Yamaha Motor Europe has gradually added retro-themed paint schemes to its model line-up, including a new Legend Blue scheme for the XSR 900 GP heritage streetfighter. The Japanese automaker has now given its middleweight adventure motorcycle, the Ténéré 700 World Rally, a new Heritage White colour for MY2027 that harks back to historic Yamaha machinery of yesteryear.
Significance behind the ‘speedblock’
Yamaha’s iconic ‘speedblock’ pattern originated on their racebikes in the 60s and 70s. Yamaha used two major types of speedblock decals, red on white and black on yellow. Both were iconic in their own right and represented Yamaha Racing in different regions. The red-on-white Speedblock was designed by Molly Sanders, tasked with creating a design that would be easily distinguishable on early televisions, even at racing speed. His design spawned the iconic speedblock pattern we know today.
The Ténéré series has earned a significant place in Yamaha’s history books. Yamaha gifted the Ténéré moniker to the XT600Z model to celebrate winning the infamous Paris-Dakar cross-country rally. No surprises then, that the XT600Z Ténéré also wore the speedblock pattern at some point during its production run.
And now the speedblock returns on the 2027 Tenere 700 World Rally. The World Rally variant sits in the middle of the range in Europe, below the World Raid. It builds on the base Ténéré 700 with adjustable KYB suspension, a taller rally seat (with a towering 895mm seat height!), a rally-inspired front beak, an underbelly bashplate with radiator guard for added protection, and an Akrapovic slip-on exhaust.
The changes make the Ténéré 700 a more capable off-roader, not that it needed it. With 200mm+ of suspension travel at the front and rear, and 260mm of ground clearance, the Ténéré 700 is very capable. Combined with Yamaha’s extremely popular 689cc, liquid-cooled, ‘CP2’ parallel-twin engine, with a 270-degree firing order, the Ténéré 700 produces a healthy 74bhp and 68Nm of torque. Not to mention, the CP2 sounds magnificent, which should improve with the Akrapovic slip-on.
Ténéré 700 and the accompanying CP2 engine have become a phenomenon across the globe since their launch in 2019, and have made Yamaha a big player in the 600-900cc segment. It’s no secret we’d love to see Yamaha bring their big bike line-up to India, something even Yamaha has been weighing up in recent months.
Ténéré 700 would be a welcome addition to the constantly growing middleweight adventure segment and would go up against the likes of the Suzuki V-Strom 800 DE and Kawasaki Versys 650 if launched in India
