My criticism strikes again.
We all have seen those kind of "travelers" who always try to imply that they do what they are doing, for us the rest of the lesser people.
Few months ago I was reading how such a specimen was bubbling on Facebook about how hard is for him to travel, how many ordeals he needs to endure in order to bring us pictures. Then come home dear, no one sent you there!
How should I put it ... since the edge of civilization people traveled, some more, some less. Some even wrote books about their travels and about the cultures they encountered. Some of those writings are today the only source of historical relevance about a certain place and a certain time.
Later, when we discovered that we can make money out of it, some traveled and continued to write books about their travels. They got money by selling them, maybe they sponsored their next trip with the money from the books. Who knows?!?
There were always people who traveled for themselves and others who traveled to show off. I have no problem with both of them, each on its own they say. I have a absolute repulsion on the next stage, the modern traveler - beggar - prostitute.
If we look at details, every time we can find an excuse: what is wrong that X got sponsored by XZY company? What is wrong that some people donate to some other guy? And actually none of these are wrong! I mean I do not preach here that no one should get something unless every one gets it too, this is small minded.
What I really hate is the big picture, and let's look at it:
One guy or girl, quits the job and suddenly is being sponsored by not one, not two but more companies. Ok ... not that if you would ask any of those companies to get something, you will get it for free, even if you travel a lot.
Now, he / she has a tip-top bike with bleeding edge tech, top of the range clothing (we, the foot-folk will be happy with just half of it or with half of the money they cost so we can get fully equipped).
Some shipping companies even give a discount based on .... I do not know exactly why and how.
Now the trip starts .... he / she will travel in a part of the world for x months. Every day you get to see amazing pictures. They say they do the images themselves, I can trust some of them, I can believe that they are struggling to get that amazing pic - I do it myself and I know how frustrating is when something goes wrong, but I prefer to travel rather than to play self glorification on Instagram.
Now the big questionmarks
1. How the hell they always get good weather - I want to see them soaked, full of mud - usually this is what I get when I travel, not endless days of beautiful sky.
2. How on earth do their bikes look every time like brand new - mine is like a pig after few days, with a bit of luck and rain from the first day.
3. Always some indigenous people are around their bike or on their bike doing nice pics - I may travel in the wrong places, usually I end up with some homeless guys telling me the story of their life.
4. Why do they like to recommend parts and bike models - easy one, they would not spit on the face of their sponsors.
5. How that they get servicing first class even in the remote parts of the world, not to mention .... some of them for free - are you serious!?!?!
6. Are they able to do minor repairs on their own? I bet 90% no
7. Suddenly some locals start to show them hidden treasures of the country - ah ok .... suddenly someone says I make holidays because X is in tow so I can ride along. I do not know if we fit but what the heck ... I will get in the end a Instagram tag.
8. Real travel with having time to make video documentary, photo documentary and write a book ... these people are awesome can do more than we can .... ok ...
9. Where the hell they get internet in the middle of nowhere!?!?!
10. Where the hell do they get power supply .... editing a video takes time, rendering, cutting, post processing ... not to mention the time you work, the time you let the software do their rendering, loading all the devices ... Yes I know ... hotel and motorcycle battery ... but really, for months in the middle of nowhere!?!? how the hell you upload the video to YouTube, how the hell you update your blog daily ....
11. Are they really staying out camping or this is just for the picture, for the rest is the cosy hotel down the capital city.
12. How that their clothes look like new even after months of traveling with wild camping? This is a X files case for me.
Getting past those questions now comes the ugly personality side:
- asking money to continue travel - work you bitch, we all do, work and travel, there are people who do this, even if they take low jobs for one two three months somewhere, they spare to the last dime and then they have enough for the next leg of the travel. I respect those people.
- implying that they travel for me - seriously? I travel for myself, thank you!
- playing the victim card with how much they endure for that travel - go buck a fuffalo! Your choice, you can go home anytime now.
- opening all kind of virtual begging accounts - patreon, crowdfunding and so on ... duuude
- after the travel playing macho at all bikers meetings, being now a paid speaker and except the fact he gets money for this (shows the same ppt for years) sells also his junk overpriced stickers, books dvd
- no real human contact, unless you can be of interest - sexually or financially
- self importance
- expecting to be treated as V.I.P.
What is more disturbing is that they are setting trends, they are advertising overpriced shit which nobody needs actually, the bikes that they ride are not the most reliable but with the biggest price tag, some are talking that they even do not ride all the way, but pay a transport and then just make a picture - actually this explains the three questions I had - clean clothes, clean bike and internet all day.
And on top of that we are reminded gracefully that they are doing this for us!
Do you feel that someone is traveling for you? I certainly not and when I see pictures from the areas I have been, I can't notice that they are hanging mostly on tourist spots and kind of fake world where they are charged to make a picture with some local. After all I kind of feel sorry for them with regard to travel experiences. For the financial joker they try to pull on us ... I resent them. But that's life!
If you disagree .... Please pay for my next vacation!!!!!! I promise to send you pictures
Yamaha XT660Z Tenere - 20.000Km in 1.5 Years review
After 20.000 Km in one and half years with my beloved Tenere here is what I can say:
Height
Somehow seems / feels a bit lower - the feeling comes from two factors - 1. I got used with the height; 2. The saddle is now 20.000 Km old and is not so stiff, so I gained few mm through compression.
Higher weight / mass center
Is a thing which can be learned to cope with, but I still have issues with tight turns on mountain roads - issues meaning I do not trust it to drive too quick, especially on tight climbing corners where the front wheel seems to have a poor contact with the road surface. On descending corners it feels like it tends to under-steer since I do not trust it to get to inclined. So ... shortly said I tend to drive slower than with other bikes, but is also no racing machine so it does not bother so much anyways.
Higher ground clearance
Actually is useless most of the time, except the fact that you can show your knees to your fellow drivers of the city car species, maybe your boots to the face of sports car drivers, and have an equal eye-level with van drivers.
It comes handy when you get off-road? Yes and no, except when you need to pass over some fallen trees, or if you can't drive around that big boulder. For me, helped with the drive over some fallen trees part, otherwise I did not feel the need of such a high position, actually sometimes I would have liked it to be a bit lower, but not the opposite.
Handling
I would say that is somewhere in between very good and ok-ish. You can throw a lot of shit, and do some reckless stuff which a sports bike will punish you dearly for doing so. Most of the time is the kind of "forgiving" type of bike, good for beginners. For example it does not punish you for the following (*please do not try this at home):
braking in corners, front braking in corners, looking at that nice lady and adjusting your curve trajectory in the last second, locking the rear wheel (no ABS on my baby), locking the rear wheel on corner, too much weight on the rear on mountain roads, daydreaming, landscape admiring, point fixation.
So if that was the forgiving part ... what do I mean with ok-ish?
Ok-ish part: first and second gear a bit too brutal so you need a lot of clutch in some scenarios, heavy nose-dive on front brake, quick to lock the rear wheel due to the nose-dive - have fun when you got them at the same time, luggage must be as low as possible due to the already higher mass center, when heavy loaded on rear the front tends to loose surface contact especially when accelerating or on climbing roads.
All in all, I would say for a beginner will raise some certain level of difficulty when touching the ok-ish part but for the rest I would rate it as a very forgiving bike with a very relaxed driving position and driving style (after all is no monster engine or sports bike anyways).
Reliability
After 20.000 Km is hard to talk about that, although this mileage was done in a very short time and usually in very "condensed" trips. Below is a short description of the riding style until now and what was the outcome of servicing needs
How I drove it until now:
Road condition: Usually more than 1000 km of highway to the place I start to enter minor roads, then minor roads through mountains, forest roads, and dirt paths. Return to the civilization and another thousand or so of highway.
Riding time: Usually long, over 8 hours per day, with some 20 hours non stop riding sections.
Speeds: Highway usually not more than 130 Km/h (more than enough when heavy loaded), the rest ... try to stick to the legal speed limit and / or under 120 Km/h, off-road is always how fast I trust myself to ride.
Load: single + lots of luggage and tools, 2-up with small luggage.
What can I say until now:
No technical issues (you can laugh but I know guys who own BMW or KTM and at this mileage they were changing their second fuel pump or water pump, between some other minor issues).
Oil consumption - for a single cylinder is close to 0 on the 5000 Km mark, but if you respect Yamaha servicing interval of 10.000 km, after the 5000 mark you find yourself with a 100 ml oil at least. Depends on the ride style and weather conditions actually.
NO other parts exchanged yet, maybe the air filter should get a replacement but not till now, although I got a lot of dust in my mouth.
Tyre: exchanged the factory Metzeler due to its "outstanding" performance
Instruments accuracy
I hear some people complaining about the speed indicator accuracy - maybe I got the good one or maybe they do not know that there is no accurate indication on any vehicle. Actually my car performs poor at accuracy when compared with the same gps.
There are situations when the street speed sensor indicator tells you a speed, the motorcycle something else and the gps something else at all.
But ... based on my gps (can't trust that too) up to 70 Km/h there is a raising difference from 0 to 5 Km/h, up to 100 the difference grows to 7 Km/h and over 100 is somewhere around 9-10.
The only one indicator which would lie even when threatened with death penalty is the tank indicator. I really have not seen anything like this like I see when I look at it. Once I got just a line, I stopped to pee or smoke or whatever ... I start the engine and I have 3 lines. Sometimes I can get 100+ Km out of the reserve, sometimes just 20. My solution!?!? Put fuel as often as I can and carry a safe amount of 5 liters for unforeseen situations.
Consumption
Here I am a bit disappointed, but I never got under 5l/100, mostly I am on the 6+ l / 100 Km figure. Could have been better I say, but on the other hand getting on the gas by running 120 Km/h (on gps) for many hours on highway, with luggage .... is not so shabby. But not as perfect as I wished.
Other complaints
People are very good at complaining and finding faults, so no wonder you almost always hear about the bad stuff, not the good stuff.
Tank: very bad design for letting the air out after you passed the 17 L mark. I always spend an eternity at the gas station to fill that damn tank. Not much brain on the Yamaha engineers, probably was on a holiday when they designed it so they wanted to go home quickly.
Oil change: same story as the tank ... I always have to use all my trailer-trash vocabulary when I only think about it. How on earth do they thought that an oil can will fit there. I always need to carry a funnel and a fuel line to go with the funnel, just in case I need to add some oil.
Exhaust pipe being routed on the left side high enough to cook your jewels if you are in a traffic jam.
Plus points
Now the best part is coming, very hard to see the good ones when you look only for faults.
Seat: What!?!? Wait!?!? NOOOO!!! Yes I am aware that so many people complained about the seat, but I tend to think that they are pussies too. I mean, is not comfortable, after few hours you start to wonder why in the world you wanted to go with the bike, the car was a better option. BUT ... even if I complain sometimes about the seat, the fact that I could handle and not only once a 20 hour drive, followed next day by another few hours on the saddle shows that a) I like pain; or b) it is not so bad.
I mean ... any saddle will become a pain in the butt after few hours because we don't move, the knees are bent and so on .... but I never had a bike on which I gladly jumped next day after a 16 hours ride.
Handlebar rubber bushings: well, this was at the beginning an "issue" thanks to all real adventure shops made by bikers for bikers who recommended to change the original one with a CNC machined heavy duty steel or aircraft grade aluminium bushing. Why?!?!? Because they remove the soft feeling. So the stupid one (me) put its hand on the handlebar and suddenly felt a "soft feeling" which will render the bike not usable. I almost felt for the advertising trick (maybe that's why I hate so much these companies right now - because they sell lies many times). Well, I did not changed them because I was too lazy to dismantle a new bike just for some bushings. What happened was that during one of my off-road journeys I had to let the bike fall down. The problem is that I was alone and the only part I could use to pick it up was the handlebar, which sustained heavy impact (gps mount broken, hand-guards messed up, and some nasty 50 kg extra weight to come on the top of the bike weight).
After picking it up successfully - on the third attempt (so it sustained two more impacts with the fluffy road) I have seen a deviation between my handlebar and wheel position, from my previous experiences with other bikes that was the sign that I need to do one of the following (or all): try to loosen the fork clamp and readjust, maybe it slipped a bit; check if the handlebar is bent; check if the handlebar clamp screws are bent and replace.
Luckily the rubber bushings saved all of the above, I just needed a bit of force to straighten them up, and no, no tools were involved and yes I continued also off-road and the handlebar remained as it supposed to be. I am now 2800 Km past that incident and I am so happy I have the original rubber bushings.
Simplicity: everything, except filling the tank and changing the oil, is relatively simple. Even a monkey with a service manual can do stuff. I changed a lot on the bike on my own without being forced to think too much or dismantle half of the bike. I have to recognize that most of the changes were just aesthetic, beautification factor and the foolish run to gain some hundred grams worth of weight savings - at a high price - thanks to me having some extra money and less brain, Touratech & Co. advertising, and a growing community of weekend warriors on dual sport bikes - where each one is more busy gaining a few grams rather than riding. I felt into the trap! I spent money and purchased useless bling. At least I did the mechanical part on my own so I know that is not very hard to work on this bike.
Position on the bike: it is just good, although I am on the taller side of society and I always have problems with the knees being too bent, on this bike this is exactly at the pain border. I would always like to have lower pegs but then the other part of the world would not be able to ride. The fact that I can push the limits up to 20 hours of riding is a sign that the position is good, on other bikes I could not ride for such a long time.
Fun factor
Although each bike is unique, and each type of bike is different, in the dual sport category (now called Adventure) I would say that Yamaha XT660Z Tenere has a balanced performance and driving pleasure.
Is that sweet spot of do everything and excel at nothing, has no special strengths, is the "Jack of all trades, master of none" of its class.
It has enough punch to keep you going, not as big as the new Africa Twin, Super Tenere or the big KTMs and BMWs.
It does not give you warp speeds on highways like the above mentioned, but it gives the right amount of maneuverability and versatility in almost all situations.
It is thin enough to fit a single trail, light enough to pick it up on your own, very good in the urban jungle (here helps the punchy part in the first gears).
Top speeds are good enough so that you can admire the landscape or a local girl, being also forgiving if you stare for too long.
Takes "head on" almost all you can throw in front of it, and gets you home if you have to pass over that fallen tree.
Rare on the streets, so you can be almost at any time the one with that strange bike in a sea of BMWs at any bikers meeting.
Handles well 2-Up, so the significant other can enjoy the time too.
For me, the fact that it can do anything and excel at nothing is the most rewarding part for a regular guy. I do not intend to ride a rally or do some hardcore enduro, but with this bike I can do a little of everything without the disadvantages of a very specialized motorcycle. I can ride highway for hours, then go on a forest trail, then do some back-roads, return on the forest roads and back to the highway. I can travel half of Europe in one day and dip my toes into the sea, next day be on a mountain. And all of these at a very low maintenance cost, not so high initial investment and without paying premium fees for OEM parts.
Let's see how it looks at 50.000 Km
Height
Somehow seems / feels a bit lower - the feeling comes from two factors - 1. I got used with the height; 2. The saddle is now 20.000 Km old and is not so stiff, so I gained few mm through compression.
Higher weight / mass center
Is a thing which can be learned to cope with, but I still have issues with tight turns on mountain roads - issues meaning I do not trust it to drive too quick, especially on tight climbing corners where the front wheel seems to have a poor contact with the road surface. On descending corners it feels like it tends to under-steer since I do not trust it to get to inclined. So ... shortly said I tend to drive slower than with other bikes, but is also no racing machine so it does not bother so much anyways.
Higher ground clearance
Actually is useless most of the time, except the fact that you can show your knees to your fellow drivers of the city car species, maybe your boots to the face of sports car drivers, and have an equal eye-level with van drivers.
It comes handy when you get off-road? Yes and no, except when you need to pass over some fallen trees, or if you can't drive around that big boulder. For me, helped with the drive over some fallen trees part, otherwise I did not feel the need of such a high position, actually sometimes I would have liked it to be a bit lower, but not the opposite.
Handling
I would say that is somewhere in between very good and ok-ish. You can throw a lot of shit, and do some reckless stuff which a sports bike will punish you dearly for doing so. Most of the time is the kind of "forgiving" type of bike, good for beginners. For example it does not punish you for the following (*please do not try this at home):
braking in corners, front braking in corners, looking at that nice lady and adjusting your curve trajectory in the last second, locking the rear wheel (no ABS on my baby), locking the rear wheel on corner, too much weight on the rear on mountain roads, daydreaming, landscape admiring, point fixation.
So if that was the forgiving part ... what do I mean with ok-ish?
Ok-ish part: first and second gear a bit too brutal so you need a lot of clutch in some scenarios, heavy nose-dive on front brake, quick to lock the rear wheel due to the nose-dive - have fun when you got them at the same time, luggage must be as low as possible due to the already higher mass center, when heavy loaded on rear the front tends to loose surface contact especially when accelerating or on climbing roads.
All in all, I would say for a beginner will raise some certain level of difficulty when touching the ok-ish part but for the rest I would rate it as a very forgiving bike with a very relaxed driving position and driving style (after all is no monster engine or sports bike anyways).
Reliability
After 20.000 Km is hard to talk about that, although this mileage was done in a very short time and usually in very "condensed" trips. Below is a short description of the riding style until now and what was the outcome of servicing needs
How I drove it until now:
Road condition: Usually more than 1000 km of highway to the place I start to enter minor roads, then minor roads through mountains, forest roads, and dirt paths. Return to the civilization and another thousand or so of highway.
Riding time: Usually long, over 8 hours per day, with some 20 hours non stop riding sections.
Speeds: Highway usually not more than 130 Km/h (more than enough when heavy loaded), the rest ... try to stick to the legal speed limit and / or under 120 Km/h, off-road is always how fast I trust myself to ride.
Load: single + lots of luggage and tools, 2-up with small luggage.
What can I say until now:
No technical issues (you can laugh but I know guys who own BMW or KTM and at this mileage they were changing their second fuel pump or water pump, between some other minor issues).
Oil consumption - for a single cylinder is close to 0 on the 5000 Km mark, but if you respect Yamaha servicing interval of 10.000 km, after the 5000 mark you find yourself with a 100 ml oil at least. Depends on the ride style and weather conditions actually.
NO other parts exchanged yet, maybe the air filter should get a replacement but not till now, although I got a lot of dust in my mouth.
Tyre: exchanged the factory Metzeler due to its "outstanding" performance
Instruments accuracy
I hear some people complaining about the speed indicator accuracy - maybe I got the good one or maybe they do not know that there is no accurate indication on any vehicle. Actually my car performs poor at accuracy when compared with the same gps.
There are situations when the street speed sensor indicator tells you a speed, the motorcycle something else and the gps something else at all.
But ... based on my gps (can't trust that too) up to 70 Km/h there is a raising difference from 0 to 5 Km/h, up to 100 the difference grows to 7 Km/h and over 100 is somewhere around 9-10.
The only one indicator which would lie even when threatened with death penalty is the tank indicator. I really have not seen anything like this like I see when I look at it. Once I got just a line, I stopped to pee or smoke or whatever ... I start the engine and I have 3 lines. Sometimes I can get 100+ Km out of the reserve, sometimes just 20. My solution!?!? Put fuel as often as I can and carry a safe amount of 5 liters for unforeseen situations.
Consumption
Here I am a bit disappointed, but I never got under 5l/100, mostly I am on the 6+ l / 100 Km figure. Could have been better I say, but on the other hand getting on the gas by running 120 Km/h (on gps) for many hours on highway, with luggage .... is not so shabby. But not as perfect as I wished.
Other complaints
People are very good at complaining and finding faults, so no wonder you almost always hear about the bad stuff, not the good stuff.
Tank: very bad design for letting the air out after you passed the 17 L mark. I always spend an eternity at the gas station to fill that damn tank. Not much brain on the Yamaha engineers, probably was on a holiday when they designed it so they wanted to go home quickly.
Oil change: same story as the tank ... I always have to use all my trailer-trash vocabulary when I only think about it. How on earth do they thought that an oil can will fit there. I always need to carry a funnel and a fuel line to go with the funnel, just in case I need to add some oil.
Exhaust pipe being routed on the left side high enough to cook your jewels if you are in a traffic jam.
Plus points
Now the best part is coming, very hard to see the good ones when you look only for faults.
Seat: What!?!? Wait!?!? NOOOO!!! Yes I am aware that so many people complained about the seat, but I tend to think that they are pussies too. I mean, is not comfortable, after few hours you start to wonder why in the world you wanted to go with the bike, the car was a better option. BUT ... even if I complain sometimes about the seat, the fact that I could handle and not only once a 20 hour drive, followed next day by another few hours on the saddle shows that a) I like pain; or b) it is not so bad.
I mean ... any saddle will become a pain in the butt after few hours because we don't move, the knees are bent and so on .... but I never had a bike on which I gladly jumped next day after a 16 hours ride.
Handlebar rubber bushings: well, this was at the beginning an "issue" thanks to all real adventure shops made by bikers for bikers who recommended to change the original one with a CNC machined heavy duty steel or aircraft grade aluminium bushing. Why?!?!? Because they remove the soft feeling. So the stupid one (me) put its hand on the handlebar and suddenly felt a "soft feeling" which will render the bike not usable. I almost felt for the advertising trick (maybe that's why I hate so much these companies right now - because they sell lies many times). Well, I did not changed them because I was too lazy to dismantle a new bike just for some bushings. What happened was that during one of my off-road journeys I had to let the bike fall down. The problem is that I was alone and the only part I could use to pick it up was the handlebar, which sustained heavy impact (gps mount broken, hand-guards messed up, and some nasty 50 kg extra weight to come on the top of the bike weight).
After picking it up successfully - on the third attempt (so it sustained two more impacts with the fluffy road) I have seen a deviation between my handlebar and wheel position, from my previous experiences with other bikes that was the sign that I need to do one of the following (or all): try to loosen the fork clamp and readjust, maybe it slipped a bit; check if the handlebar is bent; check if the handlebar clamp screws are bent and replace.
Luckily the rubber bushings saved all of the above, I just needed a bit of force to straighten them up, and no, no tools were involved and yes I continued also off-road and the handlebar remained as it supposed to be. I am now 2800 Km past that incident and I am so happy I have the original rubber bushings.
Simplicity: everything, except filling the tank and changing the oil, is relatively simple. Even a monkey with a service manual can do stuff. I changed a lot on the bike on my own without being forced to think too much or dismantle half of the bike. I have to recognize that most of the changes were just aesthetic, beautification factor and the foolish run to gain some hundred grams worth of weight savings - at a high price - thanks to me having some extra money and less brain, Touratech & Co. advertising, and a growing community of weekend warriors on dual sport bikes - where each one is more busy gaining a few grams rather than riding. I felt into the trap! I spent money and purchased useless bling. At least I did the mechanical part on my own so I know that is not very hard to work on this bike.
Position on the bike: it is just good, although I am on the taller side of society and I always have problems with the knees being too bent, on this bike this is exactly at the pain border. I would always like to have lower pegs but then the other part of the world would not be able to ride. The fact that I can push the limits up to 20 hours of riding is a sign that the position is good, on other bikes I could not ride for such a long time.
Fun factor
Although each bike is unique, and each type of bike is different, in the dual sport category (now called Adventure) I would say that Yamaha XT660Z Tenere has a balanced performance and driving pleasure.
Is that sweet spot of do everything and excel at nothing, has no special strengths, is the "Jack of all trades, master of none" of its class.
It has enough punch to keep you going, not as big as the new Africa Twin, Super Tenere or the big KTMs and BMWs.
It does not give you warp speeds on highways like the above mentioned, but it gives the right amount of maneuverability and versatility in almost all situations.
It is thin enough to fit a single trail, light enough to pick it up on your own, very good in the urban jungle (here helps the punchy part in the first gears).
Top speeds are good enough so that you can admire the landscape or a local girl, being also forgiving if you stare for too long.
Takes "head on" almost all you can throw in front of it, and gets you home if you have to pass over that fallen tree.
Rare on the streets, so you can be almost at any time the one with that strange bike in a sea of BMWs at any bikers meeting.
Handles well 2-Up, so the significant other can enjoy the time too.
For me, the fact that it can do anything and excel at nothing is the most rewarding part for a regular guy. I do not intend to ride a rally or do some hardcore enduro, but with this bike I can do a little of everything without the disadvantages of a very specialized motorcycle. I can ride highway for hours, then go on a forest trail, then do some back-roads, return on the forest roads and back to the highway. I can travel half of Europe in one day and dip my toes into the sea, next day be on a mountain. And all of these at a very low maintenance cost, not so high initial investment and without paying premium fees for OEM parts.
Let's see how it looks at 50.000 Km
Metzeler Tourance vs Mitas E-07 vs Mitas E-08 vs Mitas E-09
From the beginning I would say that is an unfair comparison between Metzeler Tourance and Mitas E-07, because are a different class, the more appropiate is the Mitas E-08.
The compairison comes from my real life, not sponsored, with real streets.
BMW fans and "quality made in Germany" will cross their hearts on Tourance. Well, after all, Tourance comes almost on all BMWs, even on my Tenere was fitted from factory, so it should be the real deal. Actually is a real deal breaker for anything else than street. But all ADV riders sport one of those tires on their bike.
Tourance is 90% road - 10% off-road. Well, I could pass a short passage of mud with them, but not very easy, and anyway I see most of the time just highway and good quality streets. Like all the BMWs I see, there is no need for more than a 90-10 tire. Maybe yes maybe no.
I changed the Tourance after 5000 Km, the last drop was when I had to start from a red light and the street had like 5% incline, and had just rained. The result was me driving for the next 200m dirt-track style, playing with the clutch and acceleration, while I was trying to get the rear wheel straight and to stop dancing. I almost hugged the terra firma at that point. That being said also on dry, the rear locked easily - yes I am old school I bought the last Tenere without ABS before they stooped producing it, at least for Europe. Yes I also use rear brake and front brake in old school manner, no electronic to do that for me, and I do this already for a long time with dual sports. Tourance was the first tire to get easily locked on rear, also on some curvy roads the rear liked to slide. Ok, I can fault the Tenere also for this, After 20.000 Km I still have a funky feeling on curvy roads, because of the higher weight center. It shined on the highway, there was the perfect place for this tire. Going straight, no curves or just light ones but no emergency brakes, I also locked my rear on the highway, not too funny. Quality made in Germany?!? Maybe for heavier bikes like the big fat BMW adventure, with their 300 Kg and shorter front suspension travel. Maybe there it gets a good firm grip. For lighter ones like Kawasaki KLR or Yamaha XT660Z Tenere, not so good.
I got some Tourances on my KLR and I managed, fair for the tire type, some gravel roads, easy hill trails and small muddy sections. So they are not so bad, they tend to be a bit slippery on wet though.
Mitas E-08, Mitas is a Czech company so for many is just some East European exotic brand, even when you go at a tire shop or some motorcycle dealers, they try to convince you to get some Metzeler or at least Goodyear.
Mitas E-08 is the direct competition for Tourance, with a spin ... they are 80% street - 20% off-road. The difference is more visible between them for the front tire. It cleans itself a tad better than Tourance, and the rear looks similar but the spaces between the rubber patches are a bit bigger, which means better cleaning. One thing common to all Mitas is that they are a bit on the hard side. I always could run with lower pressure without seeing it on the wheel itself. While at the Tourance you see that your pressure dropped, at Mitas you have to check. They perform slightly similar on road and off road. I would buy the E-08 for street only use, especially on rain it handles better because of the bigger spacings. With Tourance on heavy rain and highway conditions I always had the "dancing" feeling, with E-08 was a bit better on the dancing side.
Mitas E-07, one of my favorites after the more enduro oriented E-09, is a true tire pattern for dual sport motorcycles (today called adventure bikes), offering almost a 50 - 50 setup. Maybe the similar Metzeler tire would be Enduro 3 Sahara. But The E-08 has a "chevron" pattern, and what it makes unique at E-08 is that the more worn-out it is, the more street oriented it becomes, since the middle of the tire tends to become a continuous surface patch, while the sides keep their spacing. While it is not perfect for the highway - a bit loud and bumpy while new, gets better with the time - it is very good if you need to drive after the point where the asphalts ends. Some are saying, on the internet, that it is not very good at grip on lower temperatures. It has an M+S sign so I suppose is not designed for summer only, but it comes from the fact that all Mitas tires, at least in dual sport range, are a bit harder as compound. This makes them more resilient to wear at the cost of grip. is like a trade, better grip low mileage, higher mileage lower grip. Been with the tire on highways most of the time, the luxury problems of the first world, but I also used it on forest trails during rain, gravel roads, lots of gravel on the road, muddy sections .... while when is a thick layer of small gravel, they tend to "dance" and bounce quite a lot, and the grip is not as good as with a cross tire, they performed well an wet and dry gravel. I would not use it for this type of trails if I had to drive daily but when you have also regular roads to drive is the perfect mix. I could drive over fallen trees too, so is not so bad as a 50-50 tire.
Durability - depends on the driving, now I have it since 12.000 Km, and more than 10.000 only highway, so it became a bit square, but there is enough rubber left for at least the next 5.000 Km, I had other tires which performed better but without highway drive.
Mitas E-09, the almighty trail eater 20% road - 80% off-road, I had it on my Kawasaki KLE, amazing tire for trails. There is no Metzeler similar with this one The front is more close to an enduro tire than dual purpose, the back is also enduro tire with larger rubber patches. It looks really "adventure ready" and makes the bike look aggressive but comes at a price - on road durability is poor, still better than the enduro ones but less than E-08 or E-07, it is noisy and bumpy, also the grip on asphalt is not its strength but once you get out of the road it is another beast. Is perfect for the type of trails a big dual purpose can do anyways, for more complex needs the bike will be too heavy and too big. So this tire is absolutely more than what this type of bikes can do or are intended to do.
In the end I would say from my experience that the Tourance remains the king of dry asphalt, on wet I would ponder an E-08, but the difference is not so big between them, is more a matter of taste after you tried both.
For highway and occasional light trails, two three mud holes and some gravel I would go for E-07, it held its promises very well with an overloaded Tenere on a stormy day while riding mountain trails and driving over fallen trees.
For better trail experience and no highway E-09, I used it for city too, but its place is where the fun begins.
The compairison comes from my real life, not sponsored, with real streets.
BMW fans and "quality made in Germany" will cross their hearts on Tourance. Well, after all, Tourance comes almost on all BMWs, even on my Tenere was fitted from factory, so it should be the real deal. Actually is a real deal breaker for anything else than street. But all ADV riders sport one of those tires on their bike.
Tourance is 90% road - 10% off-road. Well, I could pass a short passage of mud with them, but not very easy, and anyway I see most of the time just highway and good quality streets. Like all the BMWs I see, there is no need for more than a 90-10 tire. Maybe yes maybe no.
I changed the Tourance after 5000 Km, the last drop was when I had to start from a red light and the street had like 5% incline, and had just rained. The result was me driving for the next 200m dirt-track style, playing with the clutch and acceleration, while I was trying to get the rear wheel straight and to stop dancing. I almost hugged the terra firma at that point. That being said also on dry, the rear locked easily - yes I am old school I bought the last Tenere without ABS before they stooped producing it, at least for Europe. Yes I also use rear brake and front brake in old school manner, no electronic to do that for me, and I do this already for a long time with dual sports. Tourance was the first tire to get easily locked on rear, also on some curvy roads the rear liked to slide. Ok, I can fault the Tenere also for this, After 20.000 Km I still have a funky feeling on curvy roads, because of the higher weight center. It shined on the highway, there was the perfect place for this tire. Going straight, no curves or just light ones but no emergency brakes, I also locked my rear on the highway, not too funny. Quality made in Germany?!? Maybe for heavier bikes like the big fat BMW adventure, with their 300 Kg and shorter front suspension travel. Maybe there it gets a good firm grip. For lighter ones like Kawasaki KLR or Yamaha XT660Z Tenere, not so good.
I got some Tourances on my KLR and I managed, fair for the tire type, some gravel roads, easy hill trails and small muddy sections. So they are not so bad, they tend to be a bit slippery on wet though.
Mitas E-08, Mitas is a Czech company so for many is just some East European exotic brand, even when you go at a tire shop or some motorcycle dealers, they try to convince you to get some Metzeler or at least Goodyear.
Mitas E-08 is the direct competition for Tourance, with a spin ... they are 80% street - 20% off-road. The difference is more visible between them for the front tire. It cleans itself a tad better than Tourance, and the rear looks similar but the spaces between the rubber patches are a bit bigger, which means better cleaning. One thing common to all Mitas is that they are a bit on the hard side. I always could run with lower pressure without seeing it on the wheel itself. While at the Tourance you see that your pressure dropped, at Mitas you have to check. They perform slightly similar on road and off road. I would buy the E-08 for street only use, especially on rain it handles better because of the bigger spacings. With Tourance on heavy rain and highway conditions I always had the "dancing" feeling, with E-08 was a bit better on the dancing side.
Mitas E-07, one of my favorites after the more enduro oriented E-09, is a true tire pattern for dual sport motorcycles (today called adventure bikes), offering almost a 50 - 50 setup. Maybe the similar Metzeler tire would be Enduro 3 Sahara. But The E-08 has a "chevron" pattern, and what it makes unique at E-08 is that the more worn-out it is, the more street oriented it becomes, since the middle of the tire tends to become a continuous surface patch, while the sides keep their spacing. While it is not perfect for the highway - a bit loud and bumpy while new, gets better with the time - it is very good if you need to drive after the point where the asphalts ends. Some are saying, on the internet, that it is not very good at grip on lower temperatures. It has an M+S sign so I suppose is not designed for summer only, but it comes from the fact that all Mitas tires, at least in dual sport range, are a bit harder as compound. This makes them more resilient to wear at the cost of grip. is like a trade, better grip low mileage, higher mileage lower grip. Been with the tire on highways most of the time, the luxury problems of the first world, but I also used it on forest trails during rain, gravel roads, lots of gravel on the road, muddy sections .... while when is a thick layer of small gravel, they tend to "dance" and bounce quite a lot, and the grip is not as good as with a cross tire, they performed well an wet and dry gravel. I would not use it for this type of trails if I had to drive daily but when you have also regular roads to drive is the perfect mix. I could drive over fallen trees too, so is not so bad as a 50-50 tire.
Durability - depends on the driving, now I have it since 12.000 Km, and more than 10.000 only highway, so it became a bit square, but there is enough rubber left for at least the next 5.000 Km, I had other tires which performed better but without highway drive.
Mitas E-09, the almighty trail eater 20% road - 80% off-road, I had it on my Kawasaki KLE, amazing tire for trails. There is no Metzeler similar with this one The front is more close to an enduro tire than dual purpose, the back is also enduro tire with larger rubber patches. It looks really "adventure ready" and makes the bike look aggressive but comes at a price - on road durability is poor, still better than the enduro ones but less than E-08 or E-07, it is noisy and bumpy, also the grip on asphalt is not its strength but once you get out of the road it is another beast. Is perfect for the type of trails a big dual purpose can do anyways, for more complex needs the bike will be too heavy and too big. So this tire is absolutely more than what this type of bikes can do or are intended to do.
In the end I would say from my experience that the Tourance remains the king of dry asphalt, on wet I would ponder an E-08, but the difference is not so big between them, is more a matter of taste after you tried both.
For highway and occasional light trails, two three mud holes and some gravel I would go for E-07, it held its promises very well with an overloaded Tenere on a stormy day while riding mountain trails and driving over fallen trees.
For better trail experience and no highway E-09, I used it for city too, but its place is where the fun begins.
Soft bags vs. hard bags
This is a never ending subject, like BMW vs Honda or Apple vs the rest of the world, and is discussed on all motorcycle forums. At some point one comes and asks which bag type they should buy. Then the hell get's loose.
My .02 (two cents) on this topic is that each on his own, but the soft bags and hard bags have their own advantages and disadvantages and what suits you this trip, maybe the next one will not.
I will not come with arguments like "even Ted Simon ditched the hard bags for soft bags". Well, it may be true but he had hard bags too. There are some fanatics out there who swear by one or the other and try to convince the rest of the world that they are right.
Let's look again at them but unlike all the forums I have seen just giving a list, I will also talk a bit from my experience.
Soft bags pros:
My .02 (two cents) on this topic is that each on his own, but the soft bags and hard bags have their own advantages and disadvantages and what suits you this trip, maybe the next one will not.
I will not come with arguments like "even Ted Simon ditched the hard bags for soft bags". Well, it may be true but he had hard bags too. There are some fanatics out there who swear by one or the other and try to convince the rest of the world that they are right.
Let's look again at them but unlike all the forums I have seen just giving a list, I will also talk a bit from my experience.
Soft bags pros:
- light: no one can argue this aspect, it is true, they are the champions of lightness. If this is at the top of your list then you have a winner.
- they tend to survive better in a crash: true and false. If the bike just falls yes, it is true, but if the bike is moving you can say hello to ripped textile fabric. While it is true that with a needle you can repair your bags, I can also say that sometimes is not possible. Where a hard luggage will be just dent, you ended up with a ripped soft bag.
- (if) they are waterproof: false and depends, weatherproof is a more suitable word. Even the best material, with a "waterproof" inner-bag (which is not a plastic bag) will become moist after driving for 12 hours through heavy rain. It is a fabric it has texture, you drive with speed and the wind is blowing, somehow the water particles will find a way through the texture. Maybe the core of the luggage will be still dry but the clothes close to the bag will be moist. For this god gave us the thick garbage plastic bags. They keep all the water out.
- easy to put on the bike: true. Depending on the system, if they come with a rack or you just toss them over the saddle, you can have more trouble putting them or no trouble at all, but it is easier than any hard bag.
- the size can vary: true and very useful, being textile can modify a bit the shape to accommodate things inside, and in some models you can put even more stuff inside so they become a bit taller.
Soft bags cons:
- easy to steal from: in general is true BUT you can still use a bit of basic anti theft material. Depending on the model you can use a small lock or some extra cable locks to wrap the luggage. It is true that any idiot with a knife can cut the bag and grab whatever comes in his hand. And one special mention is that they are prone to rather opportunistic thieves which usually destroy more to steal less.
- in case of a fall the content is not at all protected: very true, unless you carry some hard cases in a soft bag but this will not be the case. If you have just clothes then is no problem, if you have electronics, glass or whatever breakable things, there is a bigger chance that you can kiss them goodbye if you land on them.
- if is not a safer area you need to carry them with you even if you stop for an hour: true. They can be more easily taken from the bike by some other people which are not your friends, by the way.
- you can be tempted to take useless stuff just because you can fit it inside: true. Although no one talks about this, the fact that they are more flexible in sizing can tempt you to take more than you need. Been there, done that! You end up with a heavy motorcycle, just because you can put more things in the bags.
Hard bags pros:
- make you look almost as awesome as Ewan McGregor: true. But keep in mind that you are just almost. Hell yeah, they give you the ADV look you see at every Touratech event, every weekend warrior has them on the bike.
- secure and anti theft: true and false. Well is true because in theory it is more safer than a textile bag, if most of the producers wouldn't fit such shitty locks which come anyways at an extra price ... ten times more than they cost. But hey, you have almost the awesome look. Is false because of all the shitty locks they fit and how they fit it. Every Cro-Magnon with more muscle than brain will pop that shit open in a jiffy with a stronger screw-driver. If not the lock but the cheap rivets will pop out anyways. And let's not forget that the aluminium box wall thickness is usually 1.5mm so ...
- waterproof: true. With the assumption that the box has sealed rivets and a good sealing gasket for the cover and you do not consider them submarines. I had no moist in my box even after two full days or riding in rain. I was soaked to the bone but my beer bottle remained dry ....
- can withstand a fall: usually. Depending on the make and how thick is the wall, you have good chances to see them surviving a fall, but being scarred ... aluminium tends to scratch easy.
- if they are bent you can do your justice with a rock: depends. In theory you can reshape a box back to the original shape, at least to finish your journey. But for the price you pay ....
- contents are well protected: depends. As long as your box does not alter its shape too much, the contents will not suffer, or at least not all of them.
Hard bags cons:
- heavy: soooo true. This is the numero uno of the cons. They are really heavy. Well ... maybe 3 Kg per box you say is ok ... but 3 + 3 = 6. And the more bullet proof they are, the thicker the walls, heavier the box.
- the shape of the box can't be changed to fit the content: true. I always use socks and undies to fill the gaps and still I fight to adapt to a rectangular box.
- if it breaks on the road you got yourself an issue: true. As long as you are not a superman, you can't weld with your eyes or with a needle.
- shiny pray for the first league aspiring thieves: true. Because so many of the "true ADV" riders can't help to haul a MacBook to process their photos taken with their professional grade DSLR with professional grade lenses ... which will be uploaded with the existing internet connection from the middle of nowhere ... Well because of them every aspiring thieve thinks that in those shiny boxes there is a treasure in worth of some thousand euros just waiting for them to pop the box open. They do not expect dirty socks though.
There is another option of hard bags .... the plastic ones. They share almost the same issues with their relatives of aluminium family. While they are cheaper, and easy to "weld", they fall also in the heavy weight category.
When to use what:
My rule of thumb is that if I can travel light, do not expect to let the bike and the luggage unattended, do not expect falls which will crash my stuff .... I go for the soft bags. I have a soft spot for them.
If I expect shabby areas and shady characters, one or two falls with valuable content in the luggage, or I need to let the bike and the luggage unattended .... I go for hard boxes.
Other than that ... I ripped my soft luggage just because I did not paid attention when passing through a narrow gate. Would have been just a scratch on the aluminium one. And I scratched them (yes textile can still be "scratched") in a tight curve when I touched the corner of a house .... yes very strange parking spot and I was too lazy.
For the aluminium ones ... since my bike is practically a dildo on wheels .... because of the vibrations, the content inside the box started to "eat" the walls. And there is more vibration on the aluminium panniers as in the soft bags, so I always have to account for that and pack accordingly.
Which one is better?!?! Both and none! I use them on a "what do I need in this trip" base. Today I am with the ADV awesomeness, well almost as awesome, and tomorrow I go with the soft bag because it fits my needs of the day.
I hope you can make your own tests and decide when to use which. It is true that for some of us is expensive to have aluminium boxes, for that I work from Monday to Friday ... so is expensive but not luxury price tag. I do not invest in my car so instead of driving a 50.000+ EUR car I drive just a 2000 EUR car so I can afford to buy stuff for my motorcycle trips, and I am lucky to have both types of luggage.
Off the Road, a company who sucks again - OTR pannier rack and OTR pannier mount
Well my "ADV" friends ... I did it again, I ordered from OTR.... This time I had plans to travel to Eastern Europe so I said that I will go aluminium way, even if I am not a friend of aluminium panniers because is so .... how to say it, even at my workplace they come with their BMW and ALU boxes .... although they only carry air inside, but looks cool.
Well, I ordered some boxes from Bernd Tesch, at least he builds them himself, and you can see it on the boxes that are hand made, not perfect, not tip top shiny unscratched .... but the man in his 70s still works so I respect that more than SW-Motech, Touratech or other crappy "ADV Company". The "problem" is that he sells only the boxes, and I could order from him extra the Touratech pannier rack. But I do not trust it, it looks like ok-ish but the box mount looks shabby.
Long I have searched for a good mix of solid frame and pannier mount, and I stopped again at Off The Road (OTR for fans). Built for XT660Z Tenere, looks strong, the pannier mounts are like I would like to have ... let's give them a try.
Facts:
Overpriced a bit, for both
solid built - touched the terra firma and no sign of bending until now at least
kit is containing "all you need" - I get back to this later
almost well thought and designed - again coming later on this topic.
Now the part where I criticize them, and maybe you will have the same feelings when you pay 250 for the rack and 70 for the mounts ...
Rack issues:
- some screws too short - Dear OTR I pay 250 eur and you give me srews which are too short?!?! And not a good quality too ... do you buy from Baumarkt or OBI, or they are in the luxury class for you? Now really ... how do you build a model specific rack and you give screws which do not fit? The nut did not had enough "screw" to turn more than 2x360 degrees (two rotations) .... Is not supposed to be like the screw tip gets at least to the upper lip of the nut?
- low quality screws and nuts - dudes at OTR, please know that even at OBI I found better ones.
Really, except the two long top screws, the ones in the exhaust area, I had to buy my own .... and this for a 250 euro rack mount with all parts included!!! Well ... up yours mate!
Mount issues:
- again short screws and poor quality ... I broke 4 of them and they did not even got through the aluminium ... or maybe Bernd Tesch uses some sort of super aluminium ...
If you ask why to get trough the aluminium ... is because the screws had a square ending which should deform the rounded hole in order to keep the screw in place while you tighten it. Well ... again I had to buy my own screws for a 70 euro mount .... which by the way is the most expensive on the market. Touratech has its mount for 40. So ...... well done OTR ... up yours again mates!
Another well intended feature of the mount was to have a back-plate. Which is quite well thought .... the bad part is that there are no holes in the plate. You can say I have problems ... but for 70 eur I do have luxury problems. OTR had laser-cut their logo on the mount but did not prepared the holes in the back-plate. Dudes .... Is for your rack, you know the size ... get the drill pattern .... I want it for other rack?!?!? No can't do because your mount can't be used on other rack ... so get the fuck those holes done, I really don't give two dimes on your laser-cut logo, no one can see it anyways, maybe if I my wheels had eyes ... Not to mention, you need to have a drill for the right size and a drill machine. Have fun spending money on that if you don't have those around your house.
I said ... ah ok I do it, fuck that, over priced piece of shit scrap metal .... well it has a top mount and a bottom mount, have fun getting that in perfect position....
Yet another feature, as safety ... the steel rod, well thought but it only works for their boxes, and even so, vibrations + steel + aluminium .... you can get what it happens.... = love, = friction, = holes in your 700 Eur aluminium boxes
After first 2000 Km I stooped at the first shop and cut some part of it. After another 2000 Km I had to use a fuel line to "dress" the steel rod so It does not dig into my boxes. After another 1000 Km I will have to put some protection directly on the aluminium box.
Guys .... you really have good ideas ... but you don't care ... you put shitty screws .... the rod is an amazing anti-theft idea, and with a small lock at least the thief has to work for his bread. But .... think it through ... there are people who can't afford new boxes each trip ... and after I pay 320 Eur for your setup I really do not expect to invest another 50!!! (Not to mention if I did not have any tools to drill holes in your virgin back-plate). Get your shit straight! It does not cost you extra to offer at least the right screw size, and for the volume you buy it does not cost you too much extra to get the right quality. Make a buck, but think at the people who trust you! What would happen if the screws pop during a highway section?!?!?! Well, you sure know the Tenere is like a dildo on wheels ... it should have good screws and the right length, otherwise you can kill me.
I imagine people having that mounted as it is ... as I got it ... with just two turns for each screw to keep the weight and withstand the vibrations. Somehow I consider OTR like small criminals, just for the sake of big buck and cool ADV stuff.
Pros:
Until now they held up ... (note that all screws except 4 of them are mine ... so don't trust me)
OTR laser-cut logo (on the inside anyways)
did not rust so quickly - they started to, but the paint is good
BMW and Touratech fanatics can't understand which other company is out there
Well, I ordered some boxes from Bernd Tesch, at least he builds them himself, and you can see it on the boxes that are hand made, not perfect, not tip top shiny unscratched .... but the man in his 70s still works so I respect that more than SW-Motech, Touratech or other crappy "ADV Company". The "problem" is that he sells only the boxes, and I could order from him extra the Touratech pannier rack. But I do not trust it, it looks like ok-ish but the box mount looks shabby.
Long I have searched for a good mix of solid frame and pannier mount, and I stopped again at Off The Road (OTR for fans). Built for XT660Z Tenere, looks strong, the pannier mounts are like I would like to have ... let's give them a try.
Facts:
Overpriced a bit, for both
solid built - touched the terra firma and no sign of bending until now at least
kit is containing "all you need" - I get back to this later
almost well thought and designed - again coming later on this topic.
Now the part where I criticize them, and maybe you will have the same feelings when you pay 250 for the rack and 70 for the mounts ...
Rack issues:
- some screws too short - Dear OTR I pay 250 eur and you give me srews which are too short?!?! And not a good quality too ... do you buy from Baumarkt or OBI, or they are in the luxury class for you? Now really ... how do you build a model specific rack and you give screws which do not fit? The nut did not had enough "screw" to turn more than 2x360 degrees (two rotations) .... Is not supposed to be like the screw tip gets at least to the upper lip of the nut?
- low quality screws and nuts - dudes at OTR, please know that even at OBI I found better ones.
Really, except the two long top screws, the ones in the exhaust area, I had to buy my own .... and this for a 250 euro rack mount with all parts included!!! Well ... up yours mate!
Mount issues:
- again short screws and poor quality ... I broke 4 of them and they did not even got through the aluminium ... or maybe Bernd Tesch uses some sort of super aluminium ...
If you ask why to get trough the aluminium ... is because the screws had a square ending which should deform the rounded hole in order to keep the screw in place while you tighten it. Well ... again I had to buy my own screws for a 70 euro mount .... which by the way is the most expensive on the market. Touratech has its mount for 40. So ...... well done OTR ... up yours again mates!
Another well intended feature of the mount was to have a back-plate. Which is quite well thought .... the bad part is that there are no holes in the plate. You can say I have problems ... but for 70 eur I do have luxury problems. OTR had laser-cut their logo on the mount but did not prepared the holes in the back-plate. Dudes .... Is for your rack, you know the size ... get the drill pattern .... I want it for other rack?!?!? No can't do because your mount can't be used on other rack ... so get the fuck those holes done, I really don't give two dimes on your laser-cut logo, no one can see it anyways, maybe if I my wheels had eyes ... Not to mention, you need to have a drill for the right size and a drill machine. Have fun spending money on that if you don't have those around your house.
I said ... ah ok I do it, fuck that, over priced piece of shit scrap metal .... well it has a top mount and a bottom mount, have fun getting that in perfect position....
Yet another feature, as safety ... the steel rod, well thought but it only works for their boxes, and even so, vibrations + steel + aluminium .... you can get what it happens.... = love, = friction, = holes in your 700 Eur aluminium boxes
After first 2000 Km I stooped at the first shop and cut some part of it. After another 2000 Km I had to use a fuel line to "dress" the steel rod so It does not dig into my boxes. After another 1000 Km I will have to put some protection directly on the aluminium box.
Guys .... you really have good ideas ... but you don't care ... you put shitty screws .... the rod is an amazing anti-theft idea, and with a small lock at least the thief has to work for his bread. But .... think it through ... there are people who can't afford new boxes each trip ... and after I pay 320 Eur for your setup I really do not expect to invest another 50!!! (Not to mention if I did not have any tools to drill holes in your virgin back-plate). Get your shit straight! It does not cost you extra to offer at least the right screw size, and for the volume you buy it does not cost you too much extra to get the right quality. Make a buck, but think at the people who trust you! What would happen if the screws pop during a highway section?!?!?! Well, you sure know the Tenere is like a dildo on wheels ... it should have good screws and the right length, otherwise you can kill me.
I imagine people having that mounted as it is ... as I got it ... with just two turns for each screw to keep the weight and withstand the vibrations. Somehow I consider OTR like small criminals, just for the sake of big buck and cool ADV stuff.
Pros:
Until now they held up ... (note that all screws except 4 of them are mine ... so don't trust me)
OTR laser-cut logo (on the inside anyways)
did not rust so quickly - they started to, but the paint is good
BMW and Touratech fanatics can't understand which other company is out there
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