Cycle News Staff | April 16, 2024
After several years of teasing us with concepts, Yamaha finally brought the Tenere 700 ADV bike to the U.S. at the end of 2020 as a 2021 model. The T7, as it is commonly called, has been the most popular 651-900cc ADV bike in the U.S. since thanks to solid performance and hitting the sweet spot of approachable MSRPs right around $10,000. The 2024 Tenere gets a few updates from the original version, and the price now bumps up to $10,799. These T7 updates aim to keep Yamaha on top just as powersports powerhouse Honda enters the category with the Transalp XL750R—an ADV-class machine with just the right displacement, a substantial standard features list, and a $9999 price tag. Sounds like a winner already. But will Honda bring enough performance to take down the class leader? Or will its compromises to hit a price point stand out too much?
Photography by Kit Palmer
On Paper
On paper, these two bikes match up very closely. Both use a parallel-twin motor with six-speed transmissions and a manual clutch. The Transalp comes standard with an up/down quickshifter, while the Tenere has an optional $200 up-only quickshifter. The Transalp has a slight displacement advantage with 755cc versus 689cc for the Tenere. The Honda uses a throttle-by-wire (TBW) system, while the Yamaha uses more traditional cable actuation of the throttle bodies. Both bikes ride on a steel chassis and subframes, but the Tenere has a little more coverage on the bottom side with removable engine cradles and a standard skid plate. When it comes time to slow down or stop, the Transalp has slightly larger 310mm dual front disc brakes versus 282mm dual disc on the Tenere. The Transalp also has a slightly larger 250mm rear disc versus 245mm on the T7.
The Tenere has the upper hand on the suspension with 8.3/7.9 inches of front/rear travel with adjustable damping versus 7.9/7.5 front/rear travel on the Transalp with no damping adjustability on the Transalp, only shock spring preload adjustment. When it comes to electronics, the Tenere has three ABS options and that’s about it. There are no alternative engine maps or traction control settings on the Yamaha. It’s still very analog and simple. The Transalp allows you to turn the ABS off on the rear only and includes several power, engine brake and torque control (traction control) options in its system, mimicking the Honda Africa Twin in its electronics suite. The Tenere got a new vertically mounted five-inch TFT dash for 2024, while the Honda comes with a horizontally mounted five-inch TFT dash.
The Yamaha Tenere 700 and Honda Transalp provide a lot of bang for the buck, considering they’re less expensive than 90 percent of the ADV bike market today.
Tires are one of the most talked about and debatable options on ADV bikes since you generally compromise street or dirt performance based on your personal preferences. But luckily, there are various options available on the market today. The Tenere comes stock with Pirelli’s Scorpion Rally STR tires, which work okay on the street or mild off-road scenarios, while the Honda comes with either Metzeler Karoo Street or Dunlop Mixtour A tires, both of which lean more towards street performance. We installed Bridgestone Battlax Adventurecross AX41 tires on both bikes to keep things equal for our comparison. These provide significantly improved dirt performance and are not bad on the street. We generally don’t treat ADV bikes with 18-inch rear and 21-inch front wheels as street-only machines. If they were, they wouldn’t come with 18/21-inch wheels, would they? So, we compromise a bit to the dirt side by default. Honda installed their optional skid plate and heated grips, while the Yamaha had the optional quickshifter fitted. Otherwise, we rode the bikes as they come off the showroom floor.
Tires make a big difference in the performance of any ADV bike, so to keep things equal, we installed Bridgestone Battlax Adventurecross AX41 tires on both bikes.
On Dirt/Road
While these two bikes seem evenly matched on the spec sheets, they are very different in terms of ergonomics and performance, especially in the dirt, which shows where each bike’s design priorities lie. Not surprisingly, the Tenere still feels like an oversized dirt bike with a relatively flat seat, comfortable handlebar placement, and neutral seating/standing positions. By comparison, the Transalp has a lower seat height (33.7″ versus 34.6″), and you feel like you sit down in it rather than on it. That lower seat height will be heralded as a win by the ADV community that is constantly battling the height of bikes, but the Transalp will also feel cramped for taller riders sooner. That difference in seat height on the Transalp makes the transition from sitting to standing a little more work, but both bikes feel comfortable riding in a standing position for off-road obstacles. There is no clear-cut winner in terms of ergonomics and rider comfort, but shorter riders will likely prefer the Honda and taller riders the Yamaha.
If most of your riding takes place on the pavement, the Transalp’s small power advantage and standard up/down quickshifter tips the scale in that direction.
While we are talking about rider comfort, the dash plays a bit of a role by keeping you informed about speed, rpm, fuel range, engine maps, etcetera, and there is not a big difference between the two bikes. The TFT dash that was added to the Yamaha for 2024 is a big improvement from the previous models. It is visible in all daylight conditions and dust is less of a factor now. It was previously unreadable in bright sun and/or dusty conditions. It is positioned up high and vertically to cut glare and make it easier to locate with your eyes. The Transalp is suffering here with a flatter and less readable display in comparison when in challenging dusty off-road or bright sun conditions.
The T7’s screen is much better than that of previous T7s.
The Transalp’s screen outshines and dusts the T7’s—literally, and that’s not a good thing: It looks bright, but dust or sunlight make it difficult to read compared to the Tenere’s.
In terms of power, the Honda has a slight advantage on the street due to the extra displacement, and the standard quickshifter is also a plus as you accelerate to pass traffic or accelerate out of turns. The optional ride modes don’t seem to make a huge difference for the Honda on the street, while the Yamaha lacks options but provides plenty of torquey power to have fun on the pavement. Neither of these bikes is exceptionally powerful enough to be considered a potent street performance bike. They are both capable and comfortable street touring machines, with the Honda Transalp taking the advantage slightly.
As soon as you hit the dirt, the power characteristics of each bike become more noticeable. The Tenere is very smooth and predictable and doesn’t need to be detuned to take on even challenging trails—this hasn’t changed since its original version. The T7 always feels like it has built-in traction control with its smooth throttle engagement and connected rider feel. The Yamaha CP2 engine pulses torque, making it a very easy bike to ride and love.
The Transalp needs to be switched to the Gravel setting even for basic dirt, as the electronics will render the bike motionless otherwise. If you hit any sand, you need to switch to the customizable option that allows you to dial the Torque Control (Traction Control) completely off, or the bike will quite literally stand still. If you will be going on/off the road as we often do when riding ADV bikes, you end up needing to leave the Honda in the off-road settings or you’ll need to stop and fiddle with the power and ABS settings every time you hit the dirt. Honda’s Transalp does provide more tuning tools, including engine brake control, which, when reduced, allows the bike to freewheel into turns and can keep the chassis more balanced when chopping the throttle. However, we noticed an almost surging force when off road that caught us by surprise, as well. It seems the Transalp keeps the throttle bodies open to alleviate the engine braking, and a side effect of that is a bit of phantom acceleration when coasting for a split second. Easily tuned out, sure, but it did catch us off guard.
If you are focused on riding on the street, you will likely prefer the Transalp’s power and options, but if you favor riding in the dirt, the Tenere’s power delivery is more user-friendly, plus there is no switching necessary (other than ABS).
The Honda sells for approximately $800 less than the Yamaha; that savings can be felt when it comes to suspension.
This is a good time to dig deeper into the electronic aids on the two bikes. Both the Tenere and Transalp reactivate the ABS and/or Traction Control whenever the key or kill switch is turned off. The 2024 Tenere has a new ABS system that has three different settings: ABS front and rear on, rear-wheel ABS off/front on, and both front and rear ABS off. The new dash options and ABS are controlled by a new right-side thumb scroll wheel switch. There is also an “ABS ON” button next to the TFT dash that allows you to quickly turn the ABS back on when you hit a highway section (you must stop to activate that). Changing the ABS settings is more difficult than the previous-generation Tenere’s, which had a simple button on the dash. The Transalp has the upside of more engine modes and adjustability, but there is a learning process, and more button pushes to make those changes. Just turning off the ABS and Traction Control (Honda calls it Torque Control) for the dirt is far more difficult on the Transalp. If you like having the options and don’t mind fiddling with the dash settings, you will prefer the Transalp, but if you prefer simplicity, the Tenere is the favored choice.
The Tenere has a huge advantage in terms of suspension performance. The Transalp does not include damping adjustability on the front or rear, and that would not be such a bad thing if the standard settings provided decent performance. Unfortunately, the forks and shock blow through the travel with little damping resistance in either direction. The Tenere has less than half an inch more travel, but more importantly, it has good damping resistance that allows you to hit bumps and small jumps without the fear of bottoming out and then rebounding compared to the Transalp. That difference is also noticeable on the road as the Transalp suspension floats around more and feels a little less planted to the road if there are any bumps.
Both bikes are comfortable and ergo friendly, but for many, the Honda might have the edge when it comes to those ultra-long days in the saddle.
When it comes to slowing down or stopping, the Transalp has a huge advantage. The Tenere front brake is fine, and you won’t notice much difference from the Transalp, but the Tenere’s surprisingly poor rear brake performance still exists for some reason. We have mentioned the weak and overall poor rear brake performance in every Tenere test that we have done. It has a long throw and a spongy feeling brake pedal that does not inspire confidence. It takes force to engage braking force, and just when you think you’ve got it modulated, the rear wheel locks up. We’ve swapped brake levers and brake pads, looking for significant improvements short of stripping the ABS system out and replacing all the lines with higher-spec braided-steel units with success.
The Transalp has a slightly larger fuel tank at 4.5 gallons versus 4.2 gallons. That means that you are looking for your next gas station at around 180 miles on either bike and have a max range of around 210 to 225 miles if you’re riding conservatively.
Both of these bikes provide a lot of bang for the buck, considering they’re less expensive than 90 percent of the ADV bike market today. Either could be your winner, depending on the type of riding you prefer and your physical size. If you prefer to ride on the street and will do little to no off-road riding, the Transalp’s small power advantage and standard up/down quickshifter tips the scale in your direction easily as a capable ADV touring machine, especially if you want a lower seat height and a lower price. But, if you prefer hitting the dirt, desire a bike that looks the part of a rally-faired off-road performer, and especially if you want to ride in more technical terrain, the much better suspension performance, smoother power delivery, and wonderful lack of electronic switching, tips the scales heavily towards the Tenere. At Cycle News, we feel ADV bikes need to perform in the dirt to be significant contenders in this class, and for that reason, we put the Tenere at the top of this comparison test.CN
VIDEO | Yamaha Tenere vs Honda Transalp – Sub $11K ADV Comparison
SPECIFICATIONS
|
Yamaha Tenere 700 |
Honda XL750 Transalp |
| MSRP: |
$10,799 |
$9999 |
| Engine: |
Parallel Twin |
Parallel Twin |
| Displacement: |
689cc |
755cc |
| Bore x Stroke: |
80.0 x 68.6mm |
87.0 x 63.5mm |
| Valvetrain: |
DOHC, 8 Valves |
OHC Unicam, 8 Valves |
| Fueling: |
EFI |
EFI |
| Electronics: |
Three option ABS. Front/Rear on, Front on/Rear off, Both off |
ABS on/off rear only. Sport, Standard, Rain, Gravel and customizable options.
Rider Mode, Engine Mode, Engine Brake Mode, Torque Control with Wheelie Control |
| Horsepower (Claimed): |
72.4 hp at 9000 rpm |
83.0 hp at 8500 rpm |
| Torque (Claimed): |
50 lb-ft at 6500 rpm |
55 lb-ft at 9500 rpm |
| Transmission: |
6-Speed |
6-speed |
| Clutch: |
Wet, Multi-Plate |
Wet, multi-plate |
| Frame: |
Tubular steel, double cradle, single unit |
Steel diamond mainframe & subframe |
| Handlebars: |
Tapered aluminum |
Tapered aluminum |
| Front Suspension: |
KYB coil spring, fully adjustable |
Showa SFF-CA, non-adjustable |
| Rear Suspension: |
KYB, single shock, linkage, fully adjustable |
Pro-Link single Showa shock, preload adjustability |
| Front-Wheel Travel: |
8.3 in. |
7.9 in. |
| Rear-Wheel Travel: |
7.9 in. |
7.5 in. |
| Front Brake: |
Brembo, 4-piston calipers, dual 282mm discs w/selectable ABS |
Dual 310mm discs with 2-channel ABS |
| Rear Brake: |
Brembo, 2-piston, 245mm disc w/selectable ABS |
Single 250mm disc with 2-channel ABS |
| Front Wheel / Tire: |
Spoked / 90/90R-21 in. |
Spoked / 90/90R-21 in. |
| Rear Wheel / Tire: |
Spoked / 150/70R-18 in. |
Spoked / 150/70R-18 in. |
| Rake: |
27.0° |
27.0° |
| Wheelbase: |
62.8 in. |
61.5 in. |
| Seat Height: |
34.6 in. |
33.7 in. |
| Fuel Capacity: |
4.2 gal. |
4.5 gal. |
| Weight (wet, claimed): |
470 lb |
459 lb |
