2022 Yamaha Ténéré 700 World Raid
Back in 2019, Yamaha chose to follow a different route with its Ténéré 700 middleweight adventure bike. Bucking the trend which saw, and still does, bikes in this class getting ever bigger, more powerful, and complex, the modestly-powered Ténéré featured a relatively simpler, tech-light design. It was specifically aimed at the adventurer who wanted to journey more along off-road routes. The Yamaha arguably created a new, niche segment within the adventure class, and sold well. Bringing things up to date, and to further that off-road suitability even more, there’s a new version of the bike, the upgraded Ténéré 700 World Raid. It joins the standard Ténéré and Ténéré Rally Edition models in the Yamaha line-up.
Some of the World Raid’s key new features are a giveaway to its even greater off-road design bias. First one is the 20mm longer travel suspension and the extra ground clearance that brings, with the next clear clue coming in the shape of its bigger twin 23-litre pannier-style fuel tanks. Joining those are a flatter two-piece seat, new rad guard, stronger bash plate, multi-mode 5in TfT dash, bigger off-road footrests, and an extra ABS braking option.
Heading for the hills
To give us the chance to assess just how well those changes help the new 700 suit the role it’s been built for, we spent the day riding on a 50/50 mix of road and off-road routes winding through the beautiful, mountainous Sierra Nevada region of southern Spain. It turned out to be a highly agreeable day, the Ténéré coping admirably with the task of getting us round the 200-mile mixed surfaced route. It really is a capable, yet very manageable and highly versatile dual-purpose adventure bike. It
