Yamaha Ténéré 700

The Japanese middleweight adventure bike is a genuine dual-purpose delight.. and it's knocked-up in an old moped factory in France.

     Proper bike the Ténéré 700. It's one of those machines that's just 'right. From the brilliant balance of its chassis and perky performance of the 689cc parallel twin, to the luxuriously-damped suspension and flimsy build quality, Yamaha's middleweight adventure bike is reassuringly complete. Its off-road prowess doesn't detract from its tarmac skills, and road requirements don't impair its ability to romp along a Welsh mountain trail - and it's noticeably classier than Yamaha's other MT-07-derived models, too It's why the Ténéré blitzed our epic eight-bike adventure test in th November 2019 issue.

    

    And, of course, the Yamaha has an attractive price. Despite all the quality and reliability you'd expect from a leading Japanese brand it's a sniff over £9000 on the road. While this means it's the most expensive bike of these three by a significant amount, it also means the genuinely dual-purpose 700 is two grand less than KTM's less impressive 790 Adventure and over €4500 cheaper than a base-model BMW R1250GS.

    It goes against preconceptions: you don't think screwing the 700 together in Europe (with the feel expected of a Japanese bike) would allow an attractive price. Yamaha acquired the facility in St Quentin when they bought French brand MBK (formerly Motobecane, creators of many millions of Mobylette mopeds) in the 1980s. Originally used just for 50cc models, the declining small-displacement market left the factory with spare capacity - so while it still makes toddlers, the French set-up also makes the larger XMAX scoots plus all MT-07-derived models: the Tracer 700, XSR700 and Ténéré.

The 'CP2 engines are supplied complete from Japan (where all MT-07 s are still made) to St Quentin, along with some frame and other chassis components; body parts, suspension, wheels and brakes come from within Europe.

    "These MT-07 variants were primarily designed for the European market and most of the R&D was done in Europe by YMRE [Yamaha's European R&D department] based alongside Yamaha Motor Italy, near Monza, says Jeff Turner, Yamaha UK's marketing manager. Also France is the biggest two-wheel market in Europe and has years of experience in activities like rally racing, which are relevant to European design requirements. The factory already had the expertise for production of more premium motorcycle models - Japanese production techniques and quality management systems were in place, so it was natural to utilise the facility to produce these 700cc models aimed at the European market.'

    Obviously the costs involved in running a factory in France are greater, especially than in China or India where the Benelli and Royal Enfield are made. However, it's remarkably efficient to ship the bikes in their major component parts - a container can be stuffed with an awful lot of CP2 engines. There are savings to be made on shipping and distribution for the complete bike tool, and it led to Yamaha having an efficient cost base and an affordable yet high-quality model.

    And you'd certainly never even question where the Ténéré was made. Could you tell this was a European bike and not a Japanese one? asks Bike editor Hugo Wilson. Although it's quite "basic spec" in terms of what most 2020 models are like, the Yamaha is clearly streets ahead of the Benelli and Royal Enfield in terms of sophistication.' He's right. The Benelli shows Chinese factories have moved on from tacky 125s and are capable of building larger bikes to take on established brands wheel-to-wheel, but while the 752 is dotted with impressive brand names it falls short on small but important things next to this Yamaha. The 700's dash, switches, levers, brackets and panel fit are noticeably better. All those years of experience are evident, regardless of where it's assembled.

    Nothing stands out as cheap on the 700, or smacks of being made to a tight price. If anything the opposite is true, the Ténéré feeling like great value. It all feels reassuringly.. well, Japanese.