ONLY 1 LONELY S10 AT CHICAGO BIKE SHOW

[Hfjeff]

I bought my first one last October (2017) to replace an FJR at 49. It is the ONLY bike out there with the right combination of all of my requirements: 1000cc +, Liquid Cooled, Electronic Suspension, Shaft Drive, Cruise, Heated Grips, Upright seating position, LOW MAINT and reasonable price! It is not sexy like the FJR, Multistrada, or Super Duke, but it gets the job done respectably and holds it's own. And my wife loves it so that just made the whole deal that much easier. ;D

 

[JW]

I think it is a fantastic machine. Think Yamaha needs to promote it more. It seems like it will be a work horse. I bought it because it checked off all the (I want/need) boxes. Have not owned mine long but looking forward to a long run with it.

 

[Super08]

It was the same for me, the only other bike that had all the boxes checked was the BMW. All the others would be missing something whether it be shaft drive, cruise, etc. The only two that had all the features I wanted was the Tenere and the BMW, once you got past that the Yamaha won hands down on price and reliability. Sure I would love a BMW but not at darn near twice the price and the higher maintenance costs. Also when on the road here in North America Yamaha has a better dealer network incase you did encounter problems along the way. With that said the bike is getting left behind as far as performance etc. The Gen 2 came out in 2014 but what is needed now is a major redesign to compete with the others. The Raid Edition that has come out for 2018 is nice, but all it has are a set of Givi Outback bags with Yamaha logos, some carbon fiber side panels, world crosser skid plate, and Piaa lights. These are all off the shelf items and do nothing to improve the bike. It needs more HP to match that of the other 1200 class bikes, an ABS disable switch, and find a way to shave off a few pounds. If they did that it would be back at the top of the pack.

 

[Sierra1]

::026:: on the reason(s) why choose Yamaha over BMW. Each manufacturer has their preferences/priorities. That's why all the adventure rides are so different. Find the one that checks the most boxes. Over the years, I find that Yamaha seems to know what boxes I need checked. "I" would like better OE box latches and wider tires; that's about it. The power and weight is fine with me; and I'm a relatively aggressive rider. More power would just eat more tires. My FJR would go through tires at least 30% quicker than my FJ. But....everybody has their own boxes to check. I still think that more and more people will migrate to the Tenere, from the other brands, for the same reasons that we stay. ::001::

 

[RCinNC]

My absolutely uninformed opinion is that I'll be really surprised if this bike will be around for as long as the FJR, or even half as long as the FJR. Motorcycle sales in general are falling (BMW still doing well, though), new riders aren't entering the activity at the rate they did when most of us were kids, and the S10 probably suffers from one of the things that is killing Harley Davidson; it's a model that skews towards an older demographic, which means its buyers (me included) are going to be dropping dead with no new younger guys to take their place. I really hope I'm wrong, because I really like this bike and I'd like to think I'll be able to replace my 2014 with a new one in a few years.

 

[Super08]

//snip// The power and weight is fine with me; and I'm a relatively aggressive rider. More power would just eat more tires. ///snip//

One up I am happy with the power as well. I do feel a large difference riding two up however. Either way power levels today are so far and above what we had back in the 70's. The standard back then was a 650-750 for two up touring and in the late 70's this moved to 900-1000cc bikes. Who would of thought of dual purpose bikes with 1200 cc engines or touring bikes like my Road Glide with 1700cc engines and others with even bigger engines.

 

[Heresjeff]

I still go to the play ground that's how young I am.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Super08]

Hahah, I'll only admit to a small percentage of things I still do that I shouldn't.

 

[Cycledude]

More horse power would be useless to me but yes horse power is a big seller for the general public.
I would like to see the headlights upgraded and add self canceling turn signals.

 

[Sierra1]

I don't think I'm alone in gravitating towards the Tenere because of it's "do everythingness". Around my area, the roads just keep getting worse. On roads that beat the crap out of the FJR, the Tenere doesn't blink an eye. Liter sized super sports cost more, but will do less. And of course, cruisers will ALWAYS be popular. I think the younger crowd will come around.

 

[RCinNC]

I don't think the younger crowd will come around, at least not to the kind of motorcycling we're used to. Cruisers actually aren't always popular; motorcycle sales, with a couple of outliers, are down across the board. HD, the kind of cruiser makers, has lost about 16 percent of their sales in the past two years and has shut down factories in both the US and Australia, with no end to the downward spiral in sight. I believe that BMW is the only manufacturer to post sales gains in the past two years. There are a bunch of reasons that the sport is declining, but a couple big ones are debt load for the potential new generation of riders, and simply a change in perception of motorcycling in general. Twenty somethings don't have the same interest in it as we did when we were that age; hell, there's even a downward swing in how many younger people even bother getting their drivers' licenses, let alone motorcycle licenses. A generation that looks forward to self driving cars isn't going to have a lot of interest in the far more visceral experience of riding a bike. Plus, a lot of this crop of potential new riders are saddled with five and six figures worth of college debt, which they're going to be carrying well into their thirties or longer; that doesn't leave a lot of wiggle room to buy what a lot of people consider to be a really expensive toy. If motorcycling has a future with the upcoming generation of riders, it may involve a lot more smaller displacement, cheaper bikes, or electric bikes, or maybe even self driving bikes.

I think a lot of us forget that in the approximately 115 year history of motorcycling in the US, it's only been generally popular with the masses for about fifty of those years; basically starting with the Japanese invasion in the 60's, up through the explosive growth of Harley in the early 80's after the buyout. A lot of that boom directly coincides with the surging middle class prosperity of the Boomer generation and the Gen X'ers that were riding on their coattails. Up until the whole "you meet the nicest people on a Honda" ad campaigns, motorcycling didn't have mass across the board appeal. It was looked on at best as a frivolous pursuit for perpetual adolescents, or at worst as a hobby for drunken hooligans. Motorcycling got really popular both because prosperity made it possible to afford one, and the culture changed enough to make them generally socially acceptable. The cultural shift that made them generally acceptable and desirable can go in the opposite direction, too; maybe that's what we're all seeing happening right now.

 

[Checkswrecks]

I don't think the younger crowd will come around, at least not to the kind of motorcycling we're used to. Cruisers actually aren't always popular; motorcycle sales, with a couple of outliers, are down across the board. HD, the kind of cruiser makers, has lost about 16 percent of their sales in the past two years and has shut down factories in both the US and Australia, with no end to the downward spiral in sight. I believe that BMW is the only manufacturer to post sales gains in the past two years. There are a bunch of reasons that the sport is declining, but a couple big ones are debt load for the potential new generation of riders, and simply a change in perception of motorcycling in general. Twenty somethings don't have the same interest in it as we did when we were that age; hell, there's even a downward swing in how many younger people even bother getting their drivers' licenses, let alone motorcycle licenses. A generation that looks forward to self driving cars isn't going to have a lot of interest in the far more visceral experience of riding a bike. Plus, a lot of this crop of potential new riders are saddled with five and six figures worth of college debt, which they're going to be carrying well into their thirties or longer; that doesn't leave a lot of wiggle room to buy what a lot of people consider to be a really expensive toy. If motorcycling has a future with the upcoming generation of riders, it may involve a lot more smaller displacement, cheaper bikes, or electric bikes, or maybe even self driving bikes.

I think a lot of us forget that in the approximately 115 year history of motorcycling in the US, it's only been generally popular with the masses for about fifty of those years; basically starting with the Japanese invasion in the 60's, up through the explosive growth of Harley in the early 80's after the buyout. A lot of that boom directly coincides with the surging middle class prosperity of the Boomer generation and the Gen X'ers that were riding on their coattails. Up until the whole "you meet the nicest people on a Honda" ad campaigns, motorcycling didn't have mass across the board appeal. It was looked on at best as a frivolous pursuit for perpetual adolescents, or at worst as a hobby for drunken hooligans. Motorcycling got really popular both because prosperity made it possible to afford one, and the culture changed enough to make them generally socially acceptable. The cultural shift that made them generally acceptable and desirable can go in the opposite direction, too; maybe that's what we're all seeing happening right now.

Tend to agree with you again RC. I've got a 27 and 30 year old and the interests that they and their friends have are much less material than ours used to be. Definitely not as into vehicles of any sort. Much more conservative and all about activities and experiences, especially with others.

 

[Sierra1]

Maybe you're right....it IS much more difficult to text on a motorcycle. And as we know, with the younger crowd, if they can't text, they can't talk. ;D And then there's that whole manual transmission thing.

 

[Super08]

That is so true it is funny, , , and sad all at the same time.

 

[RCinNC]

Tend to agree with you again RC. I've got a 27 and 30 year old and the interests that they and their friends have are much less material than ours used to be. Definitely not as into vehicles of any sort. Much more conservative and all about activities and experiences, especially with others.

I actually look at that as a kind of a good thing to be honest, Checkswrecks, at least as far as making life about experiences rather than stuff. If the current generation of people can find happiness in the experiences they have, rather than the whole "I have a huge house, well I have an even bigger house plus a pool" sort of nonsense that at least my generation was consumed by, they may end up being a lot happier in the long run.

 

[markjenn]

I actually look at that as a kind of a good thing to be honest, Checkswrecks, at least as far as making life about experiences rather than stuff. If the current generation of people can find happiness in the experiences they have, rather than the whole "I have a huge house, well I have an even bigger house plus a pool" sort of nonsense that at least my generation was consumed by, they may end up being a lot happier in the long run.

I agree to some extent. I don't think riding around on a $30K blinged-out cruiser with open pipes says anything particularly positive about he person riding it and if younger folks are rejecting this image, more power to them. Smaller, lighter, simpler, safer, quieter, and more approachable motorcycles are the way forward. As one example, I think Honda (or Yamaha for that matter), could produce an Electric Cub right now with 100-mile range for $5K or so that would be very popular and bring a lot of interest back to motorcycles particularly younger folks. It would catch a lot of the "You meet the nicest people on a Honda" vibe that captured so many to the sport back in the 60's. No, I wouldn't tour on it, but smaller things lead to bigger things. Another new-concept bike that I WOULD tour on is the Honda X-Adv which Honda won't bring to the states.

There's tremendous inertia in the industry, particularly the Japanese, right now to trying to move beyond their aging core groups, but if they don't do it, they'll be toast. I expect we'll see Suzuki throw in the towel on the US market any day now.

- Mark

 

[RCinNC]

I think the only real option for the US motorcycle industry, if they want to continue to be profitable at their current levels, is to convince people in the US that motorcycles aren't a lifestyle, or a masculinity enhancement, or a status symbol, but are actually a viable form of transportation. And that isn't going to happen, at least not unless gas prices increase threefold over what they are now. And if that did happen, and people did start looking at bikes as an alternative to a car, you aren't going to see liter plus bikes with 150 HP that get 30 mpg. It'll be more like a big scooter with grocery panniers that gets 70 mpg. Or an electric bike. Neither of which would satisfy us old guys who grew up with bikes where either horsepower or style were king.

And I honestly doubt if any of that will come to pass. There was a time in the early part of the 20th Century that motorcycles were an alternative to cars (like around the time the Model T was introduced). There isn't much difference between an open car with no heater and a motorcycle. But cars got better, and motorcycles stopped seeming like an alternative and started seeming more like an impractical toy. And that's pretty much where they stayed until a brief period starting in the '60's up until, well, now. They're still expensive toys that for most people can't replace the family car, but for about 50 years people have had disposable income to afford toys like bikes (and boats, and RVs, and private airplanes, etc). Those twenty-somethings out there who would have been part of the bike buying demographic in past years are facing an economic future a LOT different from what I was looking at in 1982, not to mention a very different social landscape. From an historical economic perspective, a prosperous, relatively wealthy middle class is not the norm; it's an aberration. And it was that post war wealthy middle class that made the growth of what's essentially a really expensive toy manufacturing industry possible. As the middle class shrinks, there's nothing the traditional motorcycle industry can do but contract to a more sustainable level.

 

[Langolier]

If a manufacture want's to cater to the next gen They will need start offering bikes that can:

Drive itself
Park itself
Stop itself (in case your not paying attention)
Has Virtual Headset capability (so you don't have to turn around to look for traffic and has gaming capabilities when at stop signs)

But seriously I believe bike sales will continue to slide. It seems a good portion of the next gen is not all that exited about exploring the country side, Much less on 2 wheels.

 

[Dogdaze]

But seriously I believe bike sales will continue to slide. It seems a good portion of the next gen is not all that exited about exploring the country side, Much less on 2 wheels.

::026:: ::007:: But why would they want to, they have the capability to do virtual tours of just about anything these days, we are entering the bone-idle generation, if it involves any moving parts they seem uninterested. Sure there will be a few outliers, kids that have grown up around the smell of exhaust and gas fumes (my 9 yo daughter loves the smell of petrol!!), but the majority will be content with sitting around with a headset. Still, on the plus side the roads will be empty, but of course with the adoption of the nanny-state mentality, bikes with be outlawed anyway.

 

[RCinNC]

I'm not writing off the younger generation so easily. It's easy to mock them because there's an endless media blitz of "millenials ruin everything", but that's just more media bullshit. Maybe young people don't care as much about motorcycles as we did, and they don't grow up with the desire to tear an engine down, but just look at any of those programs around the country that are encouraging young people to get into STEM fields. What I see are a lot of young kids who are building and creating stuff. Maybe it's not a street rod with 400 HP, but instead it's a robot, or an app, or a new lab test to detect cancer. There are a lot of kids and young people out there that aren't content to sit around in a headset, though it soothes us old guys to perpetually imagine that the next generation are pussies compared to us. And if there are a lot of dependent, entitled, lazy kids out there, well, they didn't raise themselves to be that way. We Baby Boomers and Gen X'ers helped to make them that way. Every generation created the world that gets inherited by the next one, and it makes me howl when old guys like me bitch and moan about younger people without the least bit of self awareness that we created both them and the world they inhabit. Maybe it's time to stop bitching at millenials because they're lazy and entitled and start realizing that we sold their futures down the river when we started to outsource all of our enormous manufacturing capabilities to other countries just so we could buy a damn pack of t-shirts at WalMart for eight bucks.