Back on a bike after 5yrs - Tenere 700
Discussion
I’ve always had 2 bikes in the garage (well since is passed my DaS at 21, 15 yrs ago) 1 road bike and 1 Enduro bike. My last set up was a Tiger XC & KTM 250 EXC. Then kids came along, the wife wanted a camper van so I sold them both as wasn’t using them.
Fast forward to 3 weeks ago, the scene is that I’m bathing my baby daughter….. whilst browsing eBay for a Tenere 700. In the time my girl was in the bath I’d found, negotiated and insured a T7 that was being sold privately 30 mins away. Cue me getting her to bed, routing through a wardrobe for my old gear, putting it on and sneaking downstairs only to hear my wife shout through the house “ why is your dad driving down our drive” - busted. 90 mins later I’m back home with a motorbike in the garage! Importantly I’m smiling, I fell back in love with being on 2 wheels on the short ride home.
Much internet shopping later and I’ve got it how I want it (thicker bash plate, crash bars, headlight protector etc etc)
I’ve wanted to build my experience up after 5 years off so made sure I’ve been out on it in as many different conditions as poss whilst taking it easy. Even if it meant I had to get up at 5am to go out (kids, busy job) to get the miles in
Alongside riding some local lanes
Started to get a feel for the bike (wow… a 210kg bike feels very different off road to my old little KTM !) so decided to ride some of my old favourite green lanes earlier today….
Had a great couple of hours getting some confidence off road, I can’t describe how impressed I am with it overall. It rides great on the road (loads of low down torque but doesn’t get breathless higher up the revs) and is proving itself to being very capable off-road.
I’ve bought some Kriega soft luggage for it, so once I’ve put a few more hundred more miles on it I’ll be plotting a route to do a spot of trail riding / wild camping. If anyone local (Yorkshire) has any good 2 day ish routes for a mid weight adv bike then please share, a lot of my local knowledge is more suited to enduro bikes… thanks for reading. If anyone is interested in how I’m getting on with it and what I’m changing on it I will.
Fast forward to 3 weeks ago, the scene is that I’m bathing my baby daughter….. whilst browsing eBay for a Tenere 700. In the time my girl was in the bath I’d found, negotiated and insured a T7 that was being sold privately 30 mins away. Cue me getting her to bed, routing through a wardrobe for my old gear, putting it on and sneaking downstairs only to hear my wife shout through the house “ why is your dad driving down our drive” - busted. 90 mins later I’m back home with a motorbike in the garage! Importantly I’m smiling, I fell back in love with being on 2 wheels on the short ride home.
Much internet shopping later and I’ve got it how I want it (thicker bash plate, crash bars, headlight protector etc etc)
I’ve wanted to build my experience up after 5 years off so made sure I’ve been out on it in as many different conditions as poss whilst taking it easy. Even if it meant I had to get up at 5am to go out (kids, busy job) to get the miles in
Alongside riding some local lanes
Started to get a feel for the bike (wow… a 210kg bike feels very different off road to my old little KTM !) so decided to ride some of my old favourite green lanes earlier today….
Had a great couple of hours getting some confidence off road, I can’t describe how impressed I am with it overall. It rides great on the road (loads of low down torque but doesn’t get breathless higher up the revs) and is proving itself to being very capable off-road.
I’ve bought some Kriega soft luggage for it, so once I’ve put a few more hundred more miles on it I’ll be plotting a route to do a spot of trail riding / wild camping. If anyone local (Yorkshire) has any good 2 day ish routes for a mid weight adv bike then please share, a lot of my local knowledge is more suited to enduro bikes… thanks for reading. If anyone is interested in how I’m getting on with it and what I’m changing on it I will.
Thanks guys.
My big plan is to feel completely at home off road on it so that next year I can do a couple of the adventure bike rally events (there is one this weekend in Kielder - 500km over 2 days) I’m sure I’d be able to do now but prob don’t have the bike fitness yet to make it enjoyable. Just bouncing around on the bike and getting it unstuck yesterday reminded me how physical it can be to take a bike off road if you are not skilful 😂
Just been out on the mountain bike for a local blast and it felt like I was riding a toy in comparison
I’ve set up a insta account for my journey with this bike. I didn’t want to subject my family and mates to loads of bike content! It’s
@Adv_Tenere
If anyone is interested
My big plan is to feel completely at home off road on it so that next year I can do a couple of the adventure bike rally events (there is one this weekend in Kielder - 500km over 2 days) I’m sure I’d be able to do now but prob don’t have the bike fitness yet to make it enjoyable. Just bouncing around on the bike and getting it unstuck yesterday reminded me how physical it can be to take a bike off road if you are not skilful 😂
Just been out on the mountain bike for a local blast and it felt like I was riding a toy in comparison
I’ve set up a insta account for my journey with this bike. I didn’t want to subject my family and mates to loads of bike content! It’s
@Adv_Tenere
If anyone is interested
Congrats on the purchase. I really like the T7 in that white/ red combo. I had a deposit down on one actually but changed my mind for various reasons. I now have a CRF300 rally and a Crossrunner as one is off-road focussed, the other purely road.
I’ll be interested to hear how you get on with a bike that theoretically can do it all (apart from be a sports bike)
I’ll be interested to hear how you get on with a bike that theoretically can do it all (apart from be a sports bike)
talksthetorque said:
Welcome back!
Take your time getting back used to it, keep a sense of humour about little mishaps, and just get out and enjoy it!
Yes. Exactly.Take your time getting back used to it, keep a sense of humour about little mishaps, and just get out and enjoy it!
It would be easy to be cocky with a modern bike, excellent geometry, ABS and sticky rubber all in the riders favour. But it’s the quick reaction time, driver awareness etc that lack after a few years off. So I’m defo taking my time. Done about 250 miles on it since I bought it a few weeks ago so time on bike is building. I also plan to keep riding it through winter, I remember being on a euro bike trip where between France and Germany we had all the seasons, one of our group was purely a summer rider and was 50 pence piecing on the wet corners !
MrGman said:
I’ve had mine for a few weeks now, coming from sports/sport nakeds is a very different bike for me but I’m loving it. Also got the Kriega soft luggage in hope of doing some longer trips away next year.
Looks ace. How do you you find it compared to past bikes. I’ve had a R6, CBR RR, supermotards, enduro bikes etc and can safely say im enjoying this the most so far. It’s got the grunt to be fun on the road, great visibility, easy to manoeuvre and capable enough for me off road too…. Maybe my unicorn bike !I’ve also got myself Kriega’d up. 2x OS-12 1 x OS-6 and a Trail 9 bag. I plan on doing a wild camp alone some point before the weather gets too bad. Like the idea of being self sufficient and able to get far enough away from society fairly quickly. I’ll do the same with mates but want to prove to myself can get in and out of trouble alone. I’m pretty experienced on the mountain bike front and there is nothing worse than riding with someone who can’t do a trail side fix / doesn't bring spares to be self sufficient. So I don’t want to be accused of being like that on the motorbike.
GM182 said:
Congrats on the purchase. I really like the T7 in that white/ red combo. I had a deposit down on one actually but changed my mind for various reasons. I now have a CRF300 rally and a Crossrunner as one is off-road focussed, the other purely road.
I’ll be interested to hear how you get on with a bike that theoretically can do it all (apart from be a sports bike)
As I progress with it and learn it’s good and bad points I’ll keep this thread updated. My 4 year old girl is obsessed with bikes (she loves her mountain bike) so begged me for a go… when the wife wasn’t looking we had a very slow spin around the garden. So not only can it do all the things we know a Tenere do (and can’t - not replace a sports bike!) it can be a garden transport tool.I’ll be interested to hear how you get on with a bike that theoretically can do it all (apart from be a sports bike)
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|https://thumbsnap.com/y7AGxi2x[/url]
oxnop said:
Looks ace. How do you you find it compared to past bikes.
I’d had my mt10 for a while but fancied something a bit different, I bought a XT660z one weekend, proper impulse buy, I’d hadn’t test ridden one and knew little about them, 10 minutes after picking it up I was wondering what the hell id done!! I rode it a few more times, wobbled down some green lanes and after a while it was my go to bike. I’ve actually still got it but it’s just a little too underpowered in my opinion for longer trips so I bought the T7. Initially I thought the T7 was lacking in character as it’s so smooth compared to the big single 660, but I’ve grown to love it, off road I can’t really comment as I’m totally new to it, what’s surprised me the most though is how capable it is on the road, 72hp has never been so much fun!!
What I like most about it is how versatile it is, last Sunday I was up early, went out and had some fun in the twistie stuff, slowed down the pace and sat back admiring the scenery when the roads got busy, then when I got back to my local area I done a few green lanes, all in a mornings ride! Oh and it does twice the mpg as my mt10 which is nice!
Currently looking at doing some of the TET on my way down to Almeria in March.
Had another great ride on the bike at the weekend. A baby and a 4 year old don’t allow me the opportunity for long rides yet, so I try and get as much as I can in as possible in a few hours.
I hadn’t done much descending on the bike so took it to a spot where a downhill gravel road (for about a mile) turns rocky and slippy. Didn’t get pics of the descent, but the bike felt great. I’d dropped a few PSI out of the tyres (they are more road bias, I’d say 90%) but didn’t slip out. Got down no probs.
I then thought whilst it was quiet on the tracks I’d spin it round and hit it as a climb, but quicker than I’d done before……
I wouldn’t say it was a crash ?? more of a spin and drop. I found the limits of the Pirelli Scorpion Rear tyre, got stuck in a greasy rut, tried to bounce it out whilst giving it some throttle. Literally bounced over me!
The position the bike was stuck in, on its side, facing downhill (in the pic I’d already dragged it a bit) wasn’t conducive to picking up. So after 5 mins of dragging about and trying to lift, a friendly MTB’er came along and helped me get it up and to a position I could get back on. He was a lovely bloke, ex trials rider, couldn’t believe how much the bike weighed and also that I was going off road on it (I explained how bikes had progressed and skill full riders now ride bikes like this like 100kg enduro bikes). We said our goodbyes, I was then back on my way…. Enjoying the descent again.
Considering the bike took a tumble, once cleaned up I could see there was no real damage other than the the bits I’d installed to protect it.
So a little scuffing on crash bars, barkbusters plus the m6 nylon screw is installed to sheet in such an accident had done its job and sheered, thus protecting the lower fork leg fender bolt hole.
All in all a great few hours with some more learning taking place.
I hadn’t done much descending on the bike so took it to a spot where a downhill gravel road (for about a mile) turns rocky and slippy. Didn’t get pics of the descent, but the bike felt great. I’d dropped a few PSI out of the tyres (they are more road bias, I’d say 90%) but didn’t slip out. Got down no probs.
I then thought whilst it was quiet on the tracks I’d spin it round and hit it as a climb, but quicker than I’d done before……
I wouldn’t say it was a crash ?? more of a spin and drop. I found the limits of the Pirelli Scorpion Rear tyre, got stuck in a greasy rut, tried to bounce it out whilst giving it some throttle. Literally bounced over me!
The position the bike was stuck in, on its side, facing downhill (in the pic I’d already dragged it a bit) wasn’t conducive to picking up. So after 5 mins of dragging about and trying to lift, a friendly MTB’er came along and helped me get it up and to a position I could get back on. He was a lovely bloke, ex trials rider, couldn’t believe how much the bike weighed and also that I was going off road on it (I explained how bikes had progressed and skill full riders now ride bikes like this like 100kg enduro bikes). We said our goodbyes, I was then back on my way…. Enjoying the descent again.
Considering the bike took a tumble, once cleaned up I could see there was no real damage other than the the bits I’d installed to protect it.
So a little scuffing on crash bars, barkbusters plus the m6 nylon screw is installed to sheet in such an accident had done its job and sheered, thus protecting the lower fork leg fender bolt hole.
All in all a great few hours with some more learning taking place.
Edited by oxnop on Monday 18th October 09:43
Nice!
Have a look at Bret Tkacs latest video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4NFXz8Y73c
I wished I had watched something similar before dropping my Tiger in the same way. Seems so much harder to pick up on a sandy incline. And they seem to lie very close to the ground, so you can't get any leverage at all.
Have a look at Bret Tkacs latest video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4NFXz8Y73c
I wished I had watched something similar before dropping my Tiger in the same way. Seems so much harder to pick up on a sandy incline. And they seem to lie very close to the ground, so you can't get any leverage at all.
LosingGrip said:
Where do you find places to go? Is there a website with bridleways that you are allowed to use?
This is one I know of and have used https://www.bywaymap.com/
LosingGrip said:
Where do you find places to go? Is there a website with bridleways that you are allowed to use?
For me. I used to be in TRF many years ago so picked up a few local lanes via them. Plus using Google to look at byways, but obvs being careful not to look at docs out of date as there have been a number of them temp downgraded. These tend to be most contentious lanes so if you get wrong get most backlash from other users of trail. So I was given a 24hr pass from the family on Sat.
I’d been miserable (according to the wife) for the last few weeks due to a couple of work projects coming to delivery phase, which means long hours and not a lot of free time for hobbies. So she said that I ‘should bugger off up some hills”
So my plan was to do a few hundred miles on the bike across mixed road types, test out my luggage / camping configuration and get a trail/fell run in.
So I took a long route up into the Lake District (basically I went north east, up to Barnard Castle, Stanhope then some lovely B roads over to Penrith then into the lakes). Finally setting up ‘camp’ at the Great Langdale national trust site.
I’ll let the pics do the talking
I’d been miserable (according to the wife) for the last few weeks due to a couple of work projects coming to delivery phase, which means long hours and not a lot of free time for hobbies. So she said that I ‘should bugger off up some hills”
So my plan was to do a few hundred miles on the bike across mixed road types, test out my luggage / camping configuration and get a trail/fell run in.
So I took a long route up into the Lake District (basically I went north east, up to Barnard Castle, Stanhope then some lovely B roads over to Penrith then into the lakes). Finally setting up ‘camp’ at the Great Langdale national trust site.
I’ll let the pics do the talking
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