First Round of Farkles and Fuel

OK, so my new Yamaha Super Tenere was in the garage. I bought it to do some long distance riding on and the factory accessories I got pre delivery, other than the top box, headlight protector and alloy bash plate that were added as part of a Yamaha promotion were

  • air deflectors
  • heated grips
  • top box
  • Touring Screen (still on back order)

The first basic requirment for long distance (Iron Butt) riding were at least one GPS and I’ve got plans for a bit of a ride this coming weekend so time was of the essence.

I already had a RAM mount and powered cradle for my TomTom Urban Rider, and another RAM mount for my Spot Connect ready to go, but I needed the powered cradle for the GPS wired in.  A quick phone call to Clive Ward at Motorcyclebiz.com.au who told me he had some time this afternoon to help me out, you beauty!!  Clive works on my KLR-650 and TTR-250, great mechanic who understands trail/adventrue bikes and realistic rates.

So after work I jumped on the Super Tenere and headed up to see Clive. When I picked the bike up it was only half full of fuel and this bike, unlike my Harley-Davidson, does not have a distance to empty reading, just some bars on a fuel guage and some fuel consumption stats.

On the way up to see Clive it hit the bottom bar of the fuel guage and it started to flash.  I’d already passed all opportunities for fuel on the way up and by the time I arrived at Clive’s was concerned that I didn’t have enough in the tank to get back to town.

An hour or so later the GPS was wired in and ready to go and I mentioned the fuel thing to Clive who obligingly poured a few litres into the tank for me.  Thanks Clive, above and beyond! 

It did highlight though that it was going to take me a while to get in sync with the S10, and knowing where your fuel was up to and exactly when you need it makes all the difference in planning and executing Iron Butt rides. So I was going to have to work out a system to manually calculate and monitor consumption/distance to empty.  The guage is useless for that.

With the GPS mounted and fuel in the tank it was time to head home.  The sun was going down so I got to use the headlight too.  Reserving opinion on that for now.

So, what other farkles am I considering for LD Riding, right now bar risers and definitely auxilliary lighting.  Research required.