Yamaha Super Tenere breaks cover - Motorbikes Reviews, News & Advice

We first saw it as an amazing cloth and hard parts 'sculpture' at last year's Tokyo motor show, with Yamaha staffers hinting that we wouldn't have to wait too long for a production version.

Well they weren't telling porkies, as Yamaha has now officially unveiled details of its all-new parallel twin Super Tenere adventure tourer, which "inherits the spirit of the legendary Tenere models that drove an era of Yamaha dominance during the 1980s and '90s in the Dakar Rally" and is set to go on sale locally in June.

The Super Tenere is set to enter the playground of bikes like BMW's all-conquering R 1200 GS (which has recently been updated with twin-cam heads), the Triumph Tiger, Moto Guzzi Stelvio and the Ducati Multistrada, which is set to go on sale in May.

Yamaha's design language for the Super Tenere is all about long distance capability, excellent dirt performance and agility. To achieve those goals, the engine and chassis were designed from a clean sheet, focusing on centralising mass, lowering the centre of gravity and weight distribution.

The shaft-driven Super Tenere is powered by a liquid-cooled 1199cc eight-valve parallel twin, which has a close-firing 270-degree crankshaft, a side-mounted radiator, and wide-ratio six-speed transmission. The Yamaha Chip Controlled Throttle (YCCC-T) incorporates a traction control function which adjusts, based on speed sensors, both ignition timing and fuel injection to control power delivery.

The traction control has three modes: off, TCS1 (strong) and TSC2 (limited). And there are also two different power curves: S for sports riding, and the milder T for touring.

Yamaha claims 110hp (80.9kW) at 7250rpm, with a bore and stroke of 98mm x 79.5mm. The power figure puts it right into the adventure ballpark, with the GS claiming 105hp, the Tiger 113 and Stelvio 105.

Other technology includes three-position ABS and a unified brake system. Wheel sizes are 19 (front) and 17-inch (rear) respectively.

Seat height is in the window of 845-870mm, and wet weight is 261kg with 23lt of fuel. Suspension travel is 190mm front and rear.

The Super Tenere which will launched at Phillip Island tomorrow morning as part of the AMCN expo at the opening round of the Superbike World Championship.

Price is still to be announced, but expect a figure around the $20K mark.