Why a Tenere?

[AVGeek]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I bleed Yamaha blue...

I grew up in the dunes of SoCal, and the hot ticket there was the Yamaha Banshee. When the CPSC Consent Decree came down banning three wheelers, most of the Big Four Japanese abandoned the sport market altogether, except Yamaha. They kept producing the Banshee while the others tucked tail and only sold utility quads. So, my first experience with Yamaha was when I bought my own Banshee...

Fast forward a few years, and I decide to finally take to two wheels in the urban jungle of SoCal. I looked at a lot of bikes, and was most impressed with the Honda Nighthawk (a 750, as I recall), until I found a Yamaha Radian on sale at one of the largest stealerships in SoCal. Took her home, and haven't looked back since. Sure, I find Ducati's to be sex on wheels, and the BMW's ubiquity in ADV circles drew me to their showroom to look at the midweights. I even remember seeing the XT600, and hoping it would come here. But we only got the ST, and I tell everyone who asks (and even those who don't) that if I could only have one bike, it would be the ST (I still have my 08 FJR as well). It does everything I want it to well, and there is so much more potential in it that I have to catch up with...

 

[X5]

All things considered, the Tenere is about 20hp short of nirvana.

I have the BMC airfilter, akrapovic can and ECUnleashed flash and still want another 20hp and 50lbs less (me and the bike).

Simply cannot fault the thoughtful design/engineering, utility, reliability, value, dealer network and comfort.

 

[coastie]

Why a Tenere? I went without a motorcycle for about 10 years and in 2010 I was in the position to purchase one and had been looking for almost two years on what I wanted. It was down to the 2007 Honda VFR Anniversary addition and an adventure touring motorcycle. I was waiting on the Supertenere to show up in america and was able to sit on one at Daytona bike week and liked it but was not impressed. I actually smashed my knee in the yamaha pannier getting off it and almost passed out in the grass. I had to sit down until the pain subsided. Well I ran across a VFR with "0" miles on the showroom floor for 7k out the door and could not pass that up. I liked the VFR a lot but after 3 trips to the Smokey mountains, I was thinking that I needed to move onto an adventure style motorcycle. I was going to get killed riding like I was on the VFR. I also wanted to see some of the beautiful scenery which was all a blur on the VFR and all those dirt roads that I could not go down. Also when I was home the VFR would sit in the garage for weeks at a time without being ridden. I just did not enjoy riding it to work. That V -Tec V4 LOVES to be ridden at 9k all day. It wont skip a beat and ask for more, unless you are riding around in city traffic. Well one rainy day I was bored and needed to get out of the condo and went down the street to the local yamaha dealer just to look around. I never expected the Yamaha dealer 5 miles from Jacksonville beach would have a tenere, but to my surprise and after thinking it was a Vstrom when I first walked by, there it was, mixed in with a blue V, and a black, and a white 990. I sat on it for a few minutes and talked to a salesman and told him I needed to trade in my VFR and take a look at the finances and would come back tomorrow and make them an offer. The next day I went back and said I needed to get 5000 (payoff) for the VFR and I would give them 13700 OTD. In the end he actually gave me 5200 for the VFR and my Sargent seat back, that I had forgotten to take off. The entire time I had the VFR I was researching adventure touring bikes, knowing eventually I would own one, and it would not be the BMW. I had ridden one a month before I got the Tenere and hated how it felt and handled. I had also sat on the Adventure 990 and it was way to tall for me and really did not like the setup of the displays and split fuel tanks. I knew I would own a Tenere, but just did not think it would be as soon as it was. I have no plans of ever trading it in. Like my Toyota 4runner, the Tenere seems to get better with age, and growing a personality of its own. Damn, now I want to ride! Is it time to go to Colorado yet?