Found this 2019 Tenere sitting in my garage

Alexander

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Joined
Mar 8, 2020
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83
Location
Kansas City
Hey everyone!

Great forum you have here -- been browsing for a while.

I've enjoyed riding an M109R the past decade, but I've been looking at getting a second bike with more long-distance capability, better storage, and better wind protection. Almost bought an FJR a few years ago, but life got in the way and I stopped looking. I knew my next bike would be a Yamaha because I wanted the reliability.

More recently, after months of research, I was 99.8% ready to buy a "new old stock" 2018 Yamaha Venture at the local dealer... stopped to look at it on three separate occasions to convince myself it was the right decision. The third time is when I noticed the 2019 Tenere sitting behind it. Tried sitting on both, and found the Tenere seating position much more comfortable for my 34" inseam, but it was still difficult to decide between two radically different bikes. After deliberation, my personal pros/cons list had the Tenere at +8 and the Venture at -3, so I nervously bought the Tenere on the 4th of this month without even test-riding it. And today, I'm glad I did. I got everything I was initially looking for, saved a bunch of money even with a 5-year warranty, PLUS gained the ability to go off-road? Win/win/win.

I've spent these first few weeks adjusting the controls to my liking, getting familiarized with the handling and ES suspension, and adding some aftermarket parts (mostly to protect the investment). Took this photo tonight on a 2-hour ride around the city, getting a hair over 46mpg so far with ~400 miles total on the odometer:



Regrettably, my dorky girlfriend has nicknamed it "Tennifer"

Removed all the stickers, added AltRider lower crash bars, T-Rex skid plate, Vstream touring windshield, 6" shock sox, and a cheap $50 (~23 liter?) top case from Harbor Freight. Did the "free-mod" seat leveling, which helped a lot. Torqued some loose spokes after 300 miles and zip-tied them after hearing about some horror stories on here.

Still looking into getting panniers (torn between Givi, Bumot, or Caribou), and some other minor odds and ends. Hoping to take a trip out to Colorado on it this summer.

Anyway, didn't mean to write a book -- just thought I'd say hello and provide some reading material for those who are bored during quarantine. Ride safe and wash your hands!
 
B

ballisticexchris

Guest
Nice description of your new girlfriend Tennifer!! Welcome and enjoy your new ride.
 

Sierra1

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Nov 7, 2016
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14,812
Location
Joshua TX
Welcome from down I-35 in Texas. As far as the suspension adjustment goes, I use 200lbs per helmet; luggage = 50lbs for a preload starting point. The rebound/dampening is an "adjust as necessary" as the road conditions change. Enjoy.
 

Mak10

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Aug 20, 2018
Messages
2,567
Location
SE Idaho
Welcome from Idaho. Great choice of bike.

A couple of good upgrades, the bike needs additional lighting.
The stock headlights are lacking. I try to not ride in the dark if possible, but sometimes that doesn’t always work out. An inexpensive route is HF lights and harness if you have the ability to shorten the harness.
I added a madstad bracket and windshield, which helped a bunch. Then I added the winglets. They are expensive little pieces, they helped more.
I was getting a vibration from buffeting in my helmet. It made my nose itch at highway speeds. That is now gone.

I am very happy with my Happy Trails panniers. I really like the racks. They are stout. Although not as “pretty “ as some others. Function over form for me.

If you want a tank bag, I would suggest one with a tank lock ring. I tried the Yamaha bag, and it worked well, carried a lot, but was inconvenient when fueling. I bought a Givi with the tank lock ring and like it better.

Happy riding.
 

Mak10

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Aug 20, 2018
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2,567
Location
SE Idaho
And I noticed a pretty good power increase at around 8,000 miles. It seems the motor takes a bit to loosen up and break in.
 

JJTJ2

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Joined
Aug 14, 2018
Messages
349
Location
Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri
Welcome from the Lake of the Ozarks. I pick my 2018 NOS up two weeks from this Saturday. Looks like we are going to have similar setups. Maybe after we get finished sheltering in place, we can meet up for a ride this summer.
 

Alexander

Active Member
Joined
Mar 8, 2020
Messages
83
Location
Kansas City
Thanks for the warm welcome and advice, everyone -- appreciate it.

The stock headlights are lacking. I try to not ride in the dark if possible, but sometimes that doesn’t always work out. An inexpensive route is HF lights and harness if you have the ability to shorten the harness.
I added a madstad bracket and windshield, which helped a bunch. Then I added the winglets. They are expensive little pieces, they helped more.
I was getting a vibration from buffeting in my helmet. It made my nose itch at highway speeds. That is now gone.

I am very happy with my Happy Trails panniers. I really like the racks. They are stout. Although not as “pretty “ as some others. Function over form for me.
Yeah, the stock headlights are something less than perfect. Beyond luminosity concerns, the sharp cutoff has taken some getting used to in turns, as there's no light bleeding above the cutoff to see around corners at night (and I like night-riding). I had an HID on my M109R before swapping to a Cyclops LED, but I gather there are some potential longevity issues with the Cyclops on the Tenere. I see there are some cheaper options (NovSights?) that may work just as well for a fraction of the price. Definitely on the to-do list.

I do like the idea of having a triangular AUX light arrangement to make me more visible to cagers in the city, aside from the additional light output off-road. I'll check out the HF lights, thanks. I happen to be an electrical engineer who builds engines and tunes aftermarket ECUs for fun, so building harnesses is a trivial matter. I might code an Arduino microcontroller to do a "delayed start" on the accessories like some aftermarket boxes can do -- if so, I'll post the code on the forums here. The Arduinos are only like $5~$10 -- awesome for all sorts of projects.

Wasn't sure how much the winglets help -- sounds like they're worth it. The tall Vstream touring windshield eliminated all helmet buffeting for me even on the stock bracket in the lowest setting, but all the wind hits my arms now -- if the winglets help with that, I'll definitely pick up a pair.

I'm definitely a "function over form" kinda guy -- I'll look into the Happy Trails as well, thanks. Mostly, I've been researching safety-related issues with hard panniers (like the occasional broken leg), but I like the idea of hard storage over soft for the areas I'm riding.
 

Alexander

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Mar 8, 2020
Messages
83
Location
Kansas City
Welcome from western South Dakota. Nice bike, I sort of like it with all the decals removed. The rear Harbor Freight box seems okay. How did you mount it to the rack?
The HF box is just okay -- nothing more. I needed some temporary storage until I decide on something better, but I've been caught in a heavy rainstorm for ~30 minutes and it kept everything dry. Can't beat the price. Just have to lock it with padlocks.

I mounted it simply by removing the stock (plastic, eh...) rack and eyeballing the four mounting holes onto the bottom of the case, drilling holes, and mounting it with some stainless Allen bolts/washers/nuts from Home Depot -- took literally 15 minutes. Think it was 3/8" hardware, iirc. A little tricky to mount, as you can't reach the bolt heads on the bolts nearest the passenger pillion, but doable.
 

Mak10

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Aug 20, 2018
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2,567
Location
SE Idaho
One thing I did notice with the stock halogens and aux leds was the color of light. The stock halogens give a warmer color of light, while the led auxiliaries give a more stark “White” light. I noticed better visability for me with the combination. Just my opinion.
 

Alexander

Active Member
Joined
Mar 8, 2020
Messages
83
Location
Kansas City
Welcome from the Lake of the Ozarks. I pick my 2018 NOS up two weeks from this Saturday. Looks like we are going to have similar setups. Maybe after we get finished sheltering in place, we can meet up for a ride this summer.
Sounds like a plan! My father had a house down at the Ozarks when I was younger, always loved going out on the lake. I actually still have a timeshare down there in early September near Bagnell Dam, ironically timed during a "Bike Fest" thing they hold.
 

Alexander

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Joined
Mar 8, 2020
Messages
83
Location
Kansas City
One thing I did notice with the stock halogens and aux leds was the color of light. The stock halogens give a warmer color of light, while the led auxiliaries give a more stark “White” light. I noticed better visability for me with the combination. Just my opinion.
To my knowledge, the "kelvin" rating of the light output used to correspond to the physical light output on HID lights -- something like 4300K typically outputs the most lumens, though many prefer the "bluish" light color of 6000K for aesthetics. Not sure if that holds true on LEDs, regarding the physical light output.

Interesting if the combination of using different temperatures offers the best of both worlds, as it would theoretically hit a wider span of visible wavelengths. I've always been partial to the warmer yellowish lights -- never much cared for blue, as it seems harsher and causes me more eye fatigue. Doing both might be a happy medium.

I believe Amber is the color to which our eyes are most sensitive. Think I saw one Tenere that used Amber bulbs in the stock parking light location above the headlights -- I might copycat that.
 
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Sierra1

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Nov 7, 2016
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Joshua TX
….something like 4300K typically outputs the most lumens, though many prefer the "bluish" light color of 6000K for aesthetics.....
The 4300K v 6000K referes to "temperature", LED or halogen. Don't quite understand that, because they're saying the temperature designates the color. But, lumens are different from the "temperature". There's 4300k with more lumens that a 6000k, and vice-versa. I personally like the 6000k, and "hotter" color.
 

Cantab

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Mar 15, 2020
Messages
482
Location
Christchurch NZ
Nice 1 Alex ;) im jealous much :cool:

Side note, im wondering why some people remove factory stickers ? I can sorta understand the safety and fuel ones tho.

Welcome from another new guy in New Zealand
 
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