Lightweight Rally Touring
“In the last decade, Rally Touring has changed quite a bit. Most bikes today are big multi-cylinder machines with excellent touring qualities. But the lightweight segment around 650 cc is almost forgotten,” explains product planner Takeshi Higuchi, who was one of the leading forces behind the new XT660Z Ténéré. He is convinced: “As a real multi purpose machine, our new light weight single cylinder is a perfect choice because of its road touring qualities and excellent controllability on gravel roads or small tracks.”

Bring good classic values back
Higuchi explains the concept behind the new XT660Z: ”In the eighties, when adventure touring, particular through Africa, was at its peak, the first choice was either an XT 500 with a big tank, or later the XT 600 Ténéré. The reasons were obvious. The bike was relatively light and its big tank offered over 400 km range. The air-cooled single engine has been very reliable and economical. The bike was made in a simple way and you could service or repair the machine next to the road if you carried tools. It was the ideal bike to go to remote places. At the same time, the all round function made the Ténéré a favourite choice for commuting and even qualified as first bike for young riders. The motorcycle industry today, and that includes us as Yamaha, has forgotten some of these qualities. The XT660Z Ténéré will bring them back. Whether you want to go on a round-the-world-tour, or travel through mountain areas, or go to work every day, the new Ténéré will be a reliable and practical companion.”

What we mean with practicality
Project chief Alessandro Ghezzi has his view about the Ténéré’s advantages: ”Practicality is simply a sum of many little qualities. To ride several hundred kilometres without worrying about the next fuel station for example. The single cylinder engine is practical, because of its economy in consumption and maintenance. And still the 660cc engine has enough power to be superior in today’s traffic and it ensures a good enough cruising speed in today’s highway traffic. The little windscreen is quite efficient and with the comfortable riding position, long trips are never a hassle. Now at 183 kg dry weight, the Ténéré is comparatively light in its segment and therefore has a very nice handling character both in city traffic and on mountain trails. The luggage carrier is, and always has been, standard equipment. With the optional accessory top case or side panniers you can carry more than enough. For me the Ténéré is the best all-rounder concept.”

New frame and chassis
Hiroo Saito adds: “The Ténéré has a new frame and chassis, quite different from the XT660R. We had different priorities and started from scratch. The Ténéré is an all-round touring bike, and has to cover all kinds of usage, so we needed to develop a wide range of qualities like comfort for longer trips, a strong rear frame to carry luggage and passenger, and also some off road capability for gravel paths in mountains or use in the desert sand.”

How much stiffness and compactness was important in the new Ténéré’s design may be highlighted best with the fact, that even different manufacturing places and processes were considered in order to achieve the results engineering was looking for.

Alessandro Ghezzi explains further:” On the XT660R, we build the chassis first and install the engine at the end of the assembly line. The Ténéré is produced just the opposite way. We have the engine first on the line and build frame and components around the engine. This allows us to have a frame which is stiffer and also tighter wrapped around the engine. The new, stronger swing arm is kept in place by a massive forged single pivot holder, which is another contribution.”

Function comes first
The development team was convinced, that function was the key to a new successful Ténéré concept. Against designers’ first resistance, the harmonica type fork protectors are protecting the fork against dust mud and stones. “These may look old-fashioned, but they are so effective, that we decided to use them“, says Alessandro Ghezzi.

Serious off-road testing next to the usual road tests were part of the development process. ”One day our test team came back from a 1000 Kilometre off-road trip with 30 kg weight strapped to the rear part of the prototype. They were pretty exhausted and one of them said, it would be much easier to recommend a suspension setting for high performance sport bikes.” As all-rounder, the Ténéré’s use is very wide, from heavy loaded off road to high speed highway.

Proven engine technology
The new Ténéré’s engine is based on the same power plant, which is used in the XT 660 R. Changes include new muffler and different air box. Consequently the electronic engine management (injection, ignition etc.) was altered.  The new air box is located under the seat and is very easy to reach. The dry filter element can be taken out to be cleaned just by opening a few screws. Literally it could be done in the shadows of a palm tree. The filter element itself has a bigger surface comparing to XT 660 R for higher cleaning capacity.

“We made big efforts to reduce vibration felt by the rider,” says Ghezzi. “The bike will be used on long distances also on highways and we wanted no fatigue for the rider in every respect.”

Form follows function
Designer Olivier Béboux confesses: ”The new bike has many design elements from the original Ténéré. But still it looks quite different. We tried to keep history and family image of the Ténéré line, but also adopt modern lines. And not only the looks itself played a major role. We had lots of attention to functional parts as well. Take the protectors bolted left and right side of the massive tank: in case the bike falls over, these protectors will help to keep the damage minimal. And in the worst case, they are easy to be changed.
And  because we felt necessary to have better comfort for the passenger, we increased the seat cushion on the rear end and made it a step shape, even when from styling point of view this is a bit less sporty.”

The new sixth generation Ténéré is as practical and reliable as it has always been. And it is a perfect all-rounder for the expert as well as for the novice rider.

Photo Gallery 1: 2008-XT660Z-Ténéré Details

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Photo Gallery 2: 2008-XT660Z-Ténéré Accessories

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Photo Gallery 3: 2008-XT660Z-Ténéré Colours

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