RUST magazine: RUST#36

YAMAHA XT660Z TÉNÉRÉ
and it’s a proven winner for performance and
reliability – ideal for the new Ténéré.
Apparently Yamaha have a Mark 2 frame
in the World Raid prototype, with attention
having been paid to lowering the seat height.
Suspension looks a definite upgrade on
the existing Ténéré, seeing as it appears
to be USD Kayaba forks plus no doubt a
new Kayaba shock. The low-slung exhaust
will obviously help keep the seat height
down, too, albeit the production bike will
be lumbered with a catalytic converter, so it
won’t look as clean as it does now. Happily
the Ténéré keeps a 21” front wheel – with
twin discs, too – but we can’t tell if that’s a 17
or 18-inch rear hoop.
What will be most interesting to find out
will be the price. The important starting
point here is the fact the MT-07 is a budgetpriced
bike, so the base materials, if you like,
aren’t super expensive. Which is good news
as there’s been some inflation in adventure
bike prices of late and certainly there’s some
desire (from the demand side of the market)
to see more modestly priced offerings
come to the showrooms. We’re hoping the
new Ténéré doesn’t become so exotic as to
attract a big ticket. By comparison, in the
UK, Suzuki sells their road bike SV650 for
£5699 while the V-Strom 650XT adventure
model (with the same motor) is priced at
£7899. So with the MT-07 up for £6349
using a similar relativity we could see the new
Ténéré priced below the £9,000 mark (say
$10,500 in the US). The closer it’s priced to
the V-Strom XT the better. Let’s hope…
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