- 5 months ago
In the early 1980s, Yamaha built the first Tenere to dominate Paris-Dakar. Now, 42 years later the Tenere 700 is one of the most popular adventure motorcycles on the market. In this episode of The Motorcyclist Podcast we talk about the T7 and its predecessors.
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SportsTranscript
00:00Hey, welcome back to the Motorcycles Podcast.
00:04This is where we talk about motorcycles and what makes them great.
00:07Topics on this show, they constantly change, but the one thing that always remains is two-wheeled fun.
00:13On this episode, we are going to talk about Yamaha's Tenere 700, a highly popular adventure motorcycle.
00:21We're going to get into some history, and we're going to talk about why it's so popular.
00:25But before we do that, we're going to make introductions on this one.
00:28There's only two of us.
00:30We've got photo director Jeff Allen, and we've got myself, executive editor Justin Dawes.
00:36So Waheed is out this week, so it's just the two of us.
00:42So we're going to make it work.
00:45So let's get into it.
00:48Jeff, just a quick thing.
00:51Tenere 700, you've got a lot of experience with it.
00:53You've turned a lot of miles on them, right?
00:56Yeah.
00:56I think I say this about most bikes, but I'm a big fan of that bike.
01:01Yeah.
01:03I mean, I guess that's the danger of being in this business is you ride a lot of motorcycles that you like, you know?
01:12But yeah, I've been a fan of that thing since the beginning.
01:14And back in, what would that have been, like 2006 or 2007, where they showed that first concept bike at EICMA?
01:24Well, the 17 was the concept for the Tenere 700.
01:30Yeah.
01:31Yeah.
01:312017.
01:33At the EICMA show in Milan.
01:34Milan.
01:35Yep.
01:35And the thing was, the thing was great.
01:37And of course you looked at it and you're like, I doubt they could build it like this, but they actually stayed pretty true to that concept.
01:43Pretty true.
01:44Yeah.
01:44I mean, the headlights were a little different, a few things, but overall it was, it was a really cool thing.
01:49So we'll get into all that, but I've got a lot of time on them too.
01:53I went to the first press launch, the first opportunity to ride them.
01:57And I think that was, I think that was in Spain, but it's been, it's been a little while.
02:04It could have been Spain.
02:04It could have been Italy.
02:05It could have been Portugal for all I know.
02:07I can't remember, but we went and rode that thing for two or three days and it was, it was right off the get-go.
02:14You could tell it was going to be a highly popular motorcycle.
02:17You knew that before even we rode it though.
02:18I mean, people were so interested from the jump on that motorcycle one because of, you know, the, the tenor name has been around for quite a while and it has a legacy of, of, of that stuff.
02:34But then, you know it's also, it had a low price point.
02:39It was 9,999 bucks.
02:42So it offered some simplicity where other adventure motorcycles were really getting in heavy into electronics and things like that.
02:51So emphasis on the heavy.
02:53Yeah.
02:53Yeah.
02:53If it's just on the heavy.
02:54So anyway, before we get talking about the 700 right now, we got to talk about the history.
03:02So I've got a little history lesson as I always do get ready for my monologue or my dissertation and we'll run through it real quick.
03:10But it's, it's pretty interesting how, um, the, the, this whole thing came about.
03:14So, um, we got to start off with actually the Yamaha XT500, the enduro motorcycle.
03:21Uh, that thing, um, was basically made to be just an enduro bike, a dual sport, um, type of motorcycle.
03:32But, uh, Jean-Claude Olivier was in charge of a company called Sonato, which was Yamaha France's importer, uh, of motorcycles.
03:43And he actually later became the president of Yamaha Motor France.
03:47Um, but he, he's wrote it, he enjoyed it and he was like, we should race these things.
03:51And so he started racing the XT500, um, in the late seventies and early eighties and rallies and hired some people to ride.
03:59He rode and, um, they actually had some, uh, some really good success, including racing Dakar.
04:09So first Dakar was won by an XT500, uh, Cyril Nouveau, Nouveau, Nouveau, sorry, French people.
04:18We're going to screw some names up today.
04:20Um, he, uh, he won Dakar on an XT500 and they won again in 1980 and then came along BMW's R80 GS.
04:31And I think one of those years it was a, it was an all Yamaha podium as well.
04:37Yeah, there's back in the, there's, um, in the eighties, there's an all, uh, Yamaha podium, but it was one, two XT500s.
04:46Um, and then they won an 80 and then BMW came along with the big R80 GS and they just couldn't hang top speed wise.
04:54And so, um, Olivier was like, we gotta, we gotta build something.
05:00And so he requested that Yamaha in Japan build a bike that was more Dakar friendly or Dakar ready after getting smoked by the, the R80 in 81.
05:10And so in 83 came the first Tenere, the XT600.
05:15So that was a 1983 model.
05:17Didn't get sold in the U S uh, we got the TT 600 Enduro, which didn't have the big tank and, and that kind of stuff that you would need for Dakar.
05:26Um, but it was basically, they took an XT500, they put almost motocross suspension on the thing, big tank, um, more power, you know, and so they, they made it.
05:37So it was, it was racer ready.
05:39So that, that's where Tenere started.
05:43Um, and Tenere, interesting enough, it's pretty funny.
05:47Uh, Tenere means, uh, like, uh, how would you like desert or isolation in the Touareg language.
05:59So it's funny that there's a Tenere and there's also a Touareg in the adventure bike category, you know, Lord, we won't talk about the dumb, uh, Volkswagen SUV that also had that Touareg name.
06:12So, um, before we skip over Jean-Claude Olivier, you know, like most people will, will recognize him from his, his, uh, pretty famous photo.
06:22If you know what I'm talking about him in a business suit, no helmet, looking sideways, wheeling in the V max.
06:30Oh yeah.
06:30Yeah.
06:31Oh yeah.
06:32That's, that's Jean-Claude Olivier.
06:33Yeah, he's a, he's a, you know, a rider first and then a businessman second or maybe equal parts, but, um, he basically is the reason for the Tenere, um, you know, he really pushed on it and, and he's the one that got him to start it.
06:49So, um, then as Dakar and rally racing went on, multi-cylinder, bigger bikes became the norm, higher speeds.
06:57So, um, in, uh, 88, uh, Yamaha came out with a factory race bike, uh, for Stefan, Peter Hansel, Olivier and Franco Pico, um, called the OW 93.
07:13Uh, a lot of Yamaha, um, factory racers always started with OW back in those days.
07:19So OW 93 was the project number and it was, uh, um, um, seven 50, uh, parallel twin, uh, with a 360 degree crank, 10 valve.
07:30So, uh, the Delta box or Delta head.
07:34So five, five valve heads for each cylinder.
07:38Um, and it was, it won or sorry, it got second in 1988.
07:44And from that came the 89 XT seven 50 super Tenere.
07:49So that was the first multi-cylindered, uh, adventure motorcycle or Yamaha.
07:56Uh, it was sold in 89, uh, in the U S.
08:00Um, and, uh, but only for a few years and then it went away and they became like a sought after gray market bike.
08:07Like people were buying them and in France and bringing them to the U S if they could.
08:12Um, but, um, that's when, uh, Yamaha had an all Yamaha Dakar podium.
08:20That was 91 with Peter, with, uh, Stefan Petter Hansel as the winner.
08:26So who I met a bunch of times when I was a young kid, or I should say a teenager.
08:31Um, because my old boss was a French guy named Eric Bernard, who everyone in the motorcycle industry will know that name.
08:37Um, and he, he brought Petter Hansel over for some, uh, rallies in the U S the Nevada rally.
08:45And I actually got to go ride with him and kind of show him, uh, the terrain and do some pre-running.
08:50You got to show him the way?
08:51Yeah.
08:52I got to show him the way.
08:53Yeah.
08:54He was probably bored to death riding behind me, but, um, it was pretty cool.
08:58So anyway, uh, that started off, uh, a multi-year long, uh, winning streak on, uh, the XT 750 Super Teneri based race bikes that were actually eight fifties, but they weren't built by Yamaha at that point.
09:15They kind of, they were built by, um, Yamaha motor France or, or a, a race team that, uh, Olivier had kind of set up.
09:25Um, so, um, they weren't factory bikes anymore per se.
09:30They had factory support and, but they weren't full race bikes.
09:33So, um, in the meantime, there was other iterations of the single, uh, there was XT 660 sold in other markets, but never in the U S.
09:42It's crazy.
09:42We, we get, we get hosed on that quite often.
09:45Do we get hosed a lot?
09:46And the good stuff, this, the story of getting hosed on Teneres continues to this day, which we'll talk about a little, a little later.
09:54So, um, so then we had a big gap in the U S where there was no Teneri, regular Teneri or Super Teneri, no Teneres in the U S until 2010.
10:06And that's when the XT Z 1200 Super Teneri came out.
10:11You remember that thing?
10:13Yeah.
10:13Yeah.
10:14I mean, it was, it's a good motorcycle.
10:16It's a bit, it's a bit, uh, heavy for the off-road, but, uh, yeah, it's, it's, uh, it's a nice motorcycle.
10:24Yeah.
10:24It was a great motorcycle.
10:25It was a big bore ADV tour, parallel twin, 1200 CCs.
10:29Um, it was just a big bike.
10:31Like, like they basically followed, um, BMW's lead in a way, and it was supposed to be a competitor to BMW's, uh, I think at that time would have been the R 1150 GS probably.
10:44Um, maybe R 12.
10:48I can't remember my years of GSs at the moment, but anyway, it, uh, it was big, it was comfortable.
10:54Um, it had some weird quirks on it.
10:57Like you couldn't turn off the ABS, uh, very easily.
10:59Well, you, you, you could trick it into turning it off.
11:02You could trick it.
11:03You could put it up on the center stand and put it in second gear, run it up to like 45 miles an hour or something on the center stand.
11:10And it would go into a fault mode and then the ABS would turn off.
11:13And that was the only way you could do it.
11:14That was the only way.
11:15Or pull the fuse.
11:17Yeah.
11:17Right.
11:18So then there was companies making like basically, uh, switches that went, you know, on the wire between the fuse and the module so that you could just basically like it was a blown fuse.
11:28You would open the circuit, you know, but, uh, yeah, I mean, um, I did have, uh, a, um, a moment on one of those on a very fast fire road where I forgot to do the run up and make it trip.
11:45But, and I was booking into this corner, um, in, um, near Salt Lake, Utah on a gravel road.
11:52And I came to like a 90 degree turn and it was like, it won't let you stop.
11:58I went, I went off road and I couldn't make the turn at all.
12:01It just went shot off into the, the, the scrub oak and stuff.
12:06And luckily nothing happened, but luckily there was, there was something smooth over there.
12:11Not, not just, not just air.
12:13Yeah.
12:14If it was air, it would have been a big problem.
12:16So I would have been super man on a super tenere.
12:19I had a photo shoot with Ryan Dudak who, you know, and the way on that bike and the way he could handle that thing was amazing.
12:27Like it really, he really making that look a lot lighter than what is it?
12:32Almost 600 pounds.
12:33Yeah.
12:33It was almost 600 pounds.
12:35Um, he could really make that thing look a lot lighter, you know, and they gave it, um, they gave it love over the years.
12:41And they added electronic suspension to it, semi-active suspension and some stuff.
12:45And it was always a, like, if you were just about like, you know, 80% road and 10, 20% dirt or something, easy dirt is a great motorcycle.
12:57Yeah.
12:58Yeah.
12:58It's perfect for that.
12:59I mean, great engine, comfortable Yamaha quality, you know, so it was great for that.
13:05Plenty of room if you want to, if you want to tour like two up.
13:07Mm-hmm.
13:08Yep.
13:09Exactly.
13:10In that sense, it is like a GS, you know, it's good for all that stuff.
13:13Good for all that stuff.
13:14But they didn't have a adventure bike that was off super offered capable.
13:19And that's when 2017, the tenere 700 was announced and you were at EICMA, you saw it.
13:25Did people just like, was it just, I was there too, actually.
13:29I was working at KTM at the time.
13:31So I was there and I remember there was just constantly a crowd around that bike on the stand.
13:36It was big news.
13:37Yeah, for sure it was.
13:38And like everybody was pretty excited about it.
13:41And like I said, most of us were sort of pessimistic about whether it would, it would become what it looked like there, that concept bike.
13:48And it really, mostly it did.
13:51Yeah, yeah.
13:52You know, I was at KTM and it kind of stole the thunder of the 790 Adventure R that the production model had been released, you know?
14:03And it was like, everyone was like, yeah, who cares?
14:05Look at this Yamaha, you know?
14:06Yeah.
14:07So it was powered by a CP2, parallel twin, Yamaha's awesome 270 degree crossplane crank, parallel twin.
14:20And it was meant to rival BMW's F800GS, Tiger 800, and of course the KTM 790 Adventure R.
14:29And it was meant to be a more extreme version of an adventure motorcycle.
14:34That's what they were, you know, I mean, they marketed that.
14:37They showed it doing wheelies and jumps and they kind of really leaned on the Dakar heritage in the press materials.
14:45So, but then we had to wait two years.
14:48I should say Europe had to wait two years to get the first production year.
14:54And it stayed very close to the concept.
14:56It was very, very much looked very close to the same.
15:01And it was a, it's a, it came as a simple, no electronics besides ABS.
15:09You know, it had decent wheel travel, 210 millimeters in the front, 200 in the rear, adjustable suspension.
15:17And, you know, it had a very low price in Europe at the time.
15:21But we didn't get it in the U.S. until 2020 models.
15:26So, we had to wait almost a year to get the Tenere 700 on the shores of the United States.
15:34If I remember that, it was more about like production schedules.
15:37It was about production schedules and prioritizing, you know, prioritizing markets.
15:44Because in reality, the street bike market in Europe is much larger than the street bike market in the U.S. for Yamaha.
15:51So, of course, they would send the bikes to where they're guaranteed to sell more of them, right?
15:56And then you still have the heritage or the history of Yamaha Motor France and Tenere and that kind of relationship.
16:02So, it, it would have been wrong to not have Europe get those bikes first.
16:10Yeah.
16:10You know, so.
16:11And, and it was fine.
16:13Everyone was still excited about it a year later.
16:16Yeah.
16:16Everyone was still excited about it a year later.
16:19So, then it came to the U.S. in 2020 and it was a dollar less than 10,000 bucks.
16:26$9,999.
16:28And that was quite a bit less than some of the competition.
16:31You know, a KTM Adventure R, $790,000 was $13,500 bucks.
16:38So, you're talking three and a half grand less, you know.
16:42Well, you're talking about, you know, 30%, 30% more for the KTM.
16:47I mean, that's, you know, if you're looking at higher end bikes, a few grand might not bother some people.
16:53But when you're looking at 10,000 and then there's another 30% for the other one.
16:57Yeah.
16:59And that kind of solidified its popularity, I think, is that you, you could look at, don't get us wrong, the 790 Adventure R was, you know, now it's the 890 is an amazing adventure motorcycle.
17:12Like, probably off the showroom floor, the best off-road version of an adventure motorcycle you can get.
17:18You know, WP suspension that's fully adjustable, that's long travel, that, you know, and it's got all the electronic wizardry that you could get.
17:28Where the Yamaha had a button for ABS to turn it on and off, and it had a LCD dash on it, like this little vertical shaped, you know, rectangle where, you know, you've got a TFT dash and all these things on all these other bikes.
17:45But that simplicity was also endearing to people, because there's a lot of people that, even to this day, you know, we're 10 years in on the electronics front on, like, heavy electronics on motorcycles.
17:57There's still people that don't want that.
17:59Yeah.
18:00Right?
18:01Well, they don't want to pay for it if they don't feel that they're going to use it.
18:05Exactly.
18:05Yeah.
18:06So, you know, it was immediately a hot seller, like, sold out, you know, probably really couldn't realistically buy it for $9,999.
18:20Yeah, not that first year.
18:22Not that first year.
18:23So, and it's been popular ever since.
18:26And, you know, in that middleweight category, it is one of the sales leaders.
18:34It's super popular and people love it.
18:36And for good reason, right?
18:37So, now we're up to 2025, and it's gone up $1,000 in price, but it got redone.
18:46It got some revisions for this year.
18:48So, now it has a YCCT chip ride-by-wire throttle setup that allows it to have ride modes.
19:02So, it's got a sport and explorer mode that basically change the power characteristics and the pickup of the throttle and the throttle response.
19:11You've got two TC modes.
19:12You can turn TC on and off.
19:14You've got three ABS modes now.
19:16You've got, instead of just ABS on and ABS off, you've got ABS on on both wheels, ABS on on just the front, and then ABS off.
19:24And it's got new switchgear.
19:26It's got a TFT dash, and it's really easy to change the modes.
19:29You don't have to go through a lot of steps to do it.
19:32Yeah, it's very intuitive.
19:32Which is really nice.
19:33It's very intuitive.
19:34It's very simple to do.
19:36You could do it real quickly at a signal or something if you know, you know, you want to turn something on or off.
19:44Yeah, it's a really slick system.
19:46I think that, you know, they kept the vertical-oriented dash, which I think is still cool.
19:50I like it.
19:51I think it looks cool that way.
19:52I agree.
19:54So, and then the styling is very simple, but, or similar to what it is, was before.
20:01It's just kind of updated.
20:04It still looks great.
20:05It still looks like, you know, you instantly recognize it as a Tenere.
20:10Suspension settings.
20:11And they've done a nice job through the years of the colorways and stuff.
20:13Oh, yeah.
20:14Mm-hmm.
20:15Yeah.
20:15Yeah, kind of racy colors.
20:17Very little to knock it for.
20:19No, very little.
20:21It got better suspension settings, a little bit stiffer, a little bit more off-road ready.
20:28And then they moved the clutch arm on the side cover, on the clutch side.
20:33And, you know, it had this arm, the location of the arm, if you were standing up and trying
20:38to squeeze the bike with your legs, you would hit that, that clutch arm.
20:43With your boot?
20:44With your boot.
20:45You would feel it, you know.
20:46Yeah.
20:46And it was, I wouldn't say it caused any problems other than it was annoying.
20:51And if you rode, like, multiple, multiple days and you were pressing on that thing and you
20:55were, like, doing a lot of, like, serious off-roading, you would, you'd almost have a
20:59bruise on your, your leg where that thing was at.
21:03Yeah.
21:03You know?
21:04So, they moved that, uh, they, forward, so they moved that hole, they rotated it basically
21:09forward.
21:10So, now your leg doesn't hit up against it.
21:12Uh, so that's really good.
21:13And then they-
21:13On the old one, what, was, uh, like, durability or anything an issue?
21:16Was it a, was it-
21:18No, it's always been pretty-
21:20No, you couldn't break anything.
21:21It had, like, a little cover over it, um, if I remember correctly.
21:25But it was, you know, it's just the clutch arm.
21:27So, it's just, uh, you know, it had, like, a, a boss at the, on the, the clutch cover
21:32and then the shaft came out and the arm was on it.
21:34And it was, it was tucked in enough to where you wouldn't be pressing on it or catch it
21:38on your boots or anything like that.
21:39It was just, you felt like the boss because it had a, you know, had a, uh, a bump there
21:44where the, where, you know, the bearing and all that stuff was.
21:47So, um, and then I got a new air filter, uh, set up for this year as well.
21:51So, it's, it's updated, not heavily.
21:54They really stuck to the simple, um, promise of that bike, which, you know, you sure it's
22:01got some ride modes and it's got some ABS modes, but it's still not like super techie to where
22:08you have to go through a lot of screens and you're like, oh, I'm going to change the TC
22:12from this to this, to this, to this, you know, like all that kind of stuff.
22:16And I, when it first came out, I knocked it for not having TC because that engine is
22:21very torquey and it's very responsive.
22:22And I felt like in some slick situations, it could use TC and now it has it, you know?
22:29Yeah.
22:30And it works pretty good in the dirt.
22:32I agree.
22:33I think it's, I think, you know, it doesn't have a lot, but it, it's not, those aren't
22:39as far as it doesn't have a lot of like, uh, features that the higher end stuff does or
22:45didn't.
22:45Now it's got some stuff, some stuff and that's okay.
22:50Like it's, it's, it's more of a, it's more of a dirt bike adventure bike than, than just
22:58about everything else, you know?
23:00Yeah.
23:00You get on it.
23:00Yeah, very much so.
23:02Where you, where you need it to be like a dirt bike, I feel like it is.
23:05And then also like sort of the creature comforts are, are minimal, but just enough.
23:10Like when I'm, you know, getting the, doing those, like getting there miles and you're
23:15like maybe a couple hours on the freeway to get to big bear or whatever it's, it's enough.
23:21It's enough.
23:22Oh yeah.
23:22Yeah.
23:22It's funny.
23:23I'm there.
23:23Like you don't really give, you're not really giving up a lot.
23:27And like you said, it's a lot cheaper.
23:29Yeah.
23:30A lot cheaper.
23:30Um, you know, you can take that money saved and you can use it to modify your bike, you
23:35know, change suspension settings if you need, you know, put a cool exhaust on it.
23:40Cause they sound awesome with an exhaust on them, you know, all that kind of stuff.
23:44Or, or you just, you know, you just have a lower entry point, which is totally cool too.
23:49Um, which is really nice.
23:50So, um, that kind of takes us to my question is, you know, or my hypothesis that why they're
23:59so popular.
23:59Why was it an immediate hit?
24:02Um, what do you, what's your thoughts on like, why did it like, just, it just hit a bullseye
24:09like right off the get go.
24:11Yeah.
24:12Well, and sometimes with those concept bikes, there's, there's sort of a hangover afterwards.
24:17They don't really quite live up to it.
24:20Like you see something and you have expectations, whether they're fair or not, that doesn't matter.
24:25But you, you want, you want it to be the best or you want it to be awesome.
24:29And when we saw that bike at EICMA and then the, when the, when the, uh, the manufacturer,
24:35the stock bike came in, I was like, wow, they did it.
24:39And I think that's it.
24:40Like you, they, they met the expectation.
24:42They put that bike out there.
24:44People were like, Oh, this is going to be rad.
24:46And then it was.
24:47Yeah.
24:47Of course.
24:48Very much so.
24:48That motor has a lot to do with it.
24:51You know, that is a really, really nice motor.
24:53It's such a good engine.
24:54It's about, and it's, it's, it's fantastic in an adventure bike.
25:00It's yeah, it really is.
25:01It's really, it's got, it's got good power down low.
25:03It's got good power in general.
25:05They did a good job of, uh, the, the total package of keeping the weight down.
25:10It's yeah.
25:11I think the, the, you know, the, the torquey character of the engine makes the bike feel
25:16lighter than it is.
25:17It's not a heavy bike.
25:18You know, it's 400 and I don't know, 30 pounds or something.
25:22Yeah.
25:23And your bike scale, that's yeah.
25:25For, we'll just say four 50, uh, 470, 470, 470, 470 with everything in it.
25:32So, um, when it's all filled up with gas and everything.
25:36So, um, you know, that engine character makes it feel lighter because it's so responsive and
25:44quick and dirt bike feeling, right?
25:46You just, it's just got this like immediate snap to it that, you know, some of the other
25:52like the KTM, it doesn't have that immediate snap.
25:55You got to rev it up higher in the range.
25:57It's a mid range to a, to a, a high end motor where this thing is, it's all down low.
26:02So like when you're picking your way through stuff or you're wanting to hop over things,
26:06you can just go rough, rough, you know, and it just, it feels like a dirt bike.
26:10It's really good for that.
26:12And on like two track, like Jeep trail, and there's always rocks or weeds or something
26:16in the middle, like that, what, like you're explaining, it's how you get over from one
26:22side to the other.
26:23You just like over, like you would maybe on a four 50.
26:26Yeah.
26:26Yeah.
26:27It's really nice, you know?
26:28And then on the road, it, it works really well too.
26:31Um, it almost feels like a big super moto bike.
26:34Um, and that has a lot to do with, um, with the tires, um, you know, the, the stock tires
26:40that are on it.
26:41They're really good on the road.
26:43They're off road.
26:45Um, yeah.
26:46I, you know, if it's soft or it's sandy, those tires aren't the greatest, but changing tires
26:52is easy.
26:52You get a lot of money, 3,500 bucks to change tires, right?
26:56So that's not a problem.
26:59Uh, and you know, it's just like to change the tires.
27:03Like if you're going to be a dirt person, you're going to want to change the tires, but
27:07you're saving so much money compared to the competition.
27:10Oh, okay.
27:11Well, and in my opinion, you would change the tires on the KTM as well.
27:17Yeah.
27:17Yeah.
27:17Yeah.
27:17I think so.
27:18I think you would change it.
27:19If you're going to go off-roading.
27:20If you're going to go off-roading.
27:21Yeah.
27:21I mean, most of them need to be changing.
27:23If you're going to go off-roading, they really go for like a middle ground and that's cool,
27:28you know, but those tires are really awesome on the street and it feels like a super moto
27:31bike on the street and it works pretty good in the dirt.
27:35Um, and I think it, you know, it feels familiar to people too.
27:39It doesn't, you get on that bike and yeah, you notice the seat heights kind of tall, but
27:44it doesn't feel big and heavy.
27:47Like some other adventure bikes do.
27:49Um, it feels familiar if you're a dirt bike rider, you know what I mean?
27:54The, the, both the, the standing and the sitting rider triangle are very much do feel
28:00like a dirt bike.
28:01Mm-hmm.
28:02Yeah.
28:02The, the, the bars are in the right place.
28:04The foot pegs are in the right place.
28:05The seats, you know, got the right height.
28:08It's got the right shape.
28:09Um, you know, the, the tank to seat area is not super wide.
28:14You're not like totally like your knees aren't pushed out way far when you want to get over
28:19the front.
28:20With my knee braces, we've talked about it.
28:22I do feel a bit of width there, but yeah, a little bit, but I mean, that's normal in almost
28:27every adventure motorcycle that you feel some width there.
28:30So, you know, um, what else?
28:33I mean, the price obviously makes it popular.
28:37Yeah.
28:38I think, I think that they, you know, all of the things that we as journalists, but also
28:43we as motorcycle enthusiasts, like it was all the things that we hoped for and they, and
28:48they pretty much nailed it.
28:49Mm-hmm.
28:50Yeah, exactly.
28:51I mean, I was, uh, in 2019 or 20, I bought an adventure bike and it was, it was between
29:01the KTM and the Yamaha and it came down to, I couldn't wait any longer for the Yamaha.
29:06So I bought a KTM.
29:08Yeah.
29:08You know?
29:10So, uh, but I think I would have been happy with the Yamaha too, especially when I went to
29:15town on it and did all the things.
29:18So, yeah.
29:18And then we can't forget there's a, there's one guy that has made the Tenere amazingly
29:26popular too.
29:28Superhuman dude, Paul Torres.
29:31Yeah.
29:31That guy's a magician.
29:33You know what I mean?
29:33The things he can do on that bike is just mental.
29:37Yeah.
29:37And they keep, and they keep up in the ante and make him do more and more difficult stuff.
29:42It's crazy.
29:43Yeah.
29:43And he's, he's shown the world that you can do gnarly stuff on these bikes and now there's
29:48more people doing it.
29:49I mean, like there's an adventure bike class in Romania.
29:52You can do all that stuff.
29:53Yeah.
29:53I mean, there's a couple of guys like, like Kevin Gallas or, uh, I think is, I think that's
29:58how you say his last name.
29:59Like he, you know, he's really good on the bike too.
30:03He's not as trowsy as, as Paul.
30:05Like Paul does like some of the stuff he does is like art, you know, on that bike, you know,
30:12in his videos where he does, you know, crazy splatters or he rides up a tree and then backwards
30:18down a tree.
30:18And, you know, there's these crazy, like no footed one 80 pivot turns on their retire on
30:25the side of a hill and, you know, that kind of stuff.
30:27But, um, you know, the big road jump that he did, that was all that road jump was massive,
30:33massive road jump.
30:34So, you know, he, he definitely showed that these bikes are capable if you're a superhuman
30:44person in the right hands, they are super capable.
30:46And now they've added racing series for adventure bikes and in almost every racing series.
30:51Yeah.
30:52And I think what he did has a lot to do with that.
30:55Um, you know, so, uh, yeah, it, it, that is the thing about the adventure bikes.
31:02Like there's, they look so big and heavy.
31:04And I think as a, as a got more and more capable, people were a little bit reluctant to really
31:13do too much off road.
31:15But now that you see what can be done, you know, you can judge your, your talents versus
31:21theirs and dial it back a little bit, but there's pretty being capable.
31:26They're super capable.
31:27They're, they're far more capable than, you know, 99% of the people are, we'll say 98%
31:34of the people are right.
31:35Yeah.
31:35So, um, so, I mean, we've already talked about this, but we both are fans.
31:42We both like it.
31:43Um, give us, give me a reason why, like the, the number one reason why you like this motorcycle.
31:50Uh, like I've already said that it's, it's because it is a, it is a dirt bike at heart.
32:01You know, I know the motors comes from a street bike, but when you stand, it has the soul of
32:06a dirt bike.
32:06When you stand, stand on the pegs, you know, off road, just kind of sliding through a corner
32:12or whatever, or, or like, uh, flipping over that middle part on the two, on the two track.
32:17It's a, it's very much a dirt bike.
32:20Like I don't, I don't get too, uh, too many thoughts running through my head that I'm on
32:25a street bike.
32:26It's a dirt bike.
32:27Yeah.
32:28Yeah.
32:28I, I would agree.
32:29Exactly.
32:29I think that's the number one thing I like about too, is that the enduro bike or dirt bike
32:34feel of it and, um, the way it just, if you're a dirt bike rider, it's easy to ride off road.
32:42Yeah.
32:42And it feels like home, you know, if you, if your background comes from dirt bikes, feels
32:46like home.
32:47Yeah.
32:48Very much feels like home.
32:49So what's the one thing that you would, uh, you would change?
32:52Like what, what even, you know, you've rode in the 2025 a little bit, probably not off road
32:57much, but on the road.
32:58Um, yeah.
32:59What would you change?
33:00What would you, what would you like to see them do more?
33:04Or is there anything?
33:07Well, I guess like other versions of it that we, like we don't get, I would love to, to
33:14throw a leg over the, the rally version or, uh, you know, that I would like to see that.
33:20I think, I think that would be, I don't know.
33:23Then I don't know how much more that bike is.
33:26Do you know?
33:27Uh, I don't know off the top of my head in Europe, but, um, I think that also addresses
33:33the one thing that I wish was better on the bike is the suspension.
33:38The suspension is good when you really want to push it, it's still bottoms out.
33:44It makes some not nice noises when it hits the end of the stroke and it feels, um, it
33:51may feel a little cheap at that one split second where the shock or the fork goes clank, clank,
33:57you know, and you're so, and I think that the other models that you can get in Europe
34:03may solve that would have solved that problem.
34:05So in, in, in Europe, you can get, uh, three models total instead of just the one we have
34:10in the U S you get, you can get the world raid, which, um, is like the big world traveling
34:16rally bike, I guess it's got dual tanks, you know?
34:19So it's got two fillers on the top, um, and a whole six gallons instead of 4.2.
34:23So, um, a bit more fuel, it's got longer travel KYB suspension, um, that, uh, goes from the
34:31normal 200 to two 30.
34:33So we're talking an inch and a half more suspension travel.
34:36Um, it's got, uh, 220 at the rear.
34:40Do they do anything to the seat to accommodate for that?
34:44Like, do they shut the seat down?
34:46The seat is flat.
34:47It's very, very flat seat.
34:49Like the, you know, instead of the kind of scoop dish step thing that you would see on
34:53a street bike.
34:54So, but it's still a two piece seat.
34:56Um, it's got a steering damper.
34:58Um, and it's just, it's, it's got kind of gnarlier tires on it.
35:02It's just a little bit more rugged, but it also has more range.
35:07And so that's the, the world raid.
35:09And then they have the rally, which has upgraded suspension skid plates, a high front fender.
35:14So it's got a dirt bikey looking front fender.
35:16Um, it's got titanium foot pegs.
35:19It's got a rally seat.
35:20So it's a little taller seat, skinnier, flatter.
35:24Um, and then it's got a cool, like retro, um, pain scheme that kind of goes back to the
35:30early days of Dakar and the early days of XT 600.
35:33I really like how, how Yamaha does that.
35:36You know, we, with the, uh, a look back on the colorways.
35:40They do.
35:41They do.
35:41They do killer throwbacks.
35:42They probably do it almost better than everyone, except for maybe the Kawasaki when
35:46they did the, the white, blue, and green ninjas a couple of years ago.
35:51Those are pretty solid too.
35:52But other than that, I think the Yamaha does their throwbacks better than everybody, you
35:56know, on their sport bikes and their, their dirt bikes.
36:00So yeah, you did touch on one thing.
36:02I, I didn't mention that I would like to see it would be better range that the bike could
36:09use more range.
36:10Yeah.
36:10I mean, it has a small, a smallish tank.
36:13I mean, it's not quite five gallons.
36:15Um, you know, it's competition.
36:16We'll say it's closest competition is probably the, um, the V-Strom 800 and that has a 5.3
36:22gallon tank.
36:22So it has a half gallon more or the trans in terms or the trans out.
36:27Yeah.
36:27The trans ups got a five gallon, 5.1.
36:30Don't remember.
36:30Um, so they have, they may have, you know, 30, 40 more miles in them.
36:35Maybe, you know, um, so it's not a huge difference, but when you're, you know, when you're comparing
36:41it to some of the big ADVs with big gas tanks, they can go 300 miles on a tank.
36:47It, you know, you kind of wish I had more range.
36:50Yeah.
36:50You say it's not a huge difference.
36:51It's 30 miles when you're sweating gas, 30 miles.
36:54True.
36:55True.
36:55Yeah.
36:55Yeah.
36:56I guess if you're, if you're worrying about street miles, it's not a lot, but if you're
36:59off road out in the boonies or even on a desolated highway somewhere, yeah.
37:05The 30 miles is a big difference.
37:06Yeah.
37:07You don't, you don't have to look at the flashing fuel light as long.
37:11Right.
37:12Yeah.
37:13So, um, you know, but, and then they have the standard model, so they get three and that
37:19goes back to the whole, um, thing you talked about before is that Europe's a bigger, bigger
37:25place, um, for street bikes.
37:27And so they sell more bikes.
37:29It makes sense to sell them there.
37:31Um, it's completely unclear why they don't bring them here, but I think maybe production
37:35is just limited.
37:36Like they have only so much time they can build them on the assembly line.
37:40And so they just are like, us doesn't get them.
37:43Are those other models, are those built in France or are they built in Japan?
37:47I don't, I don't know on what assembly line they're built on.
37:50Um, but I don't think, I don't think they're an upgraded, like, I don't think they,
37:54they, they upfit them at, in France.
37:57I think that they come off the assembly line, um, like that, but I think, you know, they
38:03have to allocate, they only have so much production capacity.
38:07And so they're just like, the U S needs this many street, the, you know, Latin America market
38:14needs this many street standards.
38:16Everyone needs this many standards that leaves this much space for the other two.
38:20And we can sell all of them in Europe.
38:23So why bother?
38:24Yeah.
38:25Yeah.
38:27I think, I think that's the biggest thing.
38:29And then of course, you know, um, also historically, like we said, uh, Yamaha motor France is responsible
38:38for the Tenere for the existence of the Tenere.
38:41So why shouldn't they, you know, lead the way in selling all the, the cool ones that
38:47we don't get, right?
38:49Yeah.
38:49We can still dream about forbidden fruit.
38:52Yeah, exactly.
38:53I mean, the aftermarket here is huge for the Tenere.
38:57So, I mean, maybe there's no need for those models for the rally and the, um, the world
39:02rate, except that I would say that world rate, those big, those, the larger fuel tank setup
39:08would be nice for sure.
39:09Yeah.
39:10And it's, you know, it'd be cheaper to have it on the bike when you buy it, right?
39:14As opposed to, you know, buying a whole bike and then start swapping stuff out.
39:18Very much so.
39:19So, um, you know, we, every year when, uh, Yamaha announces the next special edition rally
39:29raid, world raid, whatever it may be, I get excited and then I read the press release
39:35and I'm like, oh no, it's only for Europe.
39:36Of course it's only for Europe.
39:37You know, it's, it's a bummer.
39:39It's definitely a bummer.
39:40Uh, but I think at the same time it might be Yamaha USA being very smart about, they
39:46know their market, they know what they can sell them for.
39:48And it may be just the price may be pushing the limit.
39:51And so they just like, or it could be the production thing.
39:54Who knows?
39:55You know, we don't work at Yamaha.
39:56We can only speculate.
39:58Can we speculate about, uh, why is there not a, uh, a Tenere 900?
40:03900.
40:04A triple.
40:05I know.
40:07Uh, yeah.
40:08I don't know.
40:09Um, right.
40:11I think it's logical.
40:12Super.
40:13I mean, you would think because, you know, it, the, the triple follows the same exact,
40:19um, game plan as the CP two is this CP three follows the CP two, right?
40:24It's that engine is used in multiple models.
40:26We're talking, um, MTO seven, XSR seven, tracer seven, which we don't have in the U S.
40:33Uh, and then you've got Tenere and then you have all those same things with the 900 except
40:39for the Tenere.
40:40Yeah.
40:40So it makes you wonder like, what are they waiting for?
40:45I don't know.
40:46I don't know.
40:47We should ask them.
40:48Yeah.
40:48We should ask, but we won't get any, we won't get any clear.
40:51Yeah.
40:52We won't get any clear answer.
40:53We might get some, some coy smiles or, you know, some very politically correct, uh, response,
41:01but, um, get them here anyways.
41:05Yeah.
41:05We can get him anyways.
41:06They go.
41:06Everyone would be sold in France.
41:08Uh, but at the same time, like, I think if they did more with the super Tenere and they
41:15kind of like updated that.
41:17And then you had the 700, I think, I think it's fine because the 700 is very good and it's
41:22very cool.
41:23And I, I don't find myself wishing for more, more power from the 700, to be honest.
41:32No.
41:32So why do we need the 900?
41:34I mean, it would be nice.
41:35I think it'd be, there'd be people that would just fall over backwards for it and immediately
41:40want it, you know, and there's, there's triple, um, the Tiger 900 is a triple.
41:45It's a really fun ride.
41:46It makes nice power though.
41:49You know, it's got a kind of a torquey setup from that engine.
41:53Plus it revs out.
41:54So it has some, it has some benefits, but I don't think it's enough to, to, to jump from
42:02the 700 to the 900, to be honest.
42:04Like if I owned a 700, I wouldn't go buy a 900 if it came out.
42:09But if you, but if you were looking for something a little bit bigger, like it could not, it could
42:14be a little bit more of a super Tenere.
42:17Yeah.
42:17As far as like, you know, more of a two passenger, bigger, less, somewhat less off-roady, you
42:26know, maybe still.
42:27Yeah.
42:27And that would be the other way that they could do it is maybe two versions, one with
42:30a 17, 19, another version with a 21.
42:36Yep.
42:36And that's the other way you could do it is no 1200.
42:39And then the 900 is the super Tenere.
42:42Yeah.
42:42Cause I don't see too many super Tenere's on the road.
42:46Not, not much anymore.
42:48So, uh, anyway, uh, so we are hoping maybe one day we'll see a 900 Tenere.
42:55Uh, but as it is, the 700 is a rally raid.
43:00We'd really love to see the rally raid.
43:02I think actually it would make sense for him to bring the world raid rather than the rally
43:07because the rally, you could do all those things after market, but the bigger tank and
43:14in that kind of stuff on the, the world raid, you're not going to go do that.
43:20So, um, it'd be nice to get that one from the get go.
43:23Um, so anyway, uh, I think that's it on this one.
43:27So Tenere 700, it's clear it's super popular because it's so good, so damn good at a decent
43:34price.
43:35Um, it has some rally heritage and it stays relatively true to that heritage of Tenere.
43:41Um, and if you're shopping for one, it should definitely be on your short list for a more
43:48hardcore ATV.
43:50Takeaways from this whole thing.
43:51The Yamaha Tenere is super popular because it's so good, damn good at such a decent price.
43:58Um, it's got a rally heritage, uh, that goes back all the way to the eighties and it stays
44:02relatively true to that heritage.
44:05Um, and if you're shopping for one, it should definitely be on your short list for a more
44:10hardcore or middleweight ATV.
44:13Yeah.
44:14Or just, or just wallet friendly, you know?
44:16Yeah.
44:17Wallet friendly for sure.
44:18So with that, uh, we're going to finish off our love fest for the Tenere 700.
44:24Thanks for listening.
44:25If you like what we're doing, hit that like button, comment, subscribe.
44:29Let us know what you think about the Tenere or what you think is better, or give us some
44:35more ideas of what, uh, you want us to talk about and we will see you on the next episode.
44:40Thanks for watching.
44:43Cheers.
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