TÉNÉRÉ AUSTRALIS
When it comes to the Ténéré 700, I personally got teaser fatigue some time ago. The bike was first seen as a concept build at the EICMA show in 2016 and since then it’s been a nonstop barrage of rumours, small snippets and sneak peeks that built to unveilings and ride-bys, touching but not riding, and information sessions coming to a conference room near you.
For me, as someone who isn’t a big spec-sheet devotee, it got to the point where I wanted to say, “Call me when we can ride this thing.” Well, that time arrived. Bushfires did what they could to derail the Aussie launch but through the tenacious efforts of trail boss Greg Yager (Ride ADV), a safe route was secured and the bike that had been something of a far-away dream finally became a solid object capable of being started and ridden.
AS SOMEONE WHO ISN’T A BIG SPEC-SHEET DEVOTEE, IT GOT TO THE POINT WHERE I WANTED TO SAY, “CALL ME WHEN WE CAN RIDE THIS THING”
Back in 2016, we had only rumours to go on that Yamaha had something to rescue the Ténéré model line which was once a mighty presence but had since suffered from lack of development and become swamped by competition coming in thick and fast. In the last three years the Multistrada Enduro 1200, Africa Twin Adventure Sports, 790 Adventure R and CRF250L Rally have been released, while established models like the R 1250 GS have received major updates. (In fact, the Multistrada has also been heavily updated and we’re not far off the second-generation Africa Twin and a redeveloped V-Strom 1050 XT). Moto-years can be unforgiving to relevance and while the Ténéré 1200 and 660 remain bikes with plenty to offer, they could no longer go head to head in marketing or performance.
But there is an alternative timeline where the Ténéré
