Tenere 700 World Raid tested with MX World Champion Ben Townley

My name's Adam Reaman. I've just flown halfway around the world with former world motocross champion Ben Townley. Ben, are you ready for what could potentially be the biggest event of your career to date? I was born ready, Adam. Born ready. Let's see if we can find a pie, eh? What do you reckon the chances are, Adam? Yeah, there'd be a goat pie in there, like Jajira Cafe. There's got to be a pie in there. These people are eating goat pies. Look at your bug splats and ----. You don't even run goggles, do you? Oi, let me teach you a few things about this adventure game, Ben. Have a look at it. Normally I run a double set up goggles backwards like old mate. Right, here we go. We've been assigned by Yamaha Australia to test the new Tenere 700 World Raid, but must do so inside the order of a guided group. We figure it'll be best to give the other riders a head start so we can run a more lively pace and let the big T7s eat. We're just going to hang back a bit. You can go. Going to get my steering damped. I'm going to really just harden it, stiffen that right up. I'm just going to feel it for what it is at the moment. All right, let's go. We're going to catch them all in about 30 seconds flat. Oh, I like the stance. That's a nice stance. Right, right, right, right. They're pretty slick. What have we got here? Straight on, bud, straight on. Straight on the road. How does an Aussie say it? I'm frothing. Left, left, left. Hard left, hard left. Hard left, here we go. I just swept up that and then I sort of come underneath you. Did you now? Oh, look, that was very Chris Burks spec then. Very Chris Burks spec. Look, it's the Sean Goldhawk. So that was Yamaha Australia's Sean Goldhawk, assigned to keep our Australian and New Zealand team in check, organise our logistics and double as a cameraman at random opportunities. Shall we go through this field like a hot knife on butter? Oh, we totally will. No, we totally didn't. Instead, we pulled up on a corner and let the pack get away again. I reckon Ben's getting the hang of this adventure bike game, Sean. I'll see if I can keep up. I'm sure you can. Let's go. Here we go. Oh, airtime, yes. What do we got here? What do we got? Oh, that would have been a fair old send. Shall we do it? Oh, we got some ruts. Yes, I just cased it. This is some Spanish fire trail, hey? Yeah, a bit of gyro. These definitely handle better, without a doubt. Yeah. Without. Do the splits. Split it. Nice split. I'm guessing it's left. I see the dust. Village life. These are definitely better handling than the original model. Yeah, out of the box. Coming through that section then, you know, there was a bit of undulation, couple of jumps, and I just feel like it's more of a positive feel. Yeah, I fairly hit one of those ripples. It was like a water hole with a rut. Cased the other side of it, but at least it didn't go metal to metal. Yeah, right. It cased, but it didn't go metal to metal. Yeah, and that was, you know, the biggest fault for me was the fork. Well, the fork on the standard T7 kind of needs to go in the bin for real hardcore off-road. Yeah, but like riding this right now, and coming through that previous section, we're pushing pretty hard, and it felt good. Yeah, it does. I feel pretty good. We got him. We got him. We got him. We got him. Okay, he's on it. Oh, this is the other group. So, we can go. Oi, let's go back and just shoot a bit of stuff back here. So, we literally ducked back down the road to shoot this ground scene and this drone scene, then by the time we got back, everyone had gone. Shit. We briefly explained our intentions and that we'd catch back up to the group, so they radioed ahead and let the event camera crews know we were coming in hot. Much like racing, the pressure of urgency removes any thought of the bike beneath you, and your focus shifts entirely on the terrain ahead. It's in these situations, the stable, predictable nature of the Ténéré chassis allows you to ride without distraction. There's basically no bad mannerisms that'll catch you out at speed with this bike. Another car here. Yeah, yeah. Keep it wedged. One by one, until the next flag. The valet is a photographer, and on this side, you have our team. Cool. See, we're together. Oh, this is cool. Oh, this could get a bit crazy. Good. All right, guys. Business as usual, we've rejoined the group just in time for some morning tea. Come on, let's have it. Watch out for that hole, brother. Nice little washout, eh? On your left, on your left. Yeah, yeah. Good man. Good man. Shit, she's rocky here, boy. Yeah, these tires aren't that fantastic. Bit of a hole. Skid that fork. Bit of a test on the shock, that was. Bit of a test. Bit of shock testing. Yeah. You just roosted the ---- out of me then, eh? Ah, well. ------- hell, I'm going to have you. Oh, casing the front. I'm up to about number three of casing the front. I've done it, I think, might of once. Really? Yeah. I think I might have you on the KG side of things. I seen a little shortcut, then I was going to take it. Did you just? Oh, look at this. Rumble, rumble in the junk. She flamed out. I flamed the ******* thing out. Get up on that edge, yeah. Let's go, brother. We're on. Hold on to her, son. We're ******* on. Hold on to her, son. Just give the suspension a bit of a hiding, eh? It's pretty good. Once again, we find ourselves up front waiting for the rest of the group, so we take the opportunity to capture a little more adventure. Better than a kick in the nuts, anyway, Sean. Ben, hook me up with one of those Spanish cheese swallower full of melted cheese. Good grief. Sitting still at another photo point is making us anxious for content, so we seek out another adventurous video opportunity in a nearby trail. Yeah, we're good, we're good. After we get through these trees, let's punch it. Oh, there's lots of water on the lens. Wait on. All right, get some. The only tricky part of letting the group get ahead is that we don't actually have navigation or GPS. We're dependent on reading the tracks left by the riders and picking up their distant dust trail. It's not unfamiliar territory for me, having competed in desert races and ridden many rally events. As for Ben, he runs his own adventure tour company in New Zealand. He's also very experienced in riding through foreign terrain. I see dust down there. The steering dampener worked real good then. Yeah. I hit a rock and it just brought it back. If I see something, oh, it's down there. Oh, bummer. Did you do it? Yeah, I'm on it. Oh, yes. And I'll just come through drifting. Oh, yes. Yes. Getting back through to the front of the group, it's time to try a different strategy with the lead rider who basically gives us directions for the next 20 kilometers or so. Stop at the next turn. Oh, it hits the road. Yeah. Yes. How much better are these footpegs than the old ones? Yeah. Yeah. Just feel so much more platform underneath you. Attached to the bike. Yeah. Go, pop up, go. Oh. Let's have it, BT. Let's have it. Feels so much faster than 130, eh? Yeah. Toby and Nat reckon they're doing like 160, 170. Oh, they do. They do. This is good footage here. Yeah. Yeah. This is the Tenere really. Now we're starting to really... We're almost in enduro territory. We're covering multiple... Oh, look at the river bed here. Yes, folks. Oh, look at the ruts. Get in the single rut. Just get down in those ruts. Oh, here we go. Here we go. Savage. This is... Sick. Which way does the max go? I can see ruts. All right. Let's have it, son. Let's have it, son. Bit of sand. Bit of boggy. Bit of mush. I think he meant... Oh, yeah, this... Yes, turn around. Up there. Yeah, up there. I think you just own me is what you call that. I'm not happy. You just own me and I'm not having it. In a somewhat motocross situation. Yes. And now I'm really... You've really ticked him off. Yeah, I've lost my rhythm. I reckon we'd have Baturi covered through here on the stockers. He's going inside. You stopped. I was committed. The great climb. This was the climb on his map. Let's have it up the gaps. We've used over half of the bike's 23-litre fuel capacity now, so they're really starting to feel like big dirt bikes. Sick. Oh, he wants it. He wants the outside pass. Well, what a day. We flew halfway around the world for an exclusive ride on this new bike. And while our agenda was totally different to most others here, we feel we've tested and revealed the true performance of the Tenere 700 World Raid. Big thanks to Yamaha Europe for putting on a pretty cool event and cramming it all into the space of 300 kilometres. I felt like every upgrade they made was an improvement to the bike. Over the standard. So footpegs, suspension, screen, seat. The seat. All of that. Fuel range even. Look, we actually had a bit of a red hot dig. We had to work with the structure of the launch, which wasn't easy to gather content. But look, all in all, big thanks to Yamaha Australia for getting us here. Well worth it having spent a day on the bikes. If you want to ride a bike across Australia, that thing's got you covered. And it's just the beginning.