MC USA Shootout

[20valves]

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[colorider]

::017::

 

[Scoobynut]

I noticed in the earlier reports leading up to this 'shootout' the Ducati had already suffered some mechanical issues. Even putting that aside, it's always easy for a magazine tester to be seduced by the sexy Italian or the reputable German when he neither has to pay for it or live with it. Just my opinion, of course.

 

[Brntrt]

From the articles objective/performance approach the Yammy is second behind the Duc. I would suspect after living with the beasts for a while the S10 score better on the subjective end. In the end who really cares? ::021::

 

[dcstrom]

One weird thing is how they keep emphasizing how "huge" the Super Tenere is. I don't find it huge at all - in fact sometimes I look at it and think how compact it is. It's broader across the tank than the GS, but in other (obvious) ways the GS is bigger.

 

[Podman]

you must be a big dude cause the first I aid when I got my S10 was "it's huge". Still think it's huge but I can deal with that. ::008::

 

[Wulfgar]

Thought the write-up on Mr. T was reasonable - final results so-so but just beacuse the BMW seems to get a pass. Notchy shifting, shaft effect, etc... Yet it ends up Number 1. The Multiis the odd duck out, if you will, and doesn't really fit regardless of the marketing (great bike though it is).

 

[Dallara]

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Being a bit "huge" is actually one of the things I like about my Super Tenere.

Nice, *open* seating position with minimal bend in the knees, relaxed reach to the handlebars, adequate seating surface, and incredible weather protection from the tank, fairing, handguards, windscreen (I have a CalSci medium on mine now), etc. I rode a 475 mile round trip yesterday up from Corpus Christi to Houston to meet up with some old friends at the Rio Bravo vintage MX annual "Reunion", and had to deal with a lot of rain both on the way up and getting back home. I never even put on my rain suit. I was wearing a pair of AXO road boots, some Diamond Gussett Kevlar riding jeans, a long-sleeved cotton t-shirt, a Olympia Bonneville mesh jacket, my Lee Parks gloves, and a Schuberth C3 helmet. For the most part I stayed remarkably dry, with only my outer arms, gloves, lower legs, and feet getting really wet. IMHO the Tenere's large cockpit and well thought-out weather protection layout is what kept me dry and comfy, and I enjoyed the entire trip.

Needless to say the ABS and TCS gave me a lot of piece of mind, too, though the bike handled so well neither came into play all day.

Without a doubt in my mind Yamaha designed this thing to cross continents comfortably, either on- or off-road. ::26::

Oh, and I am only 5'7" tall with a 29" inseam... ;D

BTW, the Rio Bravo MX Reunion was a ton of fun... Marty Smith was there, as was former 500cc World Champion road racer Kevin Schwantz (who also rode) and other great motorcycle racers from the past like Darryl Hurst, etc. Really was a great day, even with the rain on each of my transit legs. Fortunately the weather was terrific all day at the track.

Dallara



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[20valves]

One weird thing is how they keep emphasizing how "huge" the Super Tenere is. I don't find it huge at all - in fact sometimes I look at it and think how compact it is. It's broader across the tank than the GS, but in other (obvious) ways the GS is bigger.

We had three black S10's in a parking lot in Raton, NM a few weeks ago. There were 2 GS's as well. One of the GS guys came over (nice guy) and he was marveling at how narrow the S10 was at the engine cases and commented on how compact it was. Go figure!

One thing owners of this bike will recognize when listening to the commentary in the S10 video is that the more the testers rode it, the more they liked. I concede that it's big, but I think they overplayed that part of it. I took mine up up a pretty challenging mountain pass (Engineer Pass) in CO with full bags and about 60 more lbs. of camping gear and it was a steady, predictable, sturdy companion the whole way. That was my first ever adventure tour, too. Considering it did it all on the OEM, street oriented Tourance EXP's, I feel just fine owning this great bike.

 

[snakebitten]

Hey Dallara,
The Corpus/Houston route will be the one My Tenere will repeat MANY times over the next 4 years, at least. Although it will be reverse direction and a bit lengthier. (Alvin - Kingsville) We have a son (redshirt freshman) who plays for the Mighty Javelinas so we make the 500 mile round trip often! We choose to take 35 all the way since our house is just a couple of miles back in the woods off that highway.

As for the shootout, I give less credence to a comparison that doesn't include a lengthy amount of time to get to know the bikes in this class. Like others have already said, you gotta "live with this bike" to fully appreciate it. My own opinion has changed over the 4000+ miles I have ridden it. And until you are FAR from home on deserted roads in very adverse conditions could you possibly experience the secure feeling this bike affords. I'm not saying it is better than something else. But I AM saying this bike is proving to be a world class Adventure bike. I personaly think it is in rare company. Not many bikes can do it all this good.

And finally, I hadn't thought of it as "huge". I have thought of it as tall and long. And I find it curious how many people have asked me if it is comfortable. Does it look like it isn't? :-\ I always answer it is the most comfortable bike I have ever owned AFTER I changed wind shield. (stock shield was brutal for my height) Note, I have never owned a cruiser or tour bike.

No regrets here. None whatsoever! I am sure the Duc is a visceral blast. And no doubt the BMW has a legacy to vouch for it's cross country prowess. But the new kid on the block raises the bar in several areas, in my opinion.

 

[stevepsd]

Did BMW pay them off?

"Also, while the single-sided swingarm with sealed shaft drive has earned a reliable reputation,"

"they are renowned for their durability,"

 

[Dallara]

Hey Dallara,
The Corpus/Houston route will be the one My Tenere will repeat MANY times over the next 4 years, at least. Although it will be reverse direction and a bit lengthier. (Alvin - Kingsville) We have a son (redshirt freshman) who plays for the Mighty Javelinas so we make the 500 mile round trip often! We choose to take 35 all the way since our house is just a couple of miles back in the woods off that highway.

Hey, Snakebitten...

I almost always take the "Coast Route" - i.e. via 35 - when I go up to the Houston/Galveston area. I was born in Houston, and my Dad had his first business in Galveston before he moved us all to Corpus. I much prefer to go the Coast route for so many reasons... Less traffic, it's not interstate, lots of interesting side hops and neat towns, nicer folks, etc. On this past weekend's trip up I went over the bridge from downtown CC and on up through Rockport, Port Lavaca, etc., cut around Palacios via 1862/616 through Blessing, then through Bay City and West Columbia... Turned north on 288 and up through Houston to 59 North and on out to East Mount Houston Road and Rio Bravo - 238 miles from my door to the track. Rode the exact reverse coming home, and always enjoy that route.

Next time you're coming through Corpus, or close, on your treks to Kingsville drop me a PM or an e-mail. Maybe I can meet up with you for the leg over to Kingsville from CC. I've got riding buddies over in Kingsville... and in fact one of them does video production for TAMU-Kingsville and has to be at all the Javelina's games. He does still photography, too, so maybe I can introduce you to him and perhaps he could get you some good shots of your boy playing.

I get up to Houston a fair amount, too, and will be back at Rio Bravo for sure in November the weekend of the 11th, 12th, and 13th. The final AHRMA vintage MX National of the year is that weekend, and I'll be there with my rider with our vintage CZ's running in several classes. C'mon out and check out the races if you've got some time.

OK, folks... Sorry for heading off on a tangent. Back to your regularly scheduled programming!

Dallara



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[eemsreno]

. Five bikes. Six states. 10 days. 12,430 miles. This is the 2011 Adventure Touring Shootout.

What kind of crap test is this? They didn’t ride 12,000 miles in 10 days.


The 990 Adventure It’s just plain slow when compared to others in this group,” confirms Riant. “Poor acceleration and runs out of power at high speeds. It has mellow, off-road friendly power.”
My son has a 990R [2011] and it will just spank my Tenere in a race.

So far I'm on page 2 of there test and I can't beleive a word they say.

 

[colorider]

Did BMW pay them off?

"Also, while the single-sided swingarm with sealed shaft drive has earned a reliable reputation,"

"they are renowned for their durability,"

Probably just offered them some Kool-Aid.........
::014::

 

[Ollie]

. Five bikes. Six states. 10 days. 12,430 miles. This is the 2011 Adventure Touring Shootout.

What kind of crap test is this? They didn’t ride 12,000 miles in 10 days.


The 990 Adventure It’s just plain slow when compared to others in this group,” confirms Riant. “Poor acceleration and runs out of power at high speeds. It has mellow, off-road friendly power.”
My son has a 990R [2011] and it will just spank my Tenere in a race.

So far I'm on page 2 of there test and I can't beleive a word they say.

They also report that much of the KTM's design is focused toward ease of mantainence. I'd really like to know what they are referring to in that statement. Oil changes on the KTM are not difficult, but do require a considerable amount disassembly and time. I'm sure the Tenere more straight forware in terms of mantainence.

 

[Brntrt]

. Five bikes. Six states. 10 days. 12,430 miles. This is the 2011 Adventure Touring Shootout.

What kind of crap test is this? They didn’t ride 12,000 miles in 10 days.

12000 miles divided by 5 bikes =2500 miles/bike. That works out to approx 250 miles/day. Now with 5 riders this means each rider spent 500 miles on each bike.

 

[eemsreno]

They barly got the oil up to operating temp. If that is how you count miles on a trip that means we rode 40,000 miles on our trip to Alaska.

 

[Venture]

I tend to look at things statistically. If you look at price as the dependent variable, things look a lot different then what the mags came up with. Check this out:

I only focused on the objective part of the rating, and removed the 10 point score for "MSRP," since that's what I'm calling the dependent variable in this case. I normalized each bike's score for their objective performance results against their as-tested price, as as you can see the Yamaha clearly has the most "bang per buck" ("$$/Unit of Performance" is lowest).

Further, if you then take the "$$/Unit of Performance" and scale the original performance results according to price, you get the normalized performance scores of Yamaha vs Duc and Yamaha vs. BMW. Basically what you're seeing here is that if the prices were all equal in this test, it would be like the Yamaha having a score of 64.5 vs BMW's 57, and 78.2 vs. Ducati's 61. Pretty killer.

Here's the same analysis done for the subjective scores. The S10 still stomps 'em.

This is how real world folks determine what's best when cost matters, and cost usually matters.

 

[tkad]

the shootout didn't tell me much that I had not already assumed. there may be better performing bikes out there, according to a recent test anyways, but they're no good when they are broken and on the side of the highway. only one month into ownership, and a few GS riders are telling me that a tenere is in their plans for next year. one fella with his GS, while on vacation, has been flatbedded to a garage 3 times, final drive failures. I bought my tenere to ride, not polish. I fully expect that the only time this bike is in the shop is for the valve checks, and I will be shocked if any of them need to be adjusted.
also, I am not a 'street' or 'dirt' guy, I am a road guy. if the road switches between the two, I keep going. if it's dirt all day, fine, paved the whole way, that's fine too. the tenere seems to match my needs better than anything else available, and I happen to really like this bike.

 

[Dallara]

the shootout didn't tell me much that I had not already assumed. there may be better bikes out there... but they're no good when they are broken and on the side of the highway... I bought my tenere to ride, not polish... I am not a 'street' or 'dirt' guy, I am a road guy. if the road switches between the two, I keep going. if it's dirt all day, fine, paved the whole way, that's fine too. the tenere seems to match my needs better than anything else available, and I happen to really like this bike.

Amen, Brudda'! Amen! ::26::

Those thoughts of yours mirror my sentiments exactly! Thanks! ::003::

Dallara


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