Elvis has left the building...
 

Well, that's it guys... the Tenere is on it's way home at last (I hope! - better check ebay.com!)... and in double quick time!

I managed to find a shipper who could move really fast, and deliver it on time to where I want it to be... (ie. the UK, next week...) Yes I've had to pay (a lot more) for air-freight this time round, but the only other option was shipping by sea, and the logistics of that just didn't work out for me at this time - getting the bike to the coast, and not least around six weeks before it would be landed in the UK, would certainly mean missing the Lakeland meet... and we can't have that!

So, all being well, it seems the first Tenere in the US also turns out to be the last (for now at least), as it's due to fly out this weekend...

I've ridden it pretty much the equivalent of around the world these past six months (23,000+ miles), over every kind of terrain imaginable... snow drifts, ice, sand, rocks, mud, desert, mountains, rivers, trails, highways, interstates and everywhere in between... and it's been damn near perfect in every respect.

From the highest 'motorable road' in the USA (Pikes Peak: 14,110ft) to the lowest (West Side road, Death Valley: -282ft). Ridden across the country from pretty much the furthest point west (Gold Beach, Oregon) on the Pacific coast, via the southernmost point in the USA (Key West on the Gulf of Mexico) to South Beach Miami on the Atlantic - I've dipped my tyres in three oceans... then turned round and ridden all the way back west again!

From the mighty mountain passes in Colorado to the slickrock Jeep-trails in Moab, Utah... from the Blue Ridge Parkway and the legendary Hwy 129 - Tail of the Dragon, to downtown New Orleans and the Las Vegas strip. Traversed the Everglades, the Ozarks, the Mohave, and crossed the deserts of Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada, to take on the daddy of them all, the Rubicon trail...

The bike rocks! - Yamaha should be very proud of what they've created!

But now it's time to go home...

Draining the tank (syphon, then running the fuel pump until dry)...
http://i492.photobucket.com/albums/r...9/DSCF2555.jpg

Disconnect the battery and tape up terminals...
http://i492.photobucket.com/albums/r...9/DSC00370.jpg

Bars wrapped in foam (cables stay connected), headlight removed and reattached upside down with one bolt...
http://i492.photobucket.com/albums/r...9/DSCF2557.jpg

Spare parts, camping kit and helmet box all fit in crate too... (plus a new tank for my XR650R x)
http://i492.photobucket.com/albums/r...9/DSCF2562.jpg

Almost ready to go (don't worry, Piglet is not still inside)... Yamaha crate has proved excellent - lightweight and manageable to assemble on your own...
http://i492.photobucket.com/albums/r...9/DSCF2558.jpg

xxx

RESPECT!! Safe journey home. I think you deserve another award!

Very nice, hope you have a safe trip home

Safe journey home JMo. Be prepared, the weather is sh|te here.

hope you and the bike have a safe trip back.

what on earth are you going to do with yourself when you get back?

JMo,

Hope you (and the bike.....and piglet) have a safe trip back across the pond.

Thanks for all the photos and the updates from your latest adventure, it keeps us 'wannabe' adventurers dreaming of trips to come.

Hope it won't be too much of a shock to the system up in the lakes !!


Take it easy,


Nick.

Traveller
 

Sounds like you've had a great trip there, I'm dead jealous!! Safe journey home, see you at the Lakes. :nod:

Incredible journey, and welcome back to this side of the big lake. Your adventures has been inspiring, I hope I get the time and money to do something similar one day. And that we will continue to get stories and amazing pictures from you. =)

Safe trip back!

Hee hee - I've got a few plans (not least some cereal packet fabrication eh?), and plenty of writing to be getting on with!

Thanks for all your well wishes, and I hope you enjoy the stories - around the campfire and in TBM later this year of course...

xxx

A big achievement, my hate goes off to you. That's the sort of ride we all would love to do.

Have a safe trip back.

:WellDone_OROQR1:

Look forward to reading in more detail about your adventures in TBM.

Your experience/pics/postings were a deciding factor in getting a Tenere for me and many others I suspect............. thanks for that.

Have Yamaha offered you Advertising Director job yet :D

JMo,

As the other guys have already said, your threads on the trips and 'fun' you have encountered have been excellent and made me wish that i wasnt tied to a desk Mon to Friday.

Looking forward to the TBM articles.

We are not worthy.

WB :)

Who do you think we are BAFTA???? lol :D :D :D

:WellDone_OROQR1: thanx for sharing

Have a safe journey home.

Thanks for everthing.


:Worship_9TRHEA:


Safe Riding.

nice one,cu lakes 09 http://www.xt660.com/images/icons/icon14.gif

sorry that is something i didn't say - Thankyou for all the pics, updates and inspiration. Having now found a sustainable source of TBM, i'm looking forward to the uncut version. :)

Good luck and safe trip back JMo, piglet and bike. I do look forward to rading more of the tales.

That really makes me happy to hear that Gregor... x

I've been fortunate that of the few bikes I've bought new, I have never bought a duffer - even though not one of them I test rode beforehand!

In fact I've always chosen my bikes because I simply liked the look of them, and I wouldn't have cared if they were crap, because they make me go phwoor (as Jeremy Clarkson might say...)

However, without a doubt, the most impressive has been the Tenere - not that I didn't have high expectations, rather it exceeded them time and again, and I'm sure will continue to do so...

So much so that I find myself staunchly defending any (unwarranted) critisism of the machine - especially over on ADVrider where the few Yanks (God bless 'em) who aren't clamouring for one, are knocking it based on the spec sheet or some half-arsed ride report in a streetbike magazine...

As for your suggestion about Yamaha themselves - hee hee, I guess it would be nice if they were aware of how well the machine has served me... in fact I have an idea I may well propose to them when I get home...

We'll see...

xxx

JMo, good luck on yer way to rehab, after those months of adventure! Thanx for everything, hope to get my hands on those TBM issues(which ones exactly btw?). Great pictures and funny and inspiring writings. Keep on truckin'! Any new adventures planned?
Greetz, Hans.

Thanks for the great pictures and great storries jmo, am looking forward to hearing more when we all meet in the lakes. glad to hear the ten coped so well , inspires confidence in mine. :eusa_clap:

Not sure about when the Tenere series will start - sometime this summer I imagine...

For back issues of my previous jaunts - issues 152 - 153 - 154 featured my initial US trip when I bought the XR650R (issue 153 also has the launch test of the Tenere in - perhaps a subliminal message eh?)

Issues 159 - 160 - 161 featured my trip to Europe and Morocco last summer...

And don't worry, I've got plenty more plans in the pipeline - they won't involve going away for quite so long each time (for the moment at least), but they will certainly be exciting!

xxx

hi Jmo, glad to see you back safe and sound, can I ask what the holes(?) are in the end caps of the exhaust, are they drilled to stop heat build up or what?

Phil

Them would be her Bidirectional Trafficators, there's a whole blog, er, sorry , thread about them ,,,,, somewhere!


(Indicators)

As GLUGo says, they are a rather neat mod (even if I say so myself x):

http://i492.photobucket.com/albums/r...x/DSC00007.jpg

There is a thread on here somewhere (maybe 'making it mine'? I forget... still a bit jet-lagged x) with more info - basically they are a strip of LEDs made by the company who make electropods, and fit perfectly in the exhaust shrouds, neatening up the rear end, no end...

xxx

its under 'making it mine pt 2'


mmm, yes they are just the donki's knob arent they (any other ex-mtb'ers remember that bike?), if they are easy enough to get hold of i might just have to have a set of them :headbang:

What a trip that must have been :wow:, and looking forward to reading more. Very glad you are pleased with the bike, it makes waiting for mine that much harder, three weeks to go. :HappyRoll_ANPIUI:

certainly do I was an early subscriber to MBUK and such like, ahhhh happy memories. . . .wen I could see my Kn. . . .ees over my six pack now a family value pack..:HappyRoll_ANPIUI:

I had a small idea that they may have been indi's but just thought it was my fretile imagination again. They are cool as f@*k !