Cycle News

Cycle News 2021 Issue 14 April 6

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1358713

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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.

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