So here we go again, spilling my darkness on internet.
Well, long before ADV and all that crap, you always had to do mods by yourself and with a lot of help from friends or someone who knows someone who maybe knows a guy who can help. This was in a way cool because you had a unique piece, and helped also with social interaction. Now you can buy whatever crap you can, overpriced and with a service that you usually wouldn't buy again if it was a regular shop.
I am a fan of amazon, and I love how they treat the customers, how easy you can return stuff and how smooth goes when one product is defective or some part of it broke at assembly. Not the same I could tell about the ADV crap "your dreams from bikers to bikers".
So .... on my path to "adventurise" the Tenere I kind of had my share of shit attitudes. Now the small story:
I purchased in a bigger order from a regular motorcycle equipment dealer one SW-Motech luggage rack, the steel one because was not over the psychical threshold of 100 EUR. Well, it came and to my surprise just a plate (looks good btw) weights almost 2 Kg. Duuuude ... the entire luggage rack from Suzuki GS500 which is more than a metal sheet .... is a bit lighter. Of course, I said, 2 kilos for the plate and on the tail I can put just 7 Kilos, at least this is waht is said ..... I remain already with 5 Kilos for luggage. Well, tried to send it back, looks like or I return the entire order, or I keep the rack. For the nasty man inside I would had return the entire order but I kind of needed those boots and bought them at a special price ... so tthe action was over, just for one rack I will lose more money. So if someone reads and needs a 1.700 grams of steel luggage plate from SW-Motech, original price 70Eur, I will sell it happily with 50.
Bummer .... next, took a lot of crap from Touratech, nothing to complain, just that some parts are not as useful as advertised, but kudos for the aluminium luggage rack. Don't drink late night and then shop ... I always try to do it but always end up buying crap that I don't need.
The biggest surprise is a well praised company called Off The Road - from them I purchased almost over 1000 Eur loads of crap, some may be useful, some look just "cool to have" installed, some are a must for me - like panniers and hand-guards. Bought the special kit for XT660Z of Acerbis Rally 3, ok, the only addition is the mount for standard handlebars which are threaded, but ..... Acerbis made a nice system to keep them in place, so they can't spin around the handlebar end. OTR missed this aspect for the "special mount kit". Already a star lower, if you do something .... don't do just a cork with outside and inside thread ... make the fucking system as Acerbis did for the rest of the mortals out there. Well is not the end of the world, I can live with it as it is. But the best part is coming. I ordered also the Dakar soft luggage panniers produced by SW-Motech. I don't have the money for the aluminium boxes and I don't see their use, I am a freak anyway and don't keep anything on the bike, because can be interesting for thieves. So the textile luggage was the best choice.
I started to mount them and a screw broke, really broke at 6Nm, Yes I was using the special torque tool. Called OTR to say that piece broke, I need a new part. Their answer was the shittiest one ever and I quote "just a screw we can't order from SW-Motech, try to talk with them directly, also from our point is not a warranty case, or try to buy the part from some hobby store because we don't think is a special screw made only by them." With other words "Go fuck yourself!!!!!". The money were good but we are too lazy to care, buy another one or just solve your shit. Really!?!?!? The thing costs about 400 Eur and you act like this?!?!? Then go fuck yourself too!.
In another discussion with them, before the thing broke, I asked them about the tidy tail, which can be seen as a luxury problem but the long vibrating tail annoys me, and 2 kilo less, as advertised, is a good thing to start with. So I asked if they can recommend all the parts to fit with a stock bike ... well the answer was, just order what you need from the web-shop. Seriously?!?! Can't you say "ok, because are LED lights we recommend the XYZ resistor for them", or whatever, the turn-lights can be these because .... Really, just be professional and not like the guy from the small boutique store across the road. But even he knows how to sell better. From my side, I regret to be their client, although they have some cool stuff, I will be looking at other companies.
SW-Motech ... well, I emailed them about the screw, after 4 days I got the offer to buy the screw with 7,99 EUR. During the 4 days was like one reply from them per day and even if I responded in 2 minutes no answer until next day. After 4 days, they told me that it will be sent just after the money hits their account. I was pissed off so I kind of fisted the last guy, because I need the bike to be travel ready in just 3 days. Was nice to have it first for a test ... well, the guy didn't even reply. I don't care that I have to pay 8 EUR for a god damn screw, well actually I do, but I expect at least a bit of "sorry that our somehow overpriced product is crap, we will do our best to..."
So just 3 days to go and no luggage, probably I will do it old school with a 80 L backpack strapped on the pillion seat.
Kind of feeling that this companies are aiming just rich middle-aged men and give just crap at diamond prices.
Shame on OTR and SW-Motech, even my Yamaha dealer who sells a lot of bikes, so is not hungry and can stick to the price, made me better deals and gave me better advice. I paid just the bike and the parts, the installation was free, no extra costs. What can I want more?!?!? This is what I call a biker for bikers. Not to mention that he gave me all the original parts, even the screws they took out and replaced with the custom parts.
First impressions - Yamaha XT660Z Tenere
So my dear diary .... I write again. My lovely bike is here and had the first ride together.
First impressions:
Tall, as in very tall, as in TALL - just not to say high because someone will think at weed.
Awesome handling for the height.
Very aggressive rear brake - never had a bike with such a hard rear brake, usually were like a granny - you call her now and she arrives in 10 minutes.
Not so vibey - I was expecting worse.
Between 3000 - 3500 rpm ... sounds funny and the engine vibrates more.
At 4000 rpm has a burst of energy.
Pops, farts and other sounds are present at engine brake, but does not disturb me, is a single so ...
Other than that .... is a monster, I barley fit it in the garage, where the Suzuki GS500 had place for holding a party or so.
Now, like a peasant that I am, call me redneck, first thing I took the dB-Killers (baffle / dB Eater or silencer) out of the Akrapovic exhaust. Is a no go, I love the sound, I really love it but even the hard-core Harley bikers like Hells Angels went what the fuck!?!?! I passed one of them and even he looked what the fuck is coming. Not that his bike was silent. So is a no go ... I can expect hard fines for that sound, modifying the exhaust without approval from the state and all the crap that comes along. Not to mention I can't come back late in the night without someone calling the police that the bikers are taking over the city - a horde of them.
I love the deep sound, but with a enduro helmet at 80 Kmh, when usually the wind is so loud that you say you better go slowly there was no wind .... just the exhaust sound, awesome but the entire city looked at me, now I presume it was admiring look. Me, shiny knight on his noble steed, riding the streets of their city and filled their hearts with hope of better days. NOT!!! Actually they were looking to see what piece of shit explodes behind them, which plane does a forced landing, who is the asshole running his engine without exhaust, how many Harley bikes are coming, and oh my god Hells Angels took over the city.
So ... next stop to the garage, put back the dB-Killers, now the engine is louder than the exhaust, but I solved a bit this issue too. Still I hear the engine but a bit of sweet music comes to delight my hearing. Now I need to buy brand new ones for the technical inspection or driving through places where they are really anal about sound pollution. I am a redneck after all, and an engine breathing is 10 times better than one choked up.
Highway ... here is the only point where I have to agree with the big ADV Gods (riders), it can do but I feel that the engine is not done for that. So on my daily commute of 100 Km per way to my job, I tried to go only highway. Is ok, not the perfect setting for the bike, is not made to drive warp speeds for a long time, so I kind of stayed with the trucks. Returning from work I said to avoid the 100 Km highway and go on the smaller roads. I don't regret a second!!!! I had no idea that I could drive through such nice small towns and windy roads. I am used gathering 1000 Km per week on highway so I don't know better.
Small roads - perfect, awesome maneuverability as long as you don't hope to take the curves with your knee touching the asphalt. More enduro style moving your weight exactly opposite to the curve to create more pressure on the tires, then it goes smooth.
Built - a big hole in the middle and a lot of plastic around. Actually not very impressed. Although it looks very good, the seat is very nice, I have a bit of doubts with the plastics in a light crash.
Overall - I am happy with my bike, I have a positive feeling of many trouble free kilometers and most important a pleasant ride.
I still have to get accustomed again with a high center of gravity, I am already tired and feel some soar muscles but it worth every second. With 1.90m height and my jeans have usually 34 size at inseam .... I still can't plant my feet 100% grounded at a stop.but with the cross boots, is better, I can do it.
Soon photo session! And in two days I need to let the bike for the 1000 Km inspection (This means I need to finish driving them in two days - Ok, I managed 400 Km in two days commuting to work, now the weekend is coming) because after that I start my trip to Eastern Europe - If SW-Motech sends me a screw that broke at 6Nm, but that is another story.
First impressions:
Tall, as in very tall, as in TALL - just not to say high because someone will think at weed.
Awesome handling for the height.
Very aggressive rear brake - never had a bike with such a hard rear brake, usually were like a granny - you call her now and she arrives in 10 minutes.
Not so vibey - I was expecting worse.
Between 3000 - 3500 rpm ... sounds funny and the engine vibrates more.
At 4000 rpm has a burst of energy.
Pops, farts and other sounds are present at engine brake, but does not disturb me, is a single so ...
Other than that .... is a monster, I barley fit it in the garage, where the Suzuki GS500 had place for holding a party or so.
Now, like a peasant that I am, call me redneck, first thing I took the dB-Killers (baffle / dB Eater or silencer) out of the Akrapovic exhaust. Is a no go, I love the sound, I really love it but even the hard-core Harley bikers like Hells Angels went what the fuck!?!?! I passed one of them and even he looked what the fuck is coming. Not that his bike was silent. So is a no go ... I can expect hard fines for that sound, modifying the exhaust without approval from the state and all the crap that comes along. Not to mention I can't come back late in the night without someone calling the police that the bikers are taking over the city - a horde of them.
I love the deep sound, but with a enduro helmet at 80 Kmh, when usually the wind is so loud that you say you better go slowly there was no wind .... just the exhaust sound, awesome but the entire city looked at me, now I presume it was admiring look. Me, shiny knight on his noble steed, riding the streets of their city and filled their hearts with hope of better days. NOT!!! Actually they were looking to see what piece of shit explodes behind them, which plane does a forced landing, who is the asshole running his engine without exhaust, how many Harley bikes are coming, and oh my god Hells Angels took over the city.
So ... next stop to the garage, put back the dB-Killers, now the engine is louder than the exhaust, but I solved a bit this issue too. Still I hear the engine but a bit of sweet music comes to delight my hearing. Now I need to buy brand new ones for the technical inspection or driving through places where they are really anal about sound pollution. I am a redneck after all, and an engine breathing is 10 times better than one choked up.
Highway ... here is the only point where I have to agree with the big ADV Gods (riders), it can do but I feel that the engine is not done for that. So on my daily commute of 100 Km per way to my job, I tried to go only highway. Is ok, not the perfect setting for the bike, is not made to drive warp speeds for a long time, so I kind of stayed with the trucks. Returning from work I said to avoid the 100 Km highway and go on the smaller roads. I don't regret a second!!!! I had no idea that I could drive through such nice small towns and windy roads. I am used gathering 1000 Km per week on highway so I don't know better.
Small roads - perfect, awesome maneuverability as long as you don't hope to take the curves with your knee touching the asphalt. More enduro style moving your weight exactly opposite to the curve to create more pressure on the tires, then it goes smooth.
Built - a big hole in the middle and a lot of plastic around. Actually not very impressed. Although it looks very good, the seat is very nice, I have a bit of doubts with the plastics in a light crash.
Overall - I am happy with my bike, I have a positive feeling of many trouble free kilometers and most important a pleasant ride.
I still have to get accustomed again with a high center of gravity, I am already tired and feel some soar muscles but it worth every second. With 1.90m height and my jeans have usually 34 size at inseam .... I still can't plant my feet 100% grounded at a stop.but with the cross boots, is better, I can do it.
Soon photo session! And in two days I need to let the bike for the 1000 Km inspection (This means I need to finish driving them in two days - Ok, I managed 400 Km in two days commuting to work, now the weekend is coming) because after that I start my trip to Eastern Europe - If SW-Motech sends me a screw that broke at 6Nm, but that is another story.
My thoughts - Adventure motorcycling
From the bottom of my bottle while waiting for the Tenere to come and searching up and down on the internet I just got enlightened ...
The term of ADV starts to piss me off, not to mention RTW and half of the so-called community behind it. Kind of putting it now in the shoe blades but the smart guys will get it and will not be offended, for the rest .... I don't care because you would not understand it even if I am drawing it to you.
Looks like is kind of middle-aged man crisis, maybe I should worry because I started to buy this shit "adventure" labeled, supported by very aggressive marketing campaigns. Few years ago I was just going out with my buddies somewhere in the "outback", somewhere where we defined it to be in the ass of the world. Actually somewhere remote where we could get to other places through land or some small forest paths or whatever. Just getting full of dirt, sleeping in tent somewhere in the middle of nowhere, getting awesome (drunk) and next day or sometime in the week returning to the ladies back home with a big smile on our faces and for their despair with a lot of mud on our clothes and stinking like we were coming straight from middle-ages. To our stupidity we did not know we were doing ADV, imagine the drama and the horror when I realized we were just calling this "going with the boys and our toys".
While we were doing this, some two actors and another dude were making a show on Discovery - Long way Round or Long way Down or both. In our stupidity we were laughing that with a crew we could also do it, no one knows what happened behind the cameras and who fixed what. Little did we know at that time that this will be a trend. And GS Adventure will become an icon and launch this entire crazy trend of "adventure riding". Now I am asking why the hell do people need a show to do something they really wanted or if they do it just because they can be as cool as ....
I will not discuss the two actors but I think for them was hard and really the adventure of their life, although full with camera crews, but they don't know better.
The name:
Letting aside that it resembles a certain brand and model, to say "I'm doing an adventure ride" sounds like my best childhood friend and I were doing "an action" or "secret action" while we were trashing our neighbor barn or his shed or whatever neighbor property, when we were 10 years old or younger. For me it sounds silly. What the bleep is an adventure ride? Adventure can mean 10.000 things for 10.000 people so why name it when you can define it? But yes, later I understood what means adventure riding, and we get to the next point....
The location:
To have a proper "adventure ride" or "ADV" or how do you want to call it you need to ship your bike to one of the following locations: Morocco, some other African country, South America - as preference in Peru, Bolivia or Columbia, Mongolia or Australia. For the guys who have 4 balls is North Canada and Alaska, go as far north as earth allows it. Except the guys with 4 balls I noticed that the 3 balls guys have kind of same view of adventure. Pick a shit country with unpaved roads, ship your bike there or as close as possible, make a YouTube video. Bonus for the adventure dirt cheap accommodation and food, like ... make two weeks out of 100 EUR. Well, except that, piss on the country culture and environment because what the hell ... you are a king there with your 200 EUR. And then you see idiots driving with warp speeds through sheep / goats / cows because they can. They could stop and drive slowly but something makes them feel like kings flashing their expensive stuff. Take some photos with pour kids, make an album, write a book, come home and act like a god and keep workshops about your "adventure" to small minded people like you who want to have also an "adventure ride" and gather some pour kids photos.
In my opinion you can do your adventure ride everywhere. Ok, maybe you are not allowed to go through that forest and maybe the quality of the roads is not challenging enough but you still find shitty roads and awesome scenery in your own backyard. Yes, you don't have pour africans in your pictures and you would not get free blow-jobs because you traveled in your own country or neighboring country. Not to mention it will be more expensive to stay at hotels and maybe you really need to try to pitch a tent. Most important have all the flashy things purchased with your MasterCard Gold.
Bike:
If is adventure must be the XYZ Adventure, must be big, around 100 Hp, aluminium panniers like 45L each, on top of that comes some assorted topcase. Now, looks big, has 500Kg, costs like a decent car but you still need to "adventurise" your monster. Just slap the entire catalog of "Some adventure company" without asking if you really need it, then as many accessories as possible have to be branded with the word ADVENTURE. Print a sticker with the url of your blog and slap it on the panniers, so everyone can read your story and live your adventure. Then of course the real "adventurist" needs to have stickers with all countries he was in, even just for 2Km, just slap the sticker if you've crossed a border and bring value to your bike. The only rule is to have as strange countries as possible, if you have UK or France .... sucks big time, your adventure buddies will cast you out for impersonating an ADV rider.
Now comes the middle-aged man, office worker by day, hero by night. He wants a cosy seat - buys a custom one so his buttocks are happy clapping at the end of the day. Over this he fits a gel happy-butt bag, or if he travels with class some sheep skin and fur, whatever ... something fluffy for the fluffy cellulite.
Next step is to have heated grips, even if he drives to Morocco, you never know when the next Ice Age is coming, and besides ... his license plate is just a season one - from May to September. He never used summer cross gloves in December at -5 degrees. That is an adventure, but you call that stupidity. I call that you use what you have and just enjoy the ride.
Next on the list is .... light. Yes you are riding in summer and by nightfall you are already in hotel but you still need those amazingly bright spot lights, and let them on all day because you are visible. In my experience .... if they ignore your headlight they will ignore everything, maybe some police lights will make them aware.
My take on this is that you don't need half a ton iron with 100Hp to drive shit roads with 60Km/h. You also don't need the entire adventure catalog, few things are enough. Actually are people who traveled very bad roads with 50cc mopeds, Harley, Royal Enfield, 125 -250 enduro bikes, sport bikes ... you don't need that latest 1200 engine. Maybe the adventure is on a Vespa rather than on a monster. Or on a Harley ... who knows!?!?! Your bike is not the one who makes the trip ... but you. Whatever ... you will still argue that adventure is only on that kind of bike, and you are true.
On the other hand, why you need 100Hp for solo riding? Your luggage doesn't weigh 100Kg, my 660 Tenere can go with 190Kg, take the rider out and see that you still get 100Kg space to play, out of this maybe 50kg is the luggage .... the legal speeds on highway are also easy to top ... why 300+Kg and a power-plant under your ass?
The must have of a real ADV bike is the mighty CRUISE CONTROL so that you can travel without moving a muscle, just set the bike to 120Kmh and enjoy a movie - buy a Goldwing if you want to take your couch and home entertainment system on wheels ...
Equipment:
Must haves are: 500+ EUR helmet, 500+ EUR pants, 500+ EUR jacket, 300+ EUR gloves, and again 500+ boots. Other than this cheap equipment, you need very expensive function underwear and special socks. Most important is that your equipment is only from top brands and the value is equal with the value of the bike. If you have less .. you are a bad evil man who pretends to be adv rider.
Well, I drive with what I have and my 30 EUR gloves are fine thank you! X or Y or Z brand can also break and tear apart, just that is very expensive to replace. Ride for the fun of it. You don't need that electric heated jacket, put a wind-stopper under the jacket and things are fine. If you are like missus and you are a bit cold even in sauna ... just use thermal shirts or drive your car.
Other equipment:
I noticed that one of the most important things to carry are: big DSLR, and no, not the entry level, some mirrorless for quick snapshots, laptop to keep your blog up to date, external HDD to save the photos and of course a bunch of a certain brand of action cameras. Are you somehow a movie maker or a photographer on the job? Are you going to enjoy the ride or just put some 10Kg in photo equipment.
I do carry a camera too, and I also have the certain brand of action camera and a hated one. But I don't make it as a must. Yes I have a lot of video and photo equipment, I need more than my trunk to carry it all, but when I ride I have the cheapest camera with me and certainly in long rides I leave as much electronic as I can behind. After all I go to enjoy, not to get home to see what I have missed while watching the photos.
The rider:
Now the most annoying part, the ass behind the hole (your cylinder hole) .... usually rude on forums with others who don't share their view on the world of motorcycles, the lesser people who don't ride the XYZ adventure. Typically 45-50+, kids left home, well shaped beer belly in the pants, the hair is how the genetics let it to be or to leave the head, somehow with some good payment so they could afford the very expensive purchase. Highly regarding himself as an absolute authority in travel and ADV, this human species kind of knows which is the right bike, and the right catalog to slap on your bike, some males of the species may have some technical knowledge but man what they can take out of their mouths on forums .... you wonder if they ever studied basic math, physics, chemistry and logic. Naturally, the best toys are the ones with the latest gadgets and you are part of the foot-folk if you dare not to have them or just have a different opinion let's say on ABS. Whatever you say nothing is better than their adventure bike, although it has small tank, less clearance and more kilos ... everything they say starts with "on my trip to X ... bla bla", dude, you can tell that after 20.000Km your whatever accessory is still perfect shape, end of story.
Another trait of this species is that they want adventure but with luxury and comfort, yes we all know that you are a couch potato for the rest of the year, we all know that after a day riding in freezing rain you want a hot shower, we all want this, but ... the fun of adventure is to get out of your comfort zone, to live like the old people did, traveling with their horses for days, being soaked, cold and hungry. But you ride with your electric heated jacket, heated grips and waterproof clothes ....
Maybe the most annoying trait is that you can't forget that you are talking with a well educated man (because travel is education) and with a celebrity at the same time.
Well, this kind of pajama hero makes me sick ... be who you are, and enjoy life because is too short anyways. Don't judge the other bikers only on their motorcycle, maybe they are cool too.
Well .... I have talked enough for today ...
Whatever you ride and whatever you name your trip, just stay safe and enjoy it!
Cheers.
The term of ADV starts to piss me off, not to mention RTW and half of the so-called community behind it. Kind of putting it now in the shoe blades but the smart guys will get it and will not be offended, for the rest .... I don't care because you would not understand it even if I am drawing it to you.
Looks like is kind of middle-aged man crisis, maybe I should worry because I started to buy this shit "adventure" labeled, supported by very aggressive marketing campaigns. Few years ago I was just going out with my buddies somewhere in the "outback", somewhere where we defined it to be in the ass of the world. Actually somewhere remote where we could get to other places through land or some small forest paths or whatever. Just getting full of dirt, sleeping in tent somewhere in the middle of nowhere, getting awesome (drunk) and next day or sometime in the week returning to the ladies back home with a big smile on our faces and for their despair with a lot of mud on our clothes and stinking like we were coming straight from middle-ages. To our stupidity we did not know we were doing ADV, imagine the drama and the horror when I realized we were just calling this "going with the boys and our toys".
While we were doing this, some two actors and another dude were making a show on Discovery - Long way Round or Long way Down or both. In our stupidity we were laughing that with a crew we could also do it, no one knows what happened behind the cameras and who fixed what. Little did we know at that time that this will be a trend. And GS Adventure will become an icon and launch this entire crazy trend of "adventure riding". Now I am asking why the hell do people need a show to do something they really wanted or if they do it just because they can be as cool as ....
I will not discuss the two actors but I think for them was hard and really the adventure of their life, although full with camera crews, but they don't know better.
The name:
Letting aside that it resembles a certain brand and model, to say "I'm doing an adventure ride" sounds like my best childhood friend and I were doing "an action" or "secret action" while we were trashing our neighbor barn or his shed or whatever neighbor property, when we were 10 years old or younger. For me it sounds silly. What the bleep is an adventure ride? Adventure can mean 10.000 things for 10.000 people so why name it when you can define it? But yes, later I understood what means adventure riding, and we get to the next point....
The location:
To have a proper "adventure ride" or "ADV" or how do you want to call it you need to ship your bike to one of the following locations: Morocco, some other African country, South America - as preference in Peru, Bolivia or Columbia, Mongolia or Australia. For the guys who have 4 balls is North Canada and Alaska, go as far north as earth allows it. Except the guys with 4 balls I noticed that the 3 balls guys have kind of same view of adventure. Pick a shit country with unpaved roads, ship your bike there or as close as possible, make a YouTube video. Bonus for the adventure dirt cheap accommodation and food, like ... make two weeks out of 100 EUR. Well, except that, piss on the country culture and environment because what the hell ... you are a king there with your 200 EUR. And then you see idiots driving with warp speeds through sheep / goats / cows because they can. They could stop and drive slowly but something makes them feel like kings flashing their expensive stuff. Take some photos with pour kids, make an album, write a book, come home and act like a god and keep workshops about your "adventure" to small minded people like you who want to have also an "adventure ride" and gather some pour kids photos.
In my opinion you can do your adventure ride everywhere. Ok, maybe you are not allowed to go through that forest and maybe the quality of the roads is not challenging enough but you still find shitty roads and awesome scenery in your own backyard. Yes, you don't have pour africans in your pictures and you would not get free blow-jobs because you traveled in your own country or neighboring country. Not to mention it will be more expensive to stay at hotels and maybe you really need to try to pitch a tent. Most important have all the flashy things purchased with your MasterCard Gold.
Bike:
If is adventure must be the XYZ Adventure, must be big, around 100 Hp, aluminium panniers like 45L each, on top of that comes some assorted topcase. Now, looks big, has 500Kg, costs like a decent car but you still need to "adventurise" your monster. Just slap the entire catalog of "Some adventure company" without asking if you really need it, then as many accessories as possible have to be branded with the word ADVENTURE. Print a sticker with the url of your blog and slap it on the panniers, so everyone can read your story and live your adventure. Then of course the real "adventurist" needs to have stickers with all countries he was in, even just for 2Km, just slap the sticker if you've crossed a border and bring value to your bike. The only rule is to have as strange countries as possible, if you have UK or France .... sucks big time, your adventure buddies will cast you out for impersonating an ADV rider.
Now comes the middle-aged man, office worker by day, hero by night. He wants a cosy seat - buys a custom one so his buttocks are happy clapping at the end of the day. Over this he fits a gel happy-butt bag, or if he travels with class some sheep skin and fur, whatever ... something fluffy for the fluffy cellulite.
Next step is to have heated grips, even if he drives to Morocco, you never know when the next Ice Age is coming, and besides ... his license plate is just a season one - from May to September. He never used summer cross gloves in December at -5 degrees. That is an adventure, but you call that stupidity. I call that you use what you have and just enjoy the ride.
Next on the list is .... light. Yes you are riding in summer and by nightfall you are already in hotel but you still need those amazingly bright spot lights, and let them on all day because you are visible. In my experience .... if they ignore your headlight they will ignore everything, maybe some police lights will make them aware.
My take on this is that you don't need half a ton iron with 100Hp to drive shit roads with 60Km/h. You also don't need the entire adventure catalog, few things are enough. Actually are people who traveled very bad roads with 50cc mopeds, Harley, Royal Enfield, 125 -250 enduro bikes, sport bikes ... you don't need that latest 1200 engine. Maybe the adventure is on a Vespa rather than on a monster. Or on a Harley ... who knows!?!?! Your bike is not the one who makes the trip ... but you. Whatever ... you will still argue that adventure is only on that kind of bike, and you are true.
On the other hand, why you need 100Hp for solo riding? Your luggage doesn't weigh 100Kg, my 660 Tenere can go with 190Kg, take the rider out and see that you still get 100Kg space to play, out of this maybe 50kg is the luggage .... the legal speeds on highway are also easy to top ... why 300+Kg and a power-plant under your ass?
The must have of a real ADV bike is the mighty CRUISE CONTROL so that you can travel without moving a muscle, just set the bike to 120Kmh and enjoy a movie - buy a Goldwing if you want to take your couch and home entertainment system on wheels ...
Equipment:
Must haves are: 500+ EUR helmet, 500+ EUR pants, 500+ EUR jacket, 300+ EUR gloves, and again 500+ boots. Other than this cheap equipment, you need very expensive function underwear and special socks. Most important is that your equipment is only from top brands and the value is equal with the value of the bike. If you have less .. you are a bad evil man who pretends to be adv rider.
Well, I drive with what I have and my 30 EUR gloves are fine thank you! X or Y or Z brand can also break and tear apart, just that is very expensive to replace. Ride for the fun of it. You don't need that electric heated jacket, put a wind-stopper under the jacket and things are fine. If you are like missus and you are a bit cold even in sauna ... just use thermal shirts or drive your car.
Other equipment:
I noticed that one of the most important things to carry are: big DSLR, and no, not the entry level, some mirrorless for quick snapshots, laptop to keep your blog up to date, external HDD to save the photos and of course a bunch of a certain brand of action cameras. Are you somehow a movie maker or a photographer on the job? Are you going to enjoy the ride or just put some 10Kg in photo equipment.
I do carry a camera too, and I also have the certain brand of action camera and a hated one. But I don't make it as a must. Yes I have a lot of video and photo equipment, I need more than my trunk to carry it all, but when I ride I have the cheapest camera with me and certainly in long rides I leave as much electronic as I can behind. After all I go to enjoy, not to get home to see what I have missed while watching the photos.
The rider:
Now the most annoying part, the ass behind the hole (your cylinder hole) .... usually rude on forums with others who don't share their view on the world of motorcycles, the lesser people who don't ride the XYZ adventure. Typically 45-50+, kids left home, well shaped beer belly in the pants, the hair is how the genetics let it to be or to leave the head, somehow with some good payment so they could afford the very expensive purchase. Highly regarding himself as an absolute authority in travel and ADV, this human species kind of knows which is the right bike, and the right catalog to slap on your bike, some males of the species may have some technical knowledge but man what they can take out of their mouths on forums .... you wonder if they ever studied basic math, physics, chemistry and logic. Naturally, the best toys are the ones with the latest gadgets and you are part of the foot-folk if you dare not to have them or just have a different opinion let's say on ABS. Whatever you say nothing is better than their adventure bike, although it has small tank, less clearance and more kilos ... everything they say starts with "on my trip to X ... bla bla", dude, you can tell that after 20.000Km your whatever accessory is still perfect shape, end of story.
Another trait of this species is that they want adventure but with luxury and comfort, yes we all know that you are a couch potato for the rest of the year, we all know that after a day riding in freezing rain you want a hot shower, we all want this, but ... the fun of adventure is to get out of your comfort zone, to live like the old people did, traveling with their horses for days, being soaked, cold and hungry. But you ride with your electric heated jacket, heated grips and waterproof clothes ....
Maybe the most annoying trait is that you can't forget that you are talking with a well educated man (because travel is education) and with a celebrity at the same time.
Well, this kind of pajama hero makes me sick ... be who you are, and enjoy life because is too short anyways. Don't judge the other bikers only on their motorcycle, maybe they are cool too.
Well .... I have talked enough for today ...
Whatever you ride and whatever you name your trip, just stay safe and enjoy it!
Cheers.
My choice - Yamaha XT660Z Tenere
In the past months I've been haunted by the idea to buy a new motorcycle so I started to search for something to fulfill my "dreams", as is always marketed.
To begin with ... I got scared searching the internet, a lot of opinions, thoughts and fierceful brand loyalty. Reading posts from guys who owned 17 motorcycles in 10 years - what can I say .... like two per year and the motorcycle "time-frame" is about 8 months, means 4 months per motorcycle and approx 4 ride-outs?!?! ... how can I trust this opinion? Ok, he has money, but to put down a brand ... only if is a shit bike, but real shit.
I had also my share of bikes in more than 10 years and more than 80.000 Km: Kawa KLE400 from 1994 - Japan Model, Kawa KLR600E from 1991, Kawa KL250 from 1982 and Suzuki GS500E from 2004. Also on occasions I had the opportunity to drive more than 50Km a Kawa ER6-N, Honda Dominator and KTM LC4 620 (this one just for 2Km, because is a KTM, always breaks something). Always riding all year round except the few weeks with snow or ice on the roads.
You can see I am a Kawa fan, at least for enduro - dual sport category. I wanted for years to get a KLR650, but is made for US only and since some dickhead from Kawasaki Europe decided that if we purchase from other markets Kawa Europe will not help with any documentation required for vehicle registration .... which left us butt-naked with the Versys line. Something like this I will ride only if I am paid to do it. But I am not here to share my reasons behind KLR650 and my hate towards Versys. Anyway shame on you Kawasaki! The same thing I could tell about Suzuki with all DR line gone from Europe and Honda who transformed all models to a more road dedicated model rather than 50/50. Ok, they were smart to launch now the new AfricaTwin. I would have purchased it if it was not so expensive, for my budget - not compared with BMW, and was not in the first year of production. But first year ... no thanks I am already test user for Win10 and I curse the day I trusted the internet that is a smart move.
The only possibility in Europe to go for a dual purpose bike is to look at KTM, maybe at Husaberg / Husqvarna for more off-road, BMW some models and Yamaha.
Looking at specs, forums, bla bla, you know all the stuff you can find on internet, I decided to go for Yamaha XT660Z Tenere. But why?
Some complain is old technology, does not have all the bells and whistles of BMW. Well this is bullshit! And it is bullshit because when you are in the bushes you don't have to call the service to ask for the code 65846. For my taste it has already too much being with injection, so a bit hard to repair this on the first rock you find to take a sit. But except the injection looks quite straight forward to repair it on your own.
Some complain is too heavy - Except KL250 all the other bikes I owned were cows, or at leas cow sized. Yes is heavy but what would you expect 125Kg? Buy a real enduro or cross. And would be your beloved BMW 1200GS lighter?
It is too tall - well, sorry to say it blunt but midget sized enduros I haven' seen. Then go shop in the pocket bike or kids bike section. Yes I know the BMW is not so tall, then you get your product from them. Not so tall but with a big clearance is not possible with current motorcycle design.
No ABS as standard - a reason for me to cheer and party hard. No ABS means a bit taller, a bit lighter and some electronics and mechanics less to worry about. ABS will not help once you hit the dirt, is not designed to drive at warp speeds so I see again no issue for a relaxing ride on the roads. When you drive carefully knowing all the idiots in your immediate vicinity and you practice a bit anticipating the traffic, you will not need ABS for about 90% of your time. For the rest of 10% ABS will not help you anyway. On the plus side you will learn how to brake in the proper manner. I was surprised to learn how many "bikers" don't know the rules of braking, they just slam the brakes and that's it. All because they had only ABS bikes and intelligent systems who split between the front and back regardless which one you use. This goes for the cars too. Lean to brake in the case of ABS failure. Learn your stopping distance from all the speeds and keep the required distance from the cars in front of you and you don't need ABS. Not to mention that if your bike is not perfectly straight even with the ABS you can take a fall, and shit happens exactly when you are in a curve, or on bad streets.
Not a real ADVENTURE BIKE - please define adventure!?!?! Well, is a buzz word like all the other buzzwords we hear from marketing people. I hear all day IoT, cloud, delightful design, cozy design, user experience and so on ... just buzz but seems everyone can and knows how to do it. The same with adventure bikes. If your adventure is driving on Sunday after church for 200Km on C class roads just to eat a salad .... is more than you need, a 50cc would fulfill the need and the legal speed.
You want some sand? will do it too so where is the problem? You want to go the distance at warp speeds and do some real hardcore enduro? Buy an enduro, drive with your car up to that point and jump on your enduro.
Not good for hardcore off-road - WTF!?!?! Do you hear yourself? Would you go to a hardcore off-road with your SUV? No! SUV is for some forest roads, light off-road and road. The same goes for Tenere. Do you want hardcore off-road? then you are in for a cross. But wait, if you were .... then you wouldn't even consider a Tenere, because you would have experience and not just posting stuff on net.
Vibrates - what would you expect from a single cylinder? Just use your brain and think that you ride a metal block with a hole of cca 660 cubic cm. In this hole you have a piston which moves from top to bottom very quick. Yes, is a vibrator feeling, maybe you old lady will have the time of her life but not for a long time before starts to hurt. So what would you expect? The smoothness of a 6V engine?
Not a real world crosser - well, see the point above - is just a 660ccm vibrator. For sure it can take you to the end of the world but not smooth or fast. You can't pack all the luxury items from your 4 room apartment and half service shop. Also you can't pack your old lady with her luggage and let her sit on the back while you fly on the highway with 140+ Km/h. For solo riding on harsh roads is more than perfect.
Is not good on highways - duh! First is tall, second is small engine, third is a vibrator (did I said again this word?!?!), and forth ... is not a sport bike. What do you really want, high speed or to be able to ride on forest paths? You can't have both, use your brain! From my experience with other dual sport bikes, you can do highways as long as you are below 120 Km/h, to be preferred around the speed of trucks on European highways - 90 - 100 Km/h.
As I could see all the negative comments are coming from false expectations, and of course if the bike does not fulfill them then is a bad experience, worth to share with everybody. Ghosting ... yes it seems to have this issue, I don't know yet if worse than the singles I used, or better. I had for one week a rented bike, back in 2005, was a Yamaha XT660, but being in Greece and a rental bike I doubt it was not suffering from bad service and crazy foreigners coming to do racing with it. I had my lady as passenger and just a backpack with our beach equipment and we were riding around the island more than staying at the beach. I can tell that it was the worse engine I have seen on a bike -always ghosting, always struggling on higher gears and low rpm. I still blame the service and I hope they fixed this issues from 2000 anyway because more or less should be the same engine. Other than that I still managed to get some off-road with it and was behaving better than on the road. In the last day I have learned how to drive it without problems but it was already too late.
Now that I kicked all the "negative" aspects produced by expectations, I have kept my expectations under control and I have identified the following positive aspects:
Easier to repair that the full electronic modern awesome bikes
Tall, high clearance, no ABS (yes, I opted for the non ABS version)
Big community with real info on repairs, mods, 3rd party parts at decent prices (lot of diy mods also available, not just "went to the dealer and purchased x")
Moderately priced - not the cheapest, not the most expensive but somehow unique in the class, actually I couldn't find a competitor on the European market - 650ccm, high clearance, almost at the sweet spot of 50/50 road/off-road. This is a sad aspect to have only one producer in this area. Please don't start with BMW F800GS, it does not compare, is more expensive, more street, more electronics, although a competitor. But for the price of a new F800GS you can get a fully equiped Tenere and with Akrapovic exhaust, remaining some money for the first tank and beer.
Single cylinder engine - personal preference, I love the sound, I love the pops and I love the feeling. From another point of view is easy to change the spark plug ( I hated changing two of them), cheaper to repair.
Can do road and go past the McDrive entrance, it would hurt if I drop it but I will not bleed to death when I hear the price for some plastics.
Love the design - I can put a high fender guard. For BMW or some Honda bikes you have to live with that duck peak, Here is simple just put the high fender and remove the lower one. Maybe is true that we don't forget our first love. My first one was the KLE 400, and I had purchased it with this high fender.
A bit on the high scale of weight but not so much, I am used with something around 200 Kg falling in dirt and having to pick it up. So it does not feel so heavy with just extra 10 Kg.
Height - I am tall too and with the Suzuki GS500 I really had the feeling that I ride with my knees behind my ears. I miss the good old days when I was riding in a standing position, not having troubles after 200 Km because I really need to extend my legs. Tall guys and small naked street bikes are a no go for me.
Reliability - at least on the net are a lot of signs that it can be used more than 50.000 Km without any major service.
The whole package - is good for light to medium off-road without sacrificing too much of the street comfort, even the OEM parts are not priced in a manner that I would sell a kidney in order to purchase them, they have relative the same price with the aftermarket counterparts. Of course some can be a better quality compared with the OEM but still it does not need to do huge financial efforts. Also I got some good offer from the dealer, not awesome but fair, meaning it was just the price of the bike plus the parts from catalog. Some may say it was a bad deal but I pay no fee for transfer papers, for transport from Yamaha to the dealer and also the installation. And we talk here about the Akrapovic (is a bit of work to change the exhaust), center stand, and aluminium engine guard. Also they agree to fit HB crash bars and OTR water pump protection. As bonus they will register the bike on my name, I have just to pay the registration taxes and number plates. All in all it was not a super deal with 20% discount but a fair price for the package and I get just to go there, pick-up the keys and drive without any stress that I need to register it and other paperwork.
Now I return to my beer and wait for the first drive.
To begin with ... I got scared searching the internet, a lot of opinions, thoughts and fierceful brand loyalty. Reading posts from guys who owned 17 motorcycles in 10 years - what can I say .... like two per year and the motorcycle "time-frame" is about 8 months, means 4 months per motorcycle and approx 4 ride-outs?!?! ... how can I trust this opinion? Ok, he has money, but to put down a brand ... only if is a shit bike, but real shit.
I had also my share of bikes in more than 10 years and more than 80.000 Km: Kawa KLE400 from 1994 - Japan Model, Kawa KLR600E from 1991, Kawa KL250 from 1982 and Suzuki GS500E from 2004. Also on occasions I had the opportunity to drive more than 50Km a Kawa ER6-N, Honda Dominator and KTM LC4 620 (this one just for 2Km, because is a KTM, always breaks something). Always riding all year round except the few weeks with snow or ice on the roads.
You can see I am a Kawa fan, at least for enduro - dual sport category. I wanted for years to get a KLR650, but is made for US only and since some dickhead from Kawasaki Europe decided that if we purchase from other markets Kawa Europe will not help with any documentation required for vehicle registration .... which left us butt-naked with the Versys line. Something like this I will ride only if I am paid to do it. But I am not here to share my reasons behind KLR650 and my hate towards Versys. Anyway shame on you Kawasaki! The same thing I could tell about Suzuki with all DR line gone from Europe and Honda who transformed all models to a more road dedicated model rather than 50/50. Ok, they were smart to launch now the new AfricaTwin. I would have purchased it if it was not so expensive, for my budget - not compared with BMW, and was not in the first year of production. But first year ... no thanks I am already test user for Win10 and I curse the day I trusted the internet that is a smart move.
The only possibility in Europe to go for a dual purpose bike is to look at KTM, maybe at Husaberg / Husqvarna for more off-road, BMW some models and Yamaha.
Looking at specs, forums, bla bla, you know all the stuff you can find on internet, I decided to go for Yamaha XT660Z Tenere. But why?
Some complain is old technology, does not have all the bells and whistles of BMW. Well this is bullshit! And it is bullshit because when you are in the bushes you don't have to call the service to ask for the code 65846. For my taste it has already too much being with injection, so a bit hard to repair this on the first rock you find to take a sit. But except the injection looks quite straight forward to repair it on your own.
Some complain is too heavy - Except KL250 all the other bikes I owned were cows, or at leas cow sized. Yes is heavy but what would you expect 125Kg? Buy a real enduro or cross. And would be your beloved BMW 1200GS lighter?
It is too tall - well, sorry to say it blunt but midget sized enduros I haven' seen. Then go shop in the pocket bike or kids bike section. Yes I know the BMW is not so tall, then you get your product from them. Not so tall but with a big clearance is not possible with current motorcycle design.
No ABS as standard - a reason for me to cheer and party hard. No ABS means a bit taller, a bit lighter and some electronics and mechanics less to worry about. ABS will not help once you hit the dirt, is not designed to drive at warp speeds so I see again no issue for a relaxing ride on the roads. When you drive carefully knowing all the idiots in your immediate vicinity and you practice a bit anticipating the traffic, you will not need ABS for about 90% of your time. For the rest of 10% ABS will not help you anyway. On the plus side you will learn how to brake in the proper manner. I was surprised to learn how many "bikers" don't know the rules of braking, they just slam the brakes and that's it. All because they had only ABS bikes and intelligent systems who split between the front and back regardless which one you use. This goes for the cars too. Lean to brake in the case of ABS failure. Learn your stopping distance from all the speeds and keep the required distance from the cars in front of you and you don't need ABS. Not to mention that if your bike is not perfectly straight even with the ABS you can take a fall, and shit happens exactly when you are in a curve, or on bad streets.
Not a real ADVENTURE BIKE - please define adventure!?!?! Well, is a buzz word like all the other buzzwords we hear from marketing people. I hear all day IoT, cloud, delightful design, cozy design, user experience and so on ... just buzz but seems everyone can and knows how to do it. The same with adventure bikes. If your adventure is driving on Sunday after church for 200Km on C class roads just to eat a salad .... is more than you need, a 50cc would fulfill the need and the legal speed.
You want some sand? will do it too so where is the problem? You want to go the distance at warp speeds and do some real hardcore enduro? Buy an enduro, drive with your car up to that point and jump on your enduro.
Not good for hardcore off-road - WTF!?!?! Do you hear yourself? Would you go to a hardcore off-road with your SUV? No! SUV is for some forest roads, light off-road and road. The same goes for Tenere. Do you want hardcore off-road? then you are in for a cross. But wait, if you were .... then you wouldn't even consider a Tenere, because you would have experience and not just posting stuff on net.
Vibrates - what would you expect from a single cylinder? Just use your brain and think that you ride a metal block with a hole of cca 660 cubic cm. In this hole you have a piston which moves from top to bottom very quick. Yes, is a vibrator feeling, maybe you old lady will have the time of her life but not for a long time before starts to hurt. So what would you expect? The smoothness of a 6V engine?
Not a real world crosser - well, see the point above - is just a 660ccm vibrator. For sure it can take you to the end of the world but not smooth or fast. You can't pack all the luxury items from your 4 room apartment and half service shop. Also you can't pack your old lady with her luggage and let her sit on the back while you fly on the highway with 140+ Km/h. For solo riding on harsh roads is more than perfect.
Is not good on highways - duh! First is tall, second is small engine, third is a vibrator (did I said again this word?!?!), and forth ... is not a sport bike. What do you really want, high speed or to be able to ride on forest paths? You can't have both, use your brain! From my experience with other dual sport bikes, you can do highways as long as you are below 120 Km/h, to be preferred around the speed of trucks on European highways - 90 - 100 Km/h.
As I could see all the negative comments are coming from false expectations, and of course if the bike does not fulfill them then is a bad experience, worth to share with everybody. Ghosting ... yes it seems to have this issue, I don't know yet if worse than the singles I used, or better. I had for one week a rented bike, back in 2005, was a Yamaha XT660, but being in Greece and a rental bike I doubt it was not suffering from bad service and crazy foreigners coming to do racing with it. I had my lady as passenger and just a backpack with our beach equipment and we were riding around the island more than staying at the beach. I can tell that it was the worse engine I have seen on a bike -always ghosting, always struggling on higher gears and low rpm. I still blame the service and I hope they fixed this issues from 2000 anyway because more or less should be the same engine. Other than that I still managed to get some off-road with it and was behaving better than on the road. In the last day I have learned how to drive it without problems but it was already too late.
Now that I kicked all the "negative" aspects produced by expectations, I have kept my expectations under control and I have identified the following positive aspects:
Easier to repair that the full electronic modern awesome bikes
Tall, high clearance, no ABS (yes, I opted for the non ABS version)
Big community with real info on repairs, mods, 3rd party parts at decent prices (lot of diy mods also available, not just "went to the dealer and purchased x")
Moderately priced - not the cheapest, not the most expensive but somehow unique in the class, actually I couldn't find a competitor on the European market - 650ccm, high clearance, almost at the sweet spot of 50/50 road/off-road. This is a sad aspect to have only one producer in this area. Please don't start with BMW F800GS, it does not compare, is more expensive, more street, more electronics, although a competitor. But for the price of a new F800GS you can get a fully equiped Tenere and with Akrapovic exhaust, remaining some money for the first tank and beer.
Single cylinder engine - personal preference, I love the sound, I love the pops and I love the feeling. From another point of view is easy to change the spark plug ( I hated changing two of them), cheaper to repair.
Can do road and go past the McDrive entrance, it would hurt if I drop it but I will not bleed to death when I hear the price for some plastics.
Love the design - I can put a high fender guard. For BMW or some Honda bikes you have to live with that duck peak, Here is simple just put the high fender and remove the lower one. Maybe is true that we don't forget our first love. My first one was the KLE 400, and I had purchased it with this high fender.
A bit on the high scale of weight but not so much, I am used with something around 200 Kg falling in dirt and having to pick it up. So it does not feel so heavy with just extra 10 Kg.
Height - I am tall too and with the Suzuki GS500 I really had the feeling that I ride with my knees behind my ears. I miss the good old days when I was riding in a standing position, not having troubles after 200 Km because I really need to extend my legs. Tall guys and small naked street bikes are a no go for me.
Reliability - at least on the net are a lot of signs that it can be used more than 50.000 Km without any major service.
The whole package - is good for light to medium off-road without sacrificing too much of the street comfort, even the OEM parts are not priced in a manner that I would sell a kidney in order to purchase them, they have relative the same price with the aftermarket counterparts. Of course some can be a better quality compared with the OEM but still it does not need to do huge financial efforts. Also I got some good offer from the dealer, not awesome but fair, meaning it was just the price of the bike plus the parts from catalog. Some may say it was a bad deal but I pay no fee for transfer papers, for transport from Yamaha to the dealer and also the installation. And we talk here about the Akrapovic (is a bit of work to change the exhaust), center stand, and aluminium engine guard. Also they agree to fit HB crash bars and OTR water pump protection. As bonus they will register the bike on my name, I have just to pay the registration taxes and number plates. All in all it was not a super deal with 20% discount but a fair price for the package and I get just to go there, pick-up the keys and drive without any stress that I need to register it and other paperwork.
Now I return to my beer and wait for the first drive.
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