Super Ten Clutch

[Tenman]

When you get in the soft sand or mud. You have to spin. TC is constanly working against you when you spin. Something gonna heat up. I experienced this in the gumbo mud here years ago. It's a miracle I didn't fry mine before I realized what was happening. 60k miles later and my gen 1 clutch still works like new. I did a power brake burn out for the Harley boys today (TC off). I told them I'd had it 150mph Good luck Thompn. I hope you have a decent dealership. I have to drive over a hundred miles to a dealership It's like rolling the dice on what they do and say they did.

 

[thompn]

Thompn, if you do take the clutch cover off, there’s two dowels. They should stay in situ, just be careful if you have to rock the cover to get it off. It’s been a long time since I did my Gen1 basket and I can’t quite recall where they are other than one top, one bottom. You don’t want one of them dropping down into the sump.

Also, I’m pretty sure that the big nut does not need removing if only changing the plates, therefore no clutch holding tool required.

good luck

Thanks for that, it's super useful information. Although, having just got off the phone with the towing company they can bring it to me under my insurance roadside coverage but they cant bring it to my house because they use a 22 meter truck and I live in the centre of the city. Looks like it'll be going to the dealer directly who will just do it all on my behalf - probably easier for me but will cost and I'd rather do it myself but needs must.

I am under the assumption that the gentlemen Jaxon was talking about were "fighting" the TC by overuse of the clutch. I made this same mistake when I got into some deep sand before I realized I had the TC activated in the most intrusive position.

I didnt feel like I was overcompensating with the TC and usually if stuck I just turn it off because it's much easier to spin the wheels than fight the TCS interrupting the throttle. Obviously I must have done something like this for it to happen, I only like to keep the TCS on for a bit of cornering slip which provides some security in case I misjudge the corner and end up sending the back end out too far.

When you get in the soft sand or mud. You have to spin. TC is constanly working against you when you spin. Something gonna heat up. I experienced this in the gumbo mud here years ago. It's a miracle I didn't fry mine before I realized what was happening. 60k miles later and my gen 1 clutch still works like new. I did a power brake burn out for the Harley boys today (TC off). I told them I'd had it 150mph Good luck Thompn. I hope you have a decent dealership. I have to drive over a hundred miles to a dealership It's like rolling the dice on what they do and say they did.

Yeah, an expensive lesson on the application of TC off road! You live and learn.

I'm quite lucky with the dealer I have here, they are an official Yamaha shop and can always get me parts really quickly if I call them. Their head mechanic has done Dakar and some other rally trophy stuff so he's always good to chat to about adventures and bikes in general and gives solid advice whenever I chat to him. Obviously I'd rather get my hands dirty myself and save myself 90 Euros an hour in labour charges, but in my current living situation it's just not something I can do. The joys of living in a city!

 

[Don T]

The concern and question I have now is... This is an advertised hardcore adventure bike, I have ridden it off road through multiple countries with absolutely no issue and then within the space of an hour the clutch dies. The bike has done 20,000km total. What do you more experienced super ten owners think of this level of longevity? Id have expected more from the bike. I have owned for just 10 months and have done about 1500km total of purely off road riding in relatively easy terrain and suddenly the clutch has completely died. I am not really a clutch slipping rider, and don't think there is a huge difference between my on and off road clutch use.

Maybe I'm missing something here so I guess I'm just looking for people's opinion of the super ten clutch

To answer your initial question:
The T12 doesn't have a clutch problem. If you use proper oil and don't misuse it, it'll last a very long time.
There is no reason to be disappointed with the bike.

Your clutch most likely didn't die within the space of an hour.
It had been dying slowly for a long time up until that point.
When a clutch reach the point where you start noticing it's slipping, it goes downhill really fast.

 

[ballisticexchris]

To answer your initial question:
The T12 doesn't have a clutch problem. If you use proper oil and don't misuse it, it'll last a very long time.
There is no reason to be disappointed with the bike.

While that is a true statement, misusing the clutch is a fact of life for any bike that sees off road conditions. Not being able to change the final drive gearing for those conditions makes it worse. When you have to go through a long section of walking pace terrain, the clutch is slipped to slow the bike down.

I know 100% without a doubt that I wore my plates on a particular ride where I was slipping the clutch 3 miles in and 3 miles out of rock crawling conditions. When I got back home from that 1400 mile ride my oil was black and burned. I'm pretty confident they are not at the wear limit as the clutch is still working properly with no chatter or slippage. I also know that just a few rides like that will be having me doing a plates change and possibly basket as well.

 

[eemsreno]

I read though this thread briefly so if I missed this sorry.
But when a 4stroke eats a clutch you might need to pull the sump plate off the bottom of the engine and clean out the oil pump screen.
I think that I read on here that a guy in Mexico trashed his engine from a fried clutch plugging up the oil pump screen.

 

[thompn]

To answer your initial question:
The T12 doesn't have a clutch problem. If you use proper oil and don't misuse it, it'll last a very long time.
There is no reason to be disappointed with the bike.

Your clutch most likely didn't die within the space of an hour.
It had been dying slowly for a long time up until that point.
When a clutch reach the point where you start noticing it's slipping, it goes downhill really fast.

Obvious speculation, but I expect you're right that the clutch was already damaged and I didn't notice. I did have a particularly hard time a few weeks back where I got caught in a bog, which may have done some damage to my clutch when I was trying to get the bike out if I wasn't being careful (which I'll admit I might not have been because I was cold, wet, annoyed and so on).

I am glad to have seen the lifecycle of the super tenere clutch, first hand! A lesson learned

When you have to go through a long section of walking pace terrain, the clutch is slipped to slow the bike down.

I know 100% without a doubt that I wore my plates on a particular ride where I was slipping the clutch 3 miles in and 3 miles out of rock crawling conditions. When I got back home from that 1400 mile ride my oil was black and burned.

This is me, although I don't consciously recall giving the clutch a hard time but I must have done. I should really have checked the oil sooner, but I was being lazy and knew it was due for a look in the coming weeks so didn't do it.

I read though this thread briefly so if I missed this sorry.
But when a 4stroke eats a clutch you might need to pull the sump plate off the bottom of the engine and clean out the oil pump screen.
I think that I read on here that a guy in Mexico trashed his engine from a fried clutch plugging up the oil pump screen.

That is also very good to know, I'll be sure that the mechanic whos going to have to do that is aware of/mentions that check when he gets the bike in the shop.

 

[WJBertrand]

Thanks for the answer about the TCS and Clutch. The only other bike I’ve had with TCS was my ‘93 ST1100. I got it stuck in some soft dirt/sand parking at Laguna Seca. With the TCS switched on, the engine would just bog. Couldn’t really fight the TCS by abusing the clutch as the engine power was basically cut to nothing. After a couple tries, and noticing the TCS dash light blinking, I switched off the TCS and roosted out of there!


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[RCinNC]

This is only anectdotal evidence, but I have 78,000 miles on my original clutch with no issues. A lot of that is on gravel and dirt, but nothing I would consider "off-road". I suspect that anyone doing a lot of actual off-roading on a 700 pound plus motorcycle/rider combination would experience a lot more significant clutch wear, even if they're a very skilled rider. I doubt that it has anything to do with a flaw in the bike, or even a flaw in the rider, for that matter; you're just asking a lot from the clutch of what's basically a street bike with minor off road pretensions rather than a purpose-designed dirt bike. I'm just speculating, but when Yamaha designed this bike, I really doubt that the engineers really considered that people would use it in the same manner that someone was using a YZ450. Just the weight, ground clearance, gearing, and the fact that the oil filter hangs down low off the front of the bike kind of backs that up.

I too was one of the ones who got stuck in deep sand once and never thought of turning off the TCS. I was down in South Carolina and got too far down one of their legendary sandy back roads. Just kept stalling it as I was trying to work my way out. I gave up trying to get out and was just about to walk back to the main road when a log truck happened along and the driver helped push me out of the soft spot I was stuck in. It never occurred to me until much later when I had one of those "hey, you moron" epiphanies that the reason I couldn't get out was most likely because the TCS was on.

 

[~TABASCO~]

I need to sell my Tenere immediately! (written above) That does seem to make sense to "normal people".... LOL. I dont go looking for goat trails but I sure have found some BAJA - YZ450 off road situations... I ride the hell out of my machine off road ! LOL

I need to one day write and tell my Utah silt bed story again... That was an off road "joy"... 1000+ feet of 18"-24" of total "bull dust" silt.. (talcum powder).. I needed to pry my hands off the bars after that and go change my underwear! LOL

Ive got tons of great off road stories from all over the country. (FOR ME) Every time I sit on the bike I turn the TC OFF... Off-road or on road.

Side note: If your down in South Texas make sure to go ride the west side of Big Bend park. Just south east of Presidio

Barnett pressure plate install (clutch part)

Here is the new Barnett pressure plate. Took a few pictures of the install. I haven't gotten to try it yet. When I get the bike back on the road (I hope very soon) I will report back the difference. This will provide much more pressure on the clutch plates for off road (sand, mud,Etc) and hard...

www.yamahasupertenere.com

 

[RCinNC]

LOL, I didn't deliberately choose that road for it's Lawrence of Arabia like qualities. I had charted a course from my home in NC down to Pass Christian on the Gulf Coast and, like most trips, I tried to stay off the highways. Every once in a while, you end up on a road that you wish you hadn't. It started off fine, but turned to baby powder pretty abruptly; I got stuck when I tried to turn around. I never deliberately seek out sand.

 

[thompn]

Side note: If your down in South Texas make sure to go ride the west side of Big Bend park. Just south east of Presidio

Barnett pressure plate install (clutch part)

Here is the new Barnett pressure plate. Took a few pictures of the install. I haven't gotten to try it yet. When I get the bike back on the road (I hope very soon) I will report back the difference. This will provide much more pressure on the clutch plates for off road (sand, mud,Etc) and hard...

www.yamahasupertenere.com

Thanks a lot for the link!

I did actually have a trip planned in the US for a month(!!) With a super tenere on rent from California with an idea to ride the Mexican border to Florida to complete a coast to coast ride and I did want to call in at big bend! Looks like there are some excellent rides over there. Plus lots and lots of variety since I'd be covering a whole continent.

Alas, covid happened and my dreams of coming over didn't materialise. I still have all the money tied up on airline vouchers and rental credit so hopefully one day soon I'll be there and ready to tear it up on another super ten!

 

[thompn]

I never deliberately seek out sand.

This is usually me but I always somehow manage to find it, or maybe it finds me... I actually don't find this bike to be as unruly on sand as I had originally anticipated... Staying nice and loose on the controls and trusting the sheer momentum of the weight of this monster seems to be a good strategy for tackling even deep and dry/fine sand. I'm not sure I can say I actively enjoy it though

 

[RCinNC]

I'm comfortable up to a point on it, but the problem is that by the time I've reached my discomfort level, I'm already too far into it to easily get back out again. My worst experience ever was wandering into one of the wildlife preserve areas in southeast NC while riding two up. The road changed so gradually from gravel to hard pack sand to loose sand that we were waaaaay into it by the time I had that "in over my head" feeling. At that point it was closer to just keep going than to backtrack, but man, that was a long couple miles riding two up. If we see a sandy road now on our travels, my girlfriend is an instant "nope, I don't want to go that way".

 

[thompn]

I have a great photo of my bike absolutely stuck in the middle of night somewhere in the middle of Poland in very deep sand. Took two of us to get it out and quite a lot of swearing and energy!



The beers were safe, at least...

 

[Don in Lodi]

95,000 miles on original clutch plates and diaphragm pressure plate, 2014 basket, all good.

 

[OldRider]

The Barnett pressure plate is one of those things you never knew you needed until you get it. Only then do you realize how bad the stock setup is. Same goes for getting it flashed.

 

[WJBertrand]

We had the clutch cover off of my friends Tenere. The PO installed the Barnett pressure plate. What we noticed was that the screw heads for the clutch springs evidently made contact with the apparatus inside the circular part of the cover (what is that anyway?) leaving a circulate wear path. Is that common with the Barnett PP?


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[DanijelTodic]

Well, the bike is going to need more than oil and filters, hence why I said I was going to take it to the dealer above in my post...



The oil was Yamalube 10/40 as I also stated above.

I'm a fairly competent mechanic (granted I learned most of it on cars at my dad's shop - but engines are engines) and can do most work myself under normal circumstances. Unfortunately, as I also mentioned I don't have the space where I currently live (in a city, in an apartment) to do work on my bike. I normally use a shared garage/workshop to work on stuff but since covid those are closed and the bike isn't going to wait for them to reopen so I have to take it to a dealer.

Maybe try to be - or come across as being - less condescending to people without having the full information to hand and laughing at people, maybe you'll get better responses. Also, the whole post to take a stab at me isn't really very relevant to the question/topic at hand so didn't really serve much purpose other than you coming across as a bit of a d*ck. I take your point about TCS off road - as I also mentioned above. Good lesson learnt and I won't make the same mistakes again.

Hey Thom,

I have had a similar problem with my bike last year when off reading in Croatia. Cooked my clutch badly. Completely forgot about the TC when trying to get going on an steep and rocky road.

If you can get the parts I can help you to fix it. I have the tools and it’s a pretty easy job. I live in Amsterdam. Where are you from?

I replaced it with a Barnett by the way. I have also flashed my own bike using FTECU. If you want we can do yours as well. Don’t want any money for it.

Greetings,

Danijel

 

[pilleway]

Hi to all, got my Clutch Basket and clutch disks set (Barnett) replaced!, Initially the chatter at launch is gone, need to evaluate at cruise speed, but fills OK!
Engine Oil change is next!!

To all, have a nice day!

 

[pilleway]

I had the opportunity to evaluate a cruise speed of 70MPH and vibration is gone!! Also Oil change was done and I used Motul 10W30 full synthetic.
Good rest of the week to all! Take care!!