Ténéré XT660Z

By: Ben Foster

2010 Ténéré

WOLF IN A PIGS CLOTHES

The new Ténéré is no slouch on or off the road

Don’t be fooled by it’s largish exterior, the Ténéré is a solid performer in just about all the conditions we could throw at it. As you may have seen last issue, we took a couple of the new Ténéré’s (along with a few other adventure chariots) on a jaunt down the south coast of NSW and was suitably impressed at the capabilities of the biggish dual-sporter.

Being the newest of the bikes, the Ténéré had plenty of attention from all the riders at first. “It looks enormous,” said one of the gents. “There’s no doubting it’s got plenty of ground clearance and suspension travel, but is that going to make it shithouse on the road?” said another. “Move the hell out of the way, this is my ride now,” was probably the most convincing though. We were all eager to ride it and see if the new beast could live up to the legacy left by it’s elders.

My first stint on the bike was about a 100km of tar. I was skeptical, I won’t hide it. It had a set of knobbie tyres, the suspension was tall and soft and the whole thing just looked kinda awkward. But, it was like being slapped in the face with a 10-pound cold tuna when I got going and realised that it was nothing but a pleasure. It motored along at the 100km speed limit like it hadn’t even started stretching it’s legs yet (not bad for a 660cc motor) and there was no real wallowing or scary parts. The seat is somewhat similar to a horse saddle with it’s cupped, deep-dish shape, but this makes for a hell of a comfy ride on the road and with a seat height of 895mm it’s very managable. The small screen combined with the permanent fairing does a pretty good job of buffeting the wind and the whole shebang generally glides down the road like a lubed fart.

Ok, so here’s where the compromise is going to diminish, I thought. If it was that comfortable of the road, surely it’s going to struggle in the dirt. May as well bring back that Tuna… I was surprised at the level I could push the Ténéré too. I started with the basic dirt road stuff, which it tore to shreds, and then when I got adventurous and hit some single trail stuff, it just felt like a big old trail bike. If you respect the actual size of the bike, you can get it through, over or around some decent obstacles. Obviously you’re not going to chase big erosion jumps, or tame the widowmaker hills, but it wouldn’t be far off getting around a regular trail loop.

All up, I was mighty impressed with the Ténéré. It performed as a true dual-sporter with great performance in both on and off road situations and is a no-fuss, easy to use, everyday ride. Though it looks big and cumbersome, it’s quite the opposite, with a great handling package and forgiving weight, rideheight and power. Then to find out it’s only $14K, wow! This thing really is awesome. Now, how to explain to Yamaha that I’m not intending on giving it back…