I’LL HAVE A MIDDY THANKS

It’s been such a long time coming. I can’t think of another model that has been teased to the extent this one has been — the only two in recent times that come close, off the top of my head, would be Yamaha’s YZ65 and the KTM 790 Adventure R. But the wait is over and things have kicked off well, with the first shipment selling out before it touched sunburnt soil.

There is a weight of expectation on the Ténéré 700 that isn’t on many other new releases because it’s replacing a fading model line consisting of the 660 and the 1200. The 660 was OK at best, while the 1200 was a decent bike up against some extremely good bikes in the big-bore category. Neither showed a skerrick of modern design by 2020 standards, though, and it was time to go.

Europe wanted another road bike. Australia and America wanted an adventure bike. Yamaha took a look at the numbers and came to the conclusion that a road bike would sell more but an adventure bike would stir emotions. Thankfully, they decided to build the adventure bike and at this point I’d like to ask the Euros why they need another bloody road bike. There are heaps of them already. And what’s with eating canned raw fish? You guys are off your chops.

So, massive thanks to Yamaha Japan for listening to the pie-eaters on this one, which brings us finally to the long-awaited Australian launch.

And what happens then? The whole east coast of NSW catches on fire. Massive bushfires ravaged the areas slated for the week-long launch