P102
PRODUCT REVIEW I
AXP RACING YA M A H A T
T
he Yamaha Tenere 700
is a healthy dose of
ADV off-road wrapped
up in an affordable and
simple package. It forgoes
electronic sparkly bits in favor
of a very analog approach to
modern motorcycling. This
approach should prove rug-
ged and dependable. How-
ever, there is a chink in its
armor, and its soft underbelly
is a clear vulnerable point.
AXP makes bomb-proof
plastic armor for off-road
and ADV machines. Using
plastic makes a lot of sense
when attaching a skid plate
to the frame of a motorcycle
as its flexible nature is less
likely to affect chassis flex or
handling. Also, plastic gener-
ally moves when hit, absorb-
ing and deflecting impacts
and returning to its original
shape—all benefits of going
with this style of skidder on
your machine.
AXP makes the Tenere 700
skid plate out of 8mm thick
HDPE (High Density Polyeth-
ylene). It's burly, yet relatively
lightweight for its bulk, and
feels up to the challenge of
any ADV nonsense you can
conjure. It installs via four
OEM skid plate mounts plus
one big t-shaped plastic block
attachment in the back to
space over the exhaust—pro-
tecting the exhaust in case
of a very large send-gone-
wrong.
The AXP Racing Skid Plate
has massive coverage, cover-
ing from header pipes to link-
age front-to-back and encas-
ing the engine's front-facing
vulnerable points all the way
over the water pump and
cases. It also has pretty slick
ventilation cut outs to keep
air flowing to the oil filter, for
instance.
The AXP Racing Skid
Plate is constructed
out of tough plastic,
which makes a
lot of sense when
attaching a skid
plate to the frame
of a motorcycle as
its flexible nature is
less likely to affect
chassis flex or
handling.