Fresh on the heels of the recall of the Yamaha FJR1300 for its gearbox issues, Yamaha has another recall on the books with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, this one affecting over 18,000 motorcycles.
At the core of the problem is a faulty brake light switch that is used on seven different models: the Yamaha FJR1300, Tracer GT, Niken GT, Super Ténéré, Star Eluder, and Star Venture.
The final recall from this week, and in addition to the recall for the Yamaha SR400, Yamaha Motor USA is recalling the Yamaha Super Ténéré for issues with its electrical system.
The issue stems from the fact that over time a gap may develop in the protective sealant where the lead wires of the accelerator position sensor (APS) and throttle position sensor (TPS) connect to the electronic control unit (ECU).
This gap may cause corrosion to the wires, and thus change the resistance of the wires, which would send an incorrect signal to the ECU.
Because of this, the corrosion might prevent the engine from returning to idle after the throttle is released, and thus poses a potential safety hazard.
It looks like Yamaha is getting ready to bring an updated Tiny Ténéré to market (photos here), giving ADV riders a new middleweight option in the Yamaha lineup. This is because spy photos from Europe show what looks like a adventure-tourer, powered by the 689cc FZ-07 parallel-twin engine.
If we do see a Yamaha XT700ZE enter the market, it would be a welcomed compliment to the 1200cc Yamaha Super Ténéré, and help the Japanese brand compete in the increasingly competitive ADV market, especially against brands that already have a ~800cc adventure model available.
In addition to the priced-to-own Yamaha YZF-R1S debuting today, Yamaha has also announced that its 60th Anniversary livery will be headed to the USA as well.
Yes, this means that yellow & black “speedblock” Yamaha YZF-R1 that you drooled over a month ago will be available for purchase for a cool $16,990 MSRP, along with the Yamaha YZF-R6 ($11,490 MSRP) and Yamaha Super Ténéré ($15,590 MSRP).
As you can tell, the speedblock paint is commanding a $500 premium from Yamaha; and disappointingly, only only the base model R1 and Super Ténéré will get the special livery.
This means that if you have an R1M, R1S, or Super Ténéré ES you will have to figure out some way to swap the plastics out on your machine, if you want to help Yamaha celebrate its 60th anniversary of being in business, that is.
Still, as always, the yellow and black liveries are fetching and attractive on these three machines. If you don’t believe that statement, we have the proof in the high-resolution photos, found after the jump.
Yamaha Motor USA issued a recall for several motorcycles — FJ-09, FZ-09, FZ6R, Super Ténéré, Super Ténéré ES, and YZF-R6 — that were manufactured between September 1, 2014 and November 17, 2014.
The cause of the recall, which affects 4,900 units, is an incorrectly manufactured shift cam segment stopper, which has a sharp edge instead on the inside of the bend, instead of a smooth radius.
Because of this, the stopper can crack and possibly fracture where the edge is sharp, which in turn would cause the transmission not to shift properly.
Yamaha USA has announced that they will be recalling a combined 24,000 units of the 2012-2013 Yamaha Super Ténéré and 2009-2013 Yamaha YZF-R1 models, due to heat expansion in the headlight.
The heat expansion could cause potential failure of the headlight, which would reduce visibility of the motorcycle to oncoming traffic and increasing the risk of a crash.
Yamaha Canada has some interesting developments for the 2014 Yamaha Super Ténéré, namely that the venerable adventure bike will be getting electronically adjustable suspension, courtesy of KYB, for the new year. Accordingly, the newly equipped bike will be called the Yamaha Super Ténéré ES, and like its non-ES sibling, will feature some improvements for the 2014 model year.
The Yamaha Super Ténéré will now come standard with cruise control, and will feature an all new LCD display. LED signals have also been added, along with an aluminum handlebar and risers. However, we think the upgrade that most enthusisasts will be happy to see is that Yamaha has coaxed some more power and torque from the Super Ténéré, by making changes to the EFI and exhaust system.
We thoroughly enjoyed the 2012 Yamaha Super Ténéré when we rode it last year (yeah..do the math on those numbers). Properly thrashing the machine through the outskirts of Sedona, Arizona, the big-displacement Super T is fun adventure-tourer that balances Japanese bang-for-the-buck economics with a robust feature set normally reserved only for European machines.
So it is hard to imagine how Yamaha could improve on an already fine motorcycle (we guess the tuning fork brand could give the Super Ténéré away for free), but the Japanese manufacturer did so with its Yamaha Super Ténéré Worldcrosser concept.
A more rugged and off-road oriented variant of the Super T, the 2012 Yamaha Super Ténéré Worldcrosser seemed too-polished, and certainly too well received to avoid going into production, and sure enough, we have gotten word today that Yamaha has green-lit the Worldcrosser for production (we’ll take one in competition white, please).
We really enjoyed riding the 2012 Yamaha Super Ténéré around the picturesque landscape that is Sedona, Arizona, but Yamaha’s variety of color schemes for the Super T leaves a little bit to be desired if your favorite color isn’t blue or black. Never fear, the tuning fork brand has you covered, as Yamaha has debuted the 2012 Yamaha Super Ténéré in “Competition White” at the Verona Motor Bike Expo.
The new racing-inspired white color scheme is just one of four colors Yamaha has rolled out at Verona, with a “Silver Viper Tech” livery also reportedly being teased. We’re not sure which, if either, of these two new colors will be available in the United States, but we imagine that if there was enough expressed interest, Yamaha would make them available on this side of the pond. Check out the gallery of the “Competition White” Super Ténéré after the jump.
Asphalt & Rubber was recently one of a few blogs, along with the usual suspects from the American media, to be invited out to Arizona for Yamaha’s press launch of the Super Ténéré adventure-tourer motorcycle (because we know Americans have no idea what to do with an accented “e”, think “tay-nay-ray” for pronunciation…or just cheat like us and say “ten-air-ray”). The earth is orange here in Arizona, and between the mesas and evergreen forests, Sedona makes for a picturesque setting, that’s away from the bustling metropolitans and city life. This serves our purpose well as its an ideal environment to show-off the 2012 Yamaha Super Ténéré against the desert’s beautiful backdrop and star-filled skies, but it also serves as the type of destination Super Ténéré owners would likely visit on Yamaha’s new motorcycle, putting us right in the shoes of the target customer.
A market segment based around compromises, adventure-tourers sit somewhere between the juxtaposition of dirt and touring bikes. Based on the idea that the journey doesn’t end where the road does, the adventure-tourer market has taken over from the Harley-Davidson crowd as the next expression of freedom on the open road. Essentially created by the BMW GS series, it is impossible to talk about adventure bikes without mentioning the GS, but other manufacturers as well have entered into this growing market, coming up with different ideas on what riders are looking for when they want to escape from the daily grind.
Built to ride both on and off the street, adventure bikes pose the unique problem of having to decide where to make the trade-offs between these two different purposes, and in this regard we find the 2012 Yamaha Super Ténéré, leaning more heavily to the street side of this equation than say the BMW R1200GS. As a publication that centers around street bikes generally (hence the name Asphalt & Rubber), we too lean towards the street side of that equation, making the Yamaha Super Ténéré a strong congruency to what we look for in this motorcycle segment, and a bike we wouldn’t mind adding to our stable of daily riders and long-distance tourers.