2014 YAMAHA SUPER TENERE
FIRST RIDE
P76
compresses with your weight so the sole of your
boot gets all the metal cleats), get your weight up
front, resist the urge to put your foot down, work
the throttle and use the Super Tenere's torque and
enjoy the ride. It's nothing to be scared of… in fact,
you'll come back with dirt in your teeth from smiling
so much.
Another hint: I tried the Tenere off-road with both
the traction control on and the traction control off
and found it miles better with it off. With the little
traction the dirt provides, the sensors are con-
stantly processing wheel spin and promptly cutting
fuel delivery. It makes for a jerky ride and when
ridden pretty hard off-road the right wrist seems
to be a better solution. If you're just on a bit of a
cruise and don't feel like going full Jay Springs-
teen, the traction control set in the least intrusive
mode (TCS2) might be the ticket.
My biggest concern going into the dirt section
was the ABS. Although you can disarm the system,
you basically have to do the Hokey Pokey to do so
("you put your left arm in and you shake it all about")
and I'm not going to instruct you on how to do so.
I'm sure there's probably a YouTube video for that.
But my fears of using ABS on the dirt proved to be
unfounded. Although the brakes are linked, they
are only linked front to rear. In other words when
you apply the front brake, the rear also starts to
bind – but when you use the back brake, the front
wheel continues to spin freely. This is key as you'll
find yourself using mostly back brake on the dirt
and you can get the big bike stopped and turned
easily – in spite of the ABS.
On the road the brakes work well and the ABS
performs as it should in being a tool with the po-
tential to save your bacon. The linked brakes are
also a plus, especially if you're not one to use a lot
of rear brake on the street because the Super Te-
The standard
version comes
in both Team
Yamaha Blue
and Matte
Gray/Matte
Black.
