Yamaha Tenere 700 Extreme Review
Yamaha Tenere 700 Extreme, a new flavor in the Tenere lineup for 2024, with some neat little tweaks that should make it the best of the bunch when it comes to off-roading.
is this now the Tenere to go for? Or is someone like myself, a pretty average rider, better off with just the standard bike.
Comfort of the Tall Bike
this new Extreme model fits into the Ténere lineup.
When the Ténere 700 was first introduced back in 2019, with base model with a slightly more off-road buy-a-spec than the other adventure bikes on the market at that time.
It’s a super simple bike with a minimal amount of tech on board, and I think that’s one of the reasons that owners really do seem to love them, along with the excellent CP2 parallel twin engine and a chassis that’s rightly lauded for its ability off tarmac.
Now, at the moment in 2024, one of these will set you back just over £10,000.
On top of that, you’ve got the Rally model to consider, which has a few different accessories fitted, like the bash guard and the Akropovitch accessory exhaust, as well as a fancy paint job, which I do think looks rather nice.
For 2024, we’ve got the Explorer model now, which is a bit more road-biased.
This one gets slightly lower suspension, a larger windscreen, a quick shifter on the upshift, and luggage racks all fitted as standard.
Getting a Foot Down
But look, for those who want to take their off-roading a little more seriously, the World Raid was introduced in 2022 with upgraded suspension from KYB, more travel and ground clearance, a taller seat height, and a big 23 liter fuel tank with dual fillers, as opposed to the 16 liters of the other Tenere.
Now, there is also a range top World Rally Edition, which is a bit like the World Rave, but with even more fancy accessories. Tenere 700 Extreme Review
the extreme fits between these two bikes and the rest of the lineup.
You see, it’s got the same suspension upgrades, so it should be better off road than on a standard bike, for example, but you don’t get the larger capacity fuel tank, which I think, to be fair, a lot of riders don’t need.
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On paper, this bike should be really very good. So what’s it actually like to ride? lots of fun if you want to bring your own bike.
But also there are plenty of manufacturer’s bikes to borrow as well and yeah, you can just razz around it all weekend, which is pretty cool.
I mean, the fundamentals of the Ténere are always going to be pretty good.
It’s just a nice, simple bike, easy to get on with, easy to ride off road, and a nice engine as well, the CP2. Tenere 700 Extreme Review
it’s definitely on the lighter end of the spectrum when it comes to the middleweight adventure bikes, which is always going to help as well.
Alternative Options for Height Concerns
And yeah, for someone who’s pretty average, like I say myself, it’s confidence-inspiring. That’s what I’ve always thought about it.
I’ve got to say, the base bike is really good, but it just gives you that extra bit of confidence, which I think is really valuable, even if you’re not particularly experienced. It’s the quality of it and the control of it.
It feels more able to take stuff on, more like you can just point the bike somewhere and it’ll just ride up it without much fuss.
while you’re not necessarily using all of that extra travel and you’re not necessarily doing the most hardcore off off-road riding, it’s the confidence it gives you, like I say.
And that is super valuable when you’re not, frankly, an off-road god.
Like the other stuff, the rally seat does allow you to move around a little bit more easily back and forth. Tenere 700 Extreme Review
It’s very flat it’s narrow as well, which again helps with agility on the bike. And also the tallness means you can go between sitting and standing as easily as possible.
Then we’ve also got lightweight titanium foot pegs, which I’m not so bothered about the weight.
If you really did care about weight, you’d probably be riding an enduro bike. But they’re nice and big, lots of surface area on the boot, nice and grippy, and so that’s always going to be welcome as well.
off-road ride
I got to say, even the more advanced loops here for the more experienced off-road rider are definitely on the easy side.
I guess it does give you somewhere accessible to come just to have a go.
If you’ve got an adventure bike and you just want to dabble, you can take the easy loop, which is a lot of this stuff on the grass, just practicing your turns, and it’s probably a really good way to get into it.
Plus, you’re not out on a green lane on your own somewhere.
So if you do have a topple, Loads of marshals, loads of other riders that are going to help you pick your bike up and all that good stuff and make sure you’re okay.
it is a brilliant event. is this the best Tenere 700 yet? the quality of the suspension makes a massive difference to this bike.
And you’ve also got to consider that I think it’s only £800 more than the standard T7.
For me, it’s an absolute no-brainer and if you tried doing a similar suspension upgrade yourself by buying it direct from a suspension manufacturer, you know it’s going to be a lot more than £800. Tenere 700 Extreme Review
Suspension
Now, there is also the option of the World Rade, which gets the same suspension.
It’s very similar but the big difference is that that one gets the much larger long distance fuel tank, and that’s going to give you quite a bit more range between stops.
The thing is, though, if you’re not really doing that riding distance work or you’re not really going to remote places, then for me, you may as well save the money and the weight and go for this one.
The only real downside to this bike, it has to be said, is the seat height, which comes in at 905 millimeters. Tenere 700 Extreme Review
it really is quite tall. if you’re not someone who’s comfortable with tall bikes, then this probably isn’t going to feel that manageable.
But what I will say is it’s probably easier to get on with than it looks like it’s going to be on paper because it is a pretty slim bike in the waist with this rally seat.
And so for someone who is comfortable getting over to one side and getting one foot down, maybe don’t rule it out straight away just based upon the spec sheet.
If it does rule you out, then the standard bike is decent enough.
The suspension is not bad on that bike. There’s also the Tenere Explorer, which is a little more road-focused, and that sits even lower.
I guess if you do want to ride off road, if you’re taking that side of things more seriously, then you will miss out on that extra quality and travel that you get with this bike. Tenere 700 Extreme Review
And so for me, I think I’d probably be happy taking that taller seat height just for that boosting suspension performance.
With all that in mind, if you are off roading, considering all of the bikes in the lineup, this is realistically the one I’d go for.