Hoping to tour cross country on a Tenere

[snakebitten]

Congrats!!!!

I love your "plan" too. It is a wonderful, and absolutely doable adventure.

As for the bike being "new to you"............
I'd gather that bike is still pretty much new to the gentleman who unwittingly was preparing it for YOU.
It's literally not broken completely in.

And besides, 95% of the folks that acquire these Teneres are the ideal person to purchase a so called used bike from.
I've met 100+ of them in person and seen their bikes.

Sometimes things just line up so well that you get the feeling it's supposed to be like this.
Your whole "plan" seems to be one of those.

Sure hope you keep us all filled in as this story unfolds. And please include some pics!!!
We've already enjoyed oogling your new bike!!!

Cheers

 

[IslandTractor]

Thanks Checkwrecks. I assure you that the route 93 drive from Lake Louise to Jasper is already on the bucket list. I'll check into how much further the drive to Alaska is. I might have to put that one off if it's more than a day which I imagine it is.

My plan is to drive from Vancouver to Jasper right after Labor Day via the best motorcycle route I can identify and then drive mostly south to Wallace Idaho (small town on US90 East of Spokane). Wallace isn't much but it is where my mother was born and is, I hope serendipitously, the site of the only brothel museum in the USA so I figured I'd make that pilgrimage part of the tour. From there I'll head to Montana/Wyoming for the national parks and then visit a brother south of Denver. Haven't thought too much about what comes next other than that I need to head West to see the Grand Canyon before turning East again. Need to identify the least boring route across the prairies and will then explore a bit in the Ozarks and Appalachia.

 

[IslandTractor]

Congrats!!!!

I love your "plan" too. It is a wonderful, and absolutely doable adventure.

As for the bike being "new to you"............
I'd gather that bike is still pretty much new to the gentleman who unwittingly was preparing it for YOU.
It's literally not broken completely in.

And besides, 95% of the folks that acquire these Teneres are the ideal person to purchase a so called used bike from.
I've met 100+ of them in person and seen their bikes.

Sometimes things just line up so well that you get the feeling it's supposed to be like this.
Your whole "plan" seems to be one of those.

Sure hope you keep us all filled in as this story unfolds. And please include some pics!!!
We've already enjoyed oogling your new bike!!!

Cheers

Snakebitten I agree that the bike owners on this forum appear to take very good care of their equipment. It isn't like the Tenere is a squid magnet either. It has the advantage of being a bit more costly than many more powerful and sexier sport bikes so that filters out some of the crowd one wouldn't want to buy used from. Also, while we all make fun of scams on the interweb, it is a powerful tool with photographs and the ability to read posts about a given bike. I bought from a forum member who obviously has taken great care to prepare the bike to his liking by seeking advice here, adding premium farkles and modifications and reporting on his experiences. It doesn't hurt that I know he is about the same size and weight I am too. I'd say that sort of "data" is far more useful than whatever BS a salesman at a dealership would feed you about a used bike they took on trade. And, of course it does seem these Teneres are just about bullet proof too.

 

[escapefjrtist]

Congrats on the great find 'Tractor! Sounds like the bike was made for you...your only requirement now is to plan the trip!

If you need any maintenance items completed before you leave, I'm fully equipped, including tire changing equipment. If I'm in town, be happy to assist as you're beginning the adventure.

--G

 

[IslandTractor]

Congrats on the great find 'Tractor! Sounds like the bike was made for you...your only requirement now is to plan the trip!

If you need any maintenance items completed before you leave, I'm fully equipped, including tire changing equipment. If I'm in town, be happy to assist as you're beginning the adventure.

--G

Thanks Escape. I have a sister in Gig Harbor so that is where the bike will live until I start my trip around Labor Day. I think it is pretty well sorted and well maintained but I will take a brief checkout ride, maybe around the Olympic Peninsula, before heading north. I imagine the weather will be non conducive to riding in mid February (or is that just my Boston bias?) when I next visit so might not be able to actually ride until I return in early Sept.

I would appreciate local knowledge regarding a good Yamaha shop in the Gig Harbor/Tacoma area just in case I need to get something checked out.

 

[snakebitten]

It isn't going to need any official Yamaha technician attention. (Maybe ever! Hard for a BMWer to get his head around, I know)
I'd flat out bet my paycheck on it.

If it sits, it might need air in the tires, a battery charge, and some fresh petrol.

These things take a serious bashing and considerable neglect and shake it off without complaint. I think the only rider inflicted issues are:
1. riding off-road in Traction control setting #1 (I believe it can be hard on clutch plates)
2. the occasional busted sump cover from lack of protection.
3. never hit the start button when she is cold without actually starting it and letting it run up to say.....140 degrees before shutting her off. Otherwise you MIGHT flood her.
4. If you go down on the left side in mud or sand, you CAN impact the cooling fan and cause it damage.

These bikes are building a legendary record of reliability. Nothing mythical about the legend either.

Edit: There have been a couple of bikes suffer from their ABS pump quitting. The few I have heard were on bikes that the guys are serious off-roaders and have submerged their bikes in deep water crossings. So there is evidence the ABS pump (under the seat) would prefer to stay above water. But it is also true that most haven't suffered this malady. Regardless, it is one of the $not-cheap repairs.

 

[IslandTractor]

Thanks for the reminder that this bike is bike isn't likely to behave like a BMW or Harley.... on my last cross country trip many moons ago, my Beemer did fine but my riding buddy's new Harley blew its transmission half way across (remarkably close to Milwaukee!) and caused a three or four day delay while HD replaced it at the factory. It may take a while for me to get used to the idea that my new bike is more closely related to Honda and Toyota at least as far as maintenance and reliability are concerned.

 

[Checkswrecks]

The old quip that I like about reliability is that our Super Tennis Shoe is the BMW Recovery Vehicle

 

[RCinNC]

Thanks for the reminder that this bike is bike isn't likely to behave like a BMW or Harley.... on my last cross country trip many moons ago, my Beemer did fine but my riding buddy's new Harley blew its transmission half way across (remarkably close to Milwaukee!) and caused a three or four day delay while HD replaced it at the factory. It may take a while for me to get used to the idea that my new bike is more closely related to Honda and Toyota at least as far as maintenance and reliability are concerned.

I've never owned a BMW, but I have owned a Harley (a 2004 Road King), so I often feel compelled to chime in when I see something like this. I put over 50,000 miles on my RK, crossed the US twice, and the only thing that ever went wrong on it was a burned out taillight bulb. Reliability issues with Harleys most often crop up when guys start modifying their engines to produce horsepower that they really aren't designed for. Harleys have their own issues like most brands, but the image of a Harley that leaks oil everywhere and breaks down daily is a myth.

I do like my S10 a lot more, though...it goes places my RK would never see.

 

[Brick]

I've never owned a BMW, but I have owned a Harley (a 2004 Road King), so I often feel compelled to chime in when I see something like this. I put over 50,000 miles on my RK, crossed the US twice, and the only thing that ever went wrong on it was a burned out taillight bulb. Reliability issues with Harleys most often crop up when guys start modifying their engines to produce horsepower that they really aren't designed for. Harleys have their own issues like most brands, but the image of a Harley that leaks oil everywhere and breaks down daily is a myth.

I do like my S10 a lot more, though...it goes places my RK would never see.

I agree with a LOT of what you say about the Harleys... but the leaking Harley is NOT a myth! I've had them. Now I will add this... the new Harleys are vastly better and as far as I can see they certainly do NOT leak anymore!! But it's history about the leaking not myth! ::008::

 

[WJBertrand]

Harleys are considerably more reliable than BMWs according to a Consumer Reports owner survey:

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2015/04/who-makes-the-most-reliable-motorcycle/index.htm?loginMethod=auto

Some folks like to dismiss CR when they disagree, but they base these reliability studies on actual owner data, so it's not their opinion. My experience with various cars, for which they've been doing reliability owner surveys for a long time, has pretty much lined up with these reports, right down to the particular trouble spots.

Having said that, if one were looking for a reliable cross country mount, it would appear to be difficult to beat a Yamaha.

 

[RCinNC]

Yeah, I should have clarified that. Yes, older Knuckleheads, Panheads, Shovelheads, did leak oil, and that's certainly where the "leaking all the time" reputation was born. Shovels were superseded by the Evos back in 1980 (I think), and then the 88's in the late 90's and I'd say the "leaking all the time" thing went by the wayside when the 88's came on line. I didn't have any experience with the older engines, but my Twin Cam never leaked anything, and my buddy's Evo powered FXRS didn't either. That's anecdotal evidence, to be sure, but people who know HD engines way better than I do would almost certainly say that leaking oil wasn't a characteristic of later model bikes. HD still suffers from a rep that hasn't really been true for about 20 years, in much the same way that BMW will suffer from the "final drive failure" rep years after it was actually relevant. The pre 2006 Twin Cams did suffer from cam chain tensioner issues; kind of like our venerable S-10's...

And apologies for diverting the thread. We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

 

[IslandTractor]

I've never owned a BMW, but I have owned a Harley (a 2004 Road King), so I often feel compelled to chime in when I see something like this. I put over 50,000 miles on my RK, crossed the US twice, and the only thing that ever went wrong on it was a burned out taillight bulb. Reliability issues with Harleys most often crop up when guys start modifying their engines to produce horsepower that they really aren't designed for. Harleys have their own issues like most brands, but the image of a Harley that leaks oil everywhere and breaks down daily is a myth.

I do like my S10 a lot more, though...it goes places my RK would never see.

I wasn't ragging on HD (or BMW) but passing on my experience. The experience of owning a couple of BMWs and having a friend's nearly new stock Harley breakdown in the middle of a cross country tour (I had to continue alone after my buddy's time ran out) is part of what has pushed me to buy a Yamaha this time. I know that Harley has done a lot of work on quality control and not every BMW has final drive failures or ABS malfunctions but neither of those brands can claim anything like the reliability record of the Japanese bikes. Point is that at this point I value reliability far higher than cutting edge engineering or style.

I didn't give the whole story about the Harley which shows both the bad and good of HD. We were driving from Boston to the West Coast and were near Sudbury, Canada when one morning the HD transmission just quit. We put both bikes (my R60 too) into the back of a rented pickup and drove overnight to Milwaukee. Arrived at about 3pm on a Friday and drove right to the HD factory. The bike had about 1500 miles on it and was totally stock. We just happened to bump into one of the HD higher ups while explaining our predicament to a secretary in customer service and he walked out to see the bike. He just examined the chain, satisfied himself the bike was not abused, and called for factory mechanics to take the bike into the shop. The next day (Saturday) they called to tell us that the transmission failed because during manufacture a wrong size nut had been installed. It was easier/faster for them to simply replace the entire powertrain with a new one which they did and gave the bike back that afternoon. Pretty remarkable service. Sadly, this was early 1970s and the break in for a new engine then made it very difficult to travel cross country at any reasonable pace. Time ran out and my buddy had to turn around in Colorado. I continued to the West Coast solo.

 

[ST-venture]

Getting the seat right is critical and also somewhat of a challenge for me. I am hoping to buy a used Tenere somewhere West of the Mississippi and drive it to Seattle to visit my sister before looping up to Banff and down through the big US national parks before heading east (by whatever seems the most interesting route). Not a lot of time to fiddle with seat trials or even to be in one place. I'm hoping to find a bike that has a pretty good aftermarket seat and will likely bring along an air or gel pad in lieu of a perfect custom fit. Perhaps I'll have time to make an appointment with a seat specialist in Seattle before heading back East. I suppose the alternative is to buy the bike here on the East Coast and get it sorted before heading out but the idea of driving across Kansas/Central Plains more than once doesn't appeal.

Add an AirHawk seat cushion and your done.

 

[IslandTractor]

Add an AirHawk seat cushion and your done.

Which AirHawk fits the Tenere best?? There appear to be at least three types and the manufacturer's website offers only vague advice on selection.

 

[RCinNC]

I've used the Airhawk R for quite a while now on my S10. It fits really well.

 

[Checkswrecks]

Which AirHawk fits the Tenere best?? There appear to be at least three types and the manufacturer's website offers only vague advice on selection.

The little one. We put JUST enough air in it to barely be perceptible, not enough that to feel like sitting on a balloon.