Dirt_Dad
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Spent a significant amount of time off pavement yesterday. Longest since buying the bike.
I utilized every electronic aid that exists on the SAS. Engine mode: Offroad, Suspension Dampening: Offroad, ABS: Offroad, Traction control: On. That's a change for me, I always turned TCS off on the Tenere, but with a 5% off road tire, I took a very leisurely ride and did not push it at all. As I've said many times, doing power-slides on a slick street tire just seems pointless to me.
Rode Swearing Hill. The corner shown below is where my wife, riding her Tenere, expressed her disapproval of me putting her on this road in wet conditions. She was coming down on the left side and it was a tad bit muddy, I wanted her to stop on the landing of this switchback so she could take a break. After she explained she would not, this mountain has been forever named.
The mud was very minimal today, but with these street slicks, the tiny bit of mud still had my full respect. Especially when it required me to cross it on the edge of a steep mountain drop off.
Overall the terrain I faced was no real problem with these tires. There's a lot of steep swicthbacks, but the usual ruts seemed smaller than normal and the bulk of the mud could be avoided. As I picked up the pace I was alert to riding over the smoothest path possible. Thinking I really don't want to be smashing the cast wheels into the frequent embedded rocks peaking up from the road.
Overall, using all the aids, this bike is extraordinarily easy to ride in this environment. I was much slower that I would usually be on a Tenere, or any of the smaller bikes. I had no capable tires, no skid plate, and cast wheels. At times I was riding at grandma pace. Still even at those slow speeds around uneven terrain and switchbacks, the bike was fully in control and never a hand-full or awkward. It just chugged along completely composed.
Knocking the engine down to 100hp in Offroad mode really reminds you of a Tenere in Sport mode. It's an extremely familiar power delivery.
The ride in the Offroad suspension dampening setting provides the expected superior KTM ride off pavement. The Tenere ES could probably deliver the same level of comfort off road, but leaving it to me to guess the best setting (hard-standard-soft; +/-3) means I'm positive I did not set it close to what it could have done. I'm such a neanderthal with suspension, I'm happier having only 4 possible settings rather than over 20. That's more a reflection of my ignorance of suspension settings than any hit on the Tenere.
As I approach 4 months of ownership, with a little over 5200 miles, my assessment of the bike has had very little change in the last couple of thousand miles. Long summer days gave way to shorter autumn daylight hours, which has knocked my riding down from 350+miles to as low as 200 mile a ride. That has only increased my desire to get out again tomorrow, because I'm just not done.
Yesterday I realized there is another reason I'm finding this bike so enjoyable. The Tenere is a great long distance tourer, a fun twisty pavement ride, and a very good off road bike for its size. The SAS does not match the off road prowess of the Tenere, but it is a more sophisticated tourer, and twisties take on a whole new level of enjoyment. It's good, but what the SAS has introduced to my riding is the anticipation of a straight road, or even a speed limit change. Time and time again, when no one is in front of me and the speed limit is better than 25MPH, pulling away from a stop sign is an exercise in how fast can you get from 0 to about the speed limit. I find it very entertaining. Speed limit increases away from town also invoke the same response, but might not result in being as close to the speed limit. The bike is just so responsive, feel free to insert the hit of a power-band any time you choose. Straight roads no longer need to be mundane.
The riding buddy who first got me considering this bike, pulled the trigger and got himself a SAR last month. I've had a lot of fun hearing from him as he goes from being a long time GSA rider (and GSA submariner ) to learning his 1290. To summarize his experience...the responsiveness is intoxicating.
I utilized every electronic aid that exists on the SAS. Engine mode: Offroad, Suspension Dampening: Offroad, ABS: Offroad, Traction control: On. That's a change for me, I always turned TCS off on the Tenere, but with a 5% off road tire, I took a very leisurely ride and did not push it at all. As I've said many times, doing power-slides on a slick street tire just seems pointless to me.
Rode Swearing Hill. The corner shown below is where my wife, riding her Tenere, expressed her disapproval of me putting her on this road in wet conditions. She was coming down on the left side and it was a tad bit muddy, I wanted her to stop on the landing of this switchback so she could take a break. After she explained she would not, this mountain has been forever named.
The mud was very minimal today, but with these street slicks, the tiny bit of mud still had my full respect. Especially when it required me to cross it on the edge of a steep mountain drop off.
Overall the terrain I faced was no real problem with these tires. There's a lot of steep swicthbacks, but the usual ruts seemed smaller than normal and the bulk of the mud could be avoided. As I picked up the pace I was alert to riding over the smoothest path possible. Thinking I really don't want to be smashing the cast wheels into the frequent embedded rocks peaking up from the road.
Overall, using all the aids, this bike is extraordinarily easy to ride in this environment. I was much slower that I would usually be on a Tenere, or any of the smaller bikes. I had no capable tires, no skid plate, and cast wheels. At times I was riding at grandma pace. Still even at those slow speeds around uneven terrain and switchbacks, the bike was fully in control and never a hand-full or awkward. It just chugged along completely composed.
Knocking the engine down to 100hp in Offroad mode really reminds you of a Tenere in Sport mode. It's an extremely familiar power delivery.
The ride in the Offroad suspension dampening setting provides the expected superior KTM ride off pavement. The Tenere ES could probably deliver the same level of comfort off road, but leaving it to me to guess the best setting (hard-standard-soft; +/-3) means I'm positive I did not set it close to what it could have done. I'm such a neanderthal with suspension, I'm happier having only 4 possible settings rather than over 20. That's more a reflection of my ignorance of suspension settings than any hit on the Tenere.
As I approach 4 months of ownership, with a little over 5200 miles, my assessment of the bike has had very little change in the last couple of thousand miles. Long summer days gave way to shorter autumn daylight hours, which has knocked my riding down from 350+miles to as low as 200 mile a ride. That has only increased my desire to get out again tomorrow, because I'm just not done.
Yesterday I realized there is another reason I'm finding this bike so enjoyable. The Tenere is a great long distance tourer, a fun twisty pavement ride, and a very good off road bike for its size. The SAS does not match the off road prowess of the Tenere, but it is a more sophisticated tourer, and twisties take on a whole new level of enjoyment. It's good, but what the SAS has introduced to my riding is the anticipation of a straight road, or even a speed limit change. Time and time again, when no one is in front of me and the speed limit is better than 25MPH, pulling away from a stop sign is an exercise in how fast can you get from 0 to about the speed limit. I find it very entertaining. Speed limit increases away from town also invoke the same response, but might not result in being as close to the speed limit. The bike is just so responsive, feel free to insert the hit of a power-band any time you choose. Straight roads no longer need to be mundane.
The riding buddy who first got me considering this bike, pulled the trigger and got himself a SAR last month. I've had a lot of fun hearing from him as he goes from being a long time GSA rider (and GSA submariner ) to learning his 1290. To summarize his experience...the responsiveness is intoxicating.
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