Martin Alva
Yamaha debuted its new lightweight ADV at the EICMA this year. The Tenere 700 might not score points in terms of appearance and electronics but Yamaha has managed to bring fun to the doors of affordability with this one.
Yamaha has played its card right to make the bike capable and accessible at the same time. Two years ago Yamaha teased the T7 concept bikes which had given us a brief idea of what the company was planning to pack in its holster. Needless, to say the bike that was presented at EICMA was in a much more committed state than the one that we came across two years ago.
Yamaha has based the bike on all new chassis which houses the MT-07’s CP2 689cc parallel-twin engine. The wheels of the bike are straight up made of off-roading with 21-inch one in the front and 18-inch at the rear. The engine is most likely to be a solid partner off-road with dedicated fuel maps. This calls for a wide range of torque and adequate amount of power cranking at the throttle.
Yamaha has also incorporated some transmission tweaks to make the bike suitable for its new purpose. The company says that the combination of good fuel economy and a 16-litre tank capacity will give a real-world 346km+ range between fuel stops.
Underpinning the bike is an all-new tubular steel double cradle that is specially designed for the Tenere. Yamaha claims that the new platform offers as much flexibility and road manners while utilizing maximum traction as suited for its purpose.
The quad-LED lights in the front make it almost unique from all the ADV that are currently available in the market. However, behind the tall screen is an all-new LCD dash tower that shows speed, rpm, fuel level and range, trips and more.
Up front is a 43mm inverted fork with full damping adjustment and 210mm of travel. Braking duties on the bike are handled by a Brembo apparatus, consisting of 282mm discs up front, and a 245mm one at the rear, equipped with switchable ABS (which can be disabled for off-road).