Desert Storm

NOTHING LASTS FOREVER, I mused, as I thumped Eastward along the A69. It was inevitable that this pleasantly rural highway would suffer at the hands of progress, but the sight of a new stretch of dual carriageway each time I travel it is depressing. As the North's only direct cross country route, the A69's fate has been officially sealed with 100% dualling of the carriageway's sixty-odd miles expected by the mid Nineties.

Parting company with the A69 at Greenhead, I took the high road along Hadrian's wall before turning north towards the Cheviots. A hundred miles above the M62 and what ignorant Southerners call The North, I was heading for Kielder Forest and the Scottish border, some 12 miles away.

As I rode, I reflected too on the demise of the bike that carried me. The XT600 Tenere has gone from Yamaha's 1991 catalogue, though the name survives in the all-new XTZ660, a high-tech single-cylinder clone of the twin-cylinder Super Tenere. The motor lives on in the XT600E, but the combination that first brought weekend desert raiding to the masses has finally bitten the dust. Perhaps it was time. Once the best-selling motorcycle in Europe, cost cutting and copycat styling were slowly turning the Tenere into a two-wheeled bread van.

My bike is a 1986 model, from the days when big trailers still looked like dirt bikes. A high front mudguard, single headlight and lack of windscreen are the obvious differences from later models, but a closer look reveals anodised aluminium wheels, a drum brake at the back and a kickstart to distinguish the older bike. The tank is a rounder, much more pleasant affair and the side panels look like an integral part of the bike instead of being fashioned from bits of leftover plastic.

I followed the road up to where my map showed a dotted line cutting off into the forest. This proved to be a forestry commission road, and I handed over the £1 toll and gave it a go. The first couple of miles were tarmac, but this soon gave way to a gravel track. Ruts and pot-holes aside, the horrible flinty surface played havoc with the tyres and threatened drastic injury in the event of a spill.

Arriving at the other end, I spent a while picking sharp stones out of the tyres. Now about 4000 miles old, these are Avon Gripsters and seem to be holding up much better than the original Dunlops. This is a bit surprising, as the compound seems very soft. The longevity is due in part to a more road orientated tread pattern, giving a larger contact area and superb road holding. The original tyres lasted 7000 at the rear, and 9000 on the front. The front would probably have done another 1500 miles but I wasn't taking any chances.

Trivia note: that's my photo on the cover!

The chain gave up the ghost at 13000 miles, mostly due to lack of maintenance. The main reason for this is the absence of a centre stand, making application of chain lube a bit tedious and chain adjustment downright difficult. Faced with an over-tight chain in the wilds of the Lake district I came up with a novel way of elevating the back wheel. I discovered that one way to get the back end off the ground was to tip the bike up on to the side-stand and front wheel, with the steering on full lock, and rest the end of the handlebar against a tree. At a certain distance from the tree (a trade secret), the angle was just right and left the bike standing on its head with the back wheel about three feet in the air. The possibilities for catastrophe are obvious, and a strong elastic band around the front brake lever is useful insurance.

When I found out how much a new chain and sprocket set cost, I decided to take a keener interest in chain maintenance. A heavy duty O-ring chain and sprockets cost around £60, and having shelled out this much, I went on and bought a Scottoiler too. This needs to be plumbed into the carb, as it operates on the vacuum created at the engine side when the throttle is closed. Luckily the Tenere's fuel pump is driven by the some mechanism, so connection is a simple matter of tapping into the right hose. Vanilla XT600 owners will need to drill a hole in the inlet rubber.

I bought the bike from a dealer with 1900 miles on the clock, that figure matching the price quite closely. However, it was over two years old and seems to have been neglected and/or mistreated in the engine department. It soon developed some serious noises, ending up with a rebore and a new set of rockers after only 5000 miles. It's worth noting that the engine can only take two rebores and the second takes the bore out by lmm and increases the capacity to 608cc. There are insurance implications here and it may be a better idea to go for a new or second hand cylinder. A new one will set you back £140. The piston is around £40 and piston rings £12. These are genuine Yamaha prices - patterns may be substantially cheaper. Then there are the gaskets (£22 head, £4 base) and gudgeon pin (£9). The message is clear: regular oil changes and warming up the engine carefully are essential.

Routine servicing is reasonably straightforward, though the enormous tank has to be removed before you can get at the spark plug. The number of valves has doubled since the old XT500, so setting the tappets is twice as much work. Adjustment is by locknut and a small square-headed adjuster, and should be done cold. The exhaust valves couldn't be easier to get at, but the inlet valves are quite tricky.

Draining the oil is a two stage affair, with half the oil lying in the sump and half in the oil tank. The tank has a weird extension tube that has to be wound out before removing the drain plug itself - the idea is to make the dribbling oil miss the frame on the way down. As the bike leans so for over the other way on its stand, this doesn't work so well. When changing oil without replacing the filter, the air bleed screw has to come out. Located at the top of the filter housing, the 8mm hexagonal bolt is easy to round off with the toolkit spanner, and although it has a nice deep Philips driver slot cut into the top, it sits just below the exhaust pipe and is impossible to get at.

The rear suspension has a full complement of grease nipples but the left-hand swinging arm nipple points inwards and needs a goose-necked grease gun to get at it. The back brake is a drum so maintenance is minimal and the shoes last for ages. The front brake (and rear on the later models) is a disc with the usual maintenance hassles. Miscellaneous replacements have included a clutch cable, a tacho cable and fork gaiters, the latter an incredible £24 each! I tried a cheap pair but they fell to pieces in less than three months. The exhaust is starting to show signs of serious rust in the out of the way areas and will need attention soon.

Plodding around the backroads of Northumberland is the sort of thing this bike is good at. Its six-gallon tank is more useful than the ordinary XT's little one, typically giving more than 250 miles before hitting reserve. As a London commuter it's brilliant, though not so economical, but as a long haul tourer it's pretty miserable and pushing it into the wind on a fast road is as frustrating as it is uncomfortable. Backroads thumping on twisty and hilly terrain is really what it's all about. In these conditions the Tenere handles exceptionally well. Its forty horsepower provides more than enough stomp and it has the satisfyingly chunky power delivery which is characteristic of all big singles.

Second hand Teneres come reasonably cheap these days, though many are a bit shabby. There is a tendency to load up with headlamp grilles, mudguard braces, alloy handlebars and other fake off-road tat, and many people seem to cover the bikes in Paris-Dakar stickers instead of cleaning them. Even so, a good example can be had for well under two grand.

The Tenere is a practical, fun bike and in the days of soaring labour costs is simple enough for the most ham-fisted home mechanic. With reasonable all round performance, it offers a leisurely alternative to the hysterical high tech road racer. If you like to actually experience the countryside as you ride through it and want a bike with a bit of character you could do a lot worse.