KIWI RIDER OCTOBER 2021 VOL.2 | Page 99

TENERE 700

It ’ s been nine months since Ray Heron bought his dream bike , a 2020 Yamaha Tenere 700 . Question is ... is the love affair still alive , or has the lust subsided ?

I

spend a lot of time on a motorcycle , so I need something I like , something that ’ s comfortable , capable , reliable and low maintenance . You might have picked up that I ’ m a daily rider ; 30km each way to work , five days a week in all the weather that Wellington can throw at me ( anyone familiar with Wellington will know that ’ s a lot ). Then , quite often on the weekends , I ’ m off up SH1 or over the Rimutakas on SH2 . I ’ ve covered around 15,000km at this point on my T7 , and ridden quite a number of well-known adventure trails around the country . The bike has not let me down once .
SOLID PERFORMER The Tenere 700 is a solid performer , and , with some minor modifications , I have got it to a point where I ’ m happy with it as a daily rider , and also happy to tackle most of the adventures New Zealand has to offer . The bike came on a set of the OEM Pirelli STR Rally tyres , which , I have to say , I ’ m quite impressed with . They lasted well over 10,000km of tar seal and gravel abuse . They ’ re quite a
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