Just me getting older?

RaginTxn

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Alright - so as you can see in my signature, I've had a handful of other bikes over the years - two cruisers, sport standard, sport touring, and now the Adventure setup. The only "modification" I've done is do the seat leveling mod with the rubber bumpers.

So the root question to this post, and the title, is this - has anyone else experienced mounting lower back pain when switching to the S10 compared to your previous rides? The most I ever had was on my VFR, and that was more like a tired lower back - like after riding 30-40 miles on a road bike (pedal bike); but this is something else. It's been going on now for about 2-3 weeks, and doesn't seem to be getting better. I've only been able to ride 2-3 times a week if lucky because of it.

I'm going to try risers to push the bars further back and lowering links to help with my 80% of the time commuting riding, but I'm just wondering (dreading) that it's the geometry of the adventure touring bike.

Anyways - any feedback would be great.
 

EricV

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I experienced some of that when I moved from a FJR to the Super Ten. Some of it is your body getting used to a new riding position and developing new muscle strength for that new position. Advil and time. Some of it may also be ergonomics too. I did add risers to raise the bars, for other reasons as well as discomfort. It did help. FWIW, I'm 55 and got my first Super Ten in 2011. I put risers on the '15 when I got that too.
 

RaginTxn

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I did the risers, moved bars, seat mod, highway pegs, but i noticed the best improvement from the russell day long seat.
Glad you mentioned the seat - did you (or anyone else) find better relief from different saddles? I've been looking at the Sargent saddle simply for lowering the riding height a bit, but my cousin swears by the RDL - but I'd nervous spending the $$$ and then have a custom saddle not work. I know that's a VERY subjective question, but all perspective is welcome.
 

Checkswrecks

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Glad you mentioned the seat - did you (or anyone else) find better relief from different saddles? I've been looking at the Sargent saddle simply for lowering the riding height a bit, but my cousin swears by the RDL - but I'd nervous spending the $$$ and then have a custom saddle not work. I know that's a VERY subjective question, but all perspective is welcome.
Yes definitely. On the first Tenere, flattening the seat made a world of difference to my lower back and then I got the Seat Concepts kit, which also flattens the seat. On the Gen2, I went right to the Seat Concepts kit and it again made a difference.
 

richarddacat

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I have a history of low back pain issues that's now moved to my hip.

The stock seat is too hard and causes too much pressure on my hip/sciatica so I'm currently using a Seat Concepts Low seat with a gel pad under a sheepskin... (WHILE my stock seat is being built by Terry Adcox.)
Anticipating that the Terry seat will move me back some I bought a pair of Rox risers and went ahead and installed them. Doing this made my low-back hurt and cramp up. I removed them and all is well. We'll see what the new seat does.

I've always needed to lean forward a bit on my bikes anyway, as to straighten my back or rather align my spine and hip to the ideal position.
 

RaginTxn

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I did the hell risers on this bike, but had rox risers on previous bike. I like the heli's better, but I need to go up another 3" for standing(I'm one of those long torso freaks) and I'm not sure what to do about control cables. Anyway the russell seat was a butt and back saver for me. oh one thing about the RDL is it raises ride height 1.5"-2" I got the big comfy couch version, but they have a sport seat that might work for you. it sounds like your trying to get seat height down?
 

richarddacat

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Is this the one that you bought?

https://seatconcepts.com/collections/yamaha/products/yamaha-2010-16-xtz1200z-super-tenere

I also find the same with leaning a bit forward.

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That looks like it but I bought mine used. The seat pan is custom, not stock.

I had a RDL on my FJR, just plain awesome. I was tempted to do it again then found out about https://www.terryscustomseats.com and since he's in my backyard I thought I give him try. Good luck.
 

jbrown

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I sold my VFR after 17 years and got the Tenere because my 60 something year old back and neck had enough of the sporty position. The Tenere is much better for my back. I did have some arm and shoulder issues until I replaced the handlebars with a "raptor" bend that suits me much better. I guess we're all a bit different. Just remember, we don't stop riding because we get old, we get old because we stop riding!
 
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RonH

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At 58yrs old, I find the tenere very comfortable in it's stock setup. I've owned about 30 motorcycles over the last 50yrs, and out of all of those only a couple that I could not easily get used to. Those either went away right away, or got different bars, and bars were never higher. Problems I had were bars too high on most that caused neck pain, and butt pain.
 

cyclemike4

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I also had lower back pain when I started riding this bike. I spent a lot of years and miles on an old FJ 1200 and then a FJR1300. both of those bikes felt like the people who built them made them just to fit me. I like the forward lean and lower bars when I am on the street. the biggest thing that helped me on those bikes both of them had some support for my upper legs that the Super T doesn't have. So maybe a seat change is a good idea for your bike. Just like was mentioned in this thread after developing some muscle for the upright riding position I seem to have no trouble with it.
 

ace50

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Traded my Royal Star in on the S10. I can remember having cramps or soreness in my hips the ride home because of the difference in position.
Couple more rides and it went away. Now it's my ass from that darn stock seat!
 

RaginTxn

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I also had lower back pain when I started riding this bike. I spent a lot of years and miles on an old FJ 1200 and then a FJR1300. both of those bikes felt like the people who built them made them just to fit me. I like the forward lean and lower bars when I am on the street. the biggest thing that helped me on those bikes both of them had some support for my upper legs that the Super T doesn't have. So maybe a seat change is a good idea for your bike. Just like was mentioned in this thread after developing some muscle for the upright riding position I seem to have no trouble with it.
That's exactly how I feel! I was actually looking at FJs and the Ninja 1000ABS before I settled on the S10 (cousin rides a GS and convinced me I needed to get and ADV bike XD ).

I guess the worry I have is that this seems to be more than soreness or cramping - I felt that when's I first ride my VFR, and like has been said, got over that after about a week of riding. This however HURTS, like compressing discs hurts, but I thought the same thing - give a week or two and my back/muscles will build up to it. Now I'm considering going back to the Sport Tour or even a cruiser again cause of it; which I hope not to cause I absolutely love the S10!

I'll try the seat - see if that makes a difference. I'm hoping that the late night overseeding of the yard is what caused it, and I just need to heal up from that - but that was almost 2 weeks ago now...

Thank you everyone for the feedback! I hope it continues and that this can serve as a point of reference for other riders as I couldn't really find a post here or elsewhere about this topic - at least this perspective.



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RaginTxn

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Traded my Royal Star in on the S10. I can remember having cramps or soreness in my hips the ride home because of the difference in position.
Couple more rides and it went away. Now it's my ass from that darn stock seat!
Hahaha, couldn't agree more - did a weekend ride to visit family about a month ago, and everything was great minus the seat and no cruise control (Gen1 issues) XD

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ace50

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Hahaha, couldn't agree more - did a weekend ride to visit family about a month ago, and everything was great minus the seat and
no cruise control (Gen1 issues) XD
I really like my GoCruise throttle lock. (not really a LOCK)
Following someone when they don't have cruise control, and you do, makes yours almost useless!
It's OK when your leading though!
 

Cycledude

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The stock Tenere seat is miserable for many folks me included, I plan on eventually upgrading to a better seat but so far haven’t been able to decide which one.
 
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