New Yamaha Super Tenere Worldcrosser

rubberhedgeho... · Borekit Bruiser Joined: 17 May 2011 Karma :

Hey all,

Hope you're having a good run up to christmas.

I've been looking through the MCN today (good saturday tradition, mince pie, cup of tea and the MCN) and read the article about the new version of the Super Tenere with upgraded panels, brake covers etc.

I have one short, but quite important question. Who on EARTH is going to buy one?
It's supposed to retail at a full £2,000 MORE than the 1200GS Adventure. There must be people who don't fancy the big BMW, but that £2k buys you an awful lot of goodwill, especially in this economy.

Anyone here looking at the Yamaha?

G · The Voice of Reason Joined: 02 Feb 2002 Karma :

pinkyfloyd · Super Spammer Joined: 20 Jul 2010 Karma :

Given the choice I would go for the BMW simply because of the Ewan and thingy programs. They took those pair of clampets around the world once and down to South Africa once, thus proving their capability.

Yamaha cannot make the same claim. No doubt they have done the same kind of trip, and no doubt they would be capable of doing so but BMW have no need to prove it as Ewan and thingy done that for them.
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illuminateTHEmind wrote: I am just more evolved than most of you guys... this allows me to pick of things quickly which would have normally taken the common man years to master
Hockeystorm65:.well there are childish arguments...there are very childish arguments.....there are really stupid childish arguments and now there are......Pinkfloyd arguments!
Teflon-Mike:I think I agree with just about all Pinky has said.

G · The Voice of Reason Joined: 02 Feb 2002 Karma :

rac3r · World Chat Champion Joined: 04 Sep 2007 Karma :

G would you recommend anything but a 1000cc IL4 Sportsbike Laughing

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Bikes : 2006 CBR125R - 2004 Monster 620ie - 2004 ZX-6R B1H - 2005 Monster S2R 800 - 2011 Street Triple - 2009 Streetfighter 1098 - 2014 ZX-6R 636

pinkyfloyd · Super Spammer Joined: 20 Jul 2010 Karma :

Rogerborg · nimbA Joined: 26 Oct 2010 Karma :

pinkyfloyd · Super Spammer Joined: 20 Jul 2010 Karma :

I'd do it on my Firestorm but when I reach places where the petrol stations are more than 100 miles apart I'd be screwed. Laughing

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illuminateTHEmind wrote: I am just more evolved than most of you guys... this allows me to pick of things quickly which would have normally taken the common man years to master
Hockeystorm65:.well there are childish arguments...there are very childish arguments.....there are really stupid childish arguments and now there are......Pinkfloyd arguments!
Teflon-Mike:I think I agree with just about all Pinky has said.

Suntan Sid · World Chat Champion Joined: 07 May 2009 Karma :

Yamaha have 9 Paris Dakar wins, (12 if you include quads), BMW have 6! Make of that what you will.
AFAIC the beemers are just the latest "must have" fad and the majority appear to be the, two wheeled, equivalent of the "Chelsea Tractor", ie polished at the weekend and never likely to see any mud or gravel. Rolling Eyes

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"Everybody needs money, that's why they call it money!" Cool

Maruchino · Spanner Monkey Joined: 02 Jul 2009 Karma :

The Yamaha is a serious bit of kit. Purpose built for the task. Very heavy (as are all the big adv bikes), but very capable from what I've been told by owners.

Al · World Chat Champion Joined: 26 Feb 2006 Karma :

Al · World Chat Champion Joined: 26 Feb 2006 Karma :

G · The Voice of Reason Joined: 02 Feb 2002 Karma :

rubberhedgeho... · Borekit Bruiser Joined: 17 May 2011 Karma :

Alright, so for the same money then I assume that people would chose Yamaha for its qualitites of 'not being a BMW' as well as some sort of pedigree.

How can Yamaha charge 2 grand more than BMW though? Are there people that REALLY want this bike?

Surely the customer will want some sort of adventure bike (even if the most off road they do is to mount the curb to par at their local shopping centre on a saturday afternoon), and some decent motorway performance and comfort.

I can't see this bike (Super Tenere etc) being able to beat the German bike in the same way that the new Triumph one will. Funily enough, the British bike is to have a very similar RRP to the BM.......

G · The Voice of Reason Joined: 02 Feb 2002 Karma :

Polarbear · Super Spammer Joined: 24 Feb 2007 Karma :

neatbik · World Chat Champion Joined: 27 Jun 2007 Karma :

Part of (or indeed maybe the whole) reason the Yamaha is priced more than the BMW is to do with the exchange rate between the yen/sterling. Also why R1/R6/CBR/anything made by the Japnips has gone up in price.

On the subject of Ewan and thingymobob, a hell of a lot more stuff went wrong with their bikes than was shown on the tv programme and written in the book.

Rogerborg · nimbA Joined: 26 Oct 2010 Karma :

neatbik · World Chat Champion Joined: 27 Jun 2007 Karma :

The G650 is cheap as its basically a refreshed F650, so development costs are pretty much non-existent. Plenty of people slate them, but i've had mine for a while now and, after a few choice mods, its great.

I read quite a bit on the Horizons Unlimited forum and ADV Rider about The Long Way Round/Down. There are a few people on there that really know what happened. It was a while ago now but i'm sure a search on there will reveal some interesting stuff.

I also had an interesting conversation with Austin Vince (of Mondo Enduro) about his discussions with Ewan and Charlie before they set off, mostly about the Zhilov Gap - Austin told them it was do able, they obviously thought they werent hardcore enough as they caught the train......

Its worth noting Austin and his crew, with no back up support, successfully crossed it more than 10 years before. They found it so easy and uninteresting they didn't bother including it in the book or film. Quite why it was made such a big deal of was a bit of a mystery to Austin.