Yamaha XT660Z Tenere

i , ve just returned to england after 9 years of living in oregon usa . i rode a number of bikes stateside . watched with interest the arrival of the yamaha 660 tenere . sadly yamaha decided not to bring the tenere to america . well, at least after owning one for 3 months i know why !i owned a kawasaki 650 klr for 2 years stateside , cheap to buy , run etc , do anything go anywhere fun bike to own , similar in may respects to the yamaha i bought in england ? no way ! the yamaha has proved expensive to buy , the first service was very expensive , i , ve had to wait 5 weeks for a yamaha accessory main stand to turn up . the worse part is the killer seat . i just struggle with it .the bike is very tall, most dual sport bikes are i know , but the seat shape holds you pretty much in one spot , after 60 miles it becomes very uncomfortable . there are companies out there that can rebuild the stock seat but heck at a very high price . i , ve covered many miles on bikes over the years but i can , t remember owning a bike with such an uncomfortable seat , this is a pricy bike too .

sadly with the reccession still biting hard , many good dealerships have gone out of buisness , just leaving us at the mercy of the sharks , money first , take it or leave it service second , if you are thinking of buying a yamaha tenere think hard first . if you want one , service it yourself , buy a used one off ebay , not a new one , think about spending 300 pounds plus having the seat rebuilt too. best of luck

The bike goes well, stops well, handles well, is fun to ride and is fairly frugal on fuel so you'd think ownership would be a decent experience - not so much.

At 2 years and 2 weeks old, having covered just over 5000 miles with a full service history the silencer fell apart inside. Yamaha flatly refused to have help with this as the bike was now two weeks out of warranty but they offered to sell me another silencer (exactly the same)at the bargain price of £900 which works out at about £0.18 per mile !!!! and you thought petrol was expensive.

I've also had to replace the rear wheel cush drive rubbers, but I knew that this model 'eats' them from reading reviews on the net.

All in all a decent bike but absolutely cr*p service from Yamaha