TENERE TIMELINE
The Tenere story starts with the 1976 XT500.
The name of course relates to a desert region
in the central Sahara. The XT built a solid
reputation as a bulletproof, go anywhere
machine and won two Paris-Dakar racers in
the hands of Cyril Neveu. Later, Stephane
Peterhansel won six Dakar Rallys on XTZ750s.
Yamaha legend Peter Payne mentioned
that one of his race bikes carried 100 litres
of fuel – imagine that! More recently the
660 and 1200cc models have carried the
Tenere name and continued the rock solid,
ultra-versatile tradition for Yamaha.
This quickly brings us up to date and Port
Macquarie NSW for the Tenere 700 launch. In
a nut shell the T7 is a traditionally styled dirt/
adventure machine with a 689cc parallel twin
engine, reasonably long travel adjustable
suspension, no traction control, switchable
ABS and decent weather protection.
The power delivery from the 270-degree
motor is excellent, being effective, efficient
and fun in equal measure. The chassis is all
new. The brakes are great, plenty strong with
heaps of feel. The ergonomics are excellent.
It is slim, doesn’t feel too big, is comfortable
and probably the most dirt-bike feeling of all
the multi-cylinder adventure machines. As a
side point, it doesn’t seem ridiculously complex
and looks straight forward to work on, which
I think is vital for a true adventure bike.
KIWI RIDER 35