TENERE 700!!!

Finally!

After almost five years of waiting none-too-patiently, there was a blue (sorry, "Ceramic Ice") Tenere of my own to swing a leg over.

My dealer had called me on a Friday afternoon--as surprised as me--to say that a bike with my name on it had been dropped off unexpectedly at his store. Would I like to pick it up that afternoon? Well, that wasn't going to work because my wife and I were headed 100km in the opposite direction to get her a brand new e-bike (Trek Verve+ 3, for the curious; more on this later, as e-bikes are totally addictive form of two-wheeling).

But you're here for the Tenere, as was I the following morning.

What should've been a simple, 30-minute bit of paperwork ended up being a 3-hour epic while I stewed in my riding gear and my infinitely patient wife sat in the car (COVID and all) waiting to find out if I was going to be riding home on a Yamaha, or riding shotgun in her Honda. Yamaha Canada's dealer site was all messed up, not calculating my bill correctly and, in the end, requiring someone from their IT department to work some magic in the back-end system.

Got sorted just in time to leave ahead of some looking thunderclouds--reminiscent of last summer's experience picking up the Africa Twin.

As soon as I left the dealer's parking lot, I had to laugh: the dreaded instrument shake was unbelievable. Looked like somebody hadn't bolted things to the bike, but nope: that's a feature, not a bug. So if you're getting a Tenere and only do one mod, it should be fix the display shake. In anticipation of this, I'd already ordered the CamelADV stiffeners which fit perfectly, take about 20 minutes to install, and transform the tower into a readable form. This is your #1 accessory:

Waiting at home was a bunch of other farkles I'd ordered early in the hopes the bike would arrive soon. Didn't want to get skunked later, when everyone else got their bikes and started clearing out stock. Some of the bits on order or installed include:

• Rally Raid fork preload caps
• Rally Raid 85 N-mm shock spring
• Rally Raid crossbar GPS mount
• Rally Raid wheel tool (this is really an essential and handy piece of kit)
• Rally Raid wheel spacers
• Eastern Beaver PC-8 fuse box
• Outback Motortek skid plate
• Outback Motortek lower crash bars
• Double-Take Adventure mirrors
• Oxford heated grips - Adventure model
• Barkbusters Storm hand guards
• CamelADV Voltmeter
• Mosko Moto Hood tank bag
• B&B tail tidy (Note: They were not shipping to Canada because of COVID. As of June 8, they will be shipping again, as their support just confirmed to me.)

Here are some pics of the PC-8 installation, to which I've wired all my accessories as well as a charging plug and heated jacket plug. The voltmeter is attached with double-sided tape.

Haven't decided on a pannier rack yet--either the Touratech or Outback Motortek. Rackless luggage would be nice, and Mosko Moto's Reckless 80 v3 looks great--but it would cost over $1000 by the time I factor in the exchange rate to Canada. Also looking at the Giant Loop Siskiyou panniers since I like having the weight low, and it would be great to get almost everything off the seat except for maybe a RotoPax. In future posts I'll review all this stuff and why I chose each item.

The Tenere has a 1000km break-in period where you're not supposed to exceed 5000 rpm for any lengthy period. Then you change the oil and keep it below 6000rpm for another 600km. Here are my thoughts on the bike after 500kms, after coming from a WR250R (which I still have, with 43,000km of dualsport riding on the clock) and a 2019 Africa Twin (which I sold after only a few weeks and about 3500km of mostly paved riding).

The engine is smooooooth
It's like an electric motor: lots of torque off idle, very easy to control, utterly predictable. Easily the nicest engine I've ridden. Makes me a pro dirt-rider without effort: lean the bike, weight the outside peg, lean over the front wheel, add some throttle, and feel that back end power slide around the corner in perfect control. It's like magic. I never really felt this type of connection with the WRR--it doesn't corner nearly as well as the Tenere. And the Tenere sounds so good, even with the stock exhaust.

As others have also pointed out, throttle control benefits from taking out the cable slack. I didn't find anything twitchy with the throttle as some have complained; it's just smooth-as-snot power when rolling on the gas.

The suspension is clunky
Yeah, there's a lot of talk about the suspension being unrefined out of the box, and I have to agree. I gave my WRR a professional tuning for valves, springs, and oil, and it totally transformed the handling offload and with baggage. No reason why the Tenere can't benefit from some similar attention. I've installed the pre-load top caps but haven't installed the shock spring or really played with settings. Will do that once the spring's in, and then this fall I'll send the whole bike out for a proper tune. It's money well spent in my experience. For reference, I'm 195lb/86kg without riding gear on, and the stock spring (69 N-mm) is aimed at riders weighing 60-65kg carrying no luggage.

It's super easy to work on
One of my complaints with the Africa Twin was how hard it was to open up and work on. Changing the air filters required stripping dozens of fasteners and fiddly bits of body work, and even though I'd done it a few times, it still felt like a 2-hour job each time. Must've been designed by a car engineer. By contrast, the Tenere seems to have been designed by a motorcyclist. The panels are thoughtfully attached, and it's easy to strip and reinstall without having mysterious hardware left over. I can have the forks off, opened at the top, and reinstalled in the bike in 45 minutes. Removing the rear shock can be done in about 10 minutes, and doesn't require removing the rear wheel or other components besides a mud flap and two side panels. It's a cinch.

The stock seat is tolerable
Coming from a Seat Concepts on my WRR, and a comfy couch on the Africa Twin, I was worried the Tenere's perch would be rock hard. It's not too bad actually - I rode 350km of paved and dirt roads today over 8 hours, and was only feeling a bit antsy at the end. Nevertheless, a taller seat would help open up my knees a bit, which are more bent than on the WRR.

Handlebars need to be tilted forward a bit
Not sure if they are set at the factory or by the dealer, but several people have reported the need to tilt them and I'd agree. Results in less wrist strain.

Tires are surprisingly good
Coming from full knobbies, I was expecting to slide around more in the dirt given the svelte profile of the stock tread on the Tenere. However, they are great on pavement, and hook up much better and more predictably than you'd expect on loose dirt, sand, and gravel. On the Africa Twin, I always found it tended to plough the front end when turning on loose stuff, so I was expecting something similar for the Tenere. Not so: both the front and rear handle with balance and a clear sense of the limits, and like I said earlier, a simple twist of the wrist is all you need to break loose the rear and turn with confidence.

Wind noise is tolerable
At 6'-1"/183cm, I'm too tall to hide completely behind the windscreen. Nevertheless, even though the redirected air hits the peak of my Shoei Hornet, it doesn't buffet me. This is a major improvement over the Africa Twin, which had (for 2019, at least) a notorious blast up the fork-tunnel, and required a baffle to redirect the flow or the bike was practically unrideable above 50km/hr. On the Tenere there's a steady rush of air past my helmet, but not so bad I can't listen to music on my headset (with ear plugs in).

Fuel economy
Following the Ryan F9 break-in method (which I've done for all my bikes and cars) has worked great for longevity, although all that accelerating takes a hit to fuel economy. My low fuel indicator flashed at around 200km, and I filled up at around 225km with about 12 liters into the 17 litre tank. The manual says the low fuel indicator flashes at around 4.3 litres, so no surprises here. Once everything's broken in, I should easily be able to get 300km to a tank, and with a 1-gallon RotoPax, that'll give me plenty of range for the trips I do.

Weight and handling
It was a surprise to discover the Tenere feels less top-heavy than it looks. While it's no 1250GS in the centre of mass department, it's certainly not like my old KLR and handles its weight very well. I never felt tippy in the dirt or when doing tight maneuvers on pavement. Amazingly, it feels almost the same as the WRR--just a little heavier--but not as heavy as the WRR loaded with gear. And it feels waaaaay lighter than the Africa Twin--even when it had nothing on it. The Tenere truly feels like a slightly larger version of the WRR, with so much more power and real brakes. It's less tiring to ride, has a good view of the front wheel (unlike the Africa Twin, which felt like navigating a boat), and feels slim and dirt-bike-like at the waist. It's easy to flat-foot. Paddling the bike backwards on dirt can be tricky--that's one area where you notice the weight over the WRR. However, my net impression is I'm getting about 60-75% of the WRR's capabilities, but with tons of power to make up the difference. Has me questioning whether I should even keep my trusty old WRR. Let's reassess at the end of the riding season.

Overall
Zero regrets, tremendous fun to ride. Biggest issue is the suspension needs tuning, but I expected that. The power is more than adequate, the handling (even with untuned suspension) is excellent and surprisingly good in the dirt. Tank bag sure is handy but should probably be a minimalist version (e.g. Mosko Moto Pico) or not at all, if you want to really get over the tank for dirt riding and don't want your dangly bits getting slapped repeatedly. Biggest areas to lose weight are the exhaust and battery--as with any bike. On the Tenere, that could shave an easy 5-10lbs from a relatively high location. The benefit of having the bike introduced to North America a good year after other markets is we benefit from the many great accessories already on the market, and the experience of other riders who've now flogged the bike through all sorts of conditions.

Yamaha's created a real winner here, as North American riders will finally get to discover for themselves. The Tenere ticks a lot of boxes for a reasonable price, leaving budget for accessories to suit your own particular needs.