YAMAHA
Yamaha have been blathering on about this middleweight adventure bike for so long we were starting to think it was all hot air. Fortunately not. It looks good…
adventure looked Two years perfect bike ago if using Yamaha you wanted the MT teased a 07 proper-sized parallel us with shots twin. road The of a bike full-on T7 concept that was light, fun and gave you the option of going off-road without an ambulance and crane in attendance. And now the production bike has finally arrived. The Ténéré 700’s 698cc motor is virtually unchanged from the MT 07’s, making 72bhp at 9000rpm and 50 lb ft at 6500. That’s no bad thing – the engine is a modern classic, whipping through a perky midrange before hitting a hilariously feisty top-end. The Ténéré chassis is all new, designed to handle serious off-road terrain and the long distance hauls usually necessary to get there. That was Yamaha’s primary challenge; to give the T7 geniune off-road ability while keeping it road-biased enough for the majority of owners who will only rarely tootle down a trail. There’s certainly plenty of evidence Yamaha are taking the off-road challenge seriously – the front wheel is a dirt-friendly 21in, you can switch the ABS off on the loose, the suspension travel is a decent 210mm and ground clearance is 240mm. The clocks are modelled used rally with screen a teams, by bar that Yamaha’s on above you complete the can displays the Dakar clamp LCD your At the road unveiling book or Yamaha Garmin to. bragged about the years spent testing in deserts, and we believe it. It should be useful on road too. Those forks are fully adjustable so you can firm them up for A-roads, the tank capacity is 16-litres which gives a 200-mile range if fuel economy is at MT 07 levels, and those four LED lights at the front should mean night riding doesn’t turn into a terrifying game of spot the hedgerow. Price is yet to be announced, but with the MT 07 coming in at £6349 and the Tracer 700 at £7299, we’re hoping it stays under £8000. The only downside at this stage is the wait to get hold of one – Yamaha say the T7 won’t be on sale until late 2019.