What inspired you to choose the Tenere / Adventure style..?
 

I remember the very moment I was inspired to go for what is now called 'Adventure ' style of bike . I was coming back from France on the ferry on a ZX10 and I was parked up amongst a whole group of bikes from Europe. They just looked so different ...like they should be on the Dakar rally. They were a mixture of early Tenere 's, Dominator and others. ...all clearly used off road and all with luggage piled high, and the riders were wearing 'colourful ' off road style clothing. Everything about it looked like a ton of fun ....and the high and wide riding position looked a million times more enjoyable than the head down /arse up style of the sports bikes. I was completely hooked , sold the Kawasaki and bought an XT600 Tenere. I've grown to love the 'grunt' of a big single and the whole 'Adventure ' vibe. All the fun without the crazy speed!!. , and endless ways to work on...modify.....on road /off road. I love all types of bike, but the Tenere ticks all the boxes for me. Steve

I remember seeing the tenere at a bike show back in 08/09 and thinking it looked like fun but being young and stupid I opted for the quicker bikes. Problem is I'm not a quick, leave my brain at home rider and found myself coming back and not having enjoyed the run, and a little sore. So two months ago I got the go ahead and went hunting something more multifunctional. Most of my time out on the bike is to get over to Northern Ireland and I'd love to have the option to get off road so tenere wins and totally enjoying it

As you say the Tenere is as good an all rounder as it gets. It is just so well suited to my style of riding & the local road conditions of on/off road. Cruising at our pedestrian speed of 100kph (roughly 60mph) is absolute bliss & in its element. But it just looks bl00dy awesome too!

Agreed rolling along the main roads at the speed limits isn't a bother though I've yet to try loaded or two up for a run, though the added top box and back pad will keep her happy 😊

Oh yes! I started my motorcycle life with an XT500(around 1978....) and upgraded from there to an XT550, XT600, XT600Z Tenere(3AJ), XTZ660 Tenere(5-valve), XT600E to this XT660Z Tenere('08), with some Harleys in between.....
I Always liked the looks and style of the XT's, besides they're very rideable in every situation, is it for long hauls, but even better on backroads, offroad, mountain climbin' and city cruisin', they can do it all! With my current XT I've done 108.000km's+ without any problems(only camchain&tensioner are replaced recently, besides the OEM breather under warranty in '09), only regular maintenance and TLC: they're very reliable and strong bikes! And probably most important: lotsa fun to ride! And true, it is also a very good travel companion. I think it is a pity they'll stop making them, therefore I'll cherish mine for more km's to come!

I got into 'adventure' style bikes by accident really. I bought a 1996 3YF T�n�r� in 1998 as a winter hack/commuter to save the wear and tear on the 60�s Brit bikes I was relying on. It was too nice though really, so I replaced it in 2000 with a tatty but sweet-running 1990 Honda NX650 Dominator and the �big trailie� (as they were known then) bug had bitten. I liked the simplicity and ease of maintenance, high riding position and view, along with the added bonus of being able to nip down an inviting track/trail should I come across one.

It all nearly went wrong for me and �big trailies� in 2003 when I foolishly bought an 1150GSA making the school-boy/Clarksonian error of assuming more power means more fun. I was wrong. It means more complexity, more breakdowns, more weight and more expense. I still had the 40K mile ratty Dominator and bizarrely found myself choosing to throw my leg over that (or my BSA) in preference to the Bavarian beast. Luckily the Ewan McCharley thing kicked off in 2004 and �big trailies� were now impressively dubbed �adventure bikes� and everyone wanted one, so I was able to sell it easily (when I�d paid back what I�d borrowed to buy it) for an astonishingly good price in January 2008. As it happens, by sheer coincidence on the bus home from dropping the BMW off with its new master I read in MCN (I don�t usually read it) the first article about the �coming soon� XT660Z and thought that�ll be the ticket: one bike that will do all of what the Dominator and GSA can do.

Unfortunately, when it came to getting hold of a new T�n�r� in May, I wasn�t quick enough off the mark (as usual) and missed the party. The only ones I could get hold of were baby-sick beige and even then I would have to wait till July, so the Dominator soldiered on till September when my local dealer managed to track down two black ones (I actually wanted white) and I handed over the cash, which wasn�t a lot back then as the economy had just bombed out, �4200 was enough to tease one away from the sales guy.

Here we are, eight years later and I still own it � the longest I have ever kept a �new� bike. I like adventure style bikes, but only the simple single cylinder ones, of which the XT660Z was the last surviving �off-the-shelf� example� so I�ll be keeping it for a good while yet.

The Dominator was/is a great bike. And that was a great price for your Tenere Pleiades! . glad it's a keeper. ..mine too!. The only other 'big' trailie I can think of with such rugged simplicity is the Honda XR 650L....pretty much the same engine as the Dominator, but not easy to get in the UK. Steve

Mines all a bit more straight forward, i just remember seeing big trailies in the south of France on family holidays, with that said I was quite young at the time . Got interested in motocross a few years later, and here I am now!..But I love what I call the 'true' Dakar bikes , the big ones with little or no technology yet they still rode them pretty much pinned everywhere!.. http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/l...psxxrvcp7t.jpg like these lovelies!.

After a career at sea, I realised that I had seen ports in most countries around the world and circumnavigated Australia more times than I could remember. Around retirement time, inland Australia was calling me...All I needed was a bike that would/could take me there

Prior to going to sea in my early twenties I had owned a long list of enduro style bikes, but these were all sold off (Apart from my Bultaco Alpina) as I was never home long enough to ride them...besides all my riding buddies were also at sea.

Bikes had changed a lot over time, and any riding skills I had in my younger days well and truely gone. The Tenere appealed to me, but it didn't take me long to realise that it was more style than substance, particularly when matching it riding with guys on KTM's etc.

Plenty of mods later, I have a bike that can do most things well, but nothing in particular, really well !!..(Probably more to do with the rider than anything else).

In the three years I have owned the Tenere "WE" have done over 40,000K's together...(No commuting K's and limited transport K's)...I love riding dirt, mud and sand...fortunately so does the Tenere.

My only concern as I age, is its weight....Some of the places I ride, it is inevitable that we are both going to have an up close and personal with terra firma. Fully loaded, I now really struggle to get the bike vertical again.....But for now, we are having a having a lot of fun exploring.

As a teenager, I used to blast around on a Honda VT250, and increasingly found myself exploring roads/trails beyond the capability of a 16inch front wheel.

A dealer suggested he knew someone with a bike more suited to what I was doing and being a Paris Dakar follower, I soon had a R80G/S adventure bike. Now with 5 x R80GS and R100GS bikes under the belt, (I am still blasting around on a R100GSPD) I thought I might try something a bit lighter, so hence the XT660Z build project... still.

Me too. It was 1986, I needed wheels and the MTX125R was there in the shop.. a love affair was born.

Shifting forward a bit to May 2008, I needed some brake pads for my TTR600RE, saw the British Racing Gold Tenere sitting there in the showroom. Today the same bike is carrying me around.

...for those with rose-tinted spectacles! ;)

My 660 story
 

Funny how your taste in bike changes throughout your life, I'm up to about # 30 now at 57.
My last bike was (should say tractor) FLHTUC before a bikeless garage for 6yrs, I was at a bit of a loose end.
Then in 2012 I went to assist my 26yr old son & a couple of his mates compete in the Finke Desert Race. What a blast during the whole event. Within a month I had a WR450F in the shed. Bl@@dy hell, was I out of riding shape & skills.
Anyway after improving my fitness levels & riding skills, the limits of single tracks & the drudgery of the load /unload cycle for a ride wore off.
Early 2014, I was getting keen again, watching the "Longway Down" & Dakar on the tube, the idea of combining the two styles of bike, aimed me towards the adventure bike market.
An aquaintence had a 20 yr old DR650 for sale for $2500 with a heap of goodies, so the deal was done. Fun but just a 2 wheel version of a diesel hilux, pretty bullet proof though the excitement & look factor, was fairly well down the scale.
By mid 2014, I was working away, 11 days on, 3 off Riding the DR back & forth 240ks each way. Near home, I'd pass this XTZ660 sitting out the front of the local dealer. It'd been there for months, so I had a look one evening. 9200ks on the clock, appeared real good, so I took it for a test ride & liked it straight away. The killer was, it had my name on it, RUS-80. (rego plate)
Two years gone by now, been away on a plenty of rides, even use it as a commuter to work. If I have time, I go the long way via the scrub.
Overall, it does everything well without the hefty price tag of the Euro stuff. I'll keep mine for the rest of my riding days.

Embarassingly, the first time I saw a Tenere (a blue one just like mine) in the dealer I walked straight past it without giving it a second glance. I was disappointed that they had no WRs or YZs. I was lucky enough to grow up in Cape Town and we had fantastic off-road areas to ride (then). I still think a light two stroke for jumping lilly-white dunes next to the sea in winter is the ultimate high. But you then start thinking about how you use your bike (and where), and this is a big influence in your choice. My Tenere has surprised me on so many occasions and its versatility and reliability is its strong point. This combined with wanting to travel makes the Tenere and easy choice.

Not quite sure my Tenere is cut out for the same. These were happy days.
http://i1311.photobucket.com/albums/...psmlkny6za.jpg
Dunes at Overberg, Southern Cape.

Wow Jacques - impressive. Is that really you getting airborne on an IT250!

Yes, thats me (about 1983). This was my second IT250. Sadly very few photos from back then, too busy riding (as it should be). We had a strip of 5 miles of beach and dunes and usually not seeing another person all day. It was such great fun trying to catch each other in the dunes. Lovely just after rain when the sand has lots of traction and you don't dig in as much.

That is a brilliant photo Jacque. . and explains why you whizzed up Chalkpit lane in no time at all! . Steve

Steve , we should arrange a ride over jacques way.. meet up for a coffee and bike talk!..

For sure. Hampshire rules

I'm up for that....I owe Jacque a visit ...he always makes the effort to head this way! Steve

Im in my mid 30's but ive only been riding since 2013.

At 6'3" i stupidly went for an MT-07 (i made it look like a 125). So within 12 months went to a MT-09 because it just made sense to go for the bigger bike......wrong again. After six months i traded it in for a Suzuki GSX-S1000 which was a lot nicer to ride but i still had problems with my knees (my right knee was smashed up on a MotoX bike when i was 16)

Anyway i decided to ride across France on my GSXS and thought nothing of it when i set off from Calais to Brittany.

Anyway after 500 miles i could barely walk and ended up lying down in pretty much any car park i could find. It was literally in the below pic i decided to get an adventure bike i could sit with my knees extended.

I was originally going to get a new V-Strom XT this year but picked up a tenere on Christmas eve 2016 and love it to bits.

http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/x...c.jpg~original

Always wanted a Tenere since I first saw the new style...then I married a bird whose uncle owned a Yamaha dealer and the rest is history.

The bird has flown but the bike remains.....

At least you can get both feet on the ground on the Tenere! It's good for taller riders.....

I've always liked the more off road adventure bikes as I was brought up on motocross, that and I'm quiet tall so don't fit on many smaller bikes.

I had an xtr and loved it's all roundness, ease of being modified and fixed and also the big single character.

When I seen the tenere come out I new at some stage I'd own it. With a short stint on a triumph tiger 1050 I sold it and downsides to a tenere and have loved
It ever since

I never knew I had a fetish for ugly grasshoppers until I saw the Tenere winking at me from the dim red light of the Yamaha dealership one night, as I stumbled home drunk.

My searches for "Hot locust action" and "Swarm filth" turned up no results, so I knew I must turn to motorbikes to fulfill my ultimate fantasy.

As soon as I captured the beast, and climbed on its back, I was hooked. The purring noise it made as I gently caressed its appendages, the oily mess it left all over my hands the first time I undressed it in my garage.

It is only here at xt660.com that my perversion has been made to feel normal, and I thank you all for that.

I had only ever owned Honda trail/enduro bikes as I used to green lane a lot and preferred that way of being sat on a bike. Never had a thing for sports bikes.
After being bikeless for 5 years I was thinking about buying a bike again when I saw a black Tenere parked a street away from where I live and I fell in love with the styling.

I ended up buying one 2 weeks later and have been riding it for over 2 years now. Every time I get on the bike it brings a smile to my face and still love it as much as I did on day one.
Almost had my head turned by a Tiger XCX and Honda CB500X RRP a couple of times though.