The Touratech Rally began in 2012 as a small customer-appreciation weekend that involved riding, camping and sharing good times around the campfire. With this simple formula, and a whole lot of fun, it’s grown into the largest gathering of Adventure Motorcycle enthusiasts in the country.

It happens the last full weekend in June every year. Full weekend means that if the weekend starts in June and ends in July, we rallied the week before.

While the core of the event has stayed the same, each year we find new ways to pack in even more fun activities & experiences:

• Enjoy rides where you will explore twisty mountain dirt roads with breathtaking vistas in the heart of the Cascade Mountains. We’ll offer at least eight different route options on Friday and Saturday. The routes are designed to have something for everyone. ​

•Factory DEMO Rides are available!

• Learn tips and tricks from adventure experts during onsite clinics and classes or take inspiration from presentations by fascinating motorcycle travelers. • Improve your off-road skills with a rider-training course taught by world-class instructors. Four different riding schools will be offering on-site training classes for an extra fee. • Test-ride the latest models of adventure motorcycles from factory demo trucks.

• Meet moto-venders with goods and services geared towards you and win raffle prizes from Touratech and other companies.

• Enjoy evening campfires and hang out with Touratech staff and friends on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. • Show off your mad bike-handling skills and take home the coveted trophy in our annual Slow Race or ADV Challenge competitions. The most fun might just be spectating the competition with friends.

• Park your bike and pitch a tent in the grassy camping area onsite, or reserve space in the RV lot, rent a nearby cabin with friends, or book a room in Leavenworth.

• Most people ride to the event, but there is no shame in hauling out the toys on a trailer, you’ll just have to park it in the RV lot. Well, perhaps there is a little shame.

• We won’t feed you, but the on-site food trucks and restaurant across the street will… and their food is delicious. You can also grab cold beverages, ice, and basic provisions at the grocery or hardware store located right there.

• You can gas up your motorcycle just a stone’s throw from the event. Plan to do it before 8 pm when they close so you are ready to ride the routes in the morning.

www.touratechrally.com

In this video, rider and BDR team member Michael Bielecki gives a great overview of installing the Touratech Suspension Extreme Shock for the Yamaha Tenere 700 from Colorado Moto Service.

It’s a great video to watch just to see the overall process involved in installing your shocks. Our friends at ADV Moto magazine channel has a more in-depth (step by step) installation video available when you’re ready to get out the tools. You can find it here. 

The Touratech Extreme Shock offers adjustable high-speed and low-speed compression damping, a remote fluid reservoir, high-flow fittings, adjustable rebound damping, floating piston superiority and low-friction seals which add up to a highly refined shock that can be tuned with precision to meet the riding style and handling characteristics you prefer. The Touratech Extreme Shock is over-built by design with heavy-duty materials, over-sized components, and 50% more spring pre-load adjustment than other shocks on the market.

The preload can be hydraulically adjusted by turning the knob with your hand. Touratech Suspension is the world’s first purpose-built shock absorber for long-distance touring with a fully-loaded motorcycle. Right out of the box, it has the strength, features and adjustments to go the distance on an adventure or touring bike carrying luggage. The Touratech Extreme Shock is the ultimate in suspension technology and the ideal choice for extended trips or off-road rides like a Backcountry Discovery Route.

For the rider who wants absolute control over suspension set-up and high performance, this is the product. If you want the best suspension on the planet for adventure touring with a fully-loaded T7, the Touratech Extreme is the top choice. Nothing else comes even close. 

Touratech USA

Adventure bikes didn’t interest me until 2010. Until then, I spent most of my moto life riding sportbikes and training/testing on road-racing circuits.

Due to my past, transitioning into the ADV world arrived with multiple challenges.

Two initially stick out—retraining a mindset that only focused on road-racing techniques and the psychological challenge of riding larger ADV bikes off-road. Then came the challenge of swapping between the on- and off-road techniques without a conscious effort.

While already into my 30s, I skipped the usual learning on a smaller off-road bike. Instead, I went big—and super heavy—with a 2002 Suzuki V-Strom DL1000. This bike’s design catered to comfortable upright touring with a few gravel roads here and there. This to me was the perfect platform to truly build skill upon as I tested the ADV scene out, seeing if it was a good fit for my passion-driven moto lifestyle. If not, I thought it’d make a good plow or snow bike.

After my first tour, which included many fire roads, I was more than obsessed. I modded the V-Strom heavily, and after a two years of disciplined self-training through books and videos and classes with the RawHyde Adventures and Jimmy Lewis, I could comfortably take the Strom off the road without worry.

I still have the same love for sportbikes, though, so my current training involves practicing both on- and off-road techniques to ride bigger adventure bikes safer and faster. Nowadays, my ride is the KTM 1190 Adventure R, which to me is the best outright big ADV available.

Most ADV riders I encounter, whether on a new local group ride or big adventure rally, arrive from an off-road background. And when we’re ripping country asphalt, questions surface about my on-road riding style on the bigger adventure touring bike.

The following are the first techniques I discuss, each arriving from the world of sportbikes and road racing.

A quick note: These techniques are best for bigger adventure bikes (BMW R 1250 GS, KTM 1290 Adventure, Triumph Tiger 1200, etc.) shod with at least 50/50 (50 percent on-road, 50 percent off-road) or more street-oriented adventure motorcycle tires. These modern ADV tires offer more traction and feel on-road than a full-out sport tire did 20 years ago. Adventure-motorcycle tire technology improves yearly, allowing riders like me who crave ultimate confidence on and off the road to push the limits further.

I’ve spent the past two years testing multiple 50/50 tires, from the Continential TKC80 to the Bridgestone AX41 to Pirelli Scorpion Rallye STR to the Dunlop Trailmax Mission, and continue to question how they are so good at sportbike speeds and, after taking out a few PSI, super-capable off-road.

With that note aside, the following are some simple strategies borrowed from the sportbike/road-racing world that will help you ride faster on the asphalt and safer.

1. Seating Position

Optimal body position, or BP, begins with the optimal seating position for road riding. Most off-road riders learn to sit close to the gas tank due to the bike’s design, but this position can harm your sport-focused on-road performance for bigger adventure bikes.

The goal is to have a comfortable position that assists with the finesse of your hand controls—throttle, front brake, clutch, and pushing/pulling handlebar inputs.

The ideal position? Not too far from the gas tank and not too far away—say about an inch or two, although every rider’s preference will differ based on arm and torso length. While wearing riding gloves, I put all my fingers together, press my thumb against my middle, and ring fingers as an Italian would say when saying “delizioso” about food. Then I stick that between the tank and myself. This distance has worked over and over on numerous motorcycles, from my 1190 R to my Multistrada to dozens of sportbikes I’ve tested throughout the years.

Never be glued to the tank or sitting too far back; it won’t allow you to move across the seat while transitioning weight, and it will create unsmooth inputs to your controls.

2. Proper Finger and Feet Positioning

The next thing to tweak is your fingers and feet’ positions. This is a natural practice for many dual-sport riders, so I won’t’ waste much time here.

Two fingers on the brake allow more than enough power to brake hard, but also finely tune braking inputs during trail braking and throttle maintenance (discussed more below), and when blipping the throttle under braking to rev-match your engine rpm to the speed, so you don’t lock up the rear tire (yes—auto-blippers are typical on many modern ADV bikes, but I will also match-rev my throttle inputs to speed).

I also use only two fingers on the clutch, which helps with slipping the clutch off-road in slow maneuvers and downshifting while blipping the throttle during on-road situations.

The same goes for the feet—many enduro riders stand on the pegs using the balls of their feet (just behind the toes) but fail to do so while sitting. Keep the balls of your feet on the pegs during road riding, which allows you to smoothly transition from side to side and slide across the seat while weighing the inside peg (more below). This also keeps your toes from whacking the pavement in sharp corners, which can upset your chassis and startle you, prompting a crash.

3. More Body Position, Less Lean Angle

Speaking about moving across the seat, this is where one of the largest discrepancies arrives when riding on the street versus the dirt. We keep our body upright on an enduro and lean the bike into the turns, allowing the knobbies to bite into the loose dirt/gravel/sand for tracking.

But on the street, we want to keep the bike as upright as possible and move our weight into the corner. This keeps the tire wider and provides more traction on the asphalt.

When heading into a corner, you first want to look where you’re going, keeping your head “in the mirror” or moving off the bike’s center and into the direction you’re going. You then slide your butt a bit off the seat into the direction of the turn and weigh the inside peg (the one going into the turn). This is the total opposite of riding in the dirt, where you want to weigh the outside peg to retain the most traction as you allow the knobbies to bite into the loose ground.

Due to the modern tires and the amazing modern adventure touring chassis setups, you don’t have to lean off MotoGP-style. Just enough to help keep as much rubber on the asphalt as possible—even if only an inch or so to the left or right.  Too much leaning input not only looks dumb, but it can upset your chassis quicker, causing you the crash.

Remember this in wet conditions, especially. Proper body position can save from crashing.

Again, the more rubber on the ground, the better. And the modern 50/50 tire designs keep you planted.

4. Trail Braking

This is a concept that can again save your life while making your ride much faster and smoother.

Trail braking simply means trailing off the brakes as your bike slows, leans, and turns through a corner. To slow your ADV machine, you do most of your hard braking while the bike is upright, and there’s a much larger tire contact patch. As you start leaning and turning, you gradually “trail” the brakes, reducing pressure as you corner and the lean angle becomes stronger.

I tend to trail brake until I reach the apex of a corner, and from there, I get off the brake completely and start smoothly rolling on the throttle to WOT if needed (or warranted).

This is where throttle maintenance comes into play, also. When reducing lean and steering inputs, you want to gradually roll your throttle on until enough contact patch is big enough to crank on the throttle more. If you give too much input, you’ll lose traction and high-side—something no ADV rider wants.

5. Throttle Maintenance and Braking Inputs

For ultimate speed and control of the bike, the goal is NEVER to have any idle time—you’re either on the throttle for maintenance or speed or on the brakes. When no inputs are provided, you have no control, which is when crashes happen. You always want control over what your suspension and drive train are doing.

Here’s a quick breakdown:

• On the front brake: The front tire is loaded, and suspension is compressed, giving you firm control of the asphalt and more traction.
• On the throttle: rear suspension is loaded, rear tire contact is larger, and there’s less control of the steering inputs because the front suspension is unloaded and the front end lighter, reducing tire traction.
• Maintenance throttle: this keeps the chain tight and the suspension from diving forward or unloading, providing optimal traction in front and rear.
• On the rear brake: The rear tire and suspension loads, providing additional traction out back. Light use of the rear brake can be a lifesaver, especially when you’re carrying too much speed in a corner and are going wide, about to go over the double yellow or centerline. Lightly using the rear brake—with finesse—can tighten your line while maintenance throttle is in use. \

On the topic of brakes, many sportbike newbies only use a front brake, rarely touching the rear brake. This is wrong. For emergency stops, just as in the dirt, using both front and rear brakes will help you stop MUCH quicker. The same is for the street.

And optimizing your rear brake use can help in multiple ways. It can help slow easily; keep the suspension even when stopping (passengers love this because there’s no dive!), and help tighten a line on the street or scrub speed, as I explained above. This is a great technique to keep you safe and fast while traveling in Europe, where the decreasing radius and tight turns are encountered often.

Also, when having to emergency brake, always use both brakes. This is why the best ADV riders practice technique often both on and off the road. Different inputs are needed for both riding situations, so know your ability and your bike’s ability well by practicing constantly.

6. Wide, Deep, and Late

I learned this technique at Aaron Stevenson’s Cornerspeed school in the early 2000s. If you want to be quick and safe when encountering the numerous blind corners in real-world riding, remember three words when cornering: Wide, Deep, and Late.

The concept is simple and preps you for any dangers that may be present on the road. For example, if you’re heading into a blind right corner with some speed, make your line wider and deeper by riding closer to the centerline, then turn later when you have the clearest vision of what’s ahead.

This simple practice allows you to see first, then choose a different line if something is obstructing the roadway or a car is coming over the yellow line.

7. Look Further Ahead and Scan More

Due to the typical slower speeds on the trails, looking far ahead becomes natural. But on the street, when speeds are cranking, you should learn to look even farther ahead.

The farther you look, the larger the picture, and the more things in front of you slow down. This allows you to see threats—oncoming cars, potholes, something on the road like slick spots or animals—sooner and have more time to react. This also allows you to notice opportunities like giving more throttle input or setting some imaginary braking markers as a turn approaches, which keeps you safer and faster.

Besides looking farther ahead due to increased speed, you should also learn to scan your eyes more often. Not drastically, but smoothly, searching wider side-to-side to notice any threats and have enough time to use the proper input of controls.

Looking farther ahead and scanning more is all about being a more proactive rider. And a proactive rider is a much safer rider than one who needs to react quickly to an unknown circumstance that can send you sailing.

For many big-bike adventure riders who come from a dirt background, mastering safety and speed off-road becomes an obsession. Many also want to master this on the road but quickly realize after a few “oh-shit” moments—or crashes—that those off-road techniques don’t work on the street.

But with some practice of the above techniques, riders can build the optimal skills needed to pilot their adventure bikes safer and faster on the asphalt. The only next step is to have the mindset to switch between both skillsets when required, which will take additional time on the bike, practicing both on and off the road. That equates to rider more, something passionate riders never complain about.

TOURATECH-USA

The Touratech Discovery Soft Luggage System is completely waterproof and the perfect alternative to Zega panniers. The Discovery Luggage System is lightweight and easy to install on just about any dual-sport or adventure motorcycle. The magic of this system is its simplicity. Featuring four compartments, two 25 liter roll-top packsacks and two 7.5 liter external roll-top enclosures. In addition, the center-section can be opened up and a dry bag secured within, forgoing the need for additional straps. Packed with great features, and built from the best materials available, Touratech’s Discovery Waterproof Soft Luggage System is made to go the distance.

• Adjustable Capacity – These expandable saddle bags can be adjusted, width and height, all the way up to 25 liters each side. That is plenty for all the clothes, food and other necessities needed on a weekend trip.

• External Pockets & Storage Options – One external expansion pocket on each side provides an additional 7.5 liters of storage. Perfect for first aid kits, oil/fuel bottles, rain gear and anything else you need to reach quickly. Inside the dry bag retaining strap are two additional large, zippered mesh pockets, ideal for maps, a Hi-Viz vest, or other small items.

• Optional Dry Bag Area – You can flip open the center section and secure an Adventure Dry Bag.
• Versatile Mounting System – The Discovery Luggage System mounts to the motorcycle via four straps, two forward and aft. Forward straps are best tied to your subframe or passenger pegs. The rear straps can be run underneath your subframe or even through your luggage rack.

• Interior Design – The Discovery Luggage packsacks are designed in bright Touratech yellow which let’s you find what you’re looking for faster, even in low light situations.

If your motorcycle has a high exhaust we recommend using this muffler heat shield (080-5055).

These waterproof bags from Touratech combine everything you could wish for in waterproof soft luggage. These bags don’t just look the part, they are made from the most robust material we could find. Sporting either roll-top designs, no dust, water, snow, mud or other material will get inside of them keeping your contents clean, no matter what you’ve been riding through.

Find Yours Here!

The Touratech locking GPS mount for the Garmin Zumo XT navigators provides the ultimate in security and vibration protection for your GPS while on any motorcycle adventure. Enjoy peace of mind walking away from your motorcycle knowing that the Touratech locking mount secures your expensive GPS unit to the bike when you run into a store or restaurant.

The Zumo XT GPS mount also incorporates anti-vibration dampers to protect your GPS unit from harsh vibrations. This mount is perfect for both street touring or off-road riding on a dual-sport or adventure motorcycle.

This locking GPS cradle can be mounted in either landscape or portrait orientation on a 1/2″ cross bar, or with using RAM mount components. Have questions about GPS units on motorcycles? Give us a call, or hit us on chat. Our Adventure Experts are standing by to help you get the right solution for your motorcycle.

Find Yours Here!

As the CEO of Touratech USA and a founder of Backcountry Discovery Routes, Paul Guillien has ridden just about every adventure motorcycle out there.

He’s put a lot of miles on a lot of trails and roads so we sent him out to test the Tenere 700 on the WABDR and talk about some of the important Touratech parts we bolted on before his ride!

Upper Crash Bars

Engine Crash Bars

Expedition Skid Plate

Quick-Release Headlight

Guard Large Side Stand Foot

GPS Locking Mount

Zega Pro Pannier System

Check out the complete line of Upgrades for the Tenere 700 Here!

Overview

The Yamaha Tenere 700 is opening up the adventure motorcycle dream to a broader market with its low barrier to entry at around $11,000. The affordability of this bike is even tempting some riders to add this middle-weight bike to their moto-fleet because it’s smaller, simple and easier to manage off-road than their full-sized BMW R1250GS or KTM 1290 Adventure R. It’s refreshing to throw a leg over a bike that doesn’t require you to navigate a menu to figure out the electronic settings. It’s more of an old-school dirt bike with the exception of one button to engage the off-road ABS. The bike and motor feel surprisingly refined and smooth for a bike at the value-end of the cost spectrum. The 21” front wheel and 18” rear are perfect for riding dirt and a wide range of full knobby tires are available to help riders conquer a wide range of terrain. For anyone looking to get into ADV riding or just wanting a mid-sized bike, it will be hard for them not to consider the Tenere 700.

Rally Styling

Yamaha nailed one thing for sure on the Tenere 700 and that is the rally-inspired body work. From the moment I laid eyes on the T7 concept bike at a trade fair in Germany a half-decade ago, I loved the look of this bike. The production version that finally made it to the US still has that rally look and very good wind protection from the tall navigation-tower-shaped windscreen. I have friends who’ve dumped a small fortune into their Husqvarna 701s to get this look and wind protection that comes stock on the Tenere 700. My only upgrade to the cockpit so far is the Locking GSP Mountand GPS Mount Bracket that I installed onto the triple clamp. On the front side of the fairing I’ve installed the Removable Headlight Guard.

I also chose to protect this body work with Touratech Upper Crashbars which wrap around the front of the bike for maximum protection and enhance the styling. Another benefit is that it provides a good place to mount accessory lights or Crash Bar Bags.

Third Gear of the Gods

On many an ADV bike over the years, I had to change the stock sprockets to get the right gearing for off-road riding. This isn’t necessary on the Tenere 700. In fact, I felt like the gearing could not be more perfect. I fell in love with the Tenere’s 3^rd gear on most of the forest service roads and two-track along the WABDR. It has the perfect range of speeds for this type of riding. At times when the trail got tight, steep, or more technical, 2^nd gear was perfect for tractoring up and through the challenging terrain. It’s a simple thing, but some bikes require a lot of shifting on your typical BDR-style tracks and the Yamaha didn’t. It just felt perfectly geared like it was made for exactly this type of terrain. I installed an Aluminum Chainguard to protect the drivetrain from rocks, sticks and debris on the trail.

B-minus Brakes

My initial reaction was that the Brembo brakes could be better in terms of shear stopping power. The 4-piston caliper dual 282mm disc front brakes are adequate and I was able to modulate with just one finger which is great. They just didn’t give me that ‘wow those are good’ feeling that I have sensed during my first ride on some of the recent twin-cylinder ADV bikes. The rear brake reservoir is somewhat exposed so I protected it with a Brake Reservoir Guard. Yamaha did score points with me on the off-road ABS system.

Off-Road ABS

One of the best inventions of the last decade is off-road ABS. I remember the early days of ABS where we had to constantly remember to disable it and when we forgot to turn it off, there was an oh-shit moment coming into that first corner, feeling the overactive ABS rejecting your instructions to lock up that rear tire and the front brake just wouldn’t bite. I don’t miss those terrifying moments. The off-road ABS on the Tenere 700 is fantastic. It allows you to completely skid the rear wheel to help turn in those corners and for braking assistance in loose gravel. The beauty of this mode is that the rider can grab the front brake hard without completely locking up the wheel. This reduces crashing risk and makes the bike safer to ride, especially for people with beginner or average off-road skills. I protected this critical system by installing an ABS Sensor Guard.

698cc Parallel Twin Powerplant

While it’s not the most powerful twin in the segment, it has plenty to get the job done on pavement, even at highway speed, and it’s very good on the dirt. Riding this bike some 1,500 miles with about half of those miles being off-road, I came to really like the character of this motor. My first impression centered on how smooth it was and that it pulled better than I expected on the highway. I came to enjoy the sounds it made while riding on the twisty high-mountain two-track.

Lofting the front wheel sometimes takes a down-shift as compared to the more powerful twins in the class, but it makes up for this in excellent fuel economy and very manageable traction. This bike has no electronic traction control whatsoever. This was done partially to keep the bike affordable, but also because the bike simply doesn’t need it. I rode aggressively with a full load of camping gear and never felt I was breaking the rear wheel loose excessively. For the first 1,500 miles I’ve averaged 48.8 MPG. It is a very enjoyable motor for slabbing it to and from your favorite BDR and is a joy to ride once you are on dirt. If you like this motor as much as I do, you’ll want to protect it with a Skid Plate, and Crash Bars.

This bike also has a water pump that is exposed so I added a Guard to protect it. There is a lot to love about this motor, but if you are looking for exciting power the T7 might not do it for you.

Toss the Tires

If you are commuting to the office with the occasional fire road on a dry sunny day you might find the stock tires acceptable. I was riding classic BDR roads with loose desert terrain and some slick mud on the higher mountain trails. This rear tire is not adequate for clawing a fully-loaded bike up a steep loose section of rocky or sandy trail. When it comes to mud, the bike control quickly gets sloppy. In most of the conditions I encountered, the tires were just fine. In a few places I was ready to toss them in the dumpster and spoon on a set of Scorpion Rally or TKC 80’s.

Cigarette Plug for Cell Phones

On my first day on the trail, I went to help my riding buddy air up her tires and found a limitation on the accessory power plug. My Stop n’ Go Air Compressor started for a split second then stopped. Troubleshooting revealed I had blown the fuse for the cigarette socket. This power plug is fused for only 2amps which is enough for a cell phone charger and that’s about it. This was a bit disappointing to see on an adventure bike, but Yamaha scored points by having a spare 2amp fuse on-board making it an easy fix.

Battery Access

The passenger seat comes off easily with the ignition key inserted into the lock bezel located just above the foot pegs on the clutch side of the bike. This gives you access to the modest OEM tool kit which surprisingly doesn’t include the 4mm hex key required to remove the main rider’s seat to gain access to the battery.

So, you will be relying on your friends or will need to carry a 4mm hex key with you. Fortunately, I had my CruzTOOLS RoadTech M3 tool kit for Japanese metric motorcycles with me which contains the 4mm hex. I also had a CruzTOOLS Outback’r 14 multi-tool in my Universal Enduro Tank Bag which also has a 4mm hex so I was able to gain access to both the fuses and the battery.

Seat for Standing

I’ve never met a stock seat that I liked and the Tenere 700 is no different. On the tarmac my back-side got uncomfortable after about an hour. Fortunately, my ride involved a lot of dirt and this seat is easy to move around on and encourages riders to stand up. I’ll be upgrading the seat before my next ride.

Suspension

As with any new motorcycle, the suspension is set up for a rider who weighs 170lbs with riding gear and carrying 15lbs of gear. Most of us are far beyond that. First impressions of riding this bike around town is that the suspension is not bad. Without a load it feels pretty good. Once loaded up with camping gear, tools, food and water for a week-long trip in the mountains, it became clear the bike wasn’t going to work for me with the stock suspension.

I installed the Touratech Suspension Extreme Rear Shock and Progressive Fork Springs in the front forks. This dramatically improved the handling and kept the bike level when loaded up with gear. After riding it a bit, I increased both the high-speed and low-speed damping until I felt it was providing maximum control with the heavy load I had for a week-long adventure. I always bring a few nice extras like a camp chair, hammock and like to roll into camp with plenty of water, a bottle of wine and a great selection of appetizers. I am definitely not one to pack light, and I like to ride hard and enjoy launching an occasional water-bar, so upgraded suspension is a requirement for me.

How does it carry the load?

There is a lot of talk about smaller is better. A lighter bike is easier to pick up for sure. A lighter bike does handle better in technical terrain, but only if you pack very light. If not, the front wheel can become too light which creates tracking and control problems and you can feel the weight on the back pulling the bike around.

In my experience, a larger adventure bike carries the load better. A balanced bike is always easier for me to maneuver than a lighter bike with too much junk in the trunk. So, determining how the T700 would handle a full load of camping gear was the real test for me. I was happy to discover that it handled the weight better than some of the 650 thumpers I have ridden. I am a heavy packer, so I reached the limit of weight this bike wanted to carry. When riding the bike with full fuel, water and lots of groceries on board I could really feel it. The larger bikes like the BMW F850, KTM 1090, or Africa Twin can generally handle that type of load better. For me this bike is good, I just need to keep the load reasonable.

For luggage I installed a Zega Pro Pannier System with 31/38 liter anodized boxes which was great for secure and dry storage. It’s nice to be able to take the boxes off at camp for sitting or cooking. The Pannier Lid Dry Bag further extended my storage and also doubled as a camp cooler as it fits a full bag of ice. My tent, hammock, chair, pad, pillow, and sleeping bag fit in a 50 Liter Waterproof Extreme dry bag strapped between the panniers on the seat/fender. This set-up gave me enough space and organization to carry what I needed while keeping the load balanced.

Bottom Line

Just like people, bikes each have their own personality. You meet some you like more than others. I have a feeling that a lot of people will like the Tenere 700. Even though it’s not the lightest or the most powerful in its class there is something special about this bike. It might just be that there is little to dislike about it. This machine has few characteristics that would rub a rider the wrong way, and it has plenty of attributes that people will enjoy. The bottom line is that the Tenere 700 is a pretty darn good choice for riding a Backcountry Discovery Route and it’s at a price that many people can afford. You also have to admit that this is a great looking bike. The rally styling speaks to me and the extra wind protection is nice for long days in the saddle. It’s great to see Yamaha back in the adventure segment with such a strong contender.

Touratech has been making parts for Yamaha Tenere models since the 1990’s. For 30 years, adventure riders exploring the most remote locations on Earth have relied on Touratech.

Check out our complete line of products for the Yamaha Tenere 700 on our website.

Get that new Headlight Guard on your T7!

The large, rally styled headlight on the Yamaha Tenere 700 is impressively bright, but easily picks up dings and damage from thrown rocks while riding off-road. Protect the expensive and vulnerable headlight lens on your Yamaha 700 with this quick-release headlight guard from Touratech.

The headlight guard clips on and off the bike quickly and easily without tools so you can clean your headlight between rides and keep the light shining bright. The stylish laser-cut front grill allows light to pass through but is robust enough to block stones, dirt clods, and debris.

For the full line of Tenere 700 parts go here!

TRANSCRIPTION:

Hello, Iain here with Touratech-USA and today we are coming from my backyard because it’s a beautiful day in the Pacific Northwest and we’re going to be working on this brand new Yamaha T7. We’re going to install the headlight guard. This is your instructional video on how to install it. Let’s get started.

As with all of the Touratech headlight guard installations, I personally like to start on the work bench. So I’ll install the female quick release rubber cups into these two anodized aluminum side brackets and then I’ll install the male quick release parts into the laser cut mesh here. So the male pieces go here, obviously with the posts pointing this way and the female sides, see how they’ve got this bend in them right here. The rubber pieces go in from this side, so when it rests on the motorcycle, you can put the male pieces in. It’ll all make sense in a minute.

Also, highly recommend getting the instructions downloaded off the Touratech website. You can just view them on your phone. PDFs make it really easy to see what goes where.

To install the male side, quick release components, all you need are the four button head M6 bolts, the four male quick release pieces and then the four M6 small washers. You do not need to apply Loctite onto these pieces because if you look inside the threads here, there’s actually a pinched thread down there and that works as a mechanical thread locker.

So, you just take the bolt, take the washer, put them through the guard from the front and then thread this guy on the backside.

I’m just going to get all four of them started and then I’ll put a tool on them and tighten them all down. To tighten these up the rest of the way, you’re going to use a four millimeter Allen wrench and an 11 millimeter Spanner wrench.

Now, we’re going to take the four rubber female quick release pieces and we’re going to install them here into these brackets. If you look at the bracket, you’ll see that these tabs here with the larger diameter holes are bent at an angle. Just imagine that the bracket is totally flat to you and the angle is bending away from you. That’s how we’re going to push these things in from the front and all you do is just push them through and just use your thumb and pop them right in there and they’re barbed. It’s quite easy.

Okay. Quick release components are assembled. Now we’re ready to walk over the bike. We’re going to need the brackets, the four spacers, four M5 washers and the four and five bolts.

Okay, here at the bike, we need to pull off one, two, three, four; these bolts from the factory. These are held on with an Allen wrench. Looks like a four millimeter fastener. We’ll just pop those four out.

Installing the mounting brackets for the Touratech Headlight guard are quite easy once these bolts are out. You just take the long bolts here, the M5s, drop them. They’re all the same length, so just drop them through the bracket. Take two of the black plastic spacers that are also all the same length and put them into the holes and just screw them in gently. Same thing on both sides.

When you got the brackets tightened down on both sides, there’s a little bit of flexibility here, cause they’re just rubber mounted. So all you got to do is lineup headlight guard, press it on. It’s that easy. Headlight guards mounted. It looks great.

TOURATECH USA

Protect your Tenere 700 engine with Touratech’s Expedition Skid Plate. With a 21” front wheel and good ground clearance, the Yamaha Tenere 700 likes to wander off the beaten path. You are likely to find something on the ground that will make dangerous contact with the underside of your Tenere. You best protect it with an Expedition Skid Plate which offers three levels of protection in one skid plate. The stainless steel base plate distributes the load, while the heavy-duty 4mm aluminum shell provides robust protection. This is capped off by reinforced nylon sliders that absorb impact and provide a sliding surface to glide your Tenere over any obstacle in its path.

Shop for Tenere 700 Parts!

TRANSCRIPTION –

Hey folks, Ian here with Touratech USA. Today, we are going to be installing the Expedition Skid Plate on a Yamaha T7. This is the skid plate that uses a bunch of different layers to add reinforcement to the motorcycle. The main component here is your 4mm thick aluminum skid plate, and then you have these two 5mm thick stainless steel plates as the front one. That’s the front one and this is the back one right here. These guys are super strong and what they do is they spread out the load of impacts on the bottom of the skid plate onto the frame that cradles the bottom side of the engine.

The first step I always take doing an install here is to lay out all the hardware that comes in the kit. You have two stainless steel brackets here. These are only used if you do not have Touratech engine crash bars on the motorcycle. So I’m not going to use those today. You have six M8 washers. You have eight of these clip nuts. You have six of these coarse thread screws and six of their corresponding plastic spacers. Those are installed here into these sliders of what you have two. You have a whole bunch of these flange head bolts here, and then there’s two of them that are longer. They’re the exact same bolt, just a little bit longer. Four of these hex head bolts, one M8 nyloc nut and one socket cap and a bolt. So that’s the collection that you should have in your hardware pack, and let’s get straight to work.

The first thing to do is get on your computer and print out the paper instructions. There’s a lot of steps to this installation, so I highly recommend having these handy, not to mention they have the torque specs right here. We’re going to be using the Inox A2, that’s stainless steel, and we’re going to be using these torque specs while we’re working on the bike.

Once we got the instructions printed out, first thing we do is install all these clip nuts into the two sub pieces. You start with the front mounting plate and you install these just by squeezing together and clipping them in. They should be able to slide up and down like this, and they’re installed on the inside of the bracket here. Now we’re going to install these coarse thread screws and their corresponding spacers onto these nylon sliders. These go into the one o’clock… I should say the first, the third and the last position. I do that on both of the spacers. I find these much easier to install using an electric tool. I’ll show you how that works here. These coarse thread screws use a Torx T20 tool. I use the CruzTOOLS drivers on just an electric impact.

You put the screw through the plastic spacer, like so, hold it in place and then just send it down here. You don’t actually want these so tight. So when I do that, I’ll actually then go and back them out about a quarter turn, so that plastic spacer is just floating a little bit. That’ll make it a lot easier to get into the skid plate when we’re doing it at the end. So first position, third position, final position. Now that we’ve got the two sub-parts assembled and the plastic sliders all assembled, it’s time to head over to the motorcycle and start installing these two subframe pieces.

For the front piece, we need the socket cap, M8 bolt, two of the M8 washers and the M8 lock nut as well as two of these M6x20 flange-head bolts. You can see on the instructions here that these flange-head bolts are screwing into the subframe on the motorcycle. So I’m going to put some Loctite on these, and then the M8x30 bolt is going into its own Nyloc nuts. So I’m going to put anti-seize on that one before I head to the bike.

Here we are under the motorcycle ready to install the front sub part and this installs with three bolts. The two lower mounting positions go here and here on the front engine cradle, and then the upper bolt here goes right up in here in this hole that’s cast in the front of the crank case here. So we’re going to bolt it up like that. I’m going to start by just loosely installing these two flange-head bolts by hand, just to hold the bracket in place, and then I’ll work on the top hole. Once you get the top bolt through and we have the two bottom bolts just loosely started, you can take the nyloc nut and another one of the washers here and install it on the back side of the upper bolt.

Now I’m going to use a Torx T30 bit to snug up these two lower bolts and a 6mm Allen drive and a 13mm spanner wrench to tighten up the upper bolt. This upper bolt is a little bit hard to get to because of the shape of the frame. So just make sure you have a good selection of tools to try and make sure you can reach it here. With  the front plate installed, now it’s time to work on the rear sub plate. And that requires all four of these longer M8 hex head bolts as well as two of the shorter flange-head bolts. All of these are screwing into the frame of the motorcycle. So I’m going to use thread locker on all six of them. Remember that at this point, if you do not have Touratech lower engine guards on your bike, you will need these spacers to be installed here or here. I’m not quite sure yet. But since our bike already has those on the bike, we are not going to be using these pieces.

So from both sides of the motorcycle, we have to remove the two factory bolts here. These factory bolts use a 12mm head. With those four bolts out, we now hold this plate up and loosely install it with the two big hex head bolts going back here, and then the flange-head bolt going right here on both sides. Make sure you got the washers and some thread locker installed on these bolts. With the three bolts on each side now loosely install, use a Torx T30 bit to screw in the two flange-head bolts, and then use a 13mm socket to screw in the two big bolts on the sides. Now that we have the rear and forward subframe brackets installed underneath the bike, we’re going to install the actual skid plate itself.

To do that, we are going to use the remaining six M6 flange-head bolts and we’re going to put thread locker on all of them because they’re all screwing into those J nuts that we previously installed or those clip nuts. And so we want to make sure that they don’t rattle out. Little blue thread locker. For installing the skid plate under the bike, I like to start with the two front bolts that are going to go into these J nuts here. So hold the plate up with one hand, and with the other hand, just loosely start these bolts into the clip nuts. You’ll notice that I’m not putting any bolts in these front holes right here. That’s because these are used last to secure the nylon reinforcement sliders.

Now the last step is to install these sliders on the bottom side of the skid plate. These are held in place by the little bobbins that you previously installed and the two longer flange-head M6 bolts. I like to put just a little bit of Loctite on both of these guys, and then we’ll use our Torx T30 to drive them home. All right. That’s all there is to it. Skid plate is fully installed. Underside of this motorcycle is now protected way better than stock, and it’s ready to go for a ride.

Touratech USA