The Yamaha XT660Z Ténéré JaumeV version thread

Hi!

Sorry for my Spanglish. I’'m JaumeV from Barcelona.



Last year and a half I had lot of fun riding and modifying a Yamaha Ténéré 1200 witch I converted in an off road beast.







Most of my trips where with some colleagues, we could help each other so the weight of the bike wasn’t very important. But recently I have decided to do solo trips.

In my last trip to Morocco, I broke the bike’s fan and I was alone one day. Stuck in the sand I realized that a solo off road trip can be dangerous with such a heavy bike.



So I decided to change the Ténéré 1200 for a 660.
I've always liked the 660, it’s a reliable and simple motorcycle, comfortable and with good fuel capacity. I think it's one of the few bikes of this type in the market. I was also interested in the BMW GS800 but it’s much more sophisticated and despite being more expensive it has some poor components such the wheels or suspensions that need to improve. Another option is the more off road oriented KTM690 witch I like a lot. The KTM problem is that it is also more expensive than the Yamaha and needs more fuel capacity, improve the comfort for dual rides and more important I think it doesn’t have the reliability of the Yam. At least this is my bad experience with this branch. I love the KTM philosophy "ready to race" they are exciting and fun bikes but I'm not racing and I do not want to spend hours on maintenance. So finally I'll take the Yam.

That said, there are many things to improve in the 660. I'm sure that for 90 % of users the bike is perfect as it is but I want to get it to the limit... and I love farkling ... Basically what I want is to make it lighter, improve the engine without losing reliability ( or minimum ) and improve suspensions. The rest will be small mods , protections, etc. .

The bike arrives few weeks ago and this is the list of mods I have it now:

- Pegs, the series are too small to be many hours standing over them.
- Fender high to avoid wheel locks with clay
- Headlight protector
- Extended Kickstand
- Luggage rack
- Hand guards
- Skid plate
- Improve air intake
- New exhaust , preferably a single one to save weight
- Changing the seat to one level

Suspension:
- Front suspension from a Yamaha YZ. That means I need new triple clamps , front wheel hub , and a single brake disc. That saves a lot of weight and It improves the suspension.
- New rear suspension

I leave for later other things like suitcases , power comander and so on. Also the 18” rear wheel but I prefer to ride the bike a lot to be sure if it is necessary.

This is my new toy as it is now:

With big sister







New toys arived: YZ450 bars



The fun begin

I will show you here all the evolution and for sure lots of questions to all of you that know this bike better than me.

I'm looking forward to this build! Even though its on a bike that's not available in the US...

That 1200 looks very cool.

660 should be interesting. Looks like you will transform it into the bike it should have been in the first place.

jaumev it needs decals. Does pluric know bout the color?

Looking forward to the build of the 660.

Someone remind me why this bike in unavailable in the US...

Maybe 2 reasons:
-Most Yamaha USA corporate guys are cruiser guys and not interested. They've even had RTW riders on 660s offer to come by and see the bike in person and they refuse. For some reason they have ZERO interest in it?
-They way the bike is built or where it's build would cause the selling price to be very high in the US market compared to the competition.

You want one? Move to "lowly" old Mexico where you can buy one.
http://www.yamaha-motor.com.mx/xt660tenere.html
The bike is available just south of you of all places.
http://www.yamaha-motor.com.mx/mapa/distribuidores.html

It's really a joke on Yamaha USA part from the outside in, but I'm sure the exact real truth is out there somewhere?

Yeah... quite boring all black like this... I'm working in the design as well ...

I know about the colour, but as you can see in the 1200 I was changing from white to black so...waiting for Pluric jokes

I'm not convinced with the black but I have this bike from Yamaha Spain (good deal) and I can't choose the colour. It has ABS as well witch I don't want it..

But all this can be changed

That 1200 looks sick, cant wait to see how you transform the 660.

Hi Jaumev,
I already did this job on mine, you can see it here:
http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=883385&highlight=xt660z+forks

I hope it will help.

Hey Ramar, that's a great work.
Shure you can help me.
Is good to know the Ohlins '52 springs work, I was looking for some advice.

Some questions:

- I'm going to have the Off the Road triple clamp, does the YZ triple clamps have the same geometry than the 660?

- What calliper did you use with the 320mm rotor?

- How is the seat height with this mods? I'm concerning to reach the floor with my 1,78m tall...

Hi Jaumev,

52 Ohlins was a bit short, so I have to put 15mm spacer. The sag is still not what it should be, but it's much better than the stock. I did a lot off road miles and it work great.
About the triple clamp from OTR I don't know, I used from YZ and Tenere steam.
I use original YZ caliper, it work almost as the stock brakes.
About the hight, I am 1.85 and for me is fine but on the edge.

Ok, thanks!

Yeah... I'm a bit worried about high...

Cheers!

This is a simple calculation what you should expect. What I changed, how much I paid and the old parts sold:

Description Price
1 Forks YZ 450 2006 Kayaba - 140 euro - second hand - Ebay
2 Front wheel YZ excel 21 x1.60 - 120 euro - second hand - Ebay
3 Front Disk Wave 320mm + adapter - 145 euro - Ebay
4 Seat - 110 euro - second hand - Ebay
5 Brake caliper - 20 euro - second hand - Ebay
6 Brake hose - 23 euro - local shop
7 Fork protectors - 29 euro - Ebay
8 Touratech shift gear - 38 euro
9 Exsaust guard - 20 euro
10 22/28mm bar adapters - 30 euro Ebay
11 Brake hose holder Zeta - 20 euro, local shop
12 Bash plate - 80 euro, hand made
13 Mudguard - 45 euro Off the road
14 Fork springs - 100 euro - Ohlins
15 Front tire - 75 euro
16 Front bearings - 29 euro Ebay
17 Tool box - 20 euro Ebay
18 Stop light - 29 euro, local shop
19 Side covers HR - 45 euro Ebay

Total spent - 1118 Euro

Old parts sold
Forks - 250 euro
Tire+ Disc - 190 euro
Brake calipers - 60 euro
Seat - 20 euro
Total - 521 Euro

You know how to buy!!!

I expect to spend more...

Thanks!!

Subscribed. In for the super mods on this one. Sure wish Yamaha Europe controlled Canada instead of USA, then we could get the 660 here too.

Yeah.. i can`t understand why as so many of you like this bike...:huh

Meanwhile, few weeks ago I was in the 30th years Tenere Meeting in Bonaduz (Switzerland). I saw lots of nice 660:









But this was my favourite, I love the blue Sonauto:

I also planed to go on that meeting and even paid my enter fee, but the work not let me to do it. I guess I miss a lot!