Yamaha shows Australia the Tenere 700 World Raid

[Cruizin]

Yamaha displayed the World Raid at the Bay to Bush run in Australia. https://auto.ndtv.com/news/2018-yamaha-tenere-700-world-raid-prototype-shown-in-australia-1821231

 

As soon as this bike gets announced in the USA I will be ordering one and the build/ride thread that I build on here will be epic. This will be my last bike. The bike I ride off into the sunset on. 

 

[faffi]

One must wonder why they take so long to get it into production. Not the first time in history of motorcycling, of course. Kawasaki, despite having a prototype ready when Honda released the CB750, needed 4 years to bring out the Z1, and Yamaha another 5 to bring their inline four to the market. The examples are manifold,yet often difficult to understand.

[mjh937]

That looks like a lot of rake in those photos.  Is that typical for an off road bike?  I have not really paid attention to it in the past.  

[r1limited]

Thought so too,  Yamaha old XT500 was like that, simple to correct on that 500 but would have to see the frame.  Been looking closely at bringing my rake in on the FZ by a few degrees.  That means I need to make some adjustment to the rear as well or a stabilzer.  Waiting for frame to be available on craigs list

6 minutes ago, mjh937 said:

That looks like a lot of rake in those photos.  Is that typical for an off road bike?  I have not really paid attention to it in the past.  

 

[Cruizin]

1 hour ago, faffi said:

One must wonder why they take so long to get it into production. Not the first time in history of motorcycling, of course. Kawasaki, despite having a prototype ready when Honda released the CB750, needed 4 years to bring out the Z1, and Yamaha another 5 to bring their inline four to the market. The examples are manifold,yet often difficult to understand.

Putting big engines and frames on big dirtbike suspension is a whole new process for Yamaha. Lots of little things to workout, alot of testing needed by experienced off road riders. 

[faffi]

They put the FZ750 four into a Paris-Dakar racer back in 1985, and the XTZ750 twin Super Tenere was also basically a street engine fitted with off-road apparel, despite the off-road version arriving before the street versions (TDM and TRX).

[Cruizin]

7 hours ago, faffi said:

They put the FZ750 four into a Paris-Dakar racer back in 1985, and the XTZ750 twin Super Tenere was also basically a street engine fitted with off-road apparel, despite the off-road version arriving before the street versions (TDM and TRX).

I used to own a 78 Yamaha TT-500 . That was an awesome fun bike. 

[shinyribs]

On 3/10/2018 at 5:17 PM, mjh937 said:

That looks like a lot of rake in those photos.  Is that typical for an off road bike?  I have not really paid attention to it in the past.  

It is typical for offraod bikes to have more rake than street going bikes. By nature of the terrain, the extra rake helps to keep the front end stable. Street bike type rake numbers would make for a very twitchy offroad bike. 

 

Easiest example to probably imagine: offroad bike with little rake with a front tire following in a rut would have the front tire constantly trying to climb out of the rut, making it very hard to control. Whereas more rake would let the front tire push along more easily inside the rut. 

 

Also, steep downhills get hairy on a dirt bike with steep rake numbers. Good eye, and good question. 

[markstertt]

I really like the looks but with that much clearance under the sump the seat height is going to be up there...and I'm guessing at 435+ lbs.? or more maybe? Can't wait to see one in person.

 

My TT500 doesn't get ridden anymore, with it's chopperish amount of rake the handling is to slow and awkward at slow speed climbing up through the granite although I prefer the sound and low end power delivery compared to my less ancient DRZ. Riding through a quiet campground, the TT500 just thumped along whereas the DRZ sounds busier, less stealthy I guess.