My African 34l Dream

[Malkop]

Finally got a picture to load.
I qualified to join since I have a 84 34l, the original Tenere an African word for solitude. I live in Africa on the route of many adventure riders and ride alone almost every day commuting 12km of dirt and 40km of freeway.
In my youth I rode an XT500 which got stolen a couple of decades ago. I picked up retired civil servants in the form of a TW200 and XT350 on auction for R5000 = $350 each over the last few years. But still hankered after a big thumper.

I bought it a few months back from a chap younger than the bike which he did not appreciate enough to take care of it. It counted in my favour since he sold it cheap R15k = around $1000. It was complete and running though shabby with a disintegrated air filter. I made myself 3 two stage filter with filtrex for R60=$5. The restoration is underway. It is a tale of doing things on the cheap.
Had a Motorcross tyre - non-road legal. Got used rear tyre Metzeler Endro 3 $28 fitted by Yamaha dealers with new rimlock. The exisiting front Michelin is good.
New sprockets and 520Xring gold chain $56.
New oil filter and oil - $10.
New battery $35.
It came with an aluminium Air Age exhaust. Was worried that it might fail but the guy that tested it said "great sound". Test cost $20 plus license $20. All legal and in my name now. Everytime I ride it to town someone wants to buy it. One guy said he would pay double what I paid and that was before any paintwork. Having seen the specs and prices of the new ones I decided I must keep it. A morning kick gets the heart going.
She has a little morning smoke so ordered that valve that Mezo taught me about. $7. I put forceps on the oil pipe so that it could not drain overnight and even with a full oil tank the bit of smoke comes after a but then goes away. Am living with it until I get chance. A clutch cover gasket is $21 from dealers and a complete set is $38 from after market wholesalers so will have some valve stems seals if that is the problem. Have found a second hand Clymer manual which is on its way. So when I have everything and some time I will climb in. In the meanwhile am loving it. Not many bikes have a guy hop off a shiny Harley stop and stare and say "Sheesh you are riding legend. Not many of them around. Look after it!"

This shot was taken after I painted the engine.

[GeoffD]

Nice one..... enjoy it mate..

[Mezo]

Welcome.

Yep its a true legend, big tank & comfy seat, they should have kept production going, to short lived.

Mezo.

[Malkop]

Thanks guys. Found a lot of help on this forum and Horizons who had a meeting up the road last weekend. I couldn't go because of work but would have liked to have learnt from the experts. Have been hoping to do a big ride for some time and going the 550 km to the meeting would have been a nice pipe opener. Instead I watch others trips on tv. Spencer Conway for instance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoSO_Dn_a3s

He did it on a new Tenere. After his bike took a bullet in Kenya the local mechanic said they are good bikes but the fuel injection is a problem for us in Africa. Apart from costing 10X what my 34l cost it has a worse power-weight ratio:

New -- 33.8 kw /183 Kg= 0 .19
Old -- 34kw/131 Kg = 0.26

Moreover mine shed a few kilos shed with the stock exhaust. I just bought a used gold alloy tapered handlebar plus yamaha cross bar cushion for $7. The old is rusted and needed to be painted. I have derusted and painted the frame where need be. Saved myself that job and the new one is .5 kg lighter. The gold will go with the rims and chain. A little more bling will brighten the old girl up a bit.

As Mezo says the wheels get cancer and my front is showing cracks around the valve. There is a guy Len up country called XT Freak who does spares and recon units. He wanted $110 for a rim minus disc and tyre. I found another guy who has sold me the rim plus disc and tyre as well as a back wheel and tyre for the same price. But Len at XT Freak is a good contact and he has a redone 34l tank with decals for $215. He makes his living from the bikes and the other guy just was clearing out his shed. He had an unlicensed 34l for $900 but is 600 km north and am busy now.

Anyhow back to the old vs new. The new has a better cruising speed and fuel consumption. It is more streamlined though. I picked up an old BMW windshield, panniers and racks on the auction for $18. I fitted it as a fairing over the mudguard cable tied to a headlight and dash guard off my XT350. I found an improvement in cruising speed and economy but not as good as the new 660's claimed figure. Fuel injection has its advantages. One day coming home through a gridlocked Freeway on the Tenere I stopped to pick up some things and gloat at the cars still queuing. I then could not start and got a wiff of fuel and found it flooding. I stripped the carb at home and cleaned the needle and seat, and amde a carb gasket from fuel hose. All was well until a minor drip months later. I might have to buy a needle and seat sometime but could get just needle. I should have made my name Cheap Torque

Anyhow got one pic off facebook but can't load from dropbox. where do you guys load pics from. Could show you things if I could load more.
Cheers
M

[Mezo]

I load my pics on Photobucket, never had any issues with them (and its free).

Mezo.

[Malkop]

Thanks Mezo will give photobucket a go.

Cheers M

[Johan Maree]

Malkop, I have a 1984 XT600E Tenere and looking for sidecover stickers, front mudguard stickers as well as the white hand prtector. Do you perhaps know where in SA I can find it? been a problem since I recently restored my bike.
Anyone else can help with the graphics?