Future 2013 ST Owner

[coastie]

I picked the bike up on Friday, rode to my uncle's house for the night in KY, I made it home in NC on Saturday...480 miles of twisty back roads total. I must say, the girl has grown on me! I liked the looks when I saw her in person, but after spending some "quality time" with her, she is growing on me. The ride was the longest demo ride I have every had. I had several hours of monsoon rains and morning temps in the mid 40's w/o heated gear or grips.

Here are my initial impressions:

Power - much more than my R1150GS...I like it even if I am keeping the RPMs low to break the motor in
Comfort - stock ergos are much nicer than the GS but I have some farkling to do
Engineering - very cleaver. I really like the packaging and simple elegance of the bike
Engine - very torque but a bit buzzy at certain RPMs. I prefer turbine engines but hey, it is a big dirt bike
TCO - Outstanding! Beats the pants off of BMW TCO
Dealership Experience - Mitch at I75 Yamaha in Richmond KY is an awesome guy! He is the owner who picked me up from the airport and carted me 30 min south to the dealership. He loves motorcycles and even races them at 60 years old. We had a great time talking bikes. The deal was no nonsense and no games--perfect. I may buy all my bikes from him!

After my long demo ride, here are the first things I am doing to the bike. I have already ordered most parts

• Heated grips - my hands froze! I purchased the Oxfords
  Madstad bracket - I have been using these for years and love them! I worked with Mark from Madstad when he only supported Stroms
  Yamaha Tank Bag - I like the size, looks, and fit on the bike
  Rocky Mountain ATV 80mm bar risers - I am a tall guy
• Fenda Extenda - the tire threw all sorts of road grime on the motor

Overall I am very happy! The family thinks the bike looks cool and so do I now that I have cleaned her up after her long trip home. Now I am thinking of the 600 mile service since she has about 540 miles on her. I am partial to Shell Rotella T synthetic and Bosh or Mobil 1 filters. I know lots of guys take them to the dealers, but I think I will handle this one myself. Like many of you, I trust myself more.

--CB

Your probably going to need the extended brake and clutch lines with those bar risers. Also the buzzy is reduced as the engine gets broken in between 5k-6k miles, and reduced further with the ecu flash. Congratulation on the new Tenere. This big girl will surprise you more and more everyday.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[snakebitten]

No doubt having your maiden voyage include inclement weather, actually revealed some of the awesome attributes of this machine. It is a foul weather marvel, in my opinion. And I bonded with it many times because of it.

And Coastie is dead on. It will smooooth out a bit over the next 7,500 miles.

 

[CowboyJim]

Wow, even got BL off his welcome script. Coming in with a bang CowboyJim - lol.

While I'm a firm believer in the flash, and wish I hadn't waited a year to get it, I do have a couple of questions:

Have you test-ridden a Tenere?

How many miles were on your demo ride?


Reason I ask is that a Tenere with 5,000 miles on it is a completely different bike than one with sub break-in miles - flashed or not. You'll see that as you pile on some miles - it's pretty cool to get on your bike at 5,500 miles and think, "Damn, this thing just keeps getting better!"

While beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I disagree with your comments about our beast not being sexy... One does not need a beak to garner a second glance when you're passing her in the garage...

Sexy streeter:

Sexy Dirter:

Sexy tourer:

Doesn't matter what dress you put on her, she wears it well. And will take you there and get you back, pretty much wherever "there" is...

Again, enjoy your new ride.

I have owned my new ST for 4 months now and have ridden it almost 3000 miles so it is time to loop back and give you all my impressions.

As many of you so clearly told me in response to my initial posting, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Well I must say, I now think the ST is a VERY sexy bike! As a matter of fact, I have attached a glamor shot now that I almost have her farkled to my liking. It is almost like the motorcycle rags make everyone drink the beak cool aid and miss the classic dirt bike look. I am partial to dirt bikes and the ST handles MUCH better on the fire roads than my old 1150GS did. I just rode down a washed out downhill gravel/dirt road tonight and was amazed how well behaved the bike rode given her size. Within minutes of that road, I was doing 70 mph down a freeway with all the smooth power I would ever need! That is a great testimony for a great dual sport bike!

Regarding power, I did have the ECU flashed and absolutely love it! I was mistaken, the ST has plenty of power especially with the flash although I definately didn't like the stock mappings. I now have more power and acceleration than I can possibly use which is just the way I like it!

Finally, I let a long-term BMW friend ride the ST during one of our yearly outings. He was so impressed that he told me there will be one in his garage as soon as he sells his 1200GS. He also said he is tired of the BMW reliability issues and high cost of service so it is time to look for alternatives. I believe sales of the ST are really going to take off once folks realize what a great bike it is even without a beak and wake up to what I believe is an awesome bike that hasn't been hyped like all of the competition.

So that is my feedback for now. It isn't as silky smooth as my old ST1300, but it certainly is light years ahead of my old 1150GS and KLR650! The bottom line is, I love riding it!

 

[Doug44]

Here is my ST @ daylight before a trip and as always I can't walk away from her without looking back.

 

[BravoBravo]

Thanks for the great ride report, Cowboy Jim! It proves what so many on the forum have been saying - the more you ride the Super Tenere, the better it is! I have had mine nearly a year now (12,000 kilometres) and it has been a wonderful ride from the get-go! I absolutely love this bike. ::008::

Cheers,

Bruce

 

[rem]

Welcome on, CBJ. Boy, you got right into it. Sounds like you're enjoying that new boy. Keep at it, and post plenty of pics. ::004:: to the Forum. R. ::022::