heaviest single cylindred bike ever except the old Suzuki Dr big 750/800 set up very lean - how does that sound of user friendly???

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In the end everything will be fine. If its not fine its not the end....