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Anyone who grew up in the eighties will understand what's going on here.
Who is that, what does he do and why on XT600Z?
Customer, buddy and colleague Gary German Zens rode the "Morocco Royale" with the organizer Endurado. The whole thing on his beloved 86 Ténéré. And because Gary already has many years and countless kilometers under his belt, we attach great importance to his impressions, which he shares with us in pictures and words.
What was going on there? That looks very good.
Life dream, bucket list entry? Whatever.
There are experiences that you should have in life. A trip through Africa on two wheels is one of them for many. Of course, in the age of the mobility guarantee and the GS 1300 Adventure, this is no longer a real adventure. But you can also roll the technology from 1986 off the ferry and things look different. The myth of the "Paris-Dakar" is within reach and the scent of rally, improvisation and sweet uncertainty is on board.
From the Yamaha rally machine to the roads of Europe and back to the dunes of Morocco via modification.
The "Paris-Dakar" has spawned countless developments and trends since 1979. Yamaha's XT600Z "Ténéré", as a descendant of the XT500, is naturally one of them. The enduro boom really took off with the four-stroke single cylinders of the brand with the tuning forks.
Would Yamaha have achieved this success after a DT400 was launched in 1979?
Was planned. Turned out differently. Fortunately.
You don't go on a guided trip to Africa every day. Especially not on forty-year-old equipment. So the XT600Z had to be meticulously prepared. We asked our main protagonist how it all came about and whether it all worked.
Tell us about the organizer of the "Morocco Royale". What awaited you at the start on the African continent?
The maker Markus Schüller is a real self-made man.tour operator. His company is ENDURADO - a motorcycle adventure travel organization. Countless trips to Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Niger, Ethiopia, Mauritania, Senegal, Tanzania and the USA are paying off in an incredible way. wealth of experience. Markus has been doing this for over 40 years.
We leave the well-trodden tourist trails and explore tracks and spots.
that nobody else includes in their tour planning. How 70-80% off-road routes determine the day. I have it "on experience for yourself". Get out of your comfort zone and into a real Motorcycle adventure.
At Markus Schüller, everything comes from one.... IN one hand. Because the "boss"
always rides along with great passion.
From the first contact via the website, the personal conversation to coordinate the trip, the motorcycle transportation and the entire trip to the farewell at the airport - everything is totally binding and friendly.
As a customer, you feel safe in the knowledge that everything is being done to ensure that the adventure runs smoothly.
Many customers are repeat offenders and become friends. Once in a year, many of the participants come to a relaxed motorcycle meeting in the Taunus together.
Under the motto: Friends of ENDURADO.
Gary Zens - Who is he anyway?
Hello Gary, wonderful that you shared your story with
want to share with us. Your pictures are great, so first of all:
Where do you come from and what brought you to the motorcycle?
brought?
I live in Herold, near Katzenelnbogen, a small village in the Taunus, but I was born in beautiful Trier. That's also where my passion for motorcycles began.
When I was fifteen, I no longer wanted to go to school with my mother or on the bus. Bicycles were out - riding a moped was much cooler. And easier.
A Piaggio BRAVO ran in front of my feet and fulfilled my first mobility wishes. To school and meet friends, to the party and
Driving the girls home - everything was much easier!
There was a YAMAHA dealer at the Viehmarkt in Trier. While my schoolmates were delivering newspapers and babysitting, I was allowed to help in the workshop at "HENN Zweiräder" and learn how to screw things together.
Cleaning parts, fitting tires and also assembling new vehicles from Japan out of the box.
And suddenly there was the first XT 500 - from such a box. That must have been around 1978. I was immediately blown away by the sight.
The vehicle handovers by the mechanics to the customers were also very memorable. The kick-off myths and the howling new owners with dented knees and blue shins.... I've really seen them all. And still knew: when I'm a man, I'll have one of those too!
How did you experience the start of the enduro movement as a teenager?
In addition to the German motorcycle magazines, the French motorcycle magazines "MOTO REVUE" and "MOTO VERTE" were an immense source of inspiration. In our garrison town of Trier, we had the opportunity to get them in the shopping centers for the French army. There was a lot more going on in the enduro, trial and motorsport sectors. Especially when the Paris-Dakar rally was taking place. I was very interested in that. The desert and these hardships were incredibly fascinating.
I myself decided to buy a small Yamaha TY 50 Trial when I was 16.
TRIAL - because that came much closer to my idea of off-road motorcycling than "bolting around" on a moped. The trail was my goal. Motocross was too aggressive for me back then.
We soon found a few places in the area to ride in the forest and through streams... to trial! The interest in enduro bikes and off-road sports increased, as the range at the Yamaha dealer showed.
In February 1982, I rode a borrowed HONDA XL 500 S and 23-inch wheels.front wheel in the LeTouquet beach dune race. From just under 1200 I crossed the finish line in 333rd place. Rally organizer Thierry Sabine always holds this race a few weeks after the Paris-Dakar. With 450,000 spectators in 2005, the spectacle at the Paris-Plage is considered the largest motorsport event in the world.
In LeTouquet I had a hearty Encounter with SONAUTO works driver Serge Bacou. He used my foot standing next to me on the start line as a "base" for his Second tack IT490, because his machine shook into the wet sand right up to the hub.
Although I started out on a red Honda back then, thanks to Serge Bacou I am now part of the blue GAULOISE / SONAUTO color theme. expire.
What does your fleet look like? Do you have any other passions besides sandy slopes and overgrown single trails?
Yes, but for sure. After riding a YAMAHA TY 125 Trial competitively for a year when I was 18, I got the opportunity to ride a 200 and later a 300 in the ADAC Palatinate Cup for a FANTIC dealer in the city.
I then rode a HONDA CB 1100 on the road, which I later sold to
to my brother so that I could order a new BIG ONE from IFMA. And this very CB 1000 from 1993 is still there.
From then on, my garage was always a one-way street. What I bought stayed. So I added a CB 750 Four from 1973, an XT 500 from 1987 and an RD 400 from 1976.
My two sons learned to ride mopeds from the age of three on a PW50 and then later on trial motorcycles such as the TY125 and SWM80.
Today I still have a BULTACO Sherpa 350, a KTM 640 DUKE and a 2016 AFRICA TWIN 1000 DCT in my stable for traveling and touring in Europe.
And then, of course, my beloved XT 600 Z Ténéré 1VJ from 1986.
I also collect motorcycle helmets and other petromane stuff. ESSO stuff from the fifties, gas pumps, literature and so on.
I got some useful ideas from internet research, such as the "skeleton protection plate" at the front, which should help with the well-known problem of air supply and engine cooling. I would recommend 10W60 as the engine oil for these hot regions.
Also very helpful: Ingo Löchert's page "www.rallye-tenere.net" on the net with an incredible amount of information.
This left no questions unanswered about the Ténéré.
I also fitted a handlebar riser so that I could ride comfortably when standing up. Footrests from a current KTM690 R fit into the original mounts without any modifications and are perfect. I stowed two TWIN-AIR air filters, pre-oiled and pulled into vacuum bags, next to the usual tools on the moped.
A USB socket via ignition plus and a direct connection socket
Option for a jump-start cable was added as an electrical extension.
I also fitted the original TT indicators instead of the large original ones. They were in my "evidence room".
The "decorative" auxiliary headlamp from HELLA was to provide me with the best service during an involuntary night stage in Morocco.
A small sawed-off disk from an Africa Twin windshield on the lamp fairing kept the dust a little away from the mounted iPhone for navigation. The old warriors also had this in 1986.
A few days before the trip, I had the seat rebuilt with modern, very hard foam. This didn't lead to any complaints on the tour.
I fitted a MICHELIN TRACKER tire at the front and a MITAS E09 Dakar at the rear. It has a firmer carcass. It gave me very good grip in the sand. I never had a puncture. I used the 4mm thick "Heidenau Heavy Duty" tubes. I did without tire holders. Soft, somewhat shock-absorbing handlebar grips are also recommended. The rough slopes cause blisters on the hands in no time at all.
Moritz Kuhlmann from motoritz.de helped me with lots of tips and explanations about the best configurations. But, stop.... on the last day before the trip to Morocco, he gave me a cold start button from a TT600 - instead of my vulnerable Bowden cable at the top of the handlebars. He also gave me a CDI unit as a spare. That saved me and my plans for the trip.
I left the embroidered seat and the good side panels at home and replaced them with second-choice items from the above-mentioned "evidence room". A second tank might also be a good but expensive investment. After all, I want to have my XT in perfect condition at home between tours.
As a further upgrade, I will soon be fitting a kickstarter. After all, it's missing on my engine, which comes from a 3AJ, the successor motorcycle. When the electric starter stops working, you're glad to have the option of starting it. However, the lithium battery and a clever carburetor setting have always made the engine start well.
I'm also going to take care of a bit more protection for the engine and tank before I ride into this terrain next time.
Why would you recommend a trip on an almost forty-year-old enduro bike? What do you particularly like about the XT600Z Ténéré?
First and foremost because of the spirit of the Ténéré and the associated feeling of experiencing with this motorcycle what the riders of the Paris-Dakar Rally experienced in the 1980s. It was there in the desert that the name and nimbus of the Ténéré was born.
Secondly, the simplicity of the mechanics and electrics. No need for the sensitive electronics of modern machines.
Sensors and settings that only allow acceptable driving after a lengthy study of the operating instructions.
The current mopeds can do everything well, but the Ténéré could already do that 40 years ago. Even without traction control and ABS. Straightforward technology that you can understand and master. Repairing and improvising is easier on the Ténéré than on a modern motorcycle.
Well, the carburetor engines have a few problems with large differences in altitude compared to the modern injection systems of the current machines. We were in the Atlas Mountains at an altitude of 2650 meters and then again at 500-600 meters. This affects the carburetor's air mixture and robs the Ténéré of power and clean running.
Photos: Gary Zens & Friends
You can see that you have prepared your Ténéré carefully.
What did that look like in detail?
"In order to restore a fairly original Ténéré for a friend, I searched for various original parts on the classifieds market, and ultimately failed to find a good original muffler. It shouldn't be a repro! But then I found it on another Tènéré. I bought it and was then able to complete the original XT with many parts from it and hand it over to my lucky friend.
That's how I first came to the decision to build a "WannaBe Rally Ténéré" for myself. It was to be the off-road counter-design to the original Ténéré. I now only had a somewhat plucked skeleton of a good base. So I started to turn it into a "rally bike interpretation". How would a 40-year-old motorcycle get to Dakar today without overloading it with electronics etc.?
What would someone today put on it to reflect the PD spirit and ride it to Africa in style? The stickers of the contemporary sponsors from back then certainly spiced up the Ténéré. Julius from the TT kiosk is the first port of call and fulfilled all my wishes. I also had to have the inside of the tank overhauled and the outside repainted with tinsel. I created the start number plates myself on the computer and printed them out.
I gave an existing YSS strut a stiffer spring, the fork progressive WILBERS springs and some thicker 12.5 oil. Apart from that, I took apart every screw and every single part and tried to repair rather than replace them. I became more and more familiar with the bike in its simplicity and sophisticated technology. RENTHAL handlebars and Barkbuster handguards replaced the original configuration.
Wearing parts, such as the swingarm guard and shock absorber on the sprocket carrier, were replaced with KEDO parts.
Have you experienced things along the way that you would not have with modern equipment?
would have experienced? How did your colleagues fare?
Especially with the Ténéré in its eye-catching color scheme and in "war paint" I have experienced that a lot of people have this motorcycle. Its nimbus and its history. I had, even in Morocco with locals who tell the story of the Ténéré and the of the associated legend of the Paris Dakar Rally. Their shadow can always be found here and there still in the country.
Otherwise, you can turn the question around and say: I have no less than the riders of the more modern "boxes" such as the KTM690 and Ténéré T7.
In the truest sense of the word.
Even without little helpers like ABS and traction control. I always had the feel the solid and straightforward technology of the old Ténéré to be able to leave.
Gary, thank you for your story!
Thank you for your interview!
If you want to experience the great adventure of "desert travel" on your specially rescued steel dromedary, you need spare and wear parts. Thanks to the internet, markets and forums, this is easier today than it was thirty years ago. However, the procurement of materials and knowledge is still quite a big part of the journey.
We at KEDO work every day to provide as many of the required parts as possible. Research, design, production and purchasing all come from a single source. Here a nice example.
Because we ourselves ride countless kilometers in a wide variety of saddles year after year, we know what is important.
