The Ténéré 700 has been a huge success for Yamaha. When the company showed a Rally Raid concept, no-one was sure if it would make production but now new patent applications confirm it will.

Yamaha Ténéré Raid Concept Comes To Life

Yamaha took so long bringing the Ténéré to life after it showed the first concept that to have just the base model was enough for most people. When a hardcore Raid concept was shown at the EICMA show last November, no-one dared believe that it would actually make it to production. It wasn't even certain that the 'concept' was meant to be a model in its own right or if it was merely an accessory-laden standard Ténéré 700.

However, in a burst of activity, Yamaha has filed patent applications for the Ténéré 700 Raid model, confirming that it will be a stand alone model to sit next to the standard T7 on showroom floors.

While the concept was stuffed to the gills with competition baubles, the real focus of the production Ténéré 700 Raid is the new bodywork incorporating a much bigger fuel tank. The base T7 has a capacity of 16 litres, giving a range of around 200 miles. The T7 Raid looks to have added 7 or 8 litres to that total, which could potentially push the range up to nearer 300 miles. The concept also had a seat-mounted reserve tank and, even though that is missing from the patent applications, expect it to be an option giving even longer range.

Elsewhere, the T7 Raid is as the base T7, certainly in terms of chassis, forks, brakes and wheels and engine/gearbox. A steering damper has been fitted.

The larger tank has caused a complete re-think of the rest of the bodywork. The side panels are much larger, covering most of the engine and crash bobbins are blended into the sides as well.

The screen is taller and the whole frontal aspect is wider, while the front fender is a wheel-hugging piece and not the MX-style fender that was seen on the prototype. That, no doubt, will be an option.

The dash appears to be a new, larger TFT screen, while new switchgear taken from the MT-10 suggests more tech on the Raid than on the base T7.

Whether it was Yamaha's intention or not to build a more hardcore T7, there were some who saw enough potential in the base model to carry out their own competition modifications and enter races. One such was Pol Tarrés who entered the Red Bull Romaniacs event, a notoriously tough race. Perhaps Yamaha had plans already for the Raid concept but such a feat can only have had them sitting up and taking notice.