Call me crazy, but i'm really excited by the T7.. i hope yamaha keeps it competitive with the 790
The disappointment is that they didn't release a production model, which was widely anticipated by the press as being released this year at EICMA.
It looks like it's shaping up to be a fantastic bike. To be honest, I was waiting for the announcement to see what the final specs and finish would be before pulling the trigger on buying a bike. I guess now they lost my business, because I'm not waiting another year.
My decision now is between the 690 Enduro or a 1090 ADV.
So I've been doing some reading on the Tenere 700 Prototype (the T7 was a Concept - Yamaha has actually made that distinction clear and I missed it before). If
this article is to be believed, then in about 6 months the Tenere 700 should go to production.
What I've been able to learn so far is that the Tenere 700 will have a 689cc
CP2 inline twin producing in the neighborhood of 70 to 75HP. The rally style quad-beam headlamp seems to be going production, and the inverted 43mm forks are a sure thing, and with a 270 degree crank it should have a nice engine feel.
The
production MT-07 has the same CP2 engine, and it's listed as 50ft-lb claimed, and wikipedia lists an article that tested it at 44ft-lb, at 6600rpm; and up to about 70-75hp... at 9500 RPM!
This MT-07 dyno chart - while assuredly not the same as a Tenere 700 will be, has the same power plant and will probably look very similar.
I like the big torque bump between 3000-3500 RPM, and between 40 and 60HP from 4500pm to 6500 rpm looks pretty respectable, especially when I rub that against my own KLR, which 'should' be about the blue line on this dyno (couldn't find a good one with torque on it though):
So in almost every condition the 689cc CP2 is going to exceed the performance of my 692cc KLR (which shouldn't be a surprise given 30+ years in engine design improvements).
I'm looking forward to finding out:
Will it have a hydraulic clutch? That' something I really liked when I took a spin on my dad's KTM 690.
What about ABS and Traction control? My guess is that it will have ABS to meet EU requirements, but not traction control to save on cost and weight.
Riding modes? Probably not, to keep cost down. Yamaha likes to make more "affordable" price points, and features like mode electronics drive that price point up.
I have to say I like the styling better than the KTM 790 concept, whos' low slung fuel tank I felt looked bulky and ugly.
I watched a video that had close up discussion of the Tenere 700 at EICMA, and they pointed out that it already has hard points set up for rear luggage capacity; so that should imply that subframe improvements aren't necessary for cargo; and that OEM hard bags may even be available.
Overall, the Tenere 700 is really shaping up to fit a spot in ADV that has needed a new bike for a long time.