Page 10 - Lauren Lolo Spencer Issue

Maintenance
by Long Haul
Paul
I travelled 13,000 miles over the last three weeks, sharing my story at two different motorcycle events. After checking out my high mileage Tenere 700 at the Yamaha display, I get asked many questions about reliability and my maintenance schedule. There are different types of maintenance schedules, there is preventative mainte- nance, there is following the factory recommended maintenance, there is maintenance that you do because you have to, and then there are repairs; some expected and some. not so expected.
10 ABILITY
Looking at my motorcycle, one would bet it had never been washed, never mind serviced!
It ain’t pretty, but it is rock solid and dependable, it has to be, as I trust t to take me across the entire country multiple times a month all summer long! (For the record, I did wash it with soap twice this year already.)
Because of the miles I ride every year, following the factory schedule would be overkill and very costly, but I do take care to listen to the bike and fix whatever needs fixing. I do everything myself; from accessorizing to repairs and maintenance. I know my bike and all it’s parts almost as well as the engineers who built it. I really have no choice, because if something were to break while I’m traveling, those engineers or factory trained mechanics won’t be there with me when I need to get back on the road!
Because the bike is ridden daily by one rider, I can tell when something is worn or in need of attention. While the factory recommends changing the spark plugs every 8,000 miles which is every two or three years for the aver- age rider, I have found them to be within specs even after three times that, and now only change them about