Great job....it's been really interesting following the re-build. Be good to see it back on the road! Steve

Starting
 

What a brill rebuild, great photos, mine has the same starting issues if left a while, any thoughts on possible cure, it's defo fuel related as I've a good spark. Cheers steve

My new brake and clutch levers arrived today. Very good quality and cheap as chips at �38 for the pair. They are folding, extendable levers. You can get them on eBay here.

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Fitting the clutch side is dead easy. Just loosen off the clutch adjustment nuts down by the clutch housing to get some free play at the lever, loosen the bolts clamping the lever to the handlebar to get some space to work, then undo the 10mm nut and bolt.

The old lever is easily released from the cable, and the new one put on and fitted. A quick fettling of the adjustment nuts again and it's sorted. 10 minutes tops. Much smoother now.

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The brake side was a bit of a different kettle of fish. I'd forgotten that the master cylinder had been updated from the Tenere stock one to a (probably) YZ250 to match the single disk setup on the upsidedown forks. So my shiny new lever doesn't fit. This is sad as they are lovely. I have asked them if they do one to match the master cylinder as nothing is showing on their web site.

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MoT day is on Thursday!!! How exciting and scary. Who knows what it will turn up. At least I get to ride the bike to the MoT centre, which will be my first ride on it.

Best of luck with the Mot. ...should be fine after all that hard work! Let me know if you want to celebrate with a ride down to Goodwood or up to Box Hill. Steve

Once it's registered I'll take you up on that Steve!

More news today.

I spent a small amount of time changing the screen screws back to the black plastic ones from the various assorted mixed metal bolts, and replacing some of the rubber-grommet nuts that go behind the screen that had come off. Plastic screws snap off in the event of a prang, saving the screen from breaking. I have a bunch of spare screws in case this happens - annoyingly you have to buy them individually.

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With the MoT teat (government road-worthiness test) booked for this morning, I spent some time going over the bike, and found some play at the front end when bouncing the front suspension. Fearing the steering head bearings being worn out, I was a bit concerned (definite MoT failure).

Some fiddling revealed the top yolk nut that holds the forks to the frame was loose. Not just untorqued a bit, but actually loose and about a turn or two unscrewed! Eeek! A quick bit of spannering got that all tightened up again and the play had gone.

Next, the dreaded MoT. I was very nervous about this as I just did not know how the bike would do after its rather arduous recent history. Guildford Tyre Centre are my go-to place. Top blokes in there, very approachable, and they know their stuff.

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The tester had a good look over the bike and seemed most impressed. I gave him some of the history and told him about the TET, then retreated upstairs to watch nervously on the monitor as he did numerous things and wrote a lot on a clipboard. A long to-do list of fixes was surely coming my way.

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But no!!! It passed first time. Amazing!!!!! You could have knocked me down with a feather. Seems that all the fettling had been worthwhile after all. I can now submit the registration docs and get the bike taxed, registered and get a number plate.

Due to a law that allows you to drive/ride an untaxed/unregistered vehicle to/from an MoT station for a pre-booked MoT, I took advantage on my return home to do a quick bit of off-road green laning. This little ride out and back was my first proper ride on the bike and it took a bit of getting used to. It's rather different from my Ducati Multistrada. It's actually lovely to ride more slowly and pootle along. It handled the off-road bit very nicely as you'd expect.

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Next on the list - throttle cable and linkage which is very stiff, oil and filter change, air filter change, spark plug change, general look over the engine, before moving on to the front end.

i think you'll the 'rule' to be within reasonable travel to and from the mot station and home address...at least thats what i was told when i was leaving the mot station recently on a planned 34 mile detour...

Good news tho on the pass.You going down the DNA filter route?.stage1,2 or 3?..

It's already been de-snorkelled and has some after market sort of air filter that I'm about to replace - I'll figure out what it is when I get it out. That will do for the time being - other stuff needs sorting first.

Which brings me on to the throttle cable. The throttle is really stiff. I like a light throttle, and there's nothing more annoying and tiring than fighting a recalcitrant grip when trying to get delicate control of the bike.

So, time to replace the throttle cable. First, get the tank loose so I could move it about and fiddle underneath it. Grey side plastics off, long bolts under the sides of the tank removed, stirrup at the back of the tank removed.

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Undo the two screws underneath the switch gear

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Eeeuuuw it's all full of crap

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I suspect this broken bit, plus wear and tear of the curved plastic surround, is what is causing the friction in the cable run. This is on the throttle opening cable. The Tenere has a two cable setup, one to open, one to make sure it closes if the return spring on the throttle body fails.

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Remove another screw that is revealed once the bottom cover comes off, and you can then take the switch gear housing apart, remove the grip and expose the top end of the cables for removal. More crap in here is going to cause more friction so this will be thoroughly cleaned and lubed with dry teflon lube in a bit. Don't want to use grease/oil as it'll attract more dust & bits of crap.

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Loosen the nut holding the cable into the housing at the throttle body end. I'm just replacing the opening cable at this stage, as that's where the graunchiness is coming from, and I don't want to spend money if I can avoid it.

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Close-up of the broken bit. New cable ordered from Fowlers for �27.

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Very nice write up about the whole job on a bike. Nice that you are taking time for documenting it. Those things are not done in a minute.

Very happy you made it through the MOT. Uff must have been mental to wait for aproval, considering all the upgrades... not to mention 18" rear, AKRA exhaust or complete front end swap... ufff. Congrats! Great job!

Just an info: clutch cable was changed this year and is practicaly new. So I would say you can save money for that.

i recently stripped my throttle housing down and found that the actual tube part of the grip that actually rotates was fouling on a build up of rust and crud from the handlebars..