It was American author and humorist Mark Twain who famously stated: “Rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated.” It’s a line that also happens to ring true with Yamaha’s long serving XT1200Z Super Ténéré, as rumours of its impending death have certainly been premature — at least here in our corner of the world.
Yes, the latest Euro-5 emissions standards will see the end of the mighty Super T being sold in Europe once current stocks are depleted. But those laws do not apply to Australia, the USA and other territories, which will continue to offer the big twin until 2023/24.
So the XT1200Z rides on, continuing the Super Ténéré journey that kicked off with the original Dakar Rally-inspired XTZ750 Super Ténéré way, way back in 1989.
FROM DAKAR TO YOU
These days the Dakar Rally is dominated by 450cc machines, but back in the early years of the gruelling off-road marathon, the only way was up when it came to the cubic capacity, weight and top speed of the factory race team bikes.
The 500cc thumpers of the first Dakar Rally in 1978 soon gave way to 600cc and larger singles, before the multi-cylinder juggernauts arrived on the scene. BMW had its GS, Honda had its Africa Twin and Yamaha upped the stakes with its twin-cylinder 750cc Super Ténéré.
In standard trim the XTZ750 Super Ténéré punched out around 69hp from its liquid-cooled, five-valve, DOHC parallel twin-cylinder engine while weighing in
