Hello and question

[eldenhiemer]

Thanks for all the info! I did look at some other pics I have of it and it does appear to have those lugs on the Left fork, was for the disk protector you say? I think I have seen that in some old video I found of the bikes doing Dakar on youtube.

So commonly does that mean the bike would be referred to as a 55W? Is there a different engine ID for that as I think I have seen some 1J designations etc on cursory view of the form thusfar. Ultimately I would like to know if for this model there exists a full service manual for the bike? I know the parts seem to be interchangeable but I would like something like a full manual for reference material as I want to get into the mechanics of it over the winter here in Canada..cuz it can be long....

Any other links you think would be helpful let me know!

Cheers.

[Mezo]

So read the link i posted, it tells you all about the differences between a 34L & 55Wm the 55 was only in production for one year (1985) so in my opinion it makes the 55 the most rare of the classic Tenere`s & possibly the most collectable (id love a french blue one myself), the only main difference is the forks over the previous model the 34L, those forks were carried forward on later Tenere`s (1VJ, 3AJ, 3TB) and yours is missing the disc protector (hard to find but not impossible).



Also not your tank graphics are wrong, a 55W graphics slant backwards so at some point its tank has been swapped for a 34L (identical 30ltr tanks) just different graphics.

Refer to the 34L manuals on your 55 as there is no dedicated manual for the 55W, its identical in virtually every way anyhow.

If you are going to respray the tank the correct tank graphic can be found HERE (page down for the 55W).

When searching for part search 34L don't search 55W as you will get zero results, some people will often write it 34L/55W they are essentially the same bike, and in the manuals section you can use the 34L parts fiche for searching using part number & there is also a 55W owners manual.

Mezo.

[eldenhiemer]

Hello Again,

Yes looked at link, only had a cursory knowledge of the history the Tenere had in Dakar, very cool. I find it very cool that a bike that was never exported still ended up in Canada. Interesting enough the bike I purchased is part of a lot of 2. There is basically a complete parts bike including the frame. It also has a second motor that was bored out and has new piston sized to overbore after it had about 50k km on it. That is one of the reasons I wanted to get service manual as I was going to build that motor up over winter and install the fresh one in spring. Just out of curiosity is the frame id # correlate in anyway to the the engine markings at all to see which engine is to OE for the bike? I saw the mention in that link about frame and motor having same number just not sure where it would be on case or if it is the serial that should be identical. Ideally I want to re-build the stock bike as much as possible. I don't have the second tank but when I get it I will check the graphics to see if they lean back as you mentioned. As well will take a look at the serial on second frame and see if it is another SW bike or not.

It also it came with a CD with a few different service PDFs on it, however only in Spanish and German not English, which is why I was looking to see if there was an English version available. In regards to it being the same for the service info , the 34L from other years be same as this model if I understand correctly? I just finished a restoration on a 86 Yahama Maxim street bike I own last winter and was able to find a full service manual for it and was hoping for something similar and not just parts breakdown and original owners manual per sae.

This forum is super helpful and thanks for your time with filling me in on the history.

Nick

[Mezo]

Hi Nick,

I have a couple of OEM (Yammy) service manuals for sale, one guy in the UK is interested in one but i have two 34L manuals (see my ad in flea market) i really should scan one & upload it, its a royal pain in the arse job if i'm being honest & its the reason why there is no manual online simply because nobody can be bothered to do it (including me)

Any kicker manual will work for your bike, a 34L & 55W is just a dressed up XT600 (kick start model) all the engines are the same including the TT600.

I also post manuals when i spot them, there are a couple for sale on the notice i posted a few weeks ago HERE. You may even find a manual locally just search Yamaha XT600 manual & make sure its a kicker model so 83 onwards.

You really need to go buy that second bike, they are getting harder to find (especially 55`s) & almost impossible to find in North America/Canada, finding a tank could be an issue though (not seen one for sale in years) doesn't matter if its 34L it's the same tank as a 55W & finding one of them is like hens teef.



I`m going to move this topic to the correct section of the forum now that we have identified your bike, you can find it in the 34L/55W section.

Oh & you asked about matching numbers, yes they should match ideally but it not important in the value of things, i had four at one point & they all had matching frame & engine numbers, the engine number is on the block above the clutch cover (behind the kick start) let us know what they are on your bikes (first letters).



Mezo.

[Mezo]

A good site for all classic Tenere is by Ingo Löchert HERE & your bike specific is HERE. its in German but use Google translate to read (if you're using Chrome just add the Google translate app) and it translates automatically.

Mezo.

[Mezo]

Me again Nick,

Now i've said this hundreds of time on here over ten years but i'll say it once again, you will need used or new parts & then best way of finding them are on ebay, but you need to log in to each country separately.

So the three main places you can find used parts are ebay.de then ebay.it & finally ebay.fr you can try the UK (ebay.co.uk) but join the bidding war especially if a tank pops up.

The other way is by the part number (download the 34L fiche on here) and then when you see the part you want paste that part number in Google IMAGE search not the normal Google search, do an image search with the part number, it will show dealers with the part & ebayers with the part much quicker way of finding those rare parts.

Don't waste your time searching 55W only stuff, search 34L or better search 34L 55W.

Mezo.

[eldenhiemer]

Again thanks for all the amazing information. As a point of clarification I purchased the bike as a lot, it includes the second bike and all its spare parts, including complete gasket kits and I think 2-3 of some things! I was pretty happy about that as I had similar thing happen with my XJ700 I re-did over winter and it came in handy several times for the little parts that I needed. Not only are most unavailable but it was nice not having to wait 5-6weeks for some special order. I have sent you a PM about the service Manual.

I am more interested in riding this bike that doing a full restoration but that being said the winters here are long and kill about 4-5 months of ridable weather due to road conditions and such so I will have a lot of time on my hands and the desire to tinker with things. I know it needs the usual stuff like a good carb clean and re-assembly, along with regular maintenance items. I already did regular service oil change and filter clean, etc. It was different not just dropping oil and filter , the tank and screen items that need to be done as well was new to me. Glad I found the link for the owners manual on this site, it explained the proper procedure to me. However I feel like the manual instruction to "remove the bleeder screw from the filter housing to check to see that oil pressure is building" should have probably read "loosen..." the resulting guesser had me scrabbling for the off switch.

I will have to figure out the translation thing as most of the links I have seen are European and are in languages I do not read/write. As in the words of John MacLean, "I speak English and and English"

Look forward to posting more about this bike and will hopefully be picking up the remainder of the parts for it this week. And also as for the tank well I thought it came with a spare tank of same size but turns out it has 2 spare tanks. This bike has seen some travel as I understand, locally it has done the Trans Labrador Highway in Canada...which is no small task.

Please feel free to give me a more information you feel is useful to a new owner of these bikes. I can use all the help I can get.
-Nick

[Mezo]

Well first thing you need to do is open an account with postimage.org & learn how to post pictures, pictures say a thousand words as they say.

I have done a written & video tutorial HERE.

Mezo.

[scottieh]

This bike has seen some travel as I understand, locally it has done the Trans Labrador Highway in Canada...which is no small task.
-Nick

Congrats on a lucky find! I live in the states and own two Teneres that were purchased independently from US military members who bought them new in the 80’s and imported them on military planes or boats when they returned home. They are very rare to hear about in north america and even rarer to see. If you ever find yourself down Utah way bring your bike and we can have our very own north American Tenere meetup!

[eldenhiemer]

Will do, I hear there is some amazing riding down in Utah.

nick