After debuting the Raid version of the Tenere 700 via social media in the hands of Pol Tarres, Yamaha appears to be gearing up to make the bike a production reality with the company filing patents overseas.
While information regarding the specifications of the new Tenere is yet to be forthcoming from Yamaha, we can tell a few key details about the Tenere 700 Raid based on the patent images.
For starters, the rear subframe mounted fuel tank appears to have been ditched in favour of the current Tenere 700’s rear end. This could be either a move to reduce costs in production, or Yamaha has decided that the extended fuel range from the two new fuel tanks up front is ample for the bike’s purpose. It would be very cool, however, if that rear tank made its way into the GTYR parts catalogue as it would give (in theory) all Tenere 700 owners a factory option to boost their bikes range.
The patent images also show just how much wider than the current model Tenere 700 the Raid version will be, with the dual fuel tanks significantly increasing the width of the bike. This won’t impact practicality too much as the tanks are still well within the width of the handlebars. A possible benefit to the wider tank could also be alleviating the pressure put on the exhaust silencer if the bike is dropped on its right-hand side, which retails the same vulnerable mount for the silencer to the subframe.
With their rally-style design, the new fuel tanks should help drop the Tenere 700’s centre of gravity down, while mounted just ahead of the twin fuel caps is a factory-fitted steering dampener.
The forward bodywork has seen a range of changes to give the rider and engine more protection from the elements. The skid plate has been extended to further protect the engine and meld seamlessly to the new bodywork while the windscreen gains large winglets on either side to further aid in protecting the rider.
Technology also appears to be getting a big boost, with the LCD dash appearing to be dropped for a TFT unit. The only reason Yamaha would go to the expense of utilising a TFT would be for ease of control of an electronics suite, which to date the lack of which has been one of the Tenere 700s biggest selling points.
Despite the changes, the base build of the bike appears to remain the same in regards to chassis and wheel sizing.
While official word from Yamaha on the bike’s production is yet to be forthcoming, multiple online outlets have published that we should see a production version of the Tenere 700 Raid sometime in 2022.