Friday, July 04, 2014

S-Ten dashboard review

After 10,000 km and looking at it all day long for the last 4 weeks, I may as well review it. The dashboard on the Super Tenere XTZ12E is changed for 2014. It is pretty functional and I get the info I need at a glance and it even has a few cool gadgets.

The dash is made up of a larger panel on the left showing the speedometer, tachometer, fuel meter, clock, traction control setting and mode setting ('S'port or 'T'ouring). The smaller panel on the right shows the gear and 3 configurable information displays each showing 3 of: odometer, 2 trip odometers, air temperature, coolant temperature, average fuel consumption, current fuel consumption, range and elapsed trip time. I can cycle between these 3 displays using a large toggle switch with my left thumb. 
Though everything works well, there are a few things that could be improved.

Gear indicator
It does not show the gear unless it's engaged. When I pull the clutch lever, it shows a dash and not what gear I'm in, which would be useful information before engaging the clutch.
Furthermore, there is a slight delay (maybe 0.5 seconds) between releasing the clutch lever fully and the gear info showing up on the display. The exception is neutral, which displays 'N' whether the clutch is engaged or not. 

Neutral
There is some redundancy here as there is also a lit green 'N' just below the dash.

Unit conversion
Like on some other bikes, there could be a switch to go from metric to imperial.

Wasted real-estate
At the top right corner of the right display is this strange little graphic that gives me no information and never changes. It looks like it's trying to permanently remind me that I can switch displays! Unnecessary. 

Fuel gauge
Call me old school, but I prefer an analog needle.

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