Gentlemen My DR650 was written off by a car driving over it (I was not on the bike). At 26000klm after the first year I loved the simple nature of the bike but would have liked a little smoother engine and on road performance for the longer hauls. My Questions are; What revs is the Tenere pulling at 100kph Does anyone ride one to work (I do a round 155klm trip on open highways) What issues are you having on 45,000 plus bikes (what I do in 2 years) What is the seat like after 3 to 4 hours. How do you rate the headlight Thanks for your time. Regards to all.
1: 100kph @ 4000rpm ; 2: nope, just for pleasure, weekends, short and long trips; 3: mine just passed 67.000km's; issues(minor imho) so far: -breather replaced under warranty; -locks replaced under warranty(typical Yamaha issue); -cushdrive rubbers wear fast(first set replaced under warranty, thereafter on my account), an average of 20.000km. -some had problems with the regulator/rectifier, causing the battery to die; not on mine however, still runnin' the first battery; That's about it, for mine; it's a reliable bike with a solid engine, good fuel economy and lotsa fun to ride, a real allround allroad/travel bike. 4: the seat is pretty comfortable, long ridin' days are possible; however for very long rides I use an Airhawk; the longest stretch I did on one day was 800km's, no problem; 5: depending on your demands, it'll do; it's just fine for me. Out of the box/crate it's a good bike already, but with some upgrades/mods you'll have a even better bike. But remember this: it does a pretty good job offroad(with the proper tyres!), but it still is an allroad or, like Yamaha says, an adventure travel bike. Lik I said, it's really an allround allroad bike, which is very multi-purpose imho! Greetz, Hans.
Thank you for the detailed response. Most of your issues I have had with high milage DR's as well so they are to me, part of long term ownership. Kind Regards
yes i am moaning because the 660 tenere looks way cool. I have made do with what i have a set up dr650. This is my second one and i love it even though it has down falls. The wr250 is not able to do long free way miles for days on end comfertabley. Were as the xt, and dr are avle to.
The WR250R basically is able to ride long distances, but I would never use it on big roads. However, this applies to my Tenere as well. I always try to ride backroads. Anything else is a waste of time in my opinion. So to me this is not an issue at all. But this may be up to the location of your rides, I guess. At least where I live, there is no need to ride a lot of big roads at all. BTW chances are I need to sell my Tenere, since I want to get me the new KTM Freeride 2012 or 2013. This will be decided about next year, and actually I am not really happy about it. We will see...
Due to the fact, the 660 is not available everywhere and some guys want a durable fuel injected dualsport bike (as opposed to some enduro sports bike).
Hmm, I read "fuel injected" "dualsport" "durable" Also, as I read from statements of this thread AFAIK: "no KTM" "no BMW" Since I compare these two Yamaha bikes each and every day, there is no issue at all in doing so for me. I am not ambitious about it, since I may choose every day according to my needs and likes. However, in case there is no 660 available at some locations where people moan about it, these guys need to take a look at those very few alternatives, just in case they would not like to buy those well known old style thumpers.
add to that large fuel tank and very strong subframe. this a touring machine, not a big dirtbike. load her down w/ gear in the side boxes and on top and go tour the dirt roads in the US and beyond...ride down to Panama or Ushuia. in the US if you want a JAPANESE (and that is essential for many) 650 you've got the KLR650 or DR650 or XR650L all of which are older tech. that's it and many are ready to upgrade to a newer Japanese bike. it might not seem this way to KTM fan boys, but the Tenere is ideal new-tech from a japanese mfg. for many. KTM guys expect the latest suspension so they can rip across @ hyper speed. the Tenere buyer wants to move along to a reasonably safe speed and have nothing go wrong for 1000s upon 1000s of miles. you can't compare the 2 types of owners nor the 2 types of bikes.
Maybe you are calling me a KTM fan boy, some posts above it was KTM lover. Just in case, I am currently riding Yamaha and Honda. However, your imagination about the stock tenere suspension does not match reality, sorry to say so. If you read through the forums you will find the rear shock failing after not so many kilometers. Most people get it replaced after probably 20000km. The tenere will refuse to stay on its sidestand due to the rear shock spring shrinking over the time. With some luggage on it it will simply fall over. A friend of mine who crashed his tenere (rear shock not subject to crash impact) found the rear shock kind of exploded with its weak internals totally broken. Not what i would call reliable in any way. But these things need to be found out by each one on his own. In case we reduce it to durability without considering engine size, the WR proved to be somewhat better than my Tenere. Daily rides of 130kms, backrouds mostly, any weather. Some offroad. For instance my Tenere lost its chain which was kind of cumbersome and left some damage. There is no chain guidance block installed, unfortunately. Something that should be installed with any realiable enduro style bike. Big trouble could result from that. For travellers a big fuel tank is nice, but it is even nicer to have an engine low on fuel consumption. With the 14l safari tank, the Wr might come close to the Tenere with its 23l tank, since it takes one liter less per 100km. And it weighs so much less. However, I do not recommend getting the smaller engine. I am just saying, there are not that many alternatives. Two updates: "Japanese bike": the 2008 and 2009 Tenere were fully Italian made with a Minarelli engine as you know. Later on they were said to have moved to Spain and to France, I cannot tell. Not a single part of it is made in Japan. Rims are cheapo steel stuff from San Remo, suspension is paioli, fuel tank however is an expensive Elkamet :) "subframe": one piece design. Crashing it means fixing up the whole frame as my friend had to do (together with the fork being bent althougt not being subject to the crash impact). The WR for instance has got a steel rear frame which is extremely solid. You may just remove it and fix it in case. Main frame and stearing head is massive aluminium, looks undestructible. Frame downtubes are steel. Afaik there were no issues with this frame reported in the forums I read. Phil
hello my yamaha center Helsingborg (Skåne) (Sweden) offers tuning with 60hk on the rear wheel is otherwise where only 40hk it was powercomander, cam shaft, self-made air filter and some other exhausts but I was not interested in this because I had a KTM 950 R Super Enduro sorry made by Google Translate