FILM
Will I make it all the way to Japan on this 40 year old Yamaha Ténéré?? |S8, EP135
EDITORIAL SUMMARY
After a long winter in Mongolia, this episode returns to a 1987 Yamaha XT600Z Ténéré called Frankie. It frames the next stage of an onward motorcycle journey toward Japan around a basic uncertainty: will the bike start, and can it continue despite several serious mechanical problems?
About this film
Part of Itchy Boots’ eighth season, “To the FAR EAST,” the film picks up with the motorcycle after its winter hibernation in Mongolia. The description sets out a difficult starting point: the rear suspension is blown, the engine is consuming oil at a high rate, and there have been wiring problems. These are not incidental details around an otherwise uncomplicated ride; they define the episode’s central concern. The title asks whether a 40-year-old Yamaha can make it all the way to Japan, but the available information does not establish the answer. Instead, the film’s premise is the uncertainty of continuing a long-distance journey with a machine facing multiple faults.
The journey
Mongolia is the only location specified for this episode, and the supplied description gives no route, particular landscape, riding conditions or encounters. What it does establish is a return to the motorcycle after a long pause and a broader destination of Japan, as signalled by the title and the season’s Far East framing. That makes the episode a chapter in a continuing motorcycle-travel story, focused on whether the journey can proceed rather than on a documented stretch of road. The unresolved mechanical issues give this stage a practical edge: before the larger objective can be pursued, the bike’s readiness is in question.
People, places and moments
The story centres on the rider’s return to Frankie, an XT600Z from 1987, and on the problems accumulated around the motorcycle: a failed rear suspension, heavy oil consumption and wiring mishaps. The source does not specify how these issues are addressed or whether the bike starts, so viewers should expect a setup built around a genuine mechanical question rather than a confirmed outcome. For those interested in motorcycle travel, the appeal is the contrast between an ambitious journey toward Japan and the immediate uncertainty of relying on an older machine after its winter standstill in Mongolia.
What to expect
- A return to a 1987 Yamaha XT600Z in Mongolia
- Mechanical concerns involving suspension, oil consumption and wiring
- An unresolved question about continuing toward Japan