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W
ell folks, it had it all. The Australasian
Media Launch for the Tenere 700 was
a simply epic introduction to Yamaha’s
new adventure machine. For five long days
and almost 1500 kilometres we did battle with
extreme heat, unimaginable draught conditions,
massive elevation changes, single track, rough
dirt roads, rocks, gravel and skirted the horrific
bush fires. That’s not even mentioning Skippy,
the occasionally adorable marsupial… that
more often than not wants to clean you off the
bike with surprisingly thoughtless, unprovoked
hostility. Even the biblical plaque of locusts
kicked in, just ask Cam Donald… more on
that later. Have I missed anything? Probably.
Oh yes, we did find rivers with water in them
too and the Tasman Sea with plenty of very
soft sand nearby to play in. And do you know
what? After all that, I don’t think I would have
32 KIWI RIDER
preferred to be riding any other bike – period.
As an allrounder in these conditions the Tenere
really did approach being the mythical ‘perfect
bike’. The riders on this launch were an amazing
cross section of riding talent. Young and old, we
had ISDE vets, road racing stars, guys in there
60s who have been around bikes their whole
lives and still bloody haul arse, plus everything
in between. From day one’s end, not one of
them didn’t think the Tenere 700 was a great
bike and that feeling only strengthened as the
week rolled on. Over a few beers at night the
truth tends to be revealed… And so, as the days
passed and rider fatigue grew, the challenges
snowballed and the real strength of the
Yamaha T7 was revealed – it’s just so damned
easy to ride in all conditions. It simply does the
business, fuss free. However, I’m getting ahead
of myself, time to go back to the beginning.