First Impressions and Advice Requested

[rikkitik]

Greetings,

Last Friday I went to Shawnee, OK from here in Central Alabama to pick up our brand new 2014 Super Tenere from Sehorn Yamaha. First, total kudos to everyone from Sehorn for making this the most painless motorcycle purchase ever - and I've bought and sold more than a few. Not only was the initial OTD price amazing, but the accessories I had installed were also discounted pretty heavily. Heated grips, panniers, top box, wind deflectors, and a tall windshield were all added before heading home. Now the first impressions gleaned from the almost 700 mile ride home:

Wind management is acceptable with the tall Yamaha windscreen and wind deflectors. I'm thinking a slightly wider shield will make it the perfect pocket of air. Recommendations?

Plenty of power, excellent cruise control, super handling, good instrumentation are all high points. Cruises great at 80mph with only a moderate disturbance around the big trucks.

The stock seat is a medieval torture device! I was squirming within 50 miles and with the non-skid surface couldn't even shift my butt around without lifting off the seat. I know there are tons of options, but most likely the bid will go to Russell Day-Long.

Now for the advice portion of the show!!! The bike will not see single track but mostly improved dirt, forest service roads, etc. It will go to Prudhoe Bay, AK either this year or next year or both.

Skid plates and crash bars are the biggest questions. So many choices with pros and cons for each. I want moderate protection, simple oil changes, good mounting for other accessories - lights, highway pegs, etc.

I've read through old posts until my eyes cross - time for fresh opinions. What say you?

Rick Bailey
Tuscaloosa, AL
IBA # 27763

 

[ace50]

How tall are you?
At 6'3", even with the tall windscreen, I raised it another 2-3 inches and added a 3" deflector on top.
Almost level with my nose. Very nice now, much less wind noise to listen to music..

 

[True Grip]

I'm partial to only what I know. The Alt Rider bars have held up well from drops in the garage to drops in the wild. Nothing high speed just normal get offs in slick or lousy terrain. My first skid plate was Alt Rider also and I beat it up pretty good but never a problem with it. When ACD came out I liked the added protection so I've been using it. I put the studs in the front so 4'nuts is all it takes to get off. All the major players would serve you well!

 

[echo_four_romeo]

::026:: what True Grip said.

I've had the factory engine guard, RUMBUX and currently running AltRider. I much prefer the Alt Rider bars. I am planning on mounting some additional lighting to them when the treasury dept releases the funds. I had the factory skid plate which was enough for gravel roads and keeping road debris off the oil filter...currently have the RideOnADV monster bash plate. For wind management I am using the Yamaha tall windshield with a Madstad bracket to give an extra bit of height and angle.

 

[trainman]

theres a cheap little mod to change the seat rubbers and level it off, as stock they can tip you forward and limit movement , I am 6ft and found that bar risers helped the posture too

engine bars - something high recommended, if it falls on the left side the fan will impact the radiator and damage one or both of them
mind you overheating might not be an issue in Alaska!

 

[spam16v]

Altrider, ACD and Corbin with '14 oem tall/winglets and madstand bracket myself.

 

[Wanderer]

Howdy,
Welcome. I would recommend Altrider crash bars. In MHO every m/c should come with crash bars. The Altrider are very strong, don't ask me how I know, easily installed. I would recommend ordering from a 3rd party their order fulfillment cycle is pretty slow. If you're not going rock climbing the stock skid plate works well. I do forest roads, class 6 in VT., etc. If it gets to the point I need a real skid plate that's my sign to turn around.
Later,
Norm

 

[eemsreno]

Welcome Rick
I hope you take that Deadhorse Ride it is so much fun everyone should do it.
My son and I rode up there to the Arctic Ocean in 2011 and three of us tried it last summer.
Aug. 11th on Atigun Pass

 

[ratfink64]

Congratulations rikkitik on your new 2014 S10 purchase! This is my first post after purchasing a new leftover 2013 S10. I bought the 4 year YES extended warranty because the bike was heavily discounted off the original retail price. After reading in this forum about the 2014 model improvements, I'm very glad I bought the extended warranty. I've only logged a few hundred miles to date, but so far I like the S10 very much compared to my 2007 KLR650. I bought this bike so me and the Mrs. can both enjoy riding and exploring new places on and off road together. I kicked around buying a V Strom but those bikes feel top heavy and are chain drive. I also kicked around a Triumph Tiger 800 XC, but dealer support isn't very good nationwide, and again is chain drive. I'm finding it very hard to keep the engine rpm in the recommended range for the proper break in period, it accelerates very quickly in a good way! ::012:: This forum definitely helped my final decision in going with an S10, thank you for all the helpful information.

 

[CentralCal]

Welcome Rick
I hope you take that Deadhorse Ride it is so much fun everyone should do it.
My son and I rode up there to the Arctic Ocean in 2011 and three of us tried it last summer.
Aug. 11th on Atigun Pass

Great picture. ::012::
Mind if I borrow it to show it to my Harley riding brother?
Of course I'll have to crop out the funny looking guy. Unless that's you then Ooopsi...
::021::

 

[rider33]

'congratulations on the new bike. Re:bits. One of the manufactures that doesn't get mentioned much but that I've had good luck with is Happy-Trail out of Idaho. I have both their crash bars and their rear rack and have been quite pleased with both. The build quality is very good and the price is excellent:

http://www.happy-trail.com/find-your-bike/yamaha/xt1200z-tenere/nerf-engine-guard-super-tenere.html

I'd also mention that the reason I went with the HT bars was because the bar stock is a full 1" tubing that goes fairly low making hanging highway pegs a lot easier.

 

[eemsreno]

Great picture. ::012::
Mind if I borrow it to show it to my Harley riding brother?
Of course I'll have to crop out the funny looking guy. Unless that's you then Ooopsi...
::021::

You can use it all you want but I would show your buddy it without cropping " that funny looking guy is wearing a Harley jacket " Not me in the picture.

 

[Slugo65]

I run the Altrider crashbars and skidplate. The bars are awesome, very high quality and strong. They are relatively easy to mount and you can still take off both engine side covers with the bars on. ( takes a little working) I like the skidplate but when it comes time to change the oil and or oil filter, you have to take the plate off which isn't difficult but does add time to the job. I am sure that there might be other skidplates out there that would allow you access to the oil filter and engine drain plug without removing the skidplate but I don't know which ones do. I guess as far as skidplates go, one important aspect to consider is how it mounts to the bike ( strong mounting points ). I have seen some el cheapos that mount using flimsy hardware which wont go well if you happen to smack the plate into a rice rock or log. I have used the skidplate as a jackpoint when I was changing the rear tire and it supported the weight of the bike minus whatever weight was on the front tire. As far as the seat goes, I agree with you that the stock seat must have been designed by a sadist. I have a saddlemen heated adventure seat and while it is a huge improvement over stock, I'm finding it to be a lil hard for longer rides. Good luck with your farkles and your new ride.

 

[stomp347]

Great picture. ::012::
Mind if I borrow it to show it to my Harley riding brother?
Of course I'll have to crop out the funny looking guy. Unless that's you then Ooopsi...
::021::

This pic will be going in my garage!!!!

 

[Defekticon]

Greetings,

Last Friday I went to Shawnee, OK from here in Central Alabama to pick up our brand new 2014 Super Tenere from Sehorn Yamaha. First, total kudos to everyone from Sehorn for making this the most painless motorcycle purchase ever - and I've bought and sold more than a few. Not only was the initial OTD price amazing, but the accessories I had installed were also discounted pretty heavily. Heated grips, panniers, top box, wind deflectors, and a tall windshield were all added before heading home. Now the first impressions gleaned from the almost 700 mile ride home:

Wind management is acceptable with the tall Yamaha windscreen and wind deflectors. I'm thinking a slightly wider shield will make it the perfect pocket of air. Recommendations?

Plenty of power, excellent cruise control, super handling, good instrumentation are all high points. Cruises great at 80mph with only a moderate disturbance around the big trucks.

The stock seat is a medieval torture device! I was squirming within 50 miles and with the non-skid surface couldn't even shift my butt around without lifting off the seat. I know there are tons of options, but most likely the bid will go to Russell Day-Long.

Now for the advice portion of the show!!! The bike will not see single track but mostly improved dirt, forest service roads, etc. It will go to Prudhoe Bay, AK either this year or next year or both.

Skid plates and crash bars are the biggest questions. So many choices with pros and cons for each. I want moderate protection, simple oil changes, good mounting for other accessories - lights, highway pegs, etc.

I've read through old posts until my eyes cross - time for fresh opinions. What say you?

Rick Bailey
Tuscaloosa, AL
IBA # 27763

I have an RDL seat on mine, Can't beat it. It's wider and higher in the front which eats up some inseam, so just be prepared for that if you've got less than a 32 inch inseam (like me...). But, they're not lying when they say day-long.

Rumbux is probably the ultimate in protection. That said, I went with altrider. Why? The Rumbux alters your ground clearance more than the altrider does, which makes a difference for me. I want to lean the bike on the twisties without worrying about it. I'd say Altrider is next best in protection without sacrificing as much clearance. Look into Skene controllers for your lights, Baja designs makes excellent lights. I cheaped out and got a 40 dollar LED light bar, but I'm also not going to alaska anytime soon. ::013::