New Indiana ST Guy

[danielg]

Greetings... Just bought my first ADV bike: 2012 Super Tenere. I come to the ADV world as a commuter/long distance rider on a harley that I've just put 73,000mi on in the last 5 years. I also track a Ducati 848 and spend a lot of time in the dirt on my 1994 CR250.

I've never owned a Yamaha before, but have already put about 350 miles on this Tenere and loving it. I plan to commute on it until next month when I will ride it to Austin for MotoGP. I'm very interested in learning, always, and am all ears for tips & tricks & resources related to this bike and to ADV motorcycling in general. I also like to do 99% of my own maintenance, but with this being my first Yamaha and my first shaft drive, I will probably have a bit to learn.

I'm a shorter rider, but with my dirtbike experience, I'm pretty confident staying on the bike until I absolutely have to one-foot it. The weight doesn't intimidate me too much as I got pretty good at picking up the 1000lb Harley during low-speed technical maneuvering.

Looking forward to learning from you all!

 

[RIDEMYST]

Welcome from South Florida. -JEP-
::004::

 

[VRODE]

::004:: from VT

 

[zaphod]

I'd love to see a new photo of you tracking the Tenere ! Welcome to the Forums from another newbie.

 

[Juan]

Greetings from Malta and welcome to the forum.

 

[barkingllizard]

congrats on your new ride, danielg, with a simple hello.....

 

[colorider]

Welcome to the forum and congrats on the "new" Tenere! I think you are going to be very happy with your first ::022::!!!!

 

[danielg]

Well thanks everybody, for the welcome! I'd LOVE to track the Tenere! I think I'd put something other than the K60's on her though! There's actually a few track days coming up and my Duc is on the lift, so tracking the big girl might be fun and doable!

 

[johnbob]

Hi Daniel
I live in fort wayne. Bought my S10 last fall. Where do you live in Indiana?

 

[hANNAbONE]

Come n see me in Versailles, where are you in Windyana?

 

[danielg]

Hi, I live in Lafayette, but my office is in Indy.

 

[EricV]

Welcome to the forum danielg and congrats on the new to you Super Tenere. How many miles on the big blue girl?

Maintenance is pretty easy and you'll have no problem learning your way around. The Japanese do things a little different than HD or the Italians, but once you grok the way they think, it will all make sense.

 

[danielg]

Thanks EricV. I bought her with about 14k on the odometer about 2 months ago and I already have 19k on her. I've done a bit of maintenance on it already and YOU ARE RIGHT... things are definitely different than HD or the Italians! It's also my first shaft drive bike.

 

[EricV]

A couple of things to be aware of on the Gen I Super Ten. And the search function on the forum works pretty well as long as you use longer words than three letters. A longer search sentence usually give better results than just a key word, for example.

The Gen I cam chain tensioners, (CCT), are known to fail around 50k miles. Typically, you get more and longer noise at cold start up as a warning long before a failure. Yamaha has updated the design and superseded the part number. Yamaha now recommends that owners replace the CCT before the second valve check/adjustment at 52k miles. Many owners of older, low mile bikes just do it when they get to the first valve service interval at 26k miles as a preventative measure. The CCT is cheap at around $60 and fairly strait forward to install when checking/re-shimming the valves.

FWIW, though I have a 2015 bike now, I put 109k on a 2012 previously and had one of the first CCT failures, though mine was at 83k miles. Because of the forums sharing info, only a few people have suffered actual failures, some w/o damage to valve/piston. This is not something you need to stress about, just something to remember when you get to the valve check interval. If you notice rattling noise on the right side at cold start ups and it lingers for more than 30 seconds, have the dealer listen to it and document it in his service records. Yamaha is famous for covering this under warranty on bikes that are out of warranty, if it occurs before 26k, as it is such a known issue now.

The air box lid has something like 11 screws holding it down. (I sure miss my old 750SS's clips when I do air filter changes.) One screw is in the center of the lid, under a rubber plug. After you remove all the obvious ones, pull that plug to get to the last screw.

Spark plugs - there are four plugs. The clutch side is common to show some corrosion around the base of the plug, as it's the 'down hill' plug when on the side stand and water is more likely to get in there from rain rides. Some put a bit of dielectric grease around that boot when installing it. The throttle side plug is easier to get to from the front, sliding a box or ideally, a ratcheting box wrench in over the headers to get to the coil bolt. The Super Ten uses coil over plug units. Once the coils are removed, the normal ratchet and extension with a universal works fairly well.

Final drive - Any quality 75/90W gear oil is fine. The expensive Yamaha fluid still runs hotter than a quality synthetic gear oil. It doesn't take much. Drop the drain plug, remove the upper fill plug, (not the breather vent), drain, reinstall the drain plug, then fill until it starts to come out the filler hole. No measurement required and you can't really over fill it. If you spin the wheel once some comes out, it will stop coming out briefly and you can then re-install the filler plug w/o dripping more oil out.

There are two types of 'crush' washers used on this bike. You've likely seen both styles on other bikes. One is a real crush washer that is considered a one time use item. Many owners re-use those and I can't really fault that, as I have too over the years on various bikes. These are hollow washers that literally crush as you tighten the drain plug down when they are installed the first time. The other is a copper or aluminum washer that is re-useable to a point. I just change over to all aluminum or copper washers. If you don't over tighten the plugs, these can be re-used nearly indefinitely, as they are more to avoid damage to the sump and final drive pumpkin than to seal.

Skip the torque wrench on the drain plugs, as more than couple of owners have stripped the threads in the sump or final drive pumpkin by not realizing the torque spec was for dry threads, not lubricated threads, or having a bad torque wrench. I suspect you have a good feel for these things already, having the Duc and HD experiences.

Enough for now. When you have questions, do a search first. You're very likely to find a great write up with pictures from another owner. If you can't find what you need, don't be shy about asking by starting a new thread. It is appreciated when you search first and that you post in the appropriate section of the forum for your topic!

 

[danielg]

Whoa! EricV, that's awesome info and much appreciated. Especially about the CCT! You definitely ride your bikes too! I love that. I've not ever done valve stuff before, but am thinking I may give it a shot on this bike.
Before I rode it to Austin, TX from Indiana last month, I already did oil/filter, final drive fluid, coolant, plugs, air filter, fork re-fresh, and changed the front tire on mine, but you're tips are ones I wish I'd had sooner and WILL utilize next time around. I do want to flash the ECU, add some fuel containers, and LED lighting. THANKS MUCH!

 

[johnbob]

Hello and welcome!
I live in fort wayne. Where rare you?

 

[danielg]

Hey, sorry for the serious delay. I'm near Lafayette.