Ooh, that's better.

Got back in the saddle for the first time in five weeks, and it wasn't
even one of my bikes.

Demo CB1300S, 06 plate, 16k miles.

By 'eck it comfy. And smooth. And quiet. Engine is effortless, if a
little less than exhilarating at the upper reaches. Brakes are good,
but the ABS buzz is a little odd.

The luggage found it comfy enough, which solved one problem.

A little bit of talking, a cup of coffee, and a quick ciggie, and I'm
detailed to turn up on 14th to pick mine up. In red.

The train journey was painless, and cheap, too.

I wish I could say the hand was painless, but one can't have
everything.

 

Nice. As long as it's not boring.

I was crawling over a new Yam Tenere today. I've also got a ride on a
demo Triumph Scrambler next weekend at Carl Rosner's.

Toss-up between the two.

My, but the Tenere is *tall*. Taller than the old model. It's amusing to
see how much of the basic engine architecture is similar to the old 660,
which was in turn similar to the old air-cooled 600E. Same oil filter
cover, with bleed nut, in the same position, still a dry sump engine,
engine covers look the same, etc etc.

Otr offer on the Tenere is £5k, including a centre stand (a £100 extra).
Very tempting. We'll see what the Scrambler comes out at.

 

snip>

That's not a bad price for the Tenere. Am I correct in assuming the
BMW will be going soon to make room for the new addition or are you
just going to squeeze everything a bit further back into your garage?

At that price I'd be tempted to buy a new Tenere myself and load it up
for touring both in summer and winter.

£512 for a pair of 30l boxes plus £113 for the brackets, add in
another couple of hundred quid for heated grips and a rack then maybe
a bit more for crash bars and any other bits of tat you'd want for
winter riding and you've got the whole lot for under 6 grand.

I've been looking at how much a KTM 990 Adventure would cost me and
the Tenere is a lot cheaper plus it's obviously going to be lighter
and easier to pick up when you throw it down the road.

 

There is a garage vacuum that needs to be filled, so I'm keeping the
Beemer.

The factory luggage kit is £stupid. All you need to do is knock up some
bracketry on the back and you can hang some decent leather panniers
(from any autojumble or similar) on them.

There's a tailpiece behind the pillion seat where a box mounts. Again,
it's got slots for a mounting plate, so it would be very easy to molish
a plate and fit any box you wanted. I think I can kit it out with decent
luggage for maybe £150-200.

 

I want something for doing winter rallies and nipping over to Europe
for long weekends so power isn't critical then add in the fact that I
don't trust the build quality of new BMWs and an F800GS goes out of
the window.

I'd be more likely to go for the big KTM and if I do I'll buy a year
old one from a dealer and trade my 690 in against it. Dealers are
advertising bikes the same age as mine for £4.5k or slightly over that
so I'd probably be able to get £4k (or close to it) for mine because
it's low mileage and has the Akros fitted. That'd leave me needing
about £3.5k to change and that's not too bad.

My theory is that it'd be better to find a KTM dealer selling an
Adventure who doesn't have a second hand 690 in stock and then
negotiate a price to change and just throw cash at them. They all need
to move stock about and given the current financial squeeze anyone
offering hard cash plus a bike they're main dealers for has to be
worth talking to.

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, SD

Good man.

 

Well, it doesn't have the "Ooh, Crikey!" effect that you get when you
wind on a Blackbird, but then, I was taking it easy. It goes faster
than it feels, and there were no complaints from the ballast.

I was more worried about the fear of being too frit to ride.
Took about 25 yards for that feeling to dissipate.

Was down your neck of the woods, actually: Smitham.

Went south on the A23 then cut across to the A217, the doubled back.

 

Nice one, enjoy.

--
Lozzo
Versys 650 Tourer
Fireblade 929 (For sale)
ZX-7R P4 (for sale)
CBR600F-W trackbike
SR250 SpazzTrakka,
RD400F, somewhere
I see a bright new future, where chickens can cross the road with no
fear of having their motives questioned

 

At least the hand is cheap.

 

Not 'alf, missus.

 

I wouldn't describe a Tenere as 'gutless'. Slowish, maybe (like 105 mph
from a 600cc engine...), but within that performance envelope my old one
was neat, snappy, torquey.

There's a difference between 'not fast' and 'gutless' IMHO.

 

Heh.

It's not a problem anyway - a tight-head prop's neck has it's uses at
times.

 

it's genetically disposed to be a flat twin...

 

You're so much in trouble.

Excellent

 

Hm. Didn't notice that. Did notice that it was even taller than my old
one.

A centre stand is available for another £100, too. which is nice.

 

Does it have a centre stand?

 

Nothing like nailing it against the stop and watching the world turn
into blurred death on either side and a light to life and freedom in
front. Stable as well, but I wouldn't do it anywhere where speed
matters, because it license losing territory.

 

No, it's just the way I'm sitting.

 

SD wibbled...

Nice one that Dodger.

I missed what happened to you, but well done on the new bike & test ride

 

Hurray!

Hope I feel like that next week :~/