Super Tenere 1200 Review

[krusty]

Great while it lasted - about four hours. Bike is ok, me, not so much but could be worse. I am typing this from my room in Christchurch NZ hospital nursing a very sore lower left leg. They tell me I have a broken heel and broken big toe. So, a little more detail is in order, yes?
Monday myself and five mates arrived in Christchurch, New Zealand, yes the same place where an idiot low life killed fifty people (there are some of the survivors in the rooms next to me). We picked up our bikes and set of before midday for the small town of Haast, on the west coast. We had an enjoyable ride through the gorge with a little rain and strong wind as far as Arthur's Pass, a small rest stop, where we had lunch as the rain started falling by buckets with the wind pushing the rain almost horizontal! After a light lunch we decided to keep going as we had anticipated the storm depression moving north and we were going west then south.
I would like to explain what happened next but I remember nothing after leaving our lunch stoop until I woke up to find paramedics and others working on me and holding a tarp over me to keep the rain off. My riding gear was all cut off but I don't remember that either.
I must have been out of it for 30-40 minutes as it is a remote, hard to access location. Once they had me prepped for travel I was taken back to Arthur's Pass in a cop car to await a medivac chopper. It was a risky flight due to the high winds and all but emergency flights in the area were suspended. I'm not feeling any pain as I had a canula. It was a really rough flight over the mountains back to Christchurch.
It is  evening now and I am comfortable whereas yesterday evening I was in a heap of pain. No morphine today, only Panadol. The bike rental company have been fantastic and have offered to put me up in their home for the next two nights (that's if I'm released tomorrow) while the insurance company organizes my flight back to Sydney.
Oh, the bike is??? Bent shift lever, slightly bent front wheel and scratches to the top box and paniers.

[krusty]

We found out later that day that the road in the direction we were going was blocked by a landslide and is closed in both directions and also a large bridge between the Fox and Franz Josef glaciers was washed out. That also put then plans for the others in disarray as that was in the direction they were going.

[Pat Conlon]

Glad you're ok Krusty. Rest easy, take care of your concussion. Let that grey matter heal.
Your bones will heal, but your noggin is important. When your mates check in, and you feel up to it, let us know what happened.

Again rest easy laddie....no shenanigans!

[krusty]

They're not sure. Only one was near me. He thinks I was hit but a sudden gust which threw me sideways and I've either over corrected or run out of room and hit Armco. The back of my left boot above the heel has a hole in it and my helmet has big scratches although I've not seen it yet. I was wearing full body armor, as I always do, plus a full rainsuit and armored gloves. Due to the diabolical conditions we were traveling a low speed est. <80kph.

[Sparky84]

So your review is Don't ride the Tenere in windy conditions?

Good to hear you're semi ok, sounds like it could've been a lot worse.
Broken heel sounds painful, I've bruised under the heel before and it's painful when walking on it.
As Pat says rest that scone of yours.

Enjoy the care in hospital and wishing you a speedy recovery.

[krusty]

An update. I'm still in hospital and still don't know when I'll be out. Maybe today, maybe tomorrow, but I thought that two days ago. I think they want to be sure of my mobility.
Injuries are settling. Fractured heel and big toe with lots of bruising in between. Small laceration of left heel. They removed my cast yesterday to check for any infection - all clear. Cast was replaced with a "slipper" cast, if that's the word for it. They apply a full cast from the calf down the cut the front of it away. It's then wrapped in stretch bandage and is removable for checking  by medicos when I get home. They also fitted a rubber sandal to the cast so that I can still touch the floor with my toe for better stability.

pause



Doctor has just been and gone and is happy enough for me to leave today, pending clearance by physio and occupational therapists, and fly home. Yippee.
As for the Super Tenere (2013) . Nice enough bike. It was comfortable enough but I prefer the FJ riding position. The engine noise seemed to be at odds with the exhaust noise so I learned to ignore it. The engine, as one would expect, has good power. I did try out the "Tour" and "Sport" engine settings. I started out on tour then changed back to sport then back to tour again, which was my  preference. I almost stalled it a couple of times moving off on the sport setting.
The seat height has two, I think, height setting which involve removing the seat and turning around a plastic piece. The higher setting felt a tad too high for me at 6'1" so the rental guy adjusted down for me. I could still get both feet flat on the ground. The engine is very flexible and a few times I found myself in 3rd or 4th when I thought I was in 5th or 6th.
There was one thing in particular that one of our guys, Barry aka Baz noted at our first rest stop. All our tyres, front and rear, had 45psi. He was also on a Super Tenere and adjusted his tyres down, I don't remember what to. I checked mine and adjusted the rear to 40psi and front to 35psi. Baz owns a Tenere back in Oz. I am not familiar with the correct pressures for a 1200 Tenere but with the dual purpose tyres I thought that 45 was a bit high. At the moment I didn't remember the tyre brand or size. I can't help wondering if these tyre pressures were in any way a contributory factor.
My riding weight, dressed, would have been about 86kg and my luggage less panniers, about 10kg.

[Troyskie]

Mate, what a bummer! I'm happy to hear you're mostly ok. It's also great to hear how the hire company are reacting. That and proper insurance are a great anxiety reliever.

Best wishes for a comfy flight home (if those darn OT's & Physios give you the ok).

Troyskie

[Sparky84]

Good to hear you might be on your way home.

How are you going at getting around on your feet? Very slowly I'm sure.

Is that Baz from Helensburgh?

Good luck with your flight orders

Cheers
Alan

[krusty]

Thanks guys. I'm about to leave hospital in about 30 minutes. They want my room but want me back on Monday to sign off on my paperwork. I'm being picked up by Andrea from Kiwi Motorcycle Rentals. They offered to put me up for a few days while the insurance works out what flight they want to pay for. They are such nice people, KMCRs, not the insurance company although they've been pretty good so far.

[ryanschoebel]

Thanks guys. I'm about to leave hospital in about 30 minutes. They want my room but want me back on Monday to sign off on my paperwork. I'm being picked up by Andrea from Kiwi Motorcycle Rentals. They offered to put me up for a few days while the insurance works out what flight they want to pay for. They are such nice people, KMCRs, not the insurance company although they've been pretty good so far.

Glad to hear that it wasn't too bad, and that the insurance is actually working with you! That's a rare occurrence in and of itself!  Rest easy!

[krusty]

The value of using crash protection is that I'm still here to talk about it even though i still don't remember any of it.

[krusty]

Now that I'm home I have the time to add a few pics.
Yours truly with Super Tenere.

[Sparky84]

Bloody hell Krusty, now that's a crack and a half in your helmet!

No wonder you don't remember.
How's your mobility going?

[krusty]

Getting around like a prostitute with a broken leg - hobbling on crutches. Went to local GP yesterday and had and brain scans today. Will get results next week and will have a consultation with Orthopaedic surgeon. Pain is lessening but there is a lot of swelling. Biggest problem is how to get to my chair with a hot cup of coffee from my Aldi coffee machine.

[krusty]

Previous pic shows gash in my heel yet there was no penetration of my boot although the solo separated from the upper. It was just from impact but not sure with what, road or gear shift perhaps.
A couple o0f nice haematomas have developed.