As the old adage goes, if it ain't broke, don't fix it – and in an era of blinged-up, tech-overloaded machines, it's all too easy to join the herd and follow the pack. Less is more sometimes, and it's quite refreshing to jump on a bike and not have to think about which rider mode to go in, whether to use traction control, or if you've got the back mud pedal valve turbo ejector turned on. Yamaha's Tenere 700 is the antithesis of this: a really simple, rider-friendly adventure machine that's more than comfortable in its natural, simplistic and under-complicated shell.
Since Yamaha's introduction of the Tenere 700 back in 2019, it's been a sweet story of success. With more than 60,000 sales in Europe (4000-plus of those in the UK), the stats speak for themselves, and the T7 is one of Yamaha's most important bikes – if not the most important bike in its wide line-up. The T7 now accounts for 30% of the middleweight adventure segment in Europe, an impressive accolade when you look at which bikes it goes head-to-head with, and while we're on that note, unsurprisingly, the adventure sector is now Yamaha's biggest in terms of bike sales.
Spreadsheets aside, you only have to read the reviews from Tenere owners to see just how satisfied they are with their machines and how proud they are to be part of the community and Tenere journey. There's clearly a lot of hype surrounding this bike, so for a Tenere virgin like me, there was only one thing to do… go and see for myself.
For those of us who are not fully up to speed with the tenacious Tenere 700 and the different variations available, allow
