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Traded my FJ-09 in for a 2015 Super Tenere


freebooter

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Desertfir, my friend's BMW's rear end burned up on him too. He had to replace all kinds of stuff in it. I have owned mostly Triumphs in my life but I always liked Yamahas. Several friends have owned Yamahas and put miles and miles on them with no serious maintenance problems.
"What do I know of cultured ways, the gilt, the craft and the lie?
I who was born in a naked land and bred in the open sky.
The subtle tongue, the sophist guile, they fail when the broadswords sing.
Rush in and die, dogs — I was a man before I was a king!" -- from t poem "The Road of Kings" by Robt. E. Howard
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So, doesnt changing the oil in the shaft drive take a couple hours? Is it more responsive? Whats the awesomeness I'm missing?
Changing the rear diff fluid in the Yamaha's take about 5 minutes from drain to refill. The advantages over chain are numerous. Mostly it's the set it and forget nature of the shaft, no slack requiring adjustment, very little lash in the system, no cleaning, no oiling on a regular basis, the rain won't wash your lube away, no fling-off on other parts of your ride and changing the back tire is a snap. As you noted there some advantages over shaft systems though. Gearing changes are easy and cheap, there is less parasitic loss in a chain drive system(we don't have to turn corners with the power),  a failure in a chain drive system is a relative inexpensive and easy fix with a multitude of suppliers of parts, and most of all the chain system is very simple. As in 1800's design kind of simple. You can fix a chain system on the side of the road...a shaft driven system...not so much.
All in, the current design Yamaha is using for the FJR/VMax/SuperTen/etc. is about a good a unit that there is in the motorcycle realm. It has proven itself over the years since it's introduction in the 1983 Venture Royale where the current design got it's start.
 
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All this talk about chains and the burden of maintenance. There's a RR on AdvRider where a guy rode a Triumph Tiger from Phoenix to Alaska and back. 7750 miles and the chain was lubed and adjusted once during the whole trip when he bought a new tire in Anchorage....
 
My guess is... It just ain't the big deal that people want to believe it is... Like an oil or tire/tyre thread... YMMV
 
http://advrider.com/index.php?threads/phoenix-to-anchorage-and-back-in-14-days-alaska-trip.1092467/page-2
 
 
Posts #38 & #39
 
 

"It doesn't matter who walks in, you know the joke is still the same"  Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. USA

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All this talk about chains and the burden of maintenance. There's a RR on AvdRider where a guy rode a Triumph Tiger from Phoenix to Alaska and back. 7750 miles and the chain was lubed and adjusted once during the whole trip when he bought a new tire in Anchorage.... 
My guess is... It just ain't the big deal that people want to believe it is... Like an oil or tire/tyre thread... YMMV
 
http://advrider.com/index.php?threads/phoenix-to-anchorage-and-back-in-14-days-alaska-trip.1092467/page-2
 
 
Posts #38 & #39
 

A mechanic I really trust told me modern chains are lubed internally. Pretty much the only thing you need to worry about is keeping the o-rings that seal the lube in from drying out and cracking. It really doesn't take much lube to do that. He caution not to over lube because it would fling everywhere and make a mess. He also recommended to lube the chain at the end of a ride while the chain was still hot but you were putting the bike away.
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Thank you, that makes sense. Someday I'll ride one and see for myself  ;)
 
 

So, doesnt changing the oil in the shaft drive take a couple hours? Is it more responsive? Whats the awesomeness I'm missing?
Changing the rear diff fluid in the Yamaha's take about 5 minutes from drain to refill. The advantages over chain are numerous. Mostly it's the set it and forget nature of the shaft, no slack requiring adjustment, very little lash in the system, no cleaning, no oiling on a regular basis, the rain won't wash your lube away, no fling-off on other parts of your ride and changing the back tire is a snap. As you noted there some advantages over shaft systems though. Gearing changes are easy and cheap, there is less parasitic loss in a chain drive system(we don't have to turn corners with the power),  a failure in a chain drive system is a relative inexpensive and easy fix with a multitude of suppliers of parts, and most of all the chain system is very simple. As in 1800's design kind of simple. You can fix a chain system on the side of the road...a shaft driven system...not so much.
All in, the current design Yamaha is using for the FJR/VMax/SuperTen/etc. is about a good a unit that there is in the motorcycle realm. It has proven itself over the years since it's introduction in the 1983 Venture Royale where the current design got it's start.

 
2015 Red FJ 09
2013 WR250R - little boy blue - sold
2012 DL650 V Strom - sold
2007 FZ6 - sold
1986 FJ600 - sold
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Owned both, FJ is more fun, ST is the one you can spend 15 hour days on back to back. Both have pros and cons but the cons on either is a very short list.
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On another note a friend's Super Tenere had a leaky rear seal recently.. According to the dealer and Yamaha this is only the second Super Tenere to have a final drive problem EVER. Yamaha replaced the entire final drive because they wanted the failed one to see what happened. Says something. Sounds like Yamaha takes final drive reliability seriously.
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...a failure in a chain drive system is a relative inexpensive and easy fix...
Usually, yes, but not always. I remember years ago a friend of mine threw a chain while riding his Ducati Monster. The flying chain punched a huge hole in the engine case, which turned out to be not all that inexpensive or easy.
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As I said I do miss my o9. It was just t right weight, balance, manouverability, etc. if it had a drive shaft I'd kept it forever.
 
I am in the same process as you were. Tried a 2016 S10 today and the comfort was great. Seat and suspension was much better than the FJ-09 and the bumps on the road kinda vanished.
 
But I missed the thrill of the 09 after 2 minutes and I didn't get the feel like "this is it"
I'm going on long tour in august and july next year, but most driving is local (2-4 hours)
 
So, I'm a bit confused about what to do. The comfort is a big disadvantage on the 09 and I never do wheelies or try breaking the speed of light so the 09 is maybe a bit angry for me but I'm not that old either so love the rooarr of the engine.
 
 
 
 
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