2021 YAMAHA TENERE 700
R I D E R E V I E W
P72
We're happy that the front end of the Yamaha
seems to be performing better here in North
America. It's still not the most powerful setup on
the market, even though it's Brembo-badged. But
for our most aggressive riding, it was adequate. It is
built with some give so new riders or heavy-handed
brake squeezers will be saved from unwanted
front-wheel skids a bit. For those of you coming off
KTM's, it will feel weaker.
The rear brake is still letting us down a bit. We'd
like to upgrade the rear caliper to a four-piston unit
or increase the brake hose volume/reduce expan-
sion or build a more rigid rear brake lever—anything
to increase the feel and progression/power of the
rear brake. It still requires a bit of a stomp to work
and goes too quickly from moderately slowing to
skidding (with ABS off, of course).
If we're nit-picking on things we're not fond of, we
think the minimalist dash is price-appropriate and
provides all the info you'll ever want or need, but its
just hard to read in the daytime, especially when it's
dusty. And I really hope you get this bike dusty.
Next, we'd point out the fairly dull footpegs. The
"teeth" are more nubs, but they are wide platforms
that provide a good foundation. We're worried
about wet weather use or mud evacuation as they
don't have a lot of pass-through in the design.
Final complaint, it's the turn signals. Look at those
things!? They're so out-of-place on this bike. We
can't wait to snap them off on some rocks, so we're
forced to replace them with something smaller.
The final big change we felt in the USA-spec
Yamaha Tenere 700 was with simple suspension
adjustments. Since this bike has been in the hands
of the U.S.-based development team, they've
done a great job of giving us a baseline setting for
suspension improvement off-road. In my opinion,
the changes made by clickers and knobs improve
the ride on-road, too. What'd they do? They went
in on everything: more preload on the shock and
The meter
looks cool but
can be hard to
read in direct
sunlight and
covered in
dust.
The rally-inspired headlight
features four LED lamps.
