The Adventure Motorcycle That Is Worth Every Penny

Over the past few years, the adventure bike market has grown exponentially. Today, we have an incredible selection of bikes to choose from, all offering different things targeted at different kinds of riders. So it stands to reason that every bike will be worth the outlay depending on what you need, but there is one bike that we feel is always worth considering first.

The Yamaha Tenere 700 was hyped for literal years before it eventually came out, but it is one of the few motorcycles in history that really lived up to the hype. Up until it came out, the middleweight ADV was slow, heavy, and largely underwhelming. Yamaha proved that it was possible to make a street bike engine work in a truly dirt-worthy chassis, and since then the market has been playing catch-up.

Why The Yamaha Tenere 700 Is Worth Every Penny

MSRP: $10,999

Yamaha

Yamaha initially struggled to keep up with demand after the Tenere 700 was first released. It only served to underscore what sort of appetite there was for bikes like this, and since then pretty much every manufacturer has joined the middleweight ADV party. Suffice to say, there are several other bikes also worth considering.

Honda

Honda answered the call for a better, more capable middleweight with the Transalp. It is not quite a like-for-like alternative and leans into the touring side of things a little more, but that is not a bad thing at all. While still pretty capable off-road, it certainly is the more comfortable of the two. Suzuki didn’t just hit back with a decent ADV, but the V-Strom 800DE was also one of the first all-new motorcycles Suzuki had developed in well over two decades. While good, it is a little on the porky side for a middleweight.

Aprilia

KTM, BMW, Triumph and Ducati have all also since launched more capable middleweight bikes, but all of those bikes fall into the “premium” middleweight class. Only one European brand offers a like-for-like alternative, and that is Aprilia. The Tuareg 660 is an excellent ADV which offers an impressive list of features, while remaining lighter than the Tenere. It is still a little more expensive, but for many buyers, it might be worth the extra outlay.

Rivals

• Honda Transalp
• Suzuki V-Strom 800DE
• Aprilia Tuareg 660

The Tenere 700 Has The Most Reliable Engine In The Industry

Power: 73 Horsepower

Yamaha

The T7 concept was essentially promising us a street-legal “Dakar” bike. To achieve this, it was pretty clear from the start that Yamaha was going to put a more powerful street-bike-derived parallel-twin in a dirt-bike-esque chassis. The end result wasn’t nearly as far off as we all expected, and Yamaha delivered on most of the pre-production promises. At the time, it was the lightest middleweight ADV ever produced, and genuinely felt like it was ready to take on the Dakar.

Putting a powerful engine in a more off-road oriented chassis was not quite as novel as it once was, but overall power was never the ultimate objective. If it were, then this would have been an updated Super Tenere. With the CP2 engine, we got the best of both worlds. It is highly tractable, and has ample midrange performance for both off-road use and the street. It also just so happens to be one of the most reliable motorcycle engines ever made, which means we get a little extra peace of mind while traveling far away from home.

Engine Specifications

The Tenere 700 Offers Unbeatable Value

A Blue-Collar Legend

Yamaha

Like most modern bikes, the Tenere has both traction control and ABS. Both systems are switchable, so once you get off the beaten path you can take matters into your own hands. It is, however, very important to remember that while the Tenere is highly capable off-road, and light for an ADV, it is not a trail bike. It is easy for things to go sideways rather rapidly off-road if you are not careful. Other manufacturers offer sophisticated off-road traction control systems that act as safety nets to negate this factor. Yamaha’s system is either on or off, and that is as far as it goes.

It also has ride modes and a huge new TFT. That TFT is by far the most noticeable feature added this year, and we honestly think it looks a little out of place. We loved the simplicity of the original dash, but the reality of the matter is, most people want a massive screen that can connect to their smartphone… then promptly break after the first fall. The one big criticism leveled at the Tenere was the fact that it was a little undersprung. It was fine for one person, but if you were to add any luggage, or another person, it would bottom out off-road. This issue has been rectified this year, and in our opinion, this is the biggest revision for the Tenere 700 to date.

Yamaha

​​​​​​​ This revised suspension coupled with its now famous anti-squat feature only serves to add value. Value for money is arguably the biggest feature here. Even though Yamaha added $1k to the original sticker price since it first came out, that is nothing compared to what some manufacturers have added to some models over the past four years without actually offering any meaningful updates. What you get with the Tenere 700 is an excellent off-road bike that can also handle your daily commute without fuss, but it is not perfect, no bike is.

The biggest issue with the Tenere has never really been the suspension, but rather the simple fact that it is frightfully uncomfortable. Its dirt-bike seat is fantastic for standing up off-road, but it clearly wasn’t designed to actually be sat on. A short commute, or blast down a trail is where it is most at home, but one of the primary functions of an ADV is touring, and that is unfortunately where the Tenere does fall a little short. Even so, at just shy of $11k, it is still worth every penny.

Chassis, Suspension, And Weight Specifications