What Yamaha should do to make me buy it ;-)

[Madhatter]

don't ya'll know the your tenere comes with gear indicator already installed..... its your tachometer , at 3000 rpm indicated what ever mph indicated is your current gear selection.... so at 3000 rpm I look at tachometer it says say 42 mph well that's fourth gear , check it out its free.... my brother has a BMW car says worse car he has ever owned ..... at 3000 rpm I look at tachometer it says 51 mph that's fifth gear ....my bad, mph display is next to tachometer but ya'll get my drift..... I like my raven black xt1200z , it fits me well it runs the speed limit with no problems , it has sparkly head lights , we have a long turn relationship going . multistrada , gs , ktm , look great, maybe out perform in some areas but your going to pay a lot for that little bit of extra . so you get to the stop sign 2 seconds before me , my bike cost 6000.00 less than yours .....I took a trip to Missouri from texas a year before I bought my bike, almost any town of any size had a Yamaha dealer , there may be 6 KTM in all of texas BMW not any better ducati forget about it... the odds I'll need dealer help on any trip I take on my yamaha very small..... if there is any problem with the tenere is that Yamaha does not promote the bike , people come up to me and say cool bike what is it...... ::022::

 

[snakebitten]

Sorry, Gryphon - I shot off at the mouth (or keyboard) at you last night, not a very friendly welcome from me, and for that I do apologize.

Your situation is completely different than ours as far as price goes when comparing the two bikes. Here a brand new Tenere can be had for many thousands less than a GS. The BMW dealer network is sparse and many of those dealers don't have the best reputation for being customer-friendly.

I've not ridden the new GS, but did ride the previous model before buying my Tenere, and thought the Tenere was superior in more than just price and reliability. I liked the Tenere better all the way around except for git-up-and-go which was easily resolved with a $500 ECU flash.

I have no problem admitting I took the wrong approach toward your post, and again I apologize for the harsh tone of my response.

That's the creggur we all know and love.

Oh, and Graham, every time you do a Dallara post (meaning lengthy, detailed, thoroughly covering the topic ) I find myself convinced even more this Beast is the bike that was built EXACTLY for me.

 

[fredz43]

don't ya'll know the your tenere comes with gear indicator already installed..... its your tachometer , ... ::022::

My gear indicator is the same one I use on all my bikes and it is on the toe of my left boot.. When the gear selector will go up no more, I quit shifting. Other than that, I have it in whatever gear the engine wants for the situation at the moment. I can't imagine having to look down at the dash to figure out what gear I am in.

But that's just me. ;D

 

[gryphon]

Sorry, Gryphon - I shot off at the mouth (or keyboard) at you last night, not a very friendly welcome from me, and for that I do apologize.

Your situation is completely different than ours as far as price goes when comparing the two bikes. Here a brand new Tenere can be had for many thousands less than a GS. The BMW dealer network is sparse and many of those dealers don't have the best reputation for being customer-friendly.

I've not ridden the new GS, but did ride the previous model before buying my Tenere, and thought the Tenere was superior in more than just price and reliability. I liked the Tenere better all the way around except for git-up-and-go which was easily resolved with a $500 ECU flash.

I have no problem admitting I took the wrong approach toward your post, and again I apologize for the harsh tone of my response.

Thanks for the apology Creggur, although non was needed this post of yours made me feel very welcome indeed
The headline on my first post here was mostly made tongue in cheek I know that in real life driving, top power in a bike like this is not that important, also top speed is really not important for me, but it is interesting that everyone that has been doing the flash mod, talks about how much better the bike feels in the lower gears, talking about it being even more rideable.
I live in a Island community in the north atlantic, our roads are very nice with pavement nearly everywhere, in my country there is only one yamaha dealer so the prices are very high, the dealer is very small and I have to get them to order the bike, the BMW I have to import my self, true a dealer in Denmark/Germany or Sweden, to test drive the bikes I have to go to one of the mention countries, of course the feel I get of the bikes will be the biggest consideration to take into account. The dealers I have talked with will give the full warranty, no problem.
The bike will be used for everyday commuting and touring the Scandinavia and Europe in the summer.

 

[creggur]

That's the creggur we all know and love.

Oh, and Graham, every time you do a Dallara post (meaning lengthy, detailed, thoroughly covering the topic ) I find myself convinced even more this Beast is the bike that was built EXACTLY for me.

I agree with you about Graham's posts, Snake. Thing is, I wasn't a prospect for the GSA, I use my bike primarily for Sport Touring, and have outfitted it as such. As I said above, except for the scoot factor I liked the Tenere better than the base GS. Hell, I was a prospect for a base GS with aluminum wheels - don't really need the hard off road reinforcements as a dirt road is likely the hardest "off road" my bike will ever see.

I've said this before: part of the sheer genius of the Tenere is that it's built about 80% complete so you can outfit it according to your individual needs. And it doesn't have to take huge $$ to get it there. And it's not like I wouldn't have farkled the GS...I just started with a better base platform to hang the shiny stuff on...and paid way less for that base platform.

I honestly believe Yamaha's approach was, "Here's a solid, reliable bike, fellas - now go farkle the nuts off it and have your fun, she'll get you back home when you're ready."

As such I believe this beast was built EXACTLY for me, even though my mission doesn't likely resemble yours...genius I tell ya!

 

[creggur]

Thanks for the apology Creggur, although non was needed this post of yours made me feel very welcome indeed
The headline on my first post here was mostly made tongue in cheek I know that in real life driving, top power in a bike like this is not that important, also top speed is really not important for me, but it is interesting that everyone that has been doing the flash mod, talks about how much better the bike feels in the lower gears, talking about it being even more rideable.
I live in a Island community in the north atlantic, our roads are very nice with pavement nearly everywhere, in my country there is only one yamaha dealer so the prices are very high, the dealer is very small and I have to get them to order the bike, the BMW I have to import my self, true a dealer in Denmark/Germany or Sweden, to test drive the bikes I have to go to one of the mention countries, of course the feel I get of the bikes will be the biggest consideration to take into account. The dealers I have talked with will give the full warranty, no problem.
The bike will be used for everyday commuting and touring the Scandinavia and Europe in the summer.

Appreciate your understanding....

And the ECU flash isn't about top-end power, it's got more to do with throttle response and general rideability. The throttle restrictions in the first three gears really pull the bike down where I use it the most, especially on tight, twisty roads.

Look at all the reports that call the Tenere engine "flat and boring" and this is mostly (in my opinion) due to the flat torque curve - there aren't any real dips and peaks - just nice linear power. The flash just makes that nice linear power more accessible and quicker to come on. It's more to do with having the power readily on tap, instead of waiting for it to arrive.

This is by far the best riding, most versatile bike I've owned in 30+ years of riding.

 

[Rasher]

The throttle restrictions in the first three gears really pull the bike down where I use it the most, especially on tight, twisty roads.

I tend to ride a lot of narrow back lanes so often find myself in 2nd / 3rd gear, once a year I tend to go somewhere with proper Mountains (Alps / Pyrenees) where you spend a huge proportion of the time hauling out of 1st / 2nd / 3rd gear corners at 2-3k and this is where the stock motor is at its worse - and two-up it can be painful.

Solo use on open roads where you rarely need to lug the bike from below 4k in 3rd gear you would not notice anything "wrong", however the Flash still improves torque in all gears and at all revs requiring less throttle movement and seems smoother, mpg is also improved - I doubt any modern vehicle could fuel this well due to modern emissions laws so although Yamaha maybe could have done a bit better it would still never have been this good.

Another bonus with the Yamaha is you do not need specialist tools and computer kit to service it, so if you plan to do your own maintenance at some point you only need a few sockets and a torque wrench, and not a billion dollars worth of BMW diagnostic stuff.

 

[AVGeek]

After yesterday's romp out in the desert, I would agree with the ability to change the TC on the fly, with a switch on the handlebars...