Tenere steering dangerous issue
 

Hi guys i recently owned a Tenere but now i find that when i go in straight at low speeds (10-20MPH) i can turn softly for 15 degrees, more than that i feel an opposite force in the front wheel and i must overtake that "limit" to effectively turn in any direction. The bike there does not turn softly, there is an extra force i should apply to go past 15 degrees and there i can not predict so easy the bike move. Passing the 15 degrees (aprox) it feels like a "jump" in the turning swing. I feel this is risky and even more pronounced if a pillion is with me.

Tyres are ok, the bike is in very good shape. I lowered the bike in the forks an inch just to get to step the floor but i believe this should not lead to this strange and sudden behavior.

Is this normal in a Tenere?

Best


Killabyte

Tenere steering dangerous issue
 

Hiya, sounds like the steering head bearing is on the way out. I had similar on my Tenere at about 10k miles, it was still under warranty so Yamaha replaced the head bearings. They had been assembled dry, (without grease), at manufacture hence the premature wear. I believe this has been a problem on several bikes.

Cheers.

maybe your tyres do this.are they in good condition?

i had the same problem when i bought my second hand MT03!bike had only 7000km's and when i first tried to turn the bike just wouldn't fall.. i almost crash from the first km's i made!check the bearings as others said!If the previous owner drove the bike very easy and a lot of highway the tires got that shape and made step!thats why you can't lean!push it hard to lean and then check the tyres wear ,if the mark is like slalom then its 100% that this is the issue!
p.s sorry for my bad En i hope you understand me! :eusa_silenced:

The bike is 10500Km, tyres are in midlife, surely i will go to check the steering bearings. But what you say -Orestis- could be true because i have been running for about 2500 km in straight highway with little or no lean.

Im induced to blame that kind of tyre wear because i can not feel any sound or roughness in the head steering when the bike is stopped.

Do your Teneres, apart from being heavy to turn behave in any similar way when turning? i mean apart from the increased force needed to make a full turn, is it a smooth turn?

another vote for dry steering head bearing

if the feeling is like the bike won't let you lean then its the tyres!did you leave the bike outside to rain etc? find something slippery or get it wet and put it under the front wheel ,then sit on the bike and turn right to left ,if the bearings are damaged you should feel the bar getting stiffer to turn!

Could well be tyres then? My Ten 's steering does exactly as you describe with a squared off rear - initial lean is OK, then fights back (as you climb over the tyre's square edge) and eventually falls over into the turn!

guys you need to change the tires or find a good quality tarmac and start trying catching (imaginary) Valentino Rossi...after a couple km's tires will wear & bike will lean smoother! good luck :box:

Pleyades do you feel that when leaning or when turning the handlebar, for me is far more notorious (and freightening at low speeds)

Could be steering bearings or tyres, as others have noted. I'd guess bearings. What do we win if we're right?

If it's "frightening" then I'd go with the steering head bearings first. Odd tyre behaviour is strange, but not usually frightening (at low speeds). You can adapt to it, learn and adjust to compensate. If it's scary at low speed it is much more likely to be bearings and not just in the steering, swingarm/suspension linkage play can have a serious negative effect on the steering behaviour too (as can fooked wheel bearings for that matter).

Fat chance! You've obviously never been to Norfolk then? ;)

stearing head bearings need lubing andcleaning every 9000 miles or so otherwise they stearing goes iffy just like you are discribing

not even close... :D c'mon we have good quality in Greece im sure you have better!

the tires cause problem only when you lean and more at high speeds!
if you have problem on low speeds then its 90% the bearings!!!
if they are not damaged yet you can clean & lube them!be careful when you put them back,don't over tighten the screw that holds the fork because you may have the same problem!!

i really think my En are bad!you improvise to understand what im talking about! LoL

Bike will be at workshop on saturday so we will know the cause on monday, tyres are not strangely rounded, they are ok, but steering feels normal when i swinged the handlebars right to left on slippery surface. I will tell you the guys.

Thanks for all those inputs

Turning the wheel on a slippery surface isn't really good enough to detect wear and/or corrosion in the steering head. The 'official' way is to get the wheel off the ground and remove all control cables & hydraulics which might interfere with free movement of the bars. The steering should then hold the straight ahead position, but flop slowly and evenly to either side with a gentle nudge of the bars. OK, no-one I know goes that far, but I would say getting the wheel off the ground is the minimum. The adjustment is very sensitive, and a problem big enough to cause handling issues could still be masked by the front tyre creating friction with the ground.

The issue is the bottom one of the head bearings.

As you slow for a corner/turn, the weight goes on to the front of the bike and if the bearing is dry it resist turning.

The natural response to this is to turn more, but counter steering effect work against you.

It feels very odd.

It is fairly straight forward to see how to dismantle and replace. May be tricky getting the bearing off and putting the new one on though.

I had this problem with my Sprint. The bearings were dry and rusted (usual problem, not greased enough at the factory) and the handling was horrible. It would tip into a corner and then go stiff, leading to bossing the bars around, over-correction, and 50-pencing all the corners. All fine control is lost, and in my case it led to my first drop in about 30 years, luckily at very low speed. It wasn't hard to fit new bearings, although getting the bottom race off the lower yoke was a bit of a challenge, and I ended up cutting it with a Dremel.

Personally, I found it affected handling far worse than worn or squared-off tyres. To be honest, it was actually dangerous, and I shouldn't have been riding it.

Has the bike suspension been lowered:ne1:.?

diagnose
 

Hi guys, the mechanic said the bottom bearing got disassembled when he was dismounting the steering and both bearings were completely dry.

I dont really know if the bottom bearing can be normally assembled by pieces or if that means a damaged one. Prior that he took the bike for a ride and said it was dangerous to ride it that way. Im about to buy both head bearings and checked it price in the internet around 45 and 60 USD but the distributor told about 200 USD apart from the labor. I just can believe this high price.

Can anyone please post specs and brands to get the replacement parts at a decent price?

I have a set up in the loft that I've not fitted yet. So unless someone else comes along before then I can have a look and let you know tomorrow (bit late tonight to go rumage around up there).

By the way, $200 for the bearings is a bit expensive! There is a dust seal at the bottom that will most likely need changing too if the bearing has broken up. These headrace bearing need regular greasing. I pack lots of extra grease into the head tube so it can work its way down to keep the bottom one lubed.

I got this but i would like someone to confirm

Brand: KOYO
32005J (upper)
32006JR (lower)

In fact the lady said that the 32005J is indeed 32005JR because of the rubber (R) band

I got a quote same ref but TIMKEN brand, 40 USD each one.

Looks like the R is the one with the built-in seal. I put Toyo bearings on my Sprint and I was happy with them. Heaps better than the dry, rusty originals, that's for sure.

:thumbsup:

http://www.off-the-road.de/en/XT-660...660-R-X-Z.html

a compleet set �52,90 ... and OTR sells quality stuff only.

Hi guys, today i went to pick up the bike after replacing steeering head bearings, the bike seems to be very good. I must say that i toldem to regrease completely the bike so they disassembled wheels, steering, and suspension finding completely dry wheels but now the bike feels different and im very pleased with the job.

Replacing the bearings cost a little less than $120 including the labor so i believe it is cheap. Regreasing the whole machine was another $70

But im not running the bike today, i had to leave it there because when i was ready to go i remembered another issue with the neutral green signal, it sometimes blinks without a cause, at first i thought it was a bad contact in the neutral switch down there next to the footpeg but one day the complete light system went off once, it was at night and i had to stop and turn the key off and on again. It never appened again but it can be related to a more severe issue including that neutral light blinking

I lost the track of a thread in which they were telling about the 3 main issues with tenere's:

Steering head bearings
Cush drive
and i forgot the third related to electrical but i can not remember..

Could it have been the Reg/Rectifier fault!

Steering issue solved
 

Hi guys, yesterday i went to pick up the bike. Must say that prior to the workshop i never felt some kind of rubbing or any weird noise coming from the steering even parked at silent night in the garage, there were not hints of a troubled steering apart from when running.

Now after bearings replacement and generous greasing, i can say the bike is a completely different bike, behaves light as feather and feels very good.

I have found the steering issue in many threads and i have been told by mechanics that they have worked on many teneres suffering from dry bearings not only in the steering but inside the weels and swing arm too. It seems like Yamaha is very mean with grease, in fact they said many bikes have come completely dry with no lub there.

I recommend to you tenere people to have a look at your steering and put grease there.

In the other hand i could not find the electrical issue, i will deeply check it on weekend.

Best and thanks for all those nice inputs. Xt660. com is a must for all of us and i believe i can no travel without keeping connected to this forum.

Why not check the white plug under the seat? Mine looked connected but in reality was only just making contact. The neutral light would flash intermittently. One day the plug separated completely, which brought things to a halt. Just push the two halves together. Can't hurt to look...