EICMA 2018: Yamaha Tenere 700 unveiled

- Yamaha claims is ‘unlike anything else currently offered’ 

- Will be powered by the MT-07 engine

- Will launch globally in 2019

Yamaha’s T7 adventure-touring concept was shown in 2016, and it was such a hit that the company decided to put it into production. The result is the Tenere 700, unveiled just before EICMA this year. 

The motorcycle looks like it rode straight out of the Dakar Rally, with concessions made to legal requirements over the world. There’s a very post-apocalyptic design element in the quad-lens headlamp, and the minimalist design involves Yamaha racing blue for the few bits of bodywork there are. It’s a good thing, because with its off-road focus, that merely means that there is less bodywork to get damaged when it is dropped. The bodywork hides the fact that the frame is a new double-cradle design. It allows 204mm of ground clearance. The fuel tank holds 16 litres of fuel and is good for 350km of riding. 

At the heart of the Tenere 700 is the motor from the MT-07. It displaces 689cc from a parallel twin cylinders. For this application we can safely expect it to drop the power figure of the MT and exchange it for better bottom-end torque. Upside down front forks, radial brakes, spoked rims in the appropriate off-road sizes and dual-sport tyres round out the package. Suspension travel from the 43mm front forks stands at 210mm. The rear offers 200mm and has a remote adjuster as well. The dual 282mm front brake discs haul down on a 21-inch aluminium spoke wheel, while the 245mm rear disc is tasked with the 18-inch rear.

The appropriate electronics will be available on at least the top-spec versions. These will be on display on a vertical-style LCD instrument cluster that echoes Dakar machines. Surprisingly Yamaha hasn’t launched a TFT display for the Tenere 700, but we suspect that will arrive with the first update. Happily, though, there are provisions to mount aftermarket navigation devices, so you won’t miss the fact that the Tenere doesn’t have Bluetooth connectivity or nav capability out of the box. 

Throught 2018, the Tenere 700 World Raid Prototype, the precursor to the Tenere 700, has gone on a trip across most of the globe. The company mentions South America, Australia, Africa and Europe are on the list of places. Left out of the list are North America, where it won’t go on sale anytime soon – which is why we expect Asia was left out of the list as well. 

That means that the wait in the Indian market will remain for a (somewhat) reasonably priced middleweight adventure tourer with electronics and that is truly comfortable going off-road. Until then, we’ll have to make do with the offerings from BMW Motorrad.