Upon the long awaited release of Yamaha's Ténéré 700 dual-sport/adventure bike in the United States, It seemed to be an immediate hit.  Hailed as a "goldilocks" bike, striking an ideal balance of size and capability, it can do everything you ask of it, and probably more, but without the strains and burdens of much larger bikes that have dominated the market segment until now.

​

The only downside is that thanks to the mess we call the year 2020, not enough of these great machines made their way to us in 'Merica.  Meanwhile, the European market has enjoyed them since 2019.  Yamaha had been teasing the concept version of the bike, referred to simply as "T7" since late 2016, as seen in this video.

​

We finally caught one of these unicorns and while deciding how to personalize it, we discovered yet another perk reserved for the European market.  The Ténéré 700 Rally Edition.  The crew over at ADV Pulse did a fine job of rubbing it in when they published this piece on the bike and what makes it so cool.  We like ADV Pulse, just not the part about the Rally Edition not coming over to toss tea in the harbor with us.

​

So how to you take what is already a veritable unicorn on this side of the pond and make it even more uncommon?  By making it a flying unicorn!  A benefit of travelling is having friends in far places.  With a little scheming and helpful insight from a far flung friend, we were able to get ahold of the proper, Yamaha OEM parts to turn this one into a Rally Edition.  Why on earth a pair of rubber grip pads do not exist in the US Yamaha parts catalog is beyond us and our local dealers.  We can attest that the are almost a requirement on this bike, the bare side panels are incredibly slick against textile riding pants.

The owner is a fan of the bike's original matte black, so that remains.  Custom graphics are currently in the works to put the finishing touches on this project, also using various finishes of black.  A couple of aftermarket parts were added for the sake of fit and protection.  A full list of parts is to follow.