“I've had two of these. Both have been super reliable and ride very well. The current one has done 20,000 miles around Europe (2 up with luggage). Nicely manoeuvrable at all speeds, with good brakes, although the rear alone is wooden. Performance is fine and when in sports mode its brilliant. The suspension keeps up on most occasions - perfect for solo and pillion - and copes when fully loaded although it gets a bit flustered when being worked really hard, but I have now upgraded. Fuel consumption usually runs about 40mpg, unless you get heavy with the throttle. I would like a bigger fuel tank, but its not too bad. The competition, BMW and Triumph, are good equally as good in many areas. BMW is twice the price, but not twice the bike. Triumph is so similar its about preference. When this XT is replaced, it will likely be another one, but that won't be for a couple of years and 50-60,000 miles. Yep its that good!”
“Great bike although tall and slightly heavy for me as I'm somewhat height challenged, but once on the move she's very good. When she is run in at about 6-7000 miles the engine gets better. Vibes through the bars are a pain on my year (2103) the newer models now come with isolated/rubber mounted bar clamps and a few engine mods and an ecu mapping update and so is even better. A tip would be fit decent crash bars like Altrider, they really do work and have saved my carbon side panels (£450 each) every time!”
“A very, very good bike. I bought it as it was known to be very reliable and has the best build quality of all the Japanese companies (that's why Yamaha are, on average, a little more expensive but not as daft as BMWS). I did toy with the idea of a BMW but so many forum and social media posters tell of reliability problems and expensive servicing I didn't even bother looking at them.
The 1200 Tenere is a big lump of a machine and once it starts to go, physically, the hulk might hold it, but not me. It's also true it suffers from the modern disease of excessive complexity requiring AA/RAC/Green Flag membership for most things apart from fuel and air. Modern life ehhhh? But overall, since most people are no longer home mechanics, in fact even the dealers don't have mechanics anymore (service technicians), it's a really great bike.”
