YAMAHA TÉNÉRÉ 700 – ÖHLINS UPGRADE

Swapping to the Öhlins equipped bike was a stark contrast. The forks stayed higher in their stroke at all times and gave the front end a feeling of a more assured grip on the slippery wet rock and shale we rode over, and when you hopped over those rain gullies the suspension absorbed the landing with ease. That kind of assuredness breeds confidence and in turn that leads to a higher probability to success when it comes to tackling tricky off-road terrain.

What I really appreciated here, though, was that Öhlins seem to have carefully avoided going for an out-and-out rally setting on these units. Competition rally bikes generally get set up stiff-ish, to work best at high speed (both in terms of velocity and bump impact-speed), the idea being to absorb big sudden hits without masses of under-damped rebound that would send the bike into an endo. That’s good for safety but it can make a bike feel a little tank-like and the lessened suspension movement can slow steering responses. Not ideal for general trail work. With this Öhlins setup, the feel seemed more super-trail rather than rally. So the essence of the Ténéré – such an amenable, easy bike to ride – was still there, only just with the greater assurance of quality suspension.

The question is – is it worth £2000 to achieve this? That’s close to 1/5^th of the value of the bike. Now, for sure, this kind of hardware does cost this kind of money, there’s no rip-off going on here. But that extra spend does move the all-up cost of the Öhlins-equipped bike perilously close to that of the KTM 790 Adventure R (especially since the Yamaha has seen two price increases since its launch, now retailing at £9147). The answer probably lies in the kind of rider you are. If you’re using your Ténéré for leisure riding, and riding only at ‘considerate’ pace in the off-road, then the answer is as good as ‘no’. But if you’re committed to riding faster off-road and you’ve got that hankering to ride rallies – big rallies like the Hellas or Gibraltar – then this is very much value for money. And if that’s the case, if you’re hammering along rocky trails for eight hours a day for one to two weeks at a time, then this is money well spent – and your body will thank you each and every night.

So yes, this is a great, if expensive, solution and we’d be the first to congratulate you on a choice well made. However, if ‘two-very-large’ is just plain too much money for you, then stand by we’ve also found a great solution for you. And we’ll let you know more about that in a story we’ll publish very soon.