A tale of two Ténérés

Unsurprisingly, we didn’t see too many bikes that day. As you may tell from the pictures, we were riding a little outside the ideal biking season, in late January to be precise. But even though temperatures were very low, and the ground not at its grippiest, our little day’s adventure both on- and off-road around the Wiltshire countryside brought many a smile, and plenty of overall contentment

- Chris Moss

700 Ténéré (700 Ténéré World Raid)

If I’m honest, this is my favourite sort of biking these days. I love mixing a bit of road and trail, and especially enjoy the fact you can ride just about all-year round. I also had a vested interest in a couple of other issues. The main one being to discover just how well Yamaha’s standard version of its Ténéré 700 compared with its higher spec and more costly sibling, the Ténéré 700 World Raid. I’d been to the foreign press launches of both bikes, held in much warmer climes in a couple of different parts of Spain, thoroughly enjoying both occasions. After that, I got to cover a fair few miles on each in the UK, and though I can see the multiple merits of each machine, it was going to be interesting to see if each of us could pick a ‘winner’ from this back-to-back test.

Getting a second opinion

Joining me was Morton’s ad man Charlie Oakman. With only limited experience off-road, his opinions were going to be another interesting discovery. He’s only previously ridden much lighter and more focused enduro bikes. And though he’d very keenly accepted the invitation to try a bit of local green laning, I was keen to know how he’d fare on these relatively bigger and weightier motorcycles. The study would have further interest because he was bringing along the standard T7, a bike he’s been using as a long-term test bike.