P94
COMPARISON I HONDA TRANSALP XL750R & YAMAHA TENERE 700
Tires are one of the most
talked about and debatable
options on ADV bikes since you
generally compromise street
or dirt performance based on
your personal preferences. But
luckily, there are various options
available on the market today
that work. The Tenere comes
stock with Pirelli's Scorpion
Rally STR tires, which work okay
on the street or mild off-road
scenarios, while the Honda
comes with either Metzeler
Karoo Street or Dunlop Mixtour
A tires, both of which lean more
towards street performance. We
installed Bridge-stone Battlax
Adventurecross AX41 tires on
both bikes to keep things equal
for our comparison. These pro
-
vide significantly improved dirt
performance and are not bad
on the street. We generally don't
treat ADV bikes with 18-inch
rear and 21-inch front wheels
as street-only machines. If they
were, they wouldn't come with
18/21-inch wheels, would they?
So, we compromise a bit to
the dirt side by default. Honda
installed their optional skid
plate and heated grips, while the
Yamaha had the optional quick
-
shifter fitted. Otherwise, we rode
the bikes as they come off the
showroom floor.
Tires make a big difference in the
performance of any ADV bike, so
to keep things equal, we installed
Bridgestone Battlax Adventurecross
AX41 tires on both bikes.
