Anton, I sold my 800GS and did a straight swop for a 2012 white tennere, why...? I too was like you, looked at specs, weight was a major issue for me, the 800 was to much bike for me, to much power, to much top end, to much weight, BUT, the xt660z is not much lighter according to specs, BUT, when you ride it, it feels 50kg lighter, its all about the BALANCE of the bike, WEIGHT DISTRIBUTION, not the advertised weight, and by the way, what ever the specs say, they are lying, I weighed my 800GS last year before I sold it and it clocked in at 230kg, I started a thread about that and you must see the response from everyone, add crash bars, proper bash plates, racks, paniers etc..before you know it a 800GS weighs as much as a 1200GS. I have done die hell 5 times now with different groups, and the last time I did it with the xt660z, what a pleasure!!! the bike feels as if you are sitting INSIDE a bike, not ontop of a bike. Another bone of contention I have with people is how much they complain about how weak standard bikes are and how you HAVE to upgrade suspension, rims, seats, etc....only a small handful of people can ride there bikes to full potential like you said, the rest of us spend a small fortune on upgrading this and that, and for what, maybe it handles a tad better, maybe its a tad safer, but I think it makes us feel we might have a chance at being a better rider with all these upgrades, well, that's what I think, I am one of those, I am going to upgrade to progressive springs front and rear, but this is purely for sand riding, I know for a fact it makes a huge difference in tracking, and I am a more technical rider, don't do high speed tail sweeps, but to answer your question....the 800GS was a much nicer bike on tar and long sections of straight gravel, but in the slow technical stff the xt660z shines, I feel as if I can throw it around like a plastic bike, and I like the fact that I cant ride 180km per hour and write myself off by mistake, 140km/hour is fast enough for me on tar, on dirt I am never going faster than 100km/hour, no bike is perfect, ktm have superior suspension and weight distribution, 18inch rears, scorpion tyres, the list goes on, but sometimes you also want a good looking bike, and the xt660z looks awesome I think, yes, I wish it was lighter, it would have been even better, but like you say, none of us can ride to the bikes full potential, I agree that the technology you are talking about is not quit there on these bikes, but its all we got for now, maybe that's why so many people go for dr650's, pimp them up and you have a Dakar type bike that weighs under 150kg, long range tank, decent suspension etc...but its a pitty than most of these guys hardly use that kind of bike to its full potential, including me, need to ride more, more training courses, etc..good luck with finding your bike
Topic: XTZ660 Tenere dissapointed (Read 4201 times)
