We took two(2) Super Tenere to Newfoundland!

[Christian P.]

During Covid I bought a first Super Tenere and then realized that this bike was totally undervalued. It's a great reliable adventure bike that pretty much does everything well enough for middle aged rider. Everyone was a bit shocked how much they ended up loving these bikes. They usually come used with all the proper farkles.
So we ended up buying two more, which still came out less than one equivalent BMW GS.



We took them back and forth to Baja. You can read that adventure here:

Thanksgiving 2022 Ride - We're taking three(3) 2012 Super Tenere to Baja!

All right this is happening! We are finally going back to Baja. This time we are taking three 2012 Super Tenere from Reno and riding all the way to the bottom. We'll be leaving around November 16th and the plan is to be in Los Barriles for Thanksgiving to celebrate with my wife and with some...

yamahasupertenere.com

Having had so much, we started planning our next short adventure. Being from Quebec and having already planned to be there this summer, I brought two of the bikes with me and we did a short trip to Newfoundland.

Here is a quick recap.

 

[Christian P.]

Day 1/2 - From Berthier-Sur-Mer to North Sydney:

I had the opportunity to replace the back tire before the trip, but not the front one. I toyed with the idea of bringing a spare as I was not sure how many miles we would run and if the Heidenau K60 I had since Baja was going to last. At the end, after 5000 km, it barely made a difference. I am glad I did not bring the spare and I am very impressed with these K60. These are our tires of choice now on every Super Tenere.



As everyone would know, ferries get pretty booked up solid during high seasons. We managed to get 2 places for our bikes on Friday pm so that pretty much decided of our path on the way there. We had just 2 days to get there from Quebec, which would have been plenty enough except for the crazy non-stop rain.

My riding partner and close friend since college, catching a break from the rain. One nice thing about having similar bikes is that the fuel stops are typically easier to plan - we all need fuel at the same time. The 6 gallons tank get us close to 400km (see how us Canadians mix up metric/imperial standards...or maybe it's just me..). The bikes are consistently averaging around 5.6L/100 km (42 mpg), but at 1.92$CAN/liter, it still hurt...






Instead of camping for the first night, we were kind of forced to get a AirBnb. The host was very nice and we lucked out as there was a hot tub right outside the living room waiting for us at 10pm...on the other hand we did not get much luck on dinner, but ketchup chips is a delicacy I don't get to enjoy very often.



Our host has left us with some tools to help us dry our clothes overnight...which helped a lot!

 

[Christian P.]

Day 2 Overnight

The overnight ferry (16 hours) to St-John's was the first real adventure of the trip. Because we booked late, we could not get a cabin so we had to plan to sleep on the floor somewhere. We got in North Sydney a bit on the earlier side so we explore around and got a few supplies for the night.



It was also interesting to see all the Quads and Side-By-Side taking the ferry to explore the trails in Newfoundland. They have quite an expensive network which is also fun to ride on our bikes, although a fair section of it is built on the old retired railway network which can be a bit tricky on 2 wheels. The loose gravel accumulates in the middle so you want to avoid this, and there is a fair number of water collecting everywhere.

It's kind of cool that you can just ride your ATV from one province to the other on the ferry.



One thing we learned from that experience is that you have to tie your motorcycle yourself on the ferry using the provided straps. While it was not an issue for us with our well used bikes, the guys on flashy expensive Harley's were a bit more nervous about where to put the straps - hints; bring some handle loop straps so you can use that with the old rusty/dirty tie-downs.

 

[Christian P.]

When i spoke of the rain earlier, I forgot to mention that Canada was under an extreme heat warning. Well, extreme heat in Newfoundland means something a bit different than say Arizona...23C is 73F...

 

[Christian P.]

Almost immediately after we left the boat, we took the first trail we saw. As I mentioned before, there is an extended network in Newfoundland which borrows from the retired rail road. It makes for some very fun (and wet) riding.

 

[Christian P.]

Whenever I travel in the world, I like to try to combine our voyage with some local activities. We got pretty lucky on this trip as we arrive at the last weekend of the Dildo Days. For real. The local would take you on a free boat trip - just showed up and enjoy.

There's No Place Like Dildo

The town of Dildo in Newfoundland and Labrador is as beautiful as its surroundings. But, where did Dildo get its name?

www.newfoundlandlabrador.com

As much fun as it was though, you are also some reminded of the harsh life some of the residents have. This guy in a wheelchair was watching the scene right across from the marina and the Dildo brewery. Looks like he could have used some help with his house.

 

[Christian P.]

Day 3

We then headed down to St-John's. I had another surprise in mind for my buddy - the George Street Festival was also happening at the same time. We got a campsite in town and headed down to explore the old St-John's. The entry fee was pretty hefty ($70/each) but it was worth it - how many times will you be in St-John's watching 3 local famous Newfoundland bands, and making tons of new friends in the process.





After 16 hours on the boat and a day full of festivities, let's just say we had no trouble sleeping that night...

 

[Christian P.]

The next morning we headed out to the most eastern point in America (or something along those lines...)












And from there we went over to do the "Irish Loop". It started raining a lot which made the scenery especially eery. It's a region I would love to go back to and explore more.

Newfoundland and Labrador Route 10 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org