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Enduro comparison test

BMW Paris Dakar, Honda Africa Twin and Yamaha Super Tenere

It doesn’t always have to be Africa: desert – scorching hot sandstorms and burning shimmering midday air. Tea soft, fine sand threatens to mercilessly devour man and machine. The frenzy of gliding between sky-high sand dunes and steel-blue firmament often had to be paid for in sweat, tears – and sometimes even blood.

This dream of freedom and conquering the invincible, born at the Paris-Dakar rally, made the marketing strategists of motorcycle manufacturers from East and West look happy. Bayerische Motoren-Werke, whose R 100 GS was the best-selling motorcycle in Germany last year, would like a second look with the “Paris-Dakar” equipment variant. Its 35-liter tank, the frame-mounted cladding, a one-man bench and the large luggage rack are the cream that should make it palatable to buyers. Owners of the Honda XRV 650 have more sand than cream AT.frica twin between the teeth.

The “rally replica. which was developed on the basis of the victorious Paris-Dakar machine NXR 750 ", according to a Honda brochure, actually seems to be screwed together by people who practice enduro as a hobby themselves. The Africa Twin is a commercial vehicle in the best sense of the word. Be it the needle-bearing aluminum swing arm or the external damper adjustment, be it the instruments that may not look very elegant but are mounted in such a way that they can be replaced inexpensively if damaged, or the engine impact protection made of four millimeter thick aluminum: with the Honda is presented with an enduro that has been carefully thought out. The concept of the Yamaha XTZ 750 Super Tenere was also thought through with great care – albeit with completely different stipulations. Only about five percent of all enduro riders ever venture further into the terrain with their device than the nearest dirt road – not to mention Africa.

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Everyone is still up.

So what was more natural for Yamaha than to construct an enduro for the remaining 95 percent of the tunnel guild, which might sometimes take a gravel road, but otherwise only use asphalt? The origins of the Super Tenere actually lie in Africa. But the French also contributed. In 1985, Jean-Claude Olivier, head of the Yamaha importer Sonauto, decided to contest the 1986 Paris-Dakar rally on an enduro with the four-cylinder engine of the Yamaha FZ 750. However, the large overall width, its high weight and the great thirst for petrol stood in the way of racing success at the time. The XTZ 750 Super Tenere is the logical conclusion from the FZ 750 experiment from 1986. However, halving the number of cylinders did not help much: with suitcases, the newcomer among the long distance riders still weighs a full 240 kilograms.

Top speeds

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The cladding of the Super Tenere is too narrow. The footrests are far forward and are wide.

The engines of all three machines are safe starters – even after cold or wet nights. Supported by the choke, which is located on the left handle on Honda and BMW and in the middle of the handlebars on Yamaha, they always grumble quietly after pressing a button in idle. A very bad habit of the Japanese manufacturers, however, is their willingness to save in the mostly wrong place. If at some point the Japanese twins’ battery or starter fail, pushing is the order of the day. The BMW is the only one of the three terrain sizes that can at least optionally be equipped with a kick starter – for 145 marks. In terms of performance, the Super Tenere easily outperforms both the Paris-Dakar BMW and the Africa Twin. Its 69 hp peak performance is particularly noticeable on the motorway with luggage. Even at a cruising speed of 150 km / h, power reserves are still available on inclines or when overtaking.

Even 180 km / h are possible on the flat. With its full liter displacement, the BMW has enormous power reserves in the middle speed range, but at high speed it has to give the Yamaha the first step. Its 60 hp have a lot more to do with air resistance than with the standard R 100 GS. 150 km / h continuous speed can be comfortably maintained with the Paris-Dakar, but at 165 km / h speedometer display is over. The Honda holds up surprisingly well on the fast connecting stages between home and vacation. Although the Africa Twin engine with "only" 650 cubic centimeters and 50 HP is arithmetically a bit poorer, the Honda driver need not worry. More like the Paris-Dakar driver, because he sees himself overtaken by the Africa Twin time and time again: the Honda arrows over the motorway with a happy 170 km / h odometer reading.

Sitting and driving comfort

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Technical specifications

The seat heights of the three motorcycles differ only insignificantly from one another: the BMW has the lowest driver’s seat at 850 millimeters, and the Honda at 870 millimeters the highest. In between is the Yamaha with 865 millimeters. Regardless of this, when you climb the Yamaha you have the feeling of climbing the highest of the three machines. The Africa Twin, on the other hand, looks much smaller and more manageable to the driver than it looks to someone standing next to it. A very tight, comfortable knee joint, footrests at the ideal height and position, seat padding that is comfortable even on long journeys and an equally perfectly cranked handlebars give the Honda driver the feeling of really sitting in the machine. This is supported by the tank bulges drawn far around the knees, which even act as leg panels and keep the driver’s knees dry for a while in the rain. Quite different with the Yamaha. Their broadly bulged tank forces the driver’s knees fully into the wind – and possibly into the rain. Even the handlebar is wider than average at 820 millimeters.

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Performance measurement

The Super Tenere receives an additional minus for the far too soft rubber mounting of the handlebar. This makes precise steering with the Super Tenere very difficult. The Paris-Dakar offers a third variation on the seating experience. As comfortable as grandfather’s wing chair, she picks up her driver. The well-shaped seat of the one-man bench (the two-person bench of the standard GS can also be ordered as an option), a tight knee joint and the handlebars that are firmly screwed and lie well in the hands make the BMW Enduro a pleasant travel partner. However, the comfort soon ceases when long, fast stretches on the motorway are due: an enormous vortex forms behind the window without a tank bag. The helmet is so shaken by turbulence that the driver’s view may even be blurred. With a tank bag, however, the vortex is prevented. The air flow flows smoothly over the driver’s shoulders, and the helmet lies in the steady wind. The incoming air is also gentle on the Honda driver’s helmet, both with and without a tank bag. The windshield of the XTZ 750, on the other hand, is of sufficient height. but got too narrow. In the long run, the wind can blow exhaustingly on the chest and shoulders.

Undercarriages

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Driving performance and test values

The chassis data of the Paris-Dakar-BMW – 62 degrees steering head angle and 101 millimeters of caster – speak in connection with the low center of gravity for a very manageable handling. In fact, the Paris-Dakar can claim this for itself; however within limits. Both the weight of 250 kilograms when fully fueled and the fact that the Paris-Dakar is more top-heavy than the standard GS are reflected in the handling. The handiness on winding country roads is retained; You can still drive through alternating curves with the BMW precisely and without great effort. However, attention is required on wet roads or loose surfaces. The BMW tends to slide over the front wheel when cornering – it is understeer. On loose surfaces, curves with the Paris-Dakar should always be driven through with a little pull on the rear wheel, but in any case carefully. The stability at top speed could also be improved. The big BMW begins to commute at around 160 km / h, regardless of whether it is loaded or not. However, this oscillation is always controllable and never becomes dramatic.

The fact that enduros in this class can be absolutely stable at top speed is proven by the flawless straight-line stability of the Honda and, above all, that of the fast Yamaha under the same conditions. On slippery ground, the Super Tenere also pushes over the front wheel when cornering; therefore the same rules apply to them as to BMW. Nothing like that challenges the Africa Twin pilot. With almost the same weight distribution as the BMW, the Honda shows an almost neutral cornering behavior. Both its longest wheelbase (1555 millimeters) and the caster of the Honda play a role here, which is 113 millimeters (12 millimeters) longer than the BMW. The Yamaha caster, on the other hand, is identical to that of the BMW 101 millimeters. The two Japanese women rely on the well-known Mono Cross (Yamaha) and Pro Link (Honda) rocker arm systems. To give the rear suspension a progressively increasing spring rate. BMW has dispensed with a lever system for its Paralever, two-jointed single-sided swing arm with torque support, so as not to complicate this construction. On country roads of all orders, the suspension qualities of the three test persons are sufficient to swallow rough bumps with gradations. The BMW always communicates the current road conditions to the driver a little more directly than the other two. On very uneven surfaces or when driving hard on the road, the non-adjustable damping of the Yamaha both front and rear – and here in particular – decreases significantly after a while; With heated damper oil, the ship of the desert becomes a rocking horse. The same effect occurs on the rear Honda shock absorber, but to a much lesser extent. In addition, the Honda’s damper adjustment on the left of the frame makes it easy to readjust the rebound damping. The damping of the BMW shock absorber is not ideal: The compression stage is too hard, the rebound stage is a bit too soft. But it remains at least approximately the same even on worse paths, because the BMW damper does not also have to withstand the heat of the engine, as is the case with the central spring struts of the competitors.

Brakes and engine

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The BMW boxer equipped with a 40-millimeter carburetor impresses with its rich draft,

Instead, the Paris-Dakar struggles with another problem on unpaved roads. It hits hard with the handlebars at high speeds on potholes. Strong gripping is advisable here if the load is to stay on the right path. Such a hearty grip on the Paris-Dakar handbrake lever should be avoided. Even with normal operation, the Brembo pliers grip the 285 millimeter disc as if it wanted to bite a piece out of it. Compared to those of the BMW, the linings of the Yamaha double-piston floating calipers suck a lot listlessly on their two discs even when they are cold. In addition, the Yamaha brakes are very prone to fading. To put it more precisely: It is not a good feeling to shoot into a tight downhill serpentine with the brake lever pulled all the way to the grip and the braking effect still decreasing. In addition, the rear brake fulfills its duties just as listlessly as the front brake. The braking effect of the Yamaha system in continuous operation with two people or luggage has to accept the overall rating “unsatisfactory”. The brake drum in the rear wheel of the BMW also lands in similar regions on the rating scale. You have to stand on the pedal with your full body weight in order to achieve a useful deceleration. Compared to the braking systems, only the Honda was able to convince.

The braking effect, controllability and endurance of the two Africa Twin disc brakes with a diameter of 296 millimeters at the front and 240 millimeters at the rear have always been superior to those of their competitors in both cold and hot conditions.

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The low-vibration Honda three-valve engine with double ignition has the lowest consumption.

In the end, on the winding streets, the engines had to allow deep insights into their true character. The six gears of the Super Tenere are not a superfluous luxury, as a glance at the five-speed gearbox of Africa Twin and ParisDakar suggests, but a pure necessity. It was to be expected that the BMW would be able to convert its 980 cm³ displacement on winding roads into superior pulling power. Nobody needed as little manual work as it did. The surprise was the presentation of the Honda on this terrain: In order to be able to keep up with it, the Yamaha rider was forced to do heavy shifting work. In any case, there could be no question of a superior pulling power of the Yamaha over the Honda in the lower speed range relevant for driving on winding roads. The reason for this is the very long final translation of the Super Tenere, which also allows easy off-road inserts with the newcomer to be a nerve test. Either you nolt over the gravel at almost 5000 rpm in first gear, or the engine threatens to constantly die in second gear.

The Yamaha can only be gained through revs for usable performance. However, once the engine has reached its peak performance, the driver’s attention is again required. The path of the throttle twistgrip is very short: so shorts that at the appropriate speed, a few degrees more opening angle can be converted into considerable acceleration. This is not exactly conducive to a steady driving style off-road or on winding roads. Despite a long gear ratio, the Super Tenere was the only one of the machines in the test on the autobahn to allow itself more than ten liters of unleaded regular gasoline per hundred kilometers. She also responded to poor gasoline quality by ringing the bell. BMW and Honda digested any quality of petrol without complaint. The Africa Twin used a maximum of 7.5 liters, the Paris-Dakar 9.2 liters of unleaded normal. Country road operations reduced fuel consumption to 7.3 liters for the Super Tenere, 7.8 liters for the Paris-Dakar and 7.1 liters for the Africa Twin – each with full suitcases, tank bags and full travel bags strapped to the carriers.

Case systems and conclusion

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The long-translated Yamaha five-valve engine is the only one that needs a six-speed gearbox.

Incidentally, the carrier: The standard tubular steel carrier of the Honda can be loaded with 20 kilograms of luggage, the cast aluminum carrier of the Yamaha can only handle five. And the rack mounted on the BMW instead of the front passenger seat can be loaded until the maximum permissible total weight is reached. The asymmetrical fastening options for the cases thanks to their two-in-one exhaust systems are good on the BMW with cases of different sizes, and on the Honda from Hepco & Becker solved satisfactorily; the unnecessarily far protruding muffler of the Yamaha, however, drove the Hepco & Becker people, who fitted a provisional luggage carrier to our test machine in the fog and night before the comparison drives, almost tears in their eyes. The distance between the right case and the motorcycle is so great that you are at Hepco & Becker is considering producing only one carrier for the left case for the Super Tenere. The Yamaha people should then go over their exhaust layout again.

The BMW Paris-Dakar keeps what its name promises: the long distance across the black continent would not cause any problems for you or your driver. A large tank, practical long-distance travel equipment and the proven and simple technology are the guarantee for the appropriate endurance. The Honda Africa Twin proves that less can also be more: Your driver will soon appreciate its balance and carefully thought-out detailed construction on the road as in the desert. without having to mourn a larger displacement. Finally, the Super Tenere is far too beautiful in the mother-of-pearl white and blue paintwork that we drive. to drive them through rocky deserts and over sand dunes. On the expressway, however, she is the queen of enduros. The very powerful engine and the impeccable straight-line stability as well as the equipment arranged according to the type of road machine give it its well-deserved appearance. And the bottom line of this story: There are many different options. To ride enduro; whether on the road, off-road or even in the Sahara. But it doesn’t always have to be Africa to experience this first.

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