Hello

BMW’S marketing department would disagree, but Yamaha practically invented the adventure bike. Their XT500 (first tested in Bike in March 1977) was the first time that a production trail bike was a convincing road bike. Modified XTS won the first two Parisdakar rallies.

The big-tanked XT600 Ténéré (first tested in Bike in October 1984) tapped into Dakar rally credibility and became the bike of choice for round the world riders in the eighties and nineties.

The XTZ750 Super Ténéré (first tested in Bike in May ’89) led the big trailie (they weren’t called adventure bikes then) boom that swept Europe in the nineties, and Super Tén-derived bikes won the Dakar seven times.

Now the Yamaha revival that began with the introduction of the MTŽ09 (first tested in Bike in November 2013) is about to produce a bike that lives up to their adventure bike heritage.

We got the exclusive ride on the concept version of the new 700cc adventure bike. Off-road editor Jon Pearson reckons it’s very good and as soon as there’s a production model we’ll be riding that, hopefully across the Sahara (I’m volunteering). Bike has always delivered the best tests and insight and we’ll continue to do so.

And we’ve got the best readers, as evidenced by the consistent quality and insight of the mail that we receive (letters on page 24). If you’ve got a story, an insight or an opinion then write. Or come and see us at the Bike trackday on 4 August (details on page 119).

Enjoy the issue.