2025 · Adventure · Buyer's Guide
Factory Rally, Real Dirt
The Tenere 700 Rally takes the 689 cc CP2 parallel twin and aims the whole package at dirt. You get 73 hp and 50 lb-ft from a motor that pulls in a straight, honest line, wrapped in a steel backbone frame with a 21-inch front wheel, 9.1 in (230 mm) of front travel and 10.0 in (255 mm) of ground clearance. Both ends are fully adjustable, with a remote-reservoir shock out back. The electronics stay deliberately lean: ABS, traction control and ride modes, plus a TFT screen with navigation and phone connectivity. In the middleweight adventure class, this one sits firmly on the off-road half of the ledger.
Ridden regularly, it behaves like a big enduro that happens to be street legal. Fuel economy sits around 55 mpg, service items are cheap, and the running costs stay low enough that high mileage never scares you off a route. This is a bike for riders who actually leave the pavement: BDR sections, desert two-tracks, gravel passes, with fast backroads linking them together. The honest caveat is size. A 35.8 in (910 mm) seat and 463 lb (210 kg) wet mean you need height, strength and enough skill to manage it when the ground turns ugly. Sit on one before you sign anything.
Spec sheets don't ride bikes, but they set the baseline.
| Power | 73 hp (54 kW) @ 9,000 rpm |
|---|---|
| Torque | 50 lb-ft (68 Nm) @ 6,500 rpm |
| Displacement | 689 cc |
| Engine | Parallel twin |
| Cooling | Liquid-cooled |
| Gearbox | 6-speed |
| Final drive | Chain |
| Fork | Upside-down (USD) |
| Front brake | 282 mm |
| Front tire | 90/90-21 |
| Rear tire | 150/70-18 |
| Wheelbase | 62.8 in (1595 mm) |
| Ground clearance | 10.0 in (255 mm) |
| Front travel | 9.1 in (230 mm) |
| Rear travel | 8.7 in (220 mm) |
| Seat height | 35.8 in (910 mm) |
| Wet weight | 463 lb (210 kg) |
| Fuel capacity | 4.2 gal (16 L) |
| Fuel economy | 55 mpg (US) |
Equipment check
Chassis
Connectivity
Lighting
Safety
Getting aboard is the first hurdle, and once you're on, the Rally feels far narrower between your knees than the numbers suggest. The twin has a hard mechanical bark from the airbox and a steady pulse through the pegs that you notice without ever getting tired of it. Standing up is when the ergonomics click: the bars arrive at your hands without a stretch, the tank stays slim against your shins, and the pegs sit exactly where your boots want them. With the rally front end there's not much shelter, so the wind sits on your chest and shoulders at highway speed and the TFT stays high in your sightline. Over broken pavement the long travel just breathes, and the whole thing feels noticeably lighter under way than it ever does at a standstill.
This one isn't my ride. It's what I've picked up over years of listening: owners at fuel stops, riders talking at club nights, and the messages that land in my inbox from people living with the bike. On the Rally the pattern is consistent. The praise clusters around the chassis, and the complaints stay narrow and specific.
Suspension comes up first and it comes up constantly. Riders coming off the older bike describe a fork and shock that hold up under hard hits instead of running out of travel, with real adjustment at both ends. That shows in where they ride it: a canyon road in the morning, a rough trail that afternoon, with a light, playful feel on pavement that catches people out. The rider aids draw the same tone. Simple to select and easy to live with.
The stock tires split opinion by surface. Riders rate them on gravel and pavement, then describe them packing up solid in wet mud, which puts a swap on the list for anyone riding seriously rough ground. A smaller group keeps returning to the rear brake: a vague lever that makes fine modulation hard when the terrain gets technical.
Clutch drag when cold
Some owners report that the clutch plates fail to separate fully when the engine is cold, causing difficult gear changes and neutral-selection issues until the oil warms.
Where this Yamaha Tenere 700 Rally pulls ahead of — or falls behind — its rivals on the numbers, and the typical bike in its class on character.
Power
Torque
Displacement
Wet weight
Seat height
Forget spec-sheet bragging. Here's who the Tenere 700 Rally is actually built for.
Moab and the desert two-tracks are exactly the terrain this thing was built around: 21-inch front, long travel, serious clearance. Just know that at 463 lb it asks more of your technique than a true enduro.
Made for Bar M / Kane Creek · Imperial Sand Dunes · Johnson Valley OHV Area
For BDR mileage the logic holds up. Reliability and 55 mpg keep the planning simple, and it stays composed loaded on gravel. Budget for luggage, because none of it comes from the factory.
Made for AZBDR — Arizona Backcountry Discovery Route · California BDR South · COBDR — Colorado Backcountry Discovery Route
It will carve a backroad all day and stay happy on gravel detours. The tall seat and missing cruise control make long highway transfers more work, so put the interesting roads early in the route.
Made for Black Hills · Blue Ridge Parkway · Cherohala Skyway
If you're cross-shopping the older generation, here's what changed.
Previous generation · 2019–2022
Stripped Down, Dirt Ready
Compare to the previous model →If this one isn't quite the fit, these are the bikes worth riding back-to-back against it.
Any price note compares both bikes at the same age — the youngest age both have on the used market — against this Yamaha Tenere 700 Rally. “cheaper/pricier” is what that bike costs second-hand, not how worn it is.
Competitor · 2022
Aprilia's Sharpest Dirt Handler
Roughly $1,700 pricier used than this bike at 1 yr
Competitor · 2022–2024
The Middleweight That Disappears Under You
Competitor · 2019–2020
Sharp Orange, Unfinished Business
Same Platform · 2014–2017
Raw Twin, Weightless Handling