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I was able to ride the SuperT today. Confirmed I made the right choice.
This was a Euro bike, used for the press and had 3200 miles on it. I was told that there are no US pre production units, only Euro bikes with some US parts. I am not saying that’s the truth, only relaying what I was told! You could tell this one had been used as it had scratches, a lot of dirt and dust under the seat, and some bent skid plate mounts.
Talked to the Los Angeles district rep and asked a few questions. They are in the dark as much as the rest of us as to if the bikes will be delayed any more than what is in the dealers computer system. He is 95% sure US bikes will not have the immobilizer system. Oh, and all bikes will be shipped to the west coast and distributed to the warehouses, then the dealers. One other thing he did say is that they will be moving ATV production to the States next year.
On to the test ride.
It was only about 7 miles on surface streets, lots of traffic, so we never exceeded 60 mph (in a 50 mph zone!).
Bike fit me well; made sure the seat was in the high position and was still able to flat foot with my 30” inseam. Only thing that struck me was that I may want the bars back and up a bit further as I found myself on the forward (narrower) part of the seat. Rode in the standing position, had me hunching over a little. Seat to peg was good, able to raise myself out of the seat with ease. I did not notice too much turbulence from the windscreen. The bagger I rode later was definitely worse.
Clutch engagement was good, never had a problem on take off, but I made sure the reach was set to where I was comfortable.
Throttle control was good as well, had it set it T mode. Only thing I noticed was the low speed transition from accel to decel to accel was abrupt. I only noticed this in 1st gear, riding at just off idle. I did try this in S mode but it was at a slightly higher rev range and it may have helped, but I can’t be sure. At higher RPMs I didn’t notice it. This is symptomatic of FI bikes; some do it better than others.
Plenty of torque; really comes alive about 3000 rpm. Gear ratios felt nicely spaced, no unusually large RPM drops when shifting up. Shifting was typical Japanese, clean and precise. I tried a couple of up shifts without the clutch. No problem! Never was able to get to 6th, even 5th was too high for most of our ride. Good engine braking. Speaking of brakes…..awesome! One or two fingers only on the front brake lever. Rear brake lever wasn’t hard to find either.
Suspension was supple. It handled the various surfaces, potholes and gutters without any nervousness. Have no idea where the settings were. Handling felt nice and neutral; would go where you pointed it and never felt like you had to hold it up in a corner. It also felt really planted in a straight line which should bode well on the freeway.
All in all, I was really happy with the bike.
Because my buddy and I did this today (a Friday), we were able to ride some other Yamahas as well. There were only 3 to 5 of us at any one time and they had a least a dozen bikes. After I rode the Tenere, my buddy told me I HAD to ride the VMax. At first I wasn’t interested, but I went ahead a rode it. That thing is stupid fast! All I could repeat for the first couple of miles was ‘holy shit, holy shit’! I accelerated in 2nd gear and I swear I broke the rear tire loose. It will pull in any gear. It did not want to go around corners. That bike always felt like it wanted to fall inwards and you had to really counter steer to straighten it out. If you have a chance, ride it just for the experience!
I then rode one of the decked out baggers, the Stratoliner Deluxe. First time I have ever ridden a bike with forward controls. Wasn’t too bad; nice low end grunt, a bit wallowy in suspension, didn’t have to counter steer as much in a corner, and the turbulence off the wind screen was terrible. Not for me!
Rick and Kerry, our demo ride captains where out of Illinois. They had some interesting stories about Sturgis and Daytona bike week. One story I’ll re-tell concerned the VMax at Sturgis. If you break one of the rules during a ride, you’re taken off the bike and have to walk back. One of the rules is no burnouts. Apparently some guy signed up to ride the VMax, hopped on, started it up, and proceeded to do a burnout in the staging area! He then shut it down and walked away.
The dealership where this was held was Performance Motorsports in San Juan Capistrano, about 45 minutes from where I live. They supplied pizza and other goodies for lunch. Bill Newman is the sales manager and had a few tidbits of information as well. He will have 2 Teneres for sale when they arrive. And, if your planning on purchasing a Japanese bike, you better do it this month because there will be a shortage due to the ongoing problems in Japan. Supply and demand will drive the prices up.
Oh, and one more thing. Definitely 2 plugs per cylinder. Don’t know if you can make it out in this picture, but there they are.
Well, that’s all for now. I have to go pack up my truck and take my son camping this weekend.
This was a Euro bike, used for the press and had 3200 miles on it. I was told that there are no US pre production units, only Euro bikes with some US parts. I am not saying that’s the truth, only relaying what I was told! You could tell this one had been used as it had scratches, a lot of dirt and dust under the seat, and some bent skid plate mounts.
Talked to the Los Angeles district rep and asked a few questions. They are in the dark as much as the rest of us as to if the bikes will be delayed any more than what is in the dealers computer system. He is 95% sure US bikes will not have the immobilizer system. Oh, and all bikes will be shipped to the west coast and distributed to the warehouses, then the dealers. One other thing he did say is that they will be moving ATV production to the States next year.
On to the test ride.
It was only about 7 miles on surface streets, lots of traffic, so we never exceeded 60 mph (in a 50 mph zone!).
Bike fit me well; made sure the seat was in the high position and was still able to flat foot with my 30” inseam. Only thing that struck me was that I may want the bars back and up a bit further as I found myself on the forward (narrower) part of the seat. Rode in the standing position, had me hunching over a little. Seat to peg was good, able to raise myself out of the seat with ease. I did not notice too much turbulence from the windscreen. The bagger I rode later was definitely worse.
Clutch engagement was good, never had a problem on take off, but I made sure the reach was set to where I was comfortable.
Throttle control was good as well, had it set it T mode. Only thing I noticed was the low speed transition from accel to decel to accel was abrupt. I only noticed this in 1st gear, riding at just off idle. I did try this in S mode but it was at a slightly higher rev range and it may have helped, but I can’t be sure. At higher RPMs I didn’t notice it. This is symptomatic of FI bikes; some do it better than others.
Plenty of torque; really comes alive about 3000 rpm. Gear ratios felt nicely spaced, no unusually large RPM drops when shifting up. Shifting was typical Japanese, clean and precise. I tried a couple of up shifts without the clutch. No problem! Never was able to get to 6th, even 5th was too high for most of our ride. Good engine braking. Speaking of brakes…..awesome! One or two fingers only on the front brake lever. Rear brake lever wasn’t hard to find either.
Suspension was supple. It handled the various surfaces, potholes and gutters without any nervousness. Have no idea where the settings were. Handling felt nice and neutral; would go where you pointed it and never felt like you had to hold it up in a corner. It also felt really planted in a straight line which should bode well on the freeway.
All in all, I was really happy with the bike.
Because my buddy and I did this today (a Friday), we were able to ride some other Yamahas as well. There were only 3 to 5 of us at any one time and they had a least a dozen bikes. After I rode the Tenere, my buddy told me I HAD to ride the VMax. At first I wasn’t interested, but I went ahead a rode it. That thing is stupid fast! All I could repeat for the first couple of miles was ‘holy shit, holy shit’! I accelerated in 2nd gear and I swear I broke the rear tire loose. It will pull in any gear. It did not want to go around corners. That bike always felt like it wanted to fall inwards and you had to really counter steer to straighten it out. If you have a chance, ride it just for the experience!
I then rode one of the decked out baggers, the Stratoliner Deluxe. First time I have ever ridden a bike with forward controls. Wasn’t too bad; nice low end grunt, a bit wallowy in suspension, didn’t have to counter steer as much in a corner, and the turbulence off the wind screen was terrible. Not for me!
Rick and Kerry, our demo ride captains where out of Illinois. They had some interesting stories about Sturgis and Daytona bike week. One story I’ll re-tell concerned the VMax at Sturgis. If you break one of the rules during a ride, you’re taken off the bike and have to walk back. One of the rules is no burnouts. Apparently some guy signed up to ride the VMax, hopped on, started it up, and proceeded to do a burnout in the staging area! He then shut it down and walked away.
The dealership where this was held was Performance Motorsports in San Juan Capistrano, about 45 minutes from where I live. They supplied pizza and other goodies for lunch. Bill Newman is the sales manager and had a few tidbits of information as well. He will have 2 Teneres for sale when they arrive. And, if your planning on purchasing a Japanese bike, you better do it this month because there will be a shortage due to the ongoing problems in Japan. Supply and demand will drive the prices up.
Oh, and one more thing. Definitely 2 plugs per cylinder. Don’t know if you can make it out in this picture, but there they are.
Well, that’s all for now. I have to go pack up my truck and take my son camping this weekend.
