No One
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My US ride report for the new Yamaha Super Tenere. I will try and give as much detail as I can for the short ride Yamaha let us test ride the bike today. Our ride today was about fifteen minutes long and about ten miles. We had a little city, with water on the asphalt, little Highway.
- The feel: The bike look big sitting in a parking lot. It looks tall and fat, im 6'. Throwing a leg over is not a problem and lifting up off the kick stand and having all the weight on both tires is EASY.. To me it feels like a MUCH smaller bike. The seat is awesome, the bars for me felt natural and in a really nice place for being 100% stock with no "fine tuning after market parts"... As I sat there waiting I got myself a bit more accustomed to where the Sport & Touring mode button and where the traction control button is.
- As we took off: One of the very first things I felt was the rear lifting sightly on acceleration out of the parking lot. I'm pretty sure this is from the drive shaft. I do own an FJR and only once a while feel the same thing. I think when the bike is loaded I prolly wouldn't feel this, or if I was more use to the bike. The bike shifted really nice. The brakes WORK VERY NICE. I tried the ABS several times, more on that in a minute.. Engine and clutch engagement where easy and smooth.
- The engine and power: This was probably one of the most impressive things to me was the motor and power. I know its a 1200 but its stout ! I road the first few miles on the 'Touring' mode.. We had an opportunity to "goose" it several times and the power was really strong. More so than I was anticipating.. Just as we where about to get on the High way I switched the mode to 'S' and WOW... what a difference ! This bike has some balls! Its fast! The throttle seams to be much more 'sharp' with 'S' and the power comes on sooner with a bang! I was smiling a laughing under my full face. I was also thinking that this was a big 'off road bike' and this is a ton of power for off road !! :dribble: Cant wait till May! In short, great power, MORE than I was thinking, big difference between 'T' touring & 'S' Sport ! With the 'S' turned on and the TC turned off you can blip the throttle and the front wheel WILL come off the ground. With a little practice this bike CAN pop wheelies all day ! ! I got the front wheel off, never touched the clutch.. Prolly in first gear. Another thing to me is there seams to be a over drive 6th gear. All the gears feel like like they should but 6th. It feels very much like an OD gear and the RPM' come down along with it. EDIT: Just wanted to point out again, that 1-5 feels like a normal transmission, when you go to 6th its much taller and for 'high-way' use.. prolly gives you much better high-way MPG to getting to the good off road !!
- Traction control: When I saw the water flowing across the wet asphalt I thought, this is going to great to test this bike on this wet.. I had the TC OFF... To set this up, we where at a light turning Left, when we rolled though the light to turn Left the whole intersection had water on it. After we made the Left there was water for another 50 feet or so. As I rolled though the light in first gear I switched to second and hammered the throttle and the tire and RPM's popped right up and started spinning like a mad fool until close to red line and I clicked to third. At this time there is another stop sign to take the next Left. I pushed the TC button to turn it on. I did the same thing with the tire still wet and hammered it.. Nothing, you could feel that you where "flooring it" but the engine was ignoring "the rider" in put and only delivering what it could take not to spin.. In about five seconds I got on it, out of it and hammered it again to try and make it break loose and It would not..... That system is AWESOME and works 100%. As I just said above, with the TC turned off you can pop wheelies on dry or maybe in the dirt, with the TC turned on you CANT..... I tried the same act with it on and off.
-ABS brakes: Just about every light I got on the binders HARD. Being safe, I late braked everywhere I could. There where four or five spots (dry ground) going about 10Mph I pushed on the rear brake hard and the ABS was activated and I felt the tire chirping as the ABS was being used. All the other times the brakes are awesome! Worked flawlessly, I might even go so far that they work better than the FJR brakes. They are strong. ( Don't forget, you can turn off the linked brakes, tap rear brake first, you can have the ABS on, or turn the ABS OFF, this braking system is very unique and works great, you really have all options at your disposal)
- The ride: This is going to sound nuts, and this is a hot topic for people that have not ridden the bike but here goes.. The bike feels like a little 400-500-600 cc motorcycle when you ride it.. Its VERY nimble. It rides as if its truly about 400Lbs or less.. Its a trick on your bike handling senses! The bike is just that good. You can 'flick' this bike around like a little scooter. You have to watch yourself, you can dive into a corner and start getting really aggressive very fast on this bike. Its NOT hard to do, its just asking for you to work it in the turns. It falls in really progressive with the stock tires and the power of the engine is smooth and powerful, and pulls you right out with no effort... This on the road is just going to be a DREAM and I just CANT WAIT to get it off road ! I also stood up for about 1/2 mile to get the feel.. That is nice, if you where going across Africa on the pegs I would need to raise the bars about 1".. Other than that the shifter, brake pedal, hand controls felt natural and in the correct place standing up.
-Over all: After getting to ride it today albita short ride, the systems WORK.. And IMOP they work WELL. Yamaha has pulled the seaming impossible off with this bike. Great engine, great brakes, ABS on, ABS off, linked, not linked (WHAT MORE CAN ANYONE ASK FOR
) Great geometry, AWESOME stock seat, great bar feel, good suspension so far on our short ride. And all for $13,900.... IMOP this is a HOME RUN motorcycle ! They did the work, and it SHOWS !
Awesome bike! Cant wait till May ! ! :yahoo: :yahoo: :yahoo: :yahoo: :yahoo: :yahoo: :yahoo: :yahoo: :yahoo: :yahoo: :yahoo: :yahoo: :yahoo: :dribble:
- The feel: The bike look big sitting in a parking lot. It looks tall and fat, im 6'. Throwing a leg over is not a problem and lifting up off the kick stand and having all the weight on both tires is EASY.. To me it feels like a MUCH smaller bike. The seat is awesome, the bars for me felt natural and in a really nice place for being 100% stock with no "fine tuning after market parts"... As I sat there waiting I got myself a bit more accustomed to where the Sport & Touring mode button and where the traction control button is.
- As we took off: One of the very first things I felt was the rear lifting sightly on acceleration out of the parking lot. I'm pretty sure this is from the drive shaft. I do own an FJR and only once a while feel the same thing. I think when the bike is loaded I prolly wouldn't feel this, or if I was more use to the bike. The bike shifted really nice. The brakes WORK VERY NICE. I tried the ABS several times, more on that in a minute.. Engine and clutch engagement where easy and smooth.
- The engine and power: This was probably one of the most impressive things to me was the motor and power. I know its a 1200 but its stout ! I road the first few miles on the 'Touring' mode.. We had an opportunity to "goose" it several times and the power was really strong. More so than I was anticipating.. Just as we where about to get on the High way I switched the mode to 'S' and WOW... what a difference ! This bike has some balls! Its fast! The throttle seams to be much more 'sharp' with 'S' and the power comes on sooner with a bang! I was smiling a laughing under my full face. I was also thinking that this was a big 'off road bike' and this is a ton of power for off road !! :dribble: Cant wait till May! In short, great power, MORE than I was thinking, big difference between 'T' touring & 'S' Sport ! With the 'S' turned on and the TC turned off you can blip the throttle and the front wheel WILL come off the ground. With a little practice this bike CAN pop wheelies all day ! ! I got the front wheel off, never touched the clutch.. Prolly in first gear. Another thing to me is there seams to be a over drive 6th gear. All the gears feel like like they should but 6th. It feels very much like an OD gear and the RPM' come down along with it. EDIT: Just wanted to point out again, that 1-5 feels like a normal transmission, when you go to 6th its much taller and for 'high-way' use.. prolly gives you much better high-way MPG to getting to the good off road !!
- Traction control: When I saw the water flowing across the wet asphalt I thought, this is going to great to test this bike on this wet.. I had the TC OFF... To set this up, we where at a light turning Left, when we rolled though the light to turn Left the whole intersection had water on it. After we made the Left there was water for another 50 feet or so. As I rolled though the light in first gear I switched to second and hammered the throttle and the tire and RPM's popped right up and started spinning like a mad fool until close to red line and I clicked to third. At this time there is another stop sign to take the next Left. I pushed the TC button to turn it on. I did the same thing with the tire still wet and hammered it.. Nothing, you could feel that you where "flooring it" but the engine was ignoring "the rider" in put and only delivering what it could take not to spin.. In about five seconds I got on it, out of it and hammered it again to try and make it break loose and It would not..... That system is AWESOME and works 100%. As I just said above, with the TC turned off you can pop wheelies on dry or maybe in the dirt, with the TC turned on you CANT..... I tried the same act with it on and off.
-ABS brakes: Just about every light I got on the binders HARD. Being safe, I late braked everywhere I could. There where four or five spots (dry ground) going about 10Mph I pushed on the rear brake hard and the ABS was activated and I felt the tire chirping as the ABS was being used. All the other times the brakes are awesome! Worked flawlessly, I might even go so far that they work better than the FJR brakes. They are strong. ( Don't forget, you can turn off the linked brakes, tap rear brake first, you can have the ABS on, or turn the ABS OFF, this braking system is very unique and works great, you really have all options at your disposal)
- The ride: This is going to sound nuts, and this is a hot topic for people that have not ridden the bike but here goes.. The bike feels like a little 400-500-600 cc motorcycle when you ride it.. Its VERY nimble. It rides as if its truly about 400Lbs or less.. Its a trick on your bike handling senses! The bike is just that good. You can 'flick' this bike around like a little scooter. You have to watch yourself, you can dive into a corner and start getting really aggressive very fast on this bike. Its NOT hard to do, its just asking for you to work it in the turns. It falls in really progressive with the stock tires and the power of the engine is smooth and powerful, and pulls you right out with no effort... This on the road is just going to be a DREAM and I just CANT WAIT to get it off road ! I also stood up for about 1/2 mile to get the feel.. That is nice, if you where going across Africa on the pegs I would need to raise the bars about 1".. Other than that the shifter, brake pedal, hand controls felt natural and in the correct place standing up.
-Over all: After getting to ride it today albita short ride, the systems WORK.. And IMOP they work WELL. Yamaha has pulled the seaming impossible off with this bike. Great engine, great brakes, ABS on, ABS off, linked, not linked (WHAT MORE CAN ANYONE ASK FOR
) Great geometry, AWESOME stock seat, great bar feel, good suspension so far on our short ride. And all for $13,900.... IMOP this is a HOME RUN motorcycle ! They did the work, and it SHOWS !Awesome bike! Cant wait till May ! ! :yahoo: :yahoo: :yahoo: :yahoo: :yahoo: :yahoo: :yahoo: :yahoo: :yahoo: :yahoo: :yahoo: :yahoo: :yahoo: :dribble:
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