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/1488797
COMPARISON I HONDA AFRICA TWIN & YAMAHA TENERE 700 P48 where you're downshifting for twisties and accelerating into the next under load. The Te- nere 700 would rather not be a road racer or shift too quickly. Plus, the braking performance doesn't want to be pushed here, either. We've harped on about the Tenere 700's soft braking performance before. And while it seems like it's getting signifi- cantly better, almost every bike in the market slows better. THE FINAL ASSESSMENT As these two bikes sit in my garage, they are both very easy to recommend to people. You can't go too wrong picking a Honda Africa Twin or Yamaha Tenere 700. At their current pricing, you can feel good about your purchase for a long time. The Africa Twin seems to be winning the long game here with anything you could want for a reasonable price. The bike feels like a $15,000 motorcycle when you live with it. And I expect it to be the same price with the same specs for a couple years, at least. Maybe climbing to $16,000 as costs continue to rise in the next couple of years. The Tenere 700 has a bit of price equity sitting in its current state in the market. Being the cheapest bike in a segment isn't always a good thing, but Yamaha can continue to be an amazing choice here if the pricing gap doesn't close. However, as more bikes come into play in the T7's world (the upcoming Honda Trans Alp being a big one), it will have to either continue being a price winner and solidly own the analog world or step up and bring some more performance to the table. The bottom line: You don't need to pick midsize, full-size, or any-size adventure bike these days. It just needs to be your size. How do you know your size? Look at where you're re- alistically going to ride and how big your rides will be. That will likely answer it for you. CN SPECIFICATIONS HONDA AFRICA TWIN ($14,499) / YAMAHA TENERE 700 ($10,499) ENGINE Parallel-twin / Parallel-twin DISPLACEMENT 1084cc / 689cc VALVETRAIN SOHC 8 valves Unicam / DOHC 8 valves BORE X STROKE 92 x 81.5 / 80.0mm x 68.6mm INDUCTION PGM-FI Throttle by Wire / EFI Cable Throttle RIDER AIDS Yes / No TRANSMISSION 6-speed / 6-speed FRONT SUSPENSION 45mm inverted fork, fully adj. / 43mm inverted fork, fully adj. REAR SUSPENSION Single shock Pro-Link, fully adj. / Single shock FRONT-WHEEL TRAVEL 9.1 in. / 8.3 in. REAR-WHEEL TRAVEL 8.7 in. / 7.9 in. FRONT BRAKE Dual 310mm disc, ABS / Dual 282mm disc, ABS REAR BRAKE Single 256mm disc, ABS / Single 245mm disc, ABS FRONT TIRE 90-90R-21 in. / 90-90R21 in. Pirelli Scorpion Rally STR REAR TIRE 50/70R-18 in. / 150/70R18 in. Pirelli Scorpion Rally STR SEAT HEIGHT 34.3-33.5 in. / 34.4 in. WHEELBASE 62.0 in. / 62.8 in. WEIGHT (CURB, CLAIMED) 505 lbs. / 452 lbs. FUEL CAPACITY 6.5 gal. / 4.2 gal.