The Tenere 700, with some experience and Enfarkling.

[Wintersdark]

It's a stupid fun bike.  A bit bigger than the Tracer, and waaaay more nimble.  A major flaw as identified in my first ride review is the stock exhaust - it sits out and away from the right side of the bike, and if you drop the bike on its right you bend the exhaust into the swingarm.  This happened to me twice.  Fortunately, Huzar sells a great system for $250 Canadian, shipped, which brings it in up under the tail, nice and safe.

Otherwise, honestly, it's not a bike with a big list of needed farkles. You kind of want to keep it simple. I added a windshield adjuster that gives the windshield up to 5" of rise over the stock position. It's not adjustable while riding, but it's trivial to adjust without tools at a stop. Mine came with OEM front crash bars, and because I'm extra inept offroad, I added some rear crash bars($150) too - this setup has easily paid for itself, the bike now having been crashed, hard, repeatedly with no visible damage other than some scratches to the plastic handguards.  Soft bags for the crash bars ($30, pictured) and soft saddlebags ($120, not pictured, Moose Adv1 bags).  Shorty levers($20) because I kept smashing fingers.  Oh, and a Tutoro oiler, because damn I love those things and this is gonna be the primary winter ride.

And that's about it:

Really an awesome second bike.  So much fun to ride - the CP2 is just a delightful engine.  Even if I never took it offroad, I'd still want to keep it for bombing around town.  But get it in the dirt and it *shines*.  About as much power as you can practically use offroad, and light enough to not be a handful to manage. 

It does tend to get me in its own brand of trouble, though - it so easy to hop curbs and ride it... Well, anywhere, that it's always super tempting to do so.  

I just wish it was super easy to wheelie like the MT07.  I'm seriously tempted to drop a tooth up front and maybe add one in the back just for that.  Have to power through the darned antisquat

[roy826]

I had one of the first ones for 9 months. Very good offroad. Mine wheelied just fine. I only sold it because a guy offered me what I paid for it brand new. Rare to not lose money on a motorcycle for 9 months and 3700 miles.

Edited November 2, 2021 by roy826

[koth442]

T7 is legit, won't lie. Glad you're enjoying it!

[knyte]

That's great to hear!!  Sounds like the farkles were all really reasonable, too.

[Wintersdark]

5 hours ago, roy826 said:

I had one of the first ones for 9 months. Very good offroad. Mine wheelied just fine. I only sold it because a guy offered me what I paid for it brand new. Rare to not lose money on a motorcycle for 9 months and 3700 miles.

Oh, you can wheelie it for sure, but not like the MT07.  The MT07 will stand up through straight power wheelie in first, second , or third, without you bouncing the suspension, throwing your weight back, or clutching it up.  The T7's antisquat and extra 50lbs prevent that.  Objectively that's good; the antisquat is a highlight of the bike offroad, but I miss how ridiculously easily the MT would wheelie, how eager it was to do so.  

Edit: and yeah, it's crazy the resale value on these.  That's a big part of why I bought it, it's a very safe purchase.  If I didn't like it, I could readily resell it for MSRP or even a bit more.  How many vehicles can you buy knowing that's a possibility?

 

Edited November 2, 2021 by Wintersdark

[roadrash83]

Man, I'm jealous of you Wintersdark, one for the bike you got👍 and the fact you can get accessories for it. I can't get anything for my Pan America till well into 2022. I'm planning to putting my KLR up 4 sale and will be looking for a used T7 once the market settles down and prices drop some.

[roy826]

16 hours ago, roadrash83 said:

Man, I'm jealous of you Wintersdark, one for the bike you got👍 and the fact you can get accessories for it. I can't get anything for my Pan America till well into 2022. I'm planning to putting my KLR up 4 sale and will be looking for a used T7 once the market settles down and prices drop some.

I am doing the same on a used T7 waiting for the market to settle down on them. That will happen once supply exceeds demand.

[bwringer]

Yep, the only problem is that Yamaha can't crank out enough of these to meet demand. And that dates back to before the pandemic.

I've seen endless speculations for years on ADVrider.com about what the "perfect" dual-sport or adventure bike would look like, and the T7 is by far the closest to the most common ideal that anyone has produced. I wouldn't say there's a consensus, but if you graphed the assorted demands (and temper them with realism; no, you're not getting 100hp in a 300 pound bike), the T7 is bang in the middle of the bell curve.

Honestly, with tubeless wheels and decent drop protection standard, it really would be very nearly perfect, with everything else down to personal preference. Tubeless spoked wheels wouldn't cost any more (and might save the few bucks spent on tubes), so I can't fathom why they used tubes. I'll concede that more crash protection might have pushed the price past their target.

It's honestly mind-boggling that none of the other Japanese brands have produced anything close to this. There might be a skunk works project somewhere, but I haven't seen any info on it. There are some KTMs in this ballpark, but they are and remain too finicky, too expensive, and too rare.

Triumph's off-roady Tiger models are fantastic, but are aiming at (and very successfully hitting) a much different target.

Among the Big Four, Honda's Africa Twin uses many of the same ideas, but it's too big, too heavy, too expensive, and just plain too much; it's answering a different, and far less common, set of questions. 

Over almost ten years, I've built, bashed, and crashed my 2005 KLR650 (now KLR 685, actually) into something close to my personal dual-sport ideal, but the fact remains that it's underpowered (even with a big-bore kit), and heavy, with ancient chassis and suspension tech. The limitations, compromises, and cheap buy-in are part of the fun in a way; it's the bike I've put the most miles on most years. 

But for me and many KLR owners, the T7 represents a very logical next step (you get more of everything in roughly the proportions we like), if we're willing to spend the money and if any are actually available.

And for many folks who own the sumo class of "Adventure" bikes (BMW GS, Harley PA), the T7 is a very logical step down in cost, complexity, and weight, with a big step up in off-road capability.

Like I said, it's mind-boggling that everyone else seems to be ignoring this big juicy target.

[Wintersdark]

On 11/2/2021 at 1:22 PM, roadrash83 said:

Man, I'm jealous of you Wintersdark, one for the bike you got👍 and the fact you can get accessories for it. I can't get anything for my Pan America till well into 2022. I'm planning to putting my KLR up 4 sale and will be looking for a used T7 once the market settles down and prices drop some.

Well, the trick is heading to AliExpress and getting cheap chinese farkles, with the exception of the exhaust which is an insanely cheap (but excellent!) Polish system, vs. using OEM parts.  I wasn't able to get any of the OEM Tenere bits I wanted with the exception of the base from OEM crash guards (which are Givi guards).  I really wanted the tall rally seat, but alas: it's sold out and backordered the world over.  Tons of stuff here: https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?catId=0&initiative_id=SB_20211104190056&SearchText=Pan+America

On 11/3/2021 at 5:31 AM, roy826 said:

I am doing the same on a used T7 waiting for the market to settle down on them. That will happen once supply exceeds demand.

I'd considered waiting to find a used one, but it'll be a long wait.  Right now, you can sell a lightly used T7 for MSRP or even a bit more, and there's very, very few in circulation as the new supply is so limited.  With the supply chain the way it is, I don't think you'll see them become common or really available used at all for a few years yet.

On 11/3/2021 at 7:49 AM, bwringer said:

I've seen endless speculations for years on ADVrider.com about what the "perfect" dual-sport or adventure bike would look like, and the T7 is by far the closest to the most common ideal that anyone has produced. I wouldn't say there's a consensus, but if you graphed the assorted demands (and temper them with realism; no, you're not getting 100hp in a 300 pound bike), the T7 is bang in the middle of the bell curve.

Honestly, with tubeless wheels and decent drop protection standard, it really would be very nearly perfect, with everything else down to personal preference. Tubeless spoked wheels wouldn't cost any more (and might save the few bucks spent on tubes), so I can't fathom why they used tubes. I'll concede that more crash protection might have pushed the price past their target.

It's honestly mind-boggling that none of the other Japanese brands have produced anything close to this. There might be a skunk works project somewhere, but I haven't seen any info on it. There are some KTMs in this ballpark, but they are and remain too finicky, too expensive, and too rare.

Triumph's off-roady Tiger models are fantastic, but are aiming at (and very successfully hitting) a much different target.

Among the Big Four, Honda's Africa Twin uses many of the same ideas, but it's too big, too heavy, too expensive, and just plain too much; it's answering a different, and far less common, set of questions. 

Over almost ten years, I've built, bashed, and crashed my 2005 KLR650 (now KLR 685, actually) into something close to my personal dual-sport ideal, but the fact remains that it's underpowered (even with a big-bore kit), and heavy, with ancient chassis and suspension tech. The limitations, compromises, and cheap buy-in are part of the fun in a way; it's the bike I've put the most miles on most years. 

But for me and many KLR owners, the T7 represents a very logical next step (you get more of everything in roughly the proportions we like), if we're willing to spend the money and if any are actually available.

And for many folks who own the sumo class of "Adventure" bikes (BMW GS, Harley PA), the T7 is a very logical step down in cost, complexity, and weight, with a big step up in off-road capability.

Like I said, it's mind-boggling that everyone else seems to be ignoring this big juicy target.

I don't really see much of a problem with tubes, to be honest.  There's tubeless kits available for the T7 though, so it's not insurmountable.  I suspect you're exactly right that the lack of crash protection standard is to keep it at that sub-$10k pricepoint.  Going up a digit is a big deal, even if the actual price difference is trivial.  It REALLY highlights the difference between it and the KTM890ADV which is generally viewed as it's biggest competition and objectively superior rival; but with the 890 costing north of $13999, the Tenere looks SUPER CHEAP in comparison at ~$9999.  

My brother-in-law is a big KTM fan, and has been doing the adventure thing for many years - and pushing me to get into it too.  He's got a 1290 Super Adventure now, which admittedly is a crazy awesome bike, but... For someone with no offroad skills to speak of, that kind of bike (and the GS, PA, etc) are all both insanely expensive for a bike I'll likely smash up, and very, very heavy.  Hell, the T7's weight is definitely noticeable and a significant thing.  I immediately understood everyone's discussions about offroad bikes and weight once getting it out in more technical riding.  I mean, sure, on a dirt road it doesn't much matter, and I'm sure if you're already pretty skilled it's manageable.  I'm deeply, deeply glad I didn't get anything heavier, and can really see the appeal of the lighter 650's, the drz400, etc - though they weren't practical for me, as I also needed this to be an effective winter bike.   Carbs and -30 is not fun.   And regarding KTM's... well...  Lets say said brother in law and his KTM riding buddies have spent a lot more time doing all sorts of repair work that I've never really needed to worry about on my Big-Four bikes.

So I definitely concur, and I'm very much surprised the others haven't launched their own versions.  The T7 is excellent on the highway - no buzziness, happy with very high speed, handles like a dream - and while everything is always a compromise, it's good enough at both to never feel like you're suffering through the highway to get offroad, or are really limited in what you can do once you're off tarmac.  

It's clearly wildly popular though, so I figure we ought to see some competitors on the market in the coming years.  Adventure bikes overall are a really huge and growing market segment, but they're *dominated* by the ridiculously huge, expensive, (as you called them) "Sumo Class" bikes.... that will almost never see anything other than pavement and maybe the odd well-maintained fire road.  And to be fair I don't blame them.  I'll happily do things with my sub-10k bike that I'd simply never dream of on a $25000 BMW.  And the current lighter and cheaper bikes - the official "dual sport" bikes - are almost entirely extremely dated, with the new KLR being the shining example of modern dual sports.