This Tenere gets its TKC 80s

[Jeremy L]

Swapped out the tires for TKC 80s… it’s time for a ride in the woods.

Front tire, rear tire. Ready to go.

 

[Bruisen]

Tires look great. Let us know how the bike handles off road. Oh ya nice shop to work in.

 

[Swagger]

How do they perform on the blacktop/slab? They do look pretty cool.

 

[HoebSTer]

How do they perform on the blacktop/slab? They do look pretty cool.

Swagger,
IN general, the TKC's handle amazingly well for this type of tire. They are still a DOT approved 60%road 40% dirt style of tire. The BMW Adventure bikes come with these standard and work well in the twisty paved road stuff as well. Most guys with big ADV bikes get 4000-5000 mile range from these things. I am looking at installing these before I take delivery of the bike as I will only be riding 3-5000 miles for the next year or so.

Jeff

 

[Mike B]

How long did it take to change the tires and getting the wheels on and off the bike?

 

[HoebSTer]

I sure hope you lubed those splines with some Molybdenum Disulfide Grease both Honda and Yamaha recommend for splines. It is better Shiit than ole grease!!! Just my $.02 worth.

 

[Jeremy L]

The tires were great, as was the bike. It only took about 30 minutes or so to swap out the old ones (but I've changed a lot of tires ). The splines got plenty of care, no worries. Gotta take care of this bike.

Wanted to give you guys a quick video detailing riding impressions. There's some fun footage in there, too, that you might enjoy.

Yamaha Super Tenere AltRider Impressions

 

[Chadx]

I sure hope you lubed those splines with some Molybdenum Disulfide Grease both Honda and Yamaha recommend for splines. It is better Shiit than ole grease!!! Just my $.02 worth.

You're on the right track hoebSTer, but to clarify, moly grease is not specified. Moly paste is specified. Moly grease is only around 5% while moly paste is usually around 60% molybdenum disulfide. The grease won't hold up near as well to the heat and pressure of shaft drive splines. Lot's of people use moly grease, but really, it just isn't good enough. Moly paste keeps the splines on shafties happy.

Honda Moly 60 is easy to come by and not too expensive and a tube lasts a long time. There are several other easy to come by Moly Pastes, too. Seek it out and don't use moly grease for this application.

 

[markjenn]

but to clarify, moly grease is not specified. Moly paste is specified.

This is something we've discussed on the FJR list..... you may be surprised that NOTHING is specified by Yamaha for these wheel splines. Now they do recommend greasing the drive shaft splines with - and this is weird and unique to the S10 - lithium-soap-based grease on the forward end where it engages the u-joint and molybdenum disulfide grease on the back end where it engages the final drive pumpkin. (The FJR specs LS-grease for both ends.) However, I do agree that moly paste in both areas is probably better.

Note that these wheel splines are not subject to any lateral movement. And they are ridiculously oversized and understressed compared to the drive shaft splines. No harm is likely to befall these wheel splines if you do absolutely nothing. All this being said, other than making a bit of a mess when any excess is flung outwards to the wheel (and if you're truly paranoid, perhaps acting as a dirt attractor which might increase wear a bit), there is probably no downside if you want to grease (or paste) them. But it is unnecessary. I'm not going to be greasing mine.

- Mark

 

[Buckeye56]

I have been using moly grease on the splines on both my ST1100 (119,000+ miles) and my current ST1300 (56,000+ miles) neither has shown any adverse wear. The grease I use has a higher moly content than 10 percent. I would have to look at it again when I get home. Anyway I think it is important to clear, inspect and lubricate often. I do it every time I change tires.

YMMV,

 

[Chadx]

Good info, guys. Interesting on the ST spline spec of lithium soap-based grease. The few shafties that I've owned have speced moly paste, so interesting that there is a change in that recommendation by the manufacturers.

I think the main issue is that it's not the grease that lubes in shaft splines but the moly. Most of the grease is pushed out by the heat and pressure. Molybdenum disulfide is really a dry lubricant. In the case of the paste, it's the carrier that makes it pasty. It is the extremely small layer of moly that protects the parts. That is why it's not necessary, or recommended, to gob moly paste on. Just the thinnest layer is all that is needed (after cleaning out the old, of course).

Buckeye, glad you've had no wear issues with the moly grease. I would think using a higher content moly grease along with your diligence of servicing with each tire change helped that cause.

Back to the subject of the TKC80 on this bike. Those are the tires I'll likely run since I plan on doing a fair amount of non-pavement with the ST. If I know I'll be doing a really long road trip with nothing more than a few section of gravel road, then maybe I'll have a set of non-knobbie dual sport tires around that I can spoon on, but for day to day, it will probably be the TKC80. Thanks, Jeremy, for the vid.