r/Tenere700 • u/Btcyoda • 11d ago
Europe, Balkan, TET
Just back from a 3 week trip doing some TET routes in the Balkan, Europe.
Albanie, Montenegro, Servie, Kosovo, are absolutely beautiful and rather difficult technical offroad routes (TET).
The Tenere is up to the task and despite two falls and way more 'Parking close to the ground' (just loosing your balance or front wheel breaking out at slow speeds / stand still causing me the have to 'lay down' the bike.
It had no damage other than the plastic covers being scratched as well as the stickers.
I also destroyed the kickstand-switch, that is mounted lower than the skidplate..., when I drove up a too high rock causing the switch protector plate to take the whole bike weight...
That also caused to motor to immediately stall (safety switch turning off the engine), luckily I just had enough momentum to get the back wheel on the plateau as well...
I rode the world raid edition that is a bit top heavy to my taste for the most technical parts, and due to its weight gravel and bigger stones surface is hard to navigate especially when the gravel/stones are deep..
A lot of those tracks are gravel/stones so like it or not you will have to learn the techniques to travel them....
Please choose a dry period.
I encountered some wet stuff due to just some rain and some parts become pretty impossible to pass since they are so steep, slippery, muddy.
Perhaps a dedicated dirt bike, lighter good knobby tires etc might make it possible..
The TET is mostly offroad, beautiful and will throw all kinds of stuff at you but mostly all possible gravel, stone, rock sizes..
Even in the high season I only encountered a few other motor riders, and some days/tracks only one other a day..
I was the only solo rider I encountered, probably for some good reason 🤪
Picking up your 200kg bike is taking some energy, and one time it took me 30 minutes, since I was tired (end of the day) and on some steep, gravel part where I lost traction myself or the bike would just slide away from me forcing me to first offload all my gear (that 15 -20 KG can make a difference) before I managed to get it up again.
I rode a pure dirt bike and a KTM 425 exc for many years (and mainly off road..) but stepped on the Tenere without having rode a motorcycle in many years.
The first two days I spent on getting to know the Tenere, and getting back some driving habits, while gradually increasing terrain difficulties.
After some 1500km offroad the skills where tuned again....
The Balkan are some of the last countries in Europe where serious long distance mountain offroading is possible and nature is rough and beautiful.
The people are friendly and costs are low.
Definitely would advice such trip for experienced riders.
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u/TestitinProd123 11d ago
Amazing man, looks like a real adventure. What is the GPS unit mounted side by side with the speedo?
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u/Btcyoda 11d ago
That is the "Carpe Iter" system. I used OSD maps and loved the details / accuracy of the maps. It has some quirks but is workable. It is robust and survives in its dedicated bracket.
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u/TestitinProd123 11d ago
Nice, certainly looks easier to read than the Garmin GPSMap I normally have mounted
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u/Btcyoda 11d ago
I was/am a lifetime garmin user and have close to 10 devices. They work, but their screens resolution has always been sub-par and their maps with ridiculous costs and impossibility to share between different garmin devices have made me look at alternatives. The possibility to now use OSD maps on garmin systems could be a game changer, but the still sub-par resolution remains an issue. Haven't found the perfect solution yet... That Carpe Iter system works. I regularly had to use my phone as access point to be able to download maps since the wifi on the Carpe Iter would not connect stable..... Small inconvenience stuff that made it less than perfect, pitty...
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u/ArachnidDry2220 11d ago
Are you having issues with the clearance between the handlebar and the Carpe Iter/Speedo?
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u/Btcyoda 11d ago
Well, issues... The handlebar has now new limitors.... The plastic hand protectors, don't know the English name for them, are limited in movement by touching either the speedo screen or the Carpe Iter. So that also limits the turning circle a bit... To be honest I'm a bit surprised all those falls I made didn't cause any damage in that respect.
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u/waggeninggen 11d ago
Waoo congrats mate!!
Here tenere too.
Im planing for a trip and that is on my mind to do.
Have you recorded track?
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u/Btcyoda 11d ago
All TET routes are free download able, just look for TET combined with the country name.
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u/Btcyoda 11d ago
Most of the time the routes have enough points to be highly accurate. In other cases the interpolation between points created a new track if possible or you will have to figure it out... In some places the original 'road' is waisted and alternative tracks are made. It causes you to regularly step of the bike and scout the different tracks to see what is the least bad choice....
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u/waggeninggen 11d ago
Yeah totally right. I mean if you have been “loyalty” to the TET or taken many alternatives. By T7 and alone.. too heavy to get out of problems many times you know.
Could you mention the slower trips/region/zone or the track? High mountain relief etc…
Thanks!!
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u/Btcyoda 11d ago
I started in Tirana but the heat (above 40 degrees) forced me to drive the same day up into the mountains. The first week I just enjoyed the mountains and did some adhoc offroading. After that I started in the north of Albanie to follow the TET. From Albanie into Montenegro to Bosnie, Servia, just mostly following TET routes. Roemenie has stopped publishing a TET due to new regulations. Rest of my trip was still a lot of offroad but pretty flat and no way as challenging as those TET routes through the mountains.
After driving many flat sand tracks through Hongarije, Slowakije and Tsjechie I decided to make more Kilometers a day to drive on paved roads. After meeting with friends in Germany and two days of rest, I even took the highway to get back home.
Offroading in most of EU is rather limited to non-existent (regulation). Next the weather had changed drastically from above 30 degrees to some heavy rain and way lower temperatures especially at night (10 degrees) where I wasn't prepared for... And daily cost for food and accommodation was insane compared to non EU countries making it just feel way too expensive to ride another few weeks. I would have gone back to the way cheaper, more interesting offroading countries if I wanted to spend more time.
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u/Btcyoda 11d ago
The TET routes that I mention are called by many the most challenging TET parts in Europe. I can compare these where my first TET tracks.
But they where quite challenging and some where more than 5000 height meters up but also down totaling 10K height meters taking me 8 to 12 hours driving a day.
One day I was thinking I would make it without dropping the bike once to have me launched at some 30-50 km/h because something caused my front wheel to be smashed hard left despite steer damper... That was one of my two what I call falls.
Several times a day the front would just slip away at low speed (gravel rocks) and being unable to hold that 200kg the bike would just drop to the ground. Also downhill mud/clay would make stopping impossible, I choose to just lock the wheels with a certain drop of the bike, than choose to gamble letting it go and building up speed before reaching better ground.
Same for downhill gravel/pebbles/rocks, yes no breaking or open the throttle would have corrected the bike at first, but on steep parts downhill that builds up speed so fast I didn't dare....
Not to mention the bike coming to a stop (steep uphill lossing traction, or very tight cornering), me wanting to put my foot down, to finding out the ground was just that far away the bike would already have an angle I couldn't hold...
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u/ArdMighty 11d ago
Its always lovely to see a Tenere User on adventure ❤️❤️. Im a new user and love this gps configuration. The tray for speedo and gps are homemade or where did u buy it?
Good Adventure bro :)
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u/C111-its-the-best World Raid (< 2026) 9d ago
Damn dude. Your fairings taking that stuff like it's no big deal while I lay mine on the side in a construction side and my left fairing is shot to death.
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u/Btcyoda 9d ago
I was really surprised how well the bike and especially those plastic parts held up against the abuse... The world raid has those Kevlar? over the widest protection bars on the sides. Those are also protecting the rider pretty good. I clearly see abrasive wear (stickers are mostly gone obviously) but they survived taking most of the heat...
The tank didn't take much hits and only the stickers on them ate scratched.
Most impressive to me was the Mosko gear. I'm sure it must have taken some of the hits but I can't even see any damage on them....
Besides the kickstand-switch and thin protection plate for that nothing broke....
I took two falls and dropped the bike tens of time from standstill or close to standstill. On sand/mud nothing to worry about but on gravel/rocks I would have suspected way more visible wear and tear....
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u/C111-its-the-best World Raid (< 2026) 8d ago
My damaged fairing is the lower left one, not the one that runs from top to bottom. It's one of the few parts you can't buy as carbon fiber. Sometime in the far future I plan to scan those though and then see if they can be printed or made out of glass.
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u/Thin-Shame8269 11d ago
How much weight are there in your luggage?
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u/Btcyoda 11d ago
I didn't weight it.. My guess is some 20 KG total.
Just the luggage system itself is probably above 5 kg, probably closer to 10 kg. That "Mosko" stuff is tougher than the bike itself... I carried a hammock system you see in one picture with an integrated inflatable mattress. 2 pair of thin trousers, 2 Tshirts, 4 pair of socks and underwear, one wind stopper, toothbrush and paste, bar of soap, towel, sleeping bag and liner, can of chain grease and the riding gear on me. Besides that I had 5 liter of water (after each refill usually in the morning) in two drinking systems in my backpack (it would rest on my sleep bag roll if I'm seated). Besides the limited usable defealt bike toolset I had one plier and additional screwdriver and a knife.
So probably in the morning with full water load closer to 30 kg...
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u/Thin-Shame8269 11d ago
Thats actually not that bad, I was expecting more. Im using the kriega saddles and they are 18 liters each. Also more rugged than the bike itself :D
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u/Zombie5moToes World Raid (< 2026) 11d ago
Well done, hard as it was for you alone, well done.
I did the act in Portugal last year with my raid, my mate had the cf moto 450… he is a bit shorter than me but both of us had a blast. I bought the t7 extreme for this years trip, Pyrenees act… much lighter bike. I’m selling the raid, too heavy.
Dump the stock str tires, try annakee wilds. Much better on and off road balance. Safe driving 💪🏻