YAMAHA ENGINEERS????

[JohnnyHonda]

The panniers mounts are an accessory which gets designed long after the bike itself is designed.

Plus, most people are not aware that the flat area under the pillion seat is meant to allow carrying luggage when solo and not needing the seat.

Maybe the original engineers really did know what they were doing.

Still no reason to design the bike so that the grab rails have to be removed to take the plastic cover under the seat off. It's no big deal though. My hacksaw took care of it and you can't even tell that it's been cut when everything is put together.

 

[SkunkWorks]

I cut mine too the last time I had it off.
I have a couple things "Hidden" under there.

 

[tntmo]

I always laugh at that statement, "The engineers know best" and then the first thing people do is change everything that the bike came out of the factory with. Seats, bars, grips, foot pegs, tires, windscreens, etc.

The manufacturers do most of their decision to make money.

 

[Sierra1]

Manufactures are in business to make money. The engineers could make a bad ass, take no prisoners product. But the bean counters have told the engineers how much money they have to spend and still meet certain specifications. 'Cuz, if the company can't make a profit, doesn't matter how good what their product is.

 

[RCinNC]

I always laugh at that statement, "The engineers know best" and then the first thing people do is change everything that the bike came out of the factory with. Seats, bars, grips, foot pegs, tires, windscreens, etc.

The manufacturers do most of their decision to make money.

I don't think those two statements are mutually exclusive. Engineers have to design something like a motorcycle to meet a wide spectrum of consumer, and sometimes they just have to simply use the average rider as a baseline for their design. One reason there's an aftermarket for motorcycle products is to service those riders who aren't quite comfortable with this wide spectrum design.

There's a post on ADV Rider that was cross posted here, about a guy who was essentially whinging about buffeting on the Super Tenere. For him, it was so horrible that he found the bike to be virtually unrideable for long periods. Guys like him are why there's an aftermarket for things like windshields. Whereas I've been riding my 2014 for a decade with a stock windshield, and I've never found buffeting to be a problem at all. Evidently I fit the rider profile for whom the S10 was designed. In fact, I've never changed any of the ergonomics on my S10; seat, screen, pegs, all stock. It doesn't mean I'm right and someone else is wrong; a guy with arms a little shorter than mine may need a set of pullback risers to make his bike comfortable for him, whereas I don't. Engineers have to choose a set of parameters to design within; if you fall outside those parameters, then another set of engineers in the aftermarket can come up with some accommodations.

They also have to design within a certain price point targeted towards the market they're trying to reach. I have no doubt that Yamaha's engineers could design something with as much gosh-wow tech as say, a 1300GS. Which very well might push the price of a Super Tenere into the $20,000 and up range. That might place the S10 beyond the market for which it was intended. One theory I've always had about the Super Ten was that it was targeted for a market that wasn't as big as they'd hoped. It was too expensive for the V-Strom/KLR guys, and too cheap and low tech for the BMW/KTM guys.

 

[Bmwdumptruck]

IIRC my non ES model, which didn’t have grab handles of pannier mounts, those holes had rubber bungs in them. If I’m correct in my thinking, you’d struggle to fit the bungs if the hole was just a U shaped slot rather than a full circular ish hole.

 

[mybackhurts]

You know you always get responses in oil threads and such with guys saying, "Well I will go with what the book says because the Yamaha engineers know best." Well, not always.

What idiot engineer thought that it would be a good idea to have the plastic cover under the pillion seat that covers access to the brake light wiring have a hole in it where the grab handle bolts on? (My guess is passenger comfort?)

I just had to take the entire side cases racks off to get the plastic cover off to access those wires.

The first thing I did once the cover was off was take a hacksaw to it and remedy that problem. The cover is held in place by 4 bolts. No need for the grab rails to go through it too. The engineers don't worry about working on things once they build it.

I'd like to have the guy that designed that to explain it to me. I sure was cussing him today. Engineers don't always know best. Rant over.

I mean, I just did all this at 3 this morning. It's not that bad. Although, I said a fuck, or two when I realized I had to take apart my case rack. My cases come off super easy, so it was just unbolting the grab handles, and rack.

My question is why arent the grab handles built into the pillon while also doubling as tie downs? Why not make the pillon more robust to be rated for more weight they know we gonna load it down anyways...

They did a great job engineering this. I wish I had known I could level the rear rack to the pillon. Would have saved the money buying a plate. Owners manual makes no mention of how to do this. Found a threaded hole in the tail covered with a rubber grommet doing some exploration.

The design of the pillon plate was prob just to insure if things rattle loose they can't fall off. It's part of a seat after all.