Photo by Joseph Agustin
2024 Yamaha Ténéré 700
When the Yamaha Ténéré 700 was introduced in the summer of 2020 , it was a rare bright spot during the dark time of lockdowns , masks , and toilet paper shortages . It was a new entry in the middleweight adventure bike class , slotting between Yamaha ’ s WR250R and 1,200cc Super Ténéré . Unlike midsized ADV models from BMW , KTM , and Triumph , Yamaha took a “ less is more ” approach with the Ténéré 700 – aka the T7 – eschewing electronic rider aids and other costly features and pricing it well below the competition at $ 9,999 .
Contributing photographer Kevin Wing attended the T7 ’ s debut in Tennessee , and he took a shine to it . “ As someone who spends most of his time on lightweight dirtbikes without any electronic interventions , I felt immediately comfortable on the Ténéré 700 with its light clutch , smooth shifting , and excellent fueling ,” he wrote in his test for the August 2020 issue ( and on RiderMagazine . com ).
When long-time contributor and dual-sport aficionado Arden Kysely got his hands on our Ténéré 700 test bike in California that same year , he added some factory luggage and other accessories and hit the road for 3,000 miles . “ In my local mountains or out in the desert , the T7 has been an excellent partner for exploration , corner carving , and flat-out movin ’ down the road ,” he wrote in his tour test for the January 2021 issue . Kysely liked the T7 so much , he sold his 2009 BMW F 800 GS – which had 65,000 adventureheavy miles on its odometer – and bought our test bike from Yamaha .
Consistent with the no-frills theme of the original , when Yamaha updated the Ténéré 700 for 2024 , it didn ’ t go overboard . The monochrome LCD screen , which Wing and Kysely said required too much scrolling to access key info and was rendered useless when powdered with trail dust , has been replaced with a 5-inch color TFT display with smartphone connectivity . Like the old screen , the new one has a rally-style vertical orientation , and it now has two display modes : Explorer and Street .
Other updates include an additional ABS mode . Whereas the previous model ’ s ABS was only switchable between On and Off , the 2024 model also has an Off-Road mode that deactivates ABS at the rear only . To better access settings and menus on the TFT display
RIDERMAGAZINE . COM / FEBRUARY 2024 / 17