Hi all,

i'm from Strasbourg in France and need a bike for travel this year in Europe
- Spain
- Portugal
- Nord cap
- Iceland
I'm considering an XT660Z because reliability is the most important.
Feel free to answer with hints about reliability on the XTZ660.
Thanks.
Gummybear

It is a great bike but from personal experience and that of many, many others, stay away from early bikes with an engine number that sits, roughly, in between 6200 and 9500 and generally was made in 2008/9 (mainly 2009). They have a very well recorded (here and in other sources) of fatal engine failure as a result of the 3rd gear disintegrating and massively destroying internals.

The Yamaha 660 engine has been made for many years and is fitted to Aprilia, MZ, and other bikes so the known cases of failure are small compared to the overall number of bikes but definitely are known to fall in the above grouping.

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I have a lot of growing up to do. I realized that the other day inside my fort.

Hello and welcome aboard.
Generally a very reliable bike, especially the later ones.

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2011 xt660z.
Yoshimura cans ,kev mod,Dna 2, Stahlkoffer panniers,Hepco Becker box,Givi crash bars,Mita e07 tyres.

Welcome to the forum! , the Tenere is a tough and reliable bike and very uncomplicated by modern standards! Steve

Thak you Chalk Two for the information about motor failure.
So nothing else to consider for the choice of the year or serial number of the bike ?
ECU and related settings remain the same over the whole production range ?

and to

Buy a tiger 800 much better bike to touring on, infact its in a different class. You get a lot of bike for 5k. And is a real joy to ride