The Yamaha Ténéré 700 Rally is the sharper, more serious end of Yamaha’s middleweight adventure range, built for riders who spend real time away from tarmac rather than the occasional green lane. It takes the purist T7 formula and stretches it further towards genuine rally-raid capability, drawing on Yamaha’s decades of Dakar experience, without losing the accessible, honest character that made the standard bike such a hit.
The core of the bike is the same torquey 689cc CP2 parallel twin, liquid-cooled with DOHC and four valves, producing 54kW, 73.4PS, at 9,000rpm and a broad 68Nm of torque at 6,500rpm through a six-speed gearbox and wet multiple-disc clutch. It is a deliberately uncomplicated drivetrain, with chain final drive keeping maintenance simple wherever a ride happens to end up, enough low-down pull to keep the rear wheel driving cleanly over loose or broken ground, and fuel consumption of 4.3 litres per 100 kilometres that keeps a day’s riding realistic on a single tank.
Where the Rally earns its name is in the chassis. Ground clearance rises to 255mm and the seat height climbs to 909mm, both reflecting genuinely longer-travel suspension worked through the 43mm upside down fork and a remote-adjustable rear shock, giving serious reserves for landing hard off rocks and ruts without bottoming out. The double cradle steel tube chassis, 1,595mm wheelbase and 27 degree rake carry over from the standard T7, as do the 21 inch front and 18 inch rear wheels, wrapped in 90/90 and 150/70 dual purpose rubber that rolls confidently over rocks and ruts while still gripping tarmac on the ride to the trailhead, and twin 282mm front discs with a 245mm rear, proven hardware rather than reinvented for the sake of it. At 210kg it stays manageable despite the extra travel and stand-up capability built in.
Nothing here has been added purely for showroom appeal. It targets committed adventure riders tackling serious dirt, rocky trails and demanding off-road routes who want hardware to match their ambition, with a 16 litre tank keeping range sensible between fuel stops on longer days out. Book a test ride at GT Motorcycles, your Yamaha dealer in Plymouth, where finance is available for adventure riders across Devon and Cornwall.
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