Although rarely fatal, the condition can occur acutely and completely consume the sufferer's mental capacities. There are no reported cases of complete recovery from this disease. Most sufferer's eventually learn to fit 'normal' life around their obsession.
Yamaha refuse to accept that their product is the source of this addiction. Researchers continue to collect evidence to the contrary.
Symptoms include a) Collecting an unreasonable number of "Ténéré" motorcycles, b) an unnatural desire to ride quarter-century old motorcycles to the far ends of the earth, and c) an uncontrolable desire to tell everyone how good there personal Ténéré is or how much work it needs to keep it "on the road".
Everyboby now realises that I suffer from Ténéritis.
Realising this, a good mate suggested I start a blog as therapy. Chris Phillips (CP or Chrispy), understands the effects of Ténéritis. He is currently adventure riding the America's, from South to North on his trusted BMW 1200 GS, the "Wombat" (http://wombatstravels.blogspot.com/). I start this blog documenting the symptoms & side-effects of an acute & prolonged case of Ténéritis. However, I fear this is just simply exhibiting Symptom C) per the Medical description above.
Here is the obligatory apology for being a blogging noob... done!
It all started in April 2009, my employer responded to the Global Financial Crisis by decided to close the "Racing Development" division I was working in and that meant being transferred into another area (fortunately). I ended up working with the Quality group responsible for Service Parts & Accessories. This, of course, gave me a chance to further disperse the knowledge gained in OEM Quality practice over the previous 2 decades or so.
It also gave me a chance to re-connect with CP, another "grumpy old bastard", with whom I'd worked when he was at the Vehicle Assembly Plant 10 years earlier. He had recently re-furbished a 1983 Yamaha XT600ZL Ténéré for a Pommie (English) mate to do a touring holiday on. He had decided to keep the machine as a daily ride after its return from the month-long tour.
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| Chris's 1983 Ténéré just before leaving for a month-long tour of SE Australia in the hands of his Pommie mate... |
Little did CP realise that way back in August 1983, a little over a year before getting married, I had desired one of these little beauties. It appeared to have everything I had wanted in an off-road motorcycle. It was "Buy it and call the wedding off" or "Suck it up, get over it, and move on". In hindsight, (with the exception of my two fantastic kids) I should have gone with the former...
Anyway, ignoring a slightly non-standard colour scheme and an "interestingly" hand painted frame, the moment I saw CP's bike I fell in love all over again! My 'old flame' was back!
I wavered about asking Chris if he could bare parting with it (after all, he did have that other beauty, the 1200 GS sitting in his garage) as I could understand his desire to be serviced by two mistresses! In the end I decided to wait it out and see what would come up on the market.
eBay was the market of choice.
There were a number of really ratty ones over the next few months. I wanted a 'project', not a "basket case". It had to be running at the very least - even if it had 'issues' cosmetically. Then in early October a worthy candidate came up. It looked too expensive, but in the photos it looked fairly original. I contacted the seller before the auction.
"Does it run?"
"Yes, sort of..."
"Does it run well enough to ride back to Melbourne?" (It was in Bathurst, 750 km north of Melbourne)
"I wouldn't guarantee it making it - I haven't ridden it very far myself"
"Thanks!"
I sniped the only other bidder in the last 10 seconds of the auction. This is pretty dangerous as you need to put in a ridiculously large bid - hoping like hell your opponent hasn't done the same. It really is a battle of how much you want the item, and what you are willing to gamble. Key point is that the house (eBay) always wins!
My winning bid of $1525 wasn't too bad. At least it didn't cost the $3500 maximum bid...
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| 39E-000616 as presented on eBay. It isn't really as good or original as it looks! |
So I was the proud owner of 1983 Yamaha XT600ZL Ténéré Chassis Number 39E-000616. The 516th example of the so-called "Pacific" variant. This variant sold throughout the Asia-Pacific nations and South Africa. It had been modified & subsequently certified to Australian Design Rules.
The European market model was known as the "34L". Detail differences to the 34L model were frame (bracketry), triple clamp brackets, front brake hose, direction indicators, headlight and mirrors. All the changes were specifically for regulations compliance.
After arranging the rendevous details with "the seller", I booked a frequent flyer flight to Sydney the weekend after the 2009 running of the famous Bathurst 1000 car race.
