Last year, we were teased with the Yamaha T7 concept, a bike we expected to become a 700cc Yamaha Ténéré adventure machine. A year has passed now, and finally we can see the new Yamaha Ténéré 700 at this year’s EICMA show…or so we thought.
Based on the parallel-twin engine found in the Yamaha FZ-07, the Yamaha Ténéré 700 World Raid promises to bring a potent middleweight adventure bike to Yamaha’s dual-sport lineup. But instead, it is yet another prototype teaser from Yamaha.
We are Jack’s utter disappointment.
Yamaha’s excuse for continuing to tease us with the Ténéré 700 is that it needs to further develop the machine by testing it on public roads.
Instead of playing the cat and mouse game that this sort of public testing requires, the Japanese company decided to show its prototype machine to the media and public.
The reality though is that Yamaha has found itself lagging behind in the middleweight market, and in order to keep itself relevant, Yamaha is playing the “me too” PR game with its teasers, hoping that we don’t forget about the Yamaha Ténéré 700.
This should be a disappointment to any ADV rider, as the Yamaha Ténéré 700 World Raid looks like a bike we’d really want to ride, but must still wait for. This is of course the feeling that Yamaha wants to promote, hoping to salvage some sales from going to other brands in the 2018 model year.
Yamaha says that it plans to take the Ténéré 700 World Raid on a world tour, on every continent, both as a way to test the machine, but also to drum-up interest in the final production machine.
Hopefully by the time that the 2019 model year rolls around, we will still be interested in the Ténéré 700 and its “long hello” to the motorcycling public.
Source: Yamaha
As always, Asphalt & Rubber will be covering all the new bikes debuting at EICMA this year. Be sure to follow our coverage for the most recent news and photos.
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