My power mods - was it worth it?

[Bartek]

So after owning my Tenere for nearly two years i finally started to fall in love with her   It was love and hate relationship - love on tarmac and hate offroad.

After K-tech suspension upgrade she's good offroad, and good on tarmac, so i'm actually OK with spending even more money on her

I was having difficult decision to make - do i want to spend money on high raise exhaust from Camel ADV (as i smashed my  normally fitted scorpion in offropad crash)  or spend this cash on powermods.

There was lot of thinking, but high raise exhaust lost the battle - i got T7 tail tidy i like and i would have to faf around with position and size of indicators, and this put me off this idea - i hate the look of micro indicators, and wasn't sure if standard ones on T7 tail tidy will get melted or not... so i have choosed following:

 

Scorpion de-cat header (to accomplish my mangled scorpion slip on

DNA air filter

3D printed airbox cover for DNA filter (not original one as i decided to be tight ar** for this part)

Rapid Bike EVO (exclusive version from the same reason as above )

 

Ordered those parts today and now waiting inpatiently.

All above parts cost me around 570 GBP on ebay.

 

Knowing myself how criticizing I'am - i thought i will share my observation with you here, dear collegues

For your benefits or total confusion...

 

It's worth mentioning at this point that in the past i have spent around 700 GBP on PCIII and DNA filter + airbox mod on my Husky 701 and i have promised myself i will never waste money on power mods for the bike, as gains were marginal.

...And here i am - waiting for another delivery - let's wait and see how it's going to pan out with T7.

I will post my observations in this topic.

[rd1myers]

My relationship with the T7 has been the opposite - love it offroad, tolerate it on the road.  But I have focused on making it more offroad worthy since I try to avoid pavement whenever possible.  I also went with the K-tech fork upgrades, and it made a big difference.  I also put knobbies on it pretty quickly.  I underestimated the spring required for the rear shock when loaded up with panniers, and that has since improved with a stiffer spring.  I went from the stock spring to 85nm, then to 90nm (my ride weight is about 210lbs / 95kg).  My new set up makes it so that, with zero preload, the sag is about right for spirited offroad riding without panniers.  Maybe just a bit on the stiff side- although I'm still playing with rebound.  But I have lots of preload to work with when I load it up for longer trips. 

 

I recently added some power mods too.  I went with the HP Corse high mount exhaust, LeoVince headers, Mob-up Design pre-filter and Guglatech filter, and the 2 Wheel Dynoworks ECU tune.  The difference is noticeable, but not extreme.  Better power delivery overall and definitely smoother coming off throttle.  Feels like more power available mid-range but, again, nothing crazy.  I like it.  Previously I had an Arrow slip on with stock headers, and the Guglatech filter.  So I'm probably feeling less of a difference than going from stock to full exhaust/header/tune mods.  

 

Hope you enjoy your mods.  Let us know how you find it!

[Terez]

Regarding power....

 

I went with BW decat headers and full system, 2WDDyno ECU flash   and a Unifilter without snorkel.

Major improvement in fueling/throttle response and livelier midrange and a stronger top end pull.

Very satisfied ....

 

Im 210lbs...ride solo with very light gear.

Mostly gravel road and light trails and a lot of crappy street roads.

 

Stock springs were way too soft.

90n rear spring and 63kg fork springs have it sprung properly...zero preload required for proper sag ....I could prolly get away with a 85n rear spring but the 90n leaves all the preload avail.

This make sthe bike composed and plusher as it rides up in its stroke where the valving works properly....however the oem fork valving and shock valving is marginal....barely enough rebound and the compression damping..especially high speed is harsh.

 

The handling and ergos of the bike are exc ellent...the engine is an overachiever and very fun...great character....acts like a strong well setup 650 single on the bottom end but has a much stronger midrange and then revs into a strong top end....sounds and feels awesome.

 

Japnese build quality overall and solid simple engineering and lack of high tech crap a huge bonus.

 

 

Happy camper here.

 

I would like to go to an aftermarket shock and fork guts tho....the suspension could be wayyy better.

[Mapbook]

My days of off road riding are long gone, so 16T front sprocket reduces RPM overall by 500 makes it nicer on the road but to get a good overtake drop to 5th from 6th gear no big deal K&N air filter improves the roll on 50 to 70 MPH and through the gears.

95nm rear spring left the front original just played with rebound and compression damping now handles well with luggage camping gear on,  at 6' 4'' i am struggling to get my leg over (it's cos i'm old innit) so a set of lower links (20mm) has sorted that no effect on handling.

changed the OEM Scorpion's that i found vibey and the front got unstable on road joints and white lines for Avon trail riders much smoother and stable.

[Terez]

Oh yeah    16th front sprocket

Better overall gearing IMO...The factory 15th is ideal off road gearing but for road riding or even light trail the 16th widens the gear gaps and the engine works its midrange torque better/smoother

6th becomes a true OD and or a high speed cruiser

[Ray Ride4life]

I like both 15 and 16 front and therefore i have a new set with 15 front and 45 rear instead of the 46.

[Bartek]

So most of the stuff (apart from airbox lid) arrived yesterday and i had a great fun fitting it.

Rapidbike fitment was a pleasure and instruction was great. No problems at all.

Scorpion headers went alright - was struggling a bit to align all of the sections, but with loose fitment and some wiggle it went together. Clearance to sumpguard is small, it makes me actually stripping it back and fitting again ensuring manifolds are fully in de-cat section, but they seems to be all in.

Will go for a ride in the evening and feed back

 

Edited June 18, 2022 by Bartek

[Bartek]

Airbox lid turned up yesterday, so i have fitted it before first ride

Filter with airbox lid fitted looks quite large, there must be signifficant difference in capacity and velocity of the air.

Quality wise - it's 3D printed hard material, so finish is prety poor, porous with some rough edges, not prettiest looking upgrade, but it does the job.

 

[Bartek]

After having all planned parts fitted it was a time for a first ride

I was prepared, that rapid bike will need around 200kilometers to adjust, so let's call it 130 miles.

I did half of that yesterday, here's how it feels:

Sound - first difference is that scorpion full system is not louder than just a slip on without baffle on tick over... but when you open up - its louder, but not stupid loud (not very technical measure, i know ) but... when you ride it it gets much more loud in mid range and up top of the revs.

 

Riding impression - first couple of miles and you can feel bike has lost some of the jerkiness, but also totally lost quick reaction to throttle opening - clearly bike has wrong mixture and gets too much air - sluggish reaction for throttle in low range, better than stock power in midrange and again - worst than stock high revs. Some popping on decelaration also heard.  I was prepared for that and didn't panic.

 

I have stopped after couple of miles and let the bike "think about what just happened"

 

After brief pause i carry on riding again - what a strange feeling - bike is getting better! This is a weird feeling someone on this forum described already - ridig a bike that is learning is like riding a live creature

Now the throttle reaction has come back, exhaust popping gone and she revs freely and more powerfully than just before.

At that point i decided to try out wheelie, and the difference is massive - previously on the second gear rolling wheelie was possible in narrow band of revs - you have to have bike on around 5k and dynamic closing and opening the throttle result in wheelie, but you were loosing the power soon as you rev up past 7k. Now you pull the wheel up around 1k lower, and it carries out to around 9k with wheel up. These are estimate values as i'm pretty bad at wheelies so concentrate not to end up on my back

I also was acivelly "teaching" the bike varying load on the engine and speed, from revving high to riding it like achopper on a high gears.

I have noticed its also smoother on gear reduction - stock bike was pretty abrupt due to fuel cut off, now dropping gears feels smoother - less engine breaking, but smoother.

This off and on the throttle jerkiness was never a problem for me with Yamaha, as i come from KTM, and if you riden 990 ADV then everything else is smooth for you, i adapt well to this feature of the bike, and to be fair - i actually wuldn't want it to be gone totally, as this to me is a part of quick throttle response... but it get slightly smoother i suppose.

At that point i ride around 30 miles, stopped again for break. It was good already.

 

Third part of my ride was even better, not such massive difference as after first stop, but bike become even more refined.

Smoothness of the bike riden slow is amazing - it feels like a chopper when on 4th or 5th gear doing 30-40 MPH it's just amazing, how you can be on 5th gear at even 35mph, squeze the throttle and this thing will accelerate with bark like a chopper. This part of bike behaviour will be good for more relaxed riders.

Now for more crazy riders - Red line on rev limiter was moved forward, but i didn't expect miracles in power from that. I never hit the limiter on tenere as there was no need for that, and is no need now with rapid bike either, but!  While preiously there was no point of revving her up past let's say 7k, now it make sense to rev it to 9k - it gets there happier, and it gives you pleasant power up to that point... maybe even higher, but i didn't dare to go to rev limiter on first ride after mods.

Now max speed - this raised rev limiter is good - bike revs qiucker and happier so useable revs are much higer, this also means that at high speed bike still have power to sretch your arms when you opening throttle - something that on stock bike was non existent - this, and the fact that you can keep her on 5th gear much longer, means you got much more power at higher speed - tested on the circuit (wink, wink) you can get her up to 115mph on 5th (!) gear without even hitting rev limiter yet. Now 6th gear is longer ratio, so there is still not enough power to make it exciting, and with 5th gear getting so crazy - 6th  become even more of override than before, so i din't have chance to test actual max speed, as the circut i was testing on wasn' long enough

 

All in all - so far i'm happy, and learning process is still not completed, so i will keep you informed.

To summarise in short:

Bike now can be ridden like a chopper, and it loves hat.

Bike now can be ridden also agressivelly and it loves that.

I think it reminds me so much my 990 Adventure now, its still slightly slower on the straight, faster on the corners, but its equally crazy when you want it and its actually smoother down low revs.

 

Edited June 19, 2022 by Bartek

[Great Escape]

Great write up..sounds like money well spent to me! 

[Ray Ride4life]

I hate you!
Thought i was finished with spending money but now i'm in doubt to add just one more item....

[Moto X]

16t front sprocket great on and off road, full Acroprovic exhaust, KN filter, charcoal box removed, ecu flashed. This thing rips. Love this bike. 

[Ray Ride4life]

Just ordered one, thanks @Bartek for making me spend more money.
Positive side, i don't think i can do more to improve it (and i don't do useless gadgets).

[Ray Ride4life]

On 6/19/2022 at 11:32 AM, Bartek said:

so i will keep you informed

Already an idea what it does with fuel consumption?
Mine should be in before my trip and i'm leaning towards waiting installing it after the trip but i also wanted to wait until today to replace the exhaust for the MIVV that came in friday ant it was fitted the same evening after all

[Bartek]

Hold on, i will go down to the garage to check actual MPG, i was mostly behaving well on the road today...

[Bartek]

40 minutes ago, Ray Ride4life said:

Already an idea what it does with fuel consumption?
Mine should be in before my trip and i'm leaning towards waiting installing it after the trip but i also wanted to wait until today to replace the exhaust for the MIVV that came in friday ant it was fitted the same evening after all

 Just checked... 59.9 MPG average, this gives 3.9 liters/ 100 km's!  Thats nearly unbelivable, i have done last 60 miles today mainly ridig it calmly, with occasional hard accelerations on overtaking. Don't know how it was before, but if it's worst it will be marginally if ridden normally.

I'm sure when pushed and ridden hard it will be taking more, and bike loves to be revved now and yes - when revved its provocative as hell!  Just like KTM's now up the revs   Next time i will check MPG when ridden in anti social way

 

Do it before the trip, honestly - you will love how smooth she will be!  Are you fitting or have a de-cat already?

[Ray Ride4life]

In Norway i have to do it easy too, speeding is very expensive there.
Finland will be more offroad and lots of gravel, tickets there are based on your income. 20km too fast will be around €100 for someone on a social security income but over €10.000 for a big CEO, actually a very fair system.
I have a 2020 so no cat unless there is something in the collector but no lump in the front like the 2022.
Love to play in the corners but with the full gear it's a little less inviting and maybe for the better because it will be very tight with the rear tyre when i do it easy already.
Did 9000km with the Anakee wild on the Crosstourer but lasted just 4500 on the T7 because of the hooligan way of riding.
Compared to the CT the T7 is like a dirtbike and the Touratech WTE suspension set ads to that feel.
Last week i passed a car on a roundabout by jumping the lane dividers (here in the Netherlands we have so called turbo roundabouts with small curbstone lane dividers).

 

But depends on when it get in if i still do it or not.
Shipment will be in 5 to 7 workdays and it has to get here from Italy and i leave the 9th of July.
If it will be shipped in 5 workdays it might be here the 5th, that will be very short notice thinking i have just a few evenings to prepare the rest and leave the house clean (i'm single).
Next weekend i do Oil and filter, brakepads, all new wheel bearings, chain set with 15/45 sprockets (have 16/46 now), clean the K&N air filter and fit a new set Anakee Wild.

[Bartek]

2020 also has catalytic convertors... they sit below the engine, not infront like in 2022. Didn't wanted to make you spend more money, but you do have to throw this away as well    Cat is the biggest bottleneck in Tenere power output.

Rapid bike with K&N and slip on exhaust will be good, but for full potetntial you need to get de-cat headers. I got scorpion, but there is plenty on offer.

Edited June 26, 2022 by Bartek

[Ray Ride4life]

No... this was really IT.
After my trip i'm starting project Africa meaning that if there are no big issues i'm planning on moving from the Netherlands to South Africa.
Because i want to get there on the T7 i need to start saving up some money to get me there and let me do that in a couple of months planning the route day by day with once in a while a day rest in a nice place.

[sunndog]

On 6/26/2022 at 10:19 PM, Bartek said:

2020 also has catalytic convertors... they sit below the engine, not infront like in 2022. Didn't wanted to make you spend more money, but you do have to throw this away as well    Cat is the biggest bottleneck in Tenere power output.

Rapid bike with K&N and slip on exhaust will be good, but for full potetntial you need to get de-cat headers. I got scorpion, but there is plenty on offer.

 

Have you checked the colour of your spark plugs since doing the mods?

Edited August 9, 2023 by sunndog

[Bartek]

On 8/9/2023 at 9:34 AM, sunndog said:

 

Have you checked the colour of your spark plugs since doing the mods?

 

Didnt have a chance, as i wrote off the bike before it's second service and didn't have a reason to look - bike was going very happy and rapidbike does use lambda sensors to gather the data anyway, so any abnormalities would be picked up. If anything i would be more worried about AFR on stock bike setting with those latest EURO emission requirements.

[Woodbarron]

On 6/20/2022 at 12:11 AM, Moto X said:

16t front sprocket great on and off road, full Acroprovic exhaust, KN filter, charcoal box removed, ecu flashed. This thing rips. Love this bike. 

Does the 16tooth sprocket affect the speedo

 

[Simmons1]

5 hours ago, Woodbarron said:

Does the 16tooth sprocket affect the speedo

 

Nope

[Redbikejohn]

Ref mpg. My mpg on the dash has improved but I'm getting less actual milage per tank full, quite a bit less. Rapid seems to mess with mpg measurement.  Nt really sure it was  all worth it for me.....

[katana]

I am over 20k kms currently.  Stock fuelling is great.  I do have the '21 though.