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what a group of testers huh? I would not loan these guy a felt tipped marker. It escapes me now which evaluation I saw on this site, but it comapred the 990, BMW and our Tenere, They gave the off road to the 990, the on road to the BMW, But they liked our bike because it filled the gap between the 2 much better, and there were actually several tests that came to the same conclusion. That sure helped me cement my decision.
Now back to these "testers" It amzes me how they can just get bike, not look at a thing, like no bash plate, and have a "hold my beer while I test this bike" attitude, Hell if that is the case, why not bring an R1 out there. The Tenere is price point, I was not willing to pay 18K for an bike that already has a bash plate that I was going to ride on the dirt. I will add the bash plate from ADV rider soon, IN THE MEAN TIME, I AM BEING CAREFUL! duh!!! I have a WR450 and I ride it like a stole it. The first thing I did was get the bash plate and other protective items. Treat any bike bad enough, and it will fail. I really do hate these magazine *SS holes. I truly doubt they would last too long in our world of real riding. They would either crash, get pulled over or wind up in jail. I ride hard and have a blast, but when a group of "seasoned testers" go out and do this, I would rather just do what I did to make my decision on my Tenere.
1. I read the Yamaha web information.
2. Googles forums- and I lurked without creating a username- and read what real owners have to say.
3. Once I decided the Tenere was a done deal, I decided on this forum. It seems to have the best balanced information.
4. Buy the darn bike and ride it! Funny I have had it 2 weeks and 2000 miles, and no broken parts!