Hi I am a newbie here and really enjoy the forum and would also like to contribute some of my experiences on a Super Tenere which I just sold on the forum. When I got the bike it had 28000km on the clocks and the wear on the brake pedal and gear shifter confirmed that the mileage should be right. The bike was sold as 100% condition (see foto). So below is my experience. Some guys might think to buy a bike and fix it up. That is great but do not do it to save money. My experience has been to save money buy a new or nearly new bike. I did it because I enjoy tinkering and fixing the bikes. Please I am not an expert and some terminology might be wrong. This is just my experience and hopefully it helps someone or adds to the Tenere story. I think the Super Tenere is a great bike it has soul mainly due to its heritage, the motor that has enough grunt and reasonable off road suspension. Once you get use to it, it really grows on you.
The following needed attention:
1. I think most Super Tenere have rusty spokes this one not being different.
2. I had the wheels anodized these rims take anodizing well. Some rims although silver have already been anodized(hardened) Normally if one can polish the rim with very fine wet sand paper it has not been anodized and will take the anodizing well. Just check the inside of the rims some corrode quite badly. I was lucky one spot that was cleaned up nicely.
3. The hubs were sandblasted and left as is on recommendation of the wheel build guy. This proved to be a good move and cleaned easily afterwards. New wheel bearing all round.
4. Used stainless steel spokes to replace the normal ones.
5. Enduro tubes and Michelin T63 tyres
6. My experience with the T63 tyres is firstly they have the speed rating but although within spec weightwise it was marginal. Something to consider for the bigger guys with passenger and kit. These tyres need to bed in and initially they are all over the place. Once settled in they are fine up to 130-140 km/h but they develop a slight weave from their and higher speed. Offroad I was very impressed and grips well on tar. For the price still a bargain as there is no do it all tyre and I have ordered another set for the SXC625.
7. Front forks next – do yourselves a favour change the fork oil. The oil/sludge that came out of the fork was an eye opener. New oil adjusted with a little less airgap and one could feel a marked difference in performance. Forks were also repainted.
8. Front brakes new brake fluid discs and pads still fine
9. Rear brake new fluid and new pads disc was fine.
10. Swingarm bearing fine just regrease
11. Handlebar POS steel. Replaced with fat bars and added barkbusters. If you have old ones with the moulded plastic over the ali bars. Cut the plastic off buy new Acerbis guards only then drill and tap two holes to fit the new plastic onto the old ali bars. Saves a bit of money and looks like new.
12. Indicators – old square type made the bike look old replaced with the ones I had from another KTM.
13. New halogen globes on headlight makes a big difference
14. 100% silicone spray on all plastics leave overnight - do it a couple of times it makes the plastics more pliable again.
15. Had the idea to copy the Dakar Replica bike as seen on the web and had a exhaust made to look the same. The guy did a really nice job.
16. Did the valve adjustment on engine got a set of emultion tubes for the carbs and headed of to dyno tune. The original emultion tubes do not last get the ones from the States. Worn emultion tubes will show up quickly in the fuel consumption and is a tell tale sign of wear.
17. Dynotuners fitted the tubes and played with jets. We then discovered that the carbs rubbers had small tears in them. Pricy rubbers, if I remember right, +-R1000 each one for each carbs. Did a lot of reading tried to save by using the Dr650 ones but they do not fit right so had to get both. This made a further performance improvement. If I remember right a good indicator is flat spots (3000 to 5000 rpm) in the rev range indicates worn rubbers.
I love bikes but are only allowed one bike at a time so to feed my fettish I need to change bikes more often that I would have liked. I could easily have kept this one but now its sold and I ventured back into thumper country.
The following needed attention:
1. I think most Super Tenere have rusty spokes this one not being different.
2. I had the wheels anodized these rims take anodizing well. Some rims although silver have already been anodized(hardened) Normally if one can polish the rim with very fine wet sand paper it has not been anodized and will take the anodizing well. Just check the inside of the rims some corrode quite badly. I was lucky one spot that was cleaned up nicely.
3. The hubs were sandblasted and left as is on recommendation of the wheel build guy. This proved to be a good move and cleaned easily afterwards. New wheel bearing all round.
4. Used stainless steel spokes to replace the normal ones.
5. Enduro tubes and Michelin T63 tyres
6. My experience with the T63 tyres is firstly they have the speed rating but although within spec weightwise it was marginal. Something to consider for the bigger guys with passenger and kit. These tyres need to bed in and initially they are all over the place. Once settled in they are fine up to 130-140 km/h but they develop a slight weave from their and higher speed. Offroad I was very impressed and grips well on tar. For the price still a bargain as there is no do it all tyre and I have ordered another set for the SXC625.
7. Front forks next – do yourselves a favour change the fork oil. The oil/sludge that came out of the fork was an eye opener. New oil adjusted with a little less airgap and one could feel a marked difference in performance. Forks were also repainted.
8. Front brakes new brake fluid discs and pads still fine
9. Rear brake new fluid and new pads disc was fine.
10. Swingarm bearing fine just regrease
11. Handlebar POS steel. Replaced with fat bars and added barkbusters. If you have old ones with the moulded plastic over the ali bars. Cut the plastic off buy new Acerbis guards only then drill and tap two holes to fit the new plastic onto the old ali bars. Saves a bit of money and looks like new.
12. Indicators – old square type made the bike look old replaced with the ones I had from another KTM.
13. New halogen globes on headlight makes a big difference
14. 100% silicone spray on all plastics leave overnight - do it a couple of times it makes the plastics more pliable again.
15. Had the idea to copy the Dakar Replica bike as seen on the web and had a exhaust made to look the same. The guy did a really nice job.
16. Did the valve adjustment on engine got a set of emultion tubes for the carbs and headed of to dyno tune. The original emultion tubes do not last get the ones from the States. Worn emultion tubes will show up quickly in the fuel consumption and is a tell tale sign of wear.
17. Dynotuners fitted the tubes and played with jets. We then discovered that the carbs rubbers had small tears in them. Pricy rubbers, if I remember right, +-R1000 each one for each carbs. Did a lot of reading tried to save by using the Dr650 ones but they do not fit right so had to get both. This made a further performance improvement. If I remember right a good indicator is flat spots (3000 to 5000 rpm) in the rev range indicates worn rubbers.
I love bikes but are only allowed one bike at a time so to feed my fettish I need to change bikes more often that I would have liked. I could easily have kept this one but now its sold and I ventured back into thumper country.
