Summary

• BMW has lengthy dominated the journey bike market, however Yamaha has quietly established its personal ADV legacy with the Ténéré.
• Yamaha’s Ténéré has a racing pedigree relationship again to the Paris-Dakar rally and has seen success as a robust and versatile journey bike.
• The current reimagining of the Ténéré because the T7 has been an enormous success, providing a contemporary look, superior expertise, and light-weight design.

These days, after we consider trendy journey bikes, and the place they arrive from, we have a tendency to take a look at BMW’s line-up of GS bikes because the gold normal. From the unique R 80 G/S to the modern R 1300 GS, the Bavarians bought it nearly proper all these a long time in the past, and have been sitting on prime of the hill ever since. And although different manufacturers like Honda, Triumph, Harley-Davidson, and Royal Enfield have been steadily chipping away on the ADV market, many consider it is nonetheless BMW’s to lose.

But there has at all times been one other participant within the touring dual-sport recreation. Yamaha has been quietly establishing an ADV legacy of their very own. And within the course of, the Japanese producer created one of many best adventure bikes on the market, with a racing pedigree that reaches all the way in which again to the sandy dunes of the notorious Paris-Dakar rally. And having tasted candy victory and success on the final desert race, Yamaha named their new thoroughbred, the Ténéré, after a Dakar Rally stage.

In order to provide the latest and correct data potential, the info used to compile this text was sourced from varied producer web sites and different authoritative sources, together with Cycle World, MotorCycle News, and Motorcyclist Magazine.

The Paris-Dakar Rally Influence

What is it about off-roading, and the desert specifically, that calls out to the adventurer in our hearts? Is it the alien-like landscapes? Or the joys of a problem? For Thierry Sabine, the founding father of the Paris-Dakar Rally, it might be the entire above. After getting misplaced on his bike within the deserts of Libya, Sabine returned a modified man, and the Rally was born.

The French (Adventure) Revolution

Concurrently, a French rider, by the title of Jean-Claude Olivier, was working for a French Yamaha subsidiary, Sonauto. His participation in desert races, particularly within the Dakar Rally, would propel him into the ADV highlight. Having misplaced to BMW‘s boxer twins, Olivier regularly pushed Yamaha to provide a extra aggressive bike. And although the XT500 dual-sports that Yamaha riders had been utilizing had been greater than succesful, they had been outmatched by BMW’s R 80 G/S bikes. After witnessing Olivier’s continued ardour and enthusiasm, developers in Japan engineered a bike that will quickly take over the creativeness of the adventuring world.

Early Years As A Dual-Sport

Though the XT600 Ténéré may have been born because of desert racing, it isn’t the one factor that it was meant for. Yamaha fully redesigned the XT500, tossing in a brand new chassis, suspension, and engine. It was nonetheless a single (the dual will not flip up till a bit later), however it was now larger and extra highly effective. Subsequent early generations leaned into the rally features of design, with larger gasoline tanks, upgrades in fairings, and twin headlights. Some of the opposite intuitive parts included detachable passenger pegs, tank-mounted cooling shrouds, a rear fender software bag, a snug seat, and a sturdy skid plate to guard the underside a part of the engine.

Yamaha XT600 Ténéré Engine Specifications

The XT600 Ténéré had one different factor going for it. Unlike the extra conventional wanting BMW R 80 G/S, which did not stray too removed from what the model was doing with all of their bikes, the brand new Ténéré appeared completely trendy, with its blue and yellow shade scheme. This was the Eighties, in any case, and wild neon colours had been in type. There had been extra conventional, white and pink shade schemes as properly, and together with the blue and yellow, these schemes would show to be basic sufficient to be resurrected in trendy occasions.

Dawn Of The Super Ténéré

The Ténéré proved to be sufficiently profitable for Yamaha, however there was a restrict to what a single-cylinder engine may do, on the streets or in a race. And in 1989, Yamaha unleashed the advanced, twin-cylinder Super Ténéré. Sure, it wasn’t as mild as the one, however what it misplaced in weight, it gained in energy, consolation, twin entrance disc brakes, and a large, 6.9-gallon gasoline tank. This was a machine constructed to be the final word journey bike. It was highly effective, and cozy sufficient for touring. And it may additionally readily deal with any off-roading you would throw at it. This model of the Super Ténéré would ultimately undergo a number of updates, making it lighter, quicker, extra streamlined, and liquid-cooled.

Continued Dakar Success

Racers would proceed to make use of modified and upgraded variations of the Super Ténéré in off-road races. The bike introduced residence a number of victories for its riders, profitable the Dakar Rally six occasions throughout its manufacturing run. This Super Ténéré’s period lastly resulted in 1998. But that wasn’t the top for the Ténéré title. Perhaps one of the best model of the Yamaha ADV was but to return. And when it lastly returned, it took the world by storm, another time.

A Modern Resurgence

The Yamaha Ténéré was revived as soon as extra in 2008, because the XT660Z. However, it has by no means made it to the States, formally. Featuring a 659cc single-cylinder engine, it was a minor success for the corporate in different markets, and was discontinued in 2016 to make means for one thing somewhat extra particular. In parallel with the XT660Z, the Super Ténéré additionally made a return in 2010 and continues to be in production to this day.

The Epitome Of Middle-Weight ADVs

But maybe the Ténéré was meant to be a a lot larger deal than it ever was prior to now. In 2018, these within the motorbike trade started listening to whispers that Yamaha was on the point of unveil a brand new model of the Ténéré. In 2019 Europe was the beneficiary of the brand new Ténéré 700. And within the second half of 2022, the US bought it as properly.

A complete re-imagining, the brand new bike had a contemporary look, superior expertise, and an inexpensive worth. It was additionally a liquid-cooled parallel twin, a lot to the shock of each rider. Once individuals bought their fingers on it, it turned crystal clear that this was how you did middle-weight adventure bikes. In a world stuffed with BMW R 1250 GS behemoths, the brand new T7 was mild, at solely 450 kilos moist. That light-weight, at the side of the brand new parallel-twin engine, made the T7 rather more highly effective than ever earlier than.

Yamaha Ténéré 700 Engine Specifications

The T7 was an on the spot success, promoting out in some cities earlier than it ever bought to the dealerships. Success additionally breeds competitors, and shortly the likes of KTM, BMW, Aprilia, and Triumph had been molding their mid-capacity ADV fashions to be simply as light-weight and succesful because the Ténéré 700. After a number of years in the marketplace, the T7 stays a large hit for Yamaha, who’ve been constructing so far ever for the reason that humble debut of the XT600, all these a long time in the past.