Big Blu said:
Come on guy, please enlighten me as to the virtues of the 660..... I gotta know!
There is still a lot of virtue in a single-cylinder, 21" front wheel bike for a serious light-weight adv bike.
It's not so much the virtues of the XT660Z as it is a shortage of an alternative in this class of bike. The KLR, while still serviceable, is basically a mid-80's design and still has a carb. The DR650 is in a similar boat and is air-cooled to boot. The DRZ (my choice) is a more modern liquid-cooled design and a good trail bike, but it is getting long in the tooth and needs more displacement for longer-distance work. The Honda 650 single is prehistoric. None of the Japanese singles have an ABS option. KTM has the oddball 690 which has pretty good performance and is a modern design with an ABS option (just this year), but it has its own issues, including expense, odd handling, sketchy KTM reliability and sparse dealer network/parts support, limited accessories, and silly 3-gal fuel tank (and its hard to swap to a bigger tank on a FI'ed bike). BMW's singles are high-tech but heavy, expensive, and road-oriented. And we all know how much BMW reliability is respected on this forum. Husky has something going with their new 650 Terra, but BMW has jettisoned them to KTM who appears to be putting the bike into retirement.
Against this backdrop, the small Tenere is a compelling choice in an adventure single. It includes ABS, is fuel-injected, and fits a nice set of hard luggage. In some respects, its the lightweight S10 that many on this very forum have been asking for. It's down on power against bikes like the KTM and it could lose some weight, but that is exactly the same criticism that people level against our beloved S10s and this certainly hasn't prevented us all from getting great service from the S10. I think we'd all love the small Tenere too. It would be a cool, high-tech, modern KLR. (IMHO, ,the adv version of the FZ-09 triple people keep talking about is already well-covered by the Tiger 800.)
The big stumbling block to importing the bike has always been cost. For some reason, Yamaha is saying the bike is relatively expensive to produce (sourced mainly from Italy and Spain from what I have heard), and thus would require a price well N of $9K to make any money in the US. It's expensive in Europe and has sold relatively poorly there. Cost was a problem when the bike was released in Europe, four years ago.... it's a bigger problem now with the so many new small bikes invading the low-cost space (including Yamaha's own FZ-09 - I don't think a $9K 45-hp Tenere would look very attractive sitting next to a $8K 105-hp FZ-09).
I think Honda is in the best position right now to really attack the KLR with the CB500X. It's unbelievably cheap, thoroughly modern (with a cheap ABS option), has sufficient power, reasonable weight, and I actually prefer a smaller twin to a bigger single - you may lose a tiny bit of nimbleness in the dirt, but you gain so much on the highway. It's got Japanese-bike reliability and support. It's a very popular bike in all markets, so it has a large and expanding accessory market with Honda supplying all the key stuff OEM. With TKC80's and a skid-plate, I think you could take it virtually anywhere you might take a KLR (or 660 Tenere). I'd love to see Honda add some suspension, ground clearance, fuel, and a bigger front wheel, but I don't think this is stuff that keeps it from being very serviceable as it is sold today.
Yamaha could do well with the 660, but it would need to slot in somewhere around $8K to make a go of it and $7.5K is much preferable. I don't think Yamaha can sell it in the US for this. I hope I'm wrong.
- Mark
