Dreaming of a motorcycle trip to distant climes? This section will help you to plan your trip, whether it's to the next state, country or all the way around the world! Start here!
The Achievable Dream 5-part series - the definitive video guide for planning your motorcycle adventure. Get Ready! covers planning, paperwork, medical and many other topics! "Inspirational and Awesome!" See the trailer here!
You could just get on a plane with your credit card and passport and buy or rent everything you need when you get there. That includes the bike, riding gear, etc. etc.
Gear Up! is a 2-DVD set, 6 hours! Which bike is right for me? How do I prepare the bike? What stuff do I need - riding gear, clothing, camping gear, first aid kit, tires, maps and GPS? What don't I need? How do I pack it all in? Lots of opinions from over 150 travellers! "will save you a fortune!"See the trailer here!
So you've done it - got inspired, planned your trip, packed your stuff and you're on the road! This section is about staying healthy, happy and secure on your motorcycle adventure. And crossing borders, war zones or oceans!
On the Road! is 5.5 hours of the tips and advice you need to cross borders, break down language barriers, overcome culture shock, ship the bike and deal with breakdowns and emergencies."Just makes me want to pack up and go!" See the trailer here!
Tire Changing!Grant demystifies the black art of Tire Changing and Repair to help you STAY on the road! "Very informative and practical." See the trailer here!
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Horizons Unlimited Presents!
Ladies on the Loose! For the first time ever, a motorcycle travel DVD made for women, by women! These intrepid women share their tips to help you plan your own motorcycle adventure. They also answer the women-only questions, and entertain you with amazing tales from the road! Presented by Lois Pryce, veteran solo traveller through South America and Africa and author of 'Lois on the Loose', and 'Red Tape and White Knuckles.'
"It has me all fired up to go out on my own adventure!" See the trailer here!
Meet people who don't think you're crazy for wanting to ride your bike to South America or across Asia! They will encourage you, share their experiences and advice on how to do it!
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Horizons Unlimited presents!
Achievable Dream The definitive guide to planning your motorcycle adventure! This insanely ambitious 2-year project has produced an informative and entertaining 5-part, 18 hour video series. "The ultimate round the world rider's how-to!" MCN UK.
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Does anyone know when the bike is actually going to be starting to be delivery in Europe?
dealer in my town takes orders already, saying it maybe late May,
but other dealer saying not earlier then in fall...
Price is attractive comparing to 790R, less then 10k euros.
It’s a no for me. The main problems are the complicated electrics and that the rear subframe is welded to the main frame and not bolted, a small spill could right off the frame.
It’s a no for me. The main problems are the complicated electrics and that the rear subframe is welded to the main frame and not bolted, a small spill could right off the frame.
In my experience that doesn't happen, not with Yamaha XTs anyway... my 660Z had a one-piece frame and that was rock solid.
Bolt on subframes are primarily for dirt-bikes - for lighter weight and easier [shock] maintenance - I'd have no worries having a one piece frame on an adventure bike - especially one designed to carry a passenger and luggage.
I agree with JMo for the same reasons.
If the frame is like the 660, it will take quite a prang to bend that subframe.
And if it isn't - like a CRF250L and many similar bikes – just stamp it back in line.
There may of course be plenty of better reasons not to like the 700.
Yamaha said today: Ténéré 700 will be available at a special, launch price of £8399 (excluding OTR charges and accessories) for those who reserve online.
System will launch at 1pm 27 March!
It’s a no for me. The main problems are the complicated electrics and that the rear subframe is welded to the main frame and not bolted, a small spill could right off the frame.
complicated electronics??? where? abs and that's it, what ktm 790R potential customers supposed to say
Regarding frame, mine landed in the ditch many times and no problems, but years ago they built bikes from real steel, not from plastic...
For me a concern is an engine longevity, couldn't find any records even close to 100k km, and some reports of MT07 overheating etc.
__________________ "For sheer delight there is nothing like altitude; it gives one the thrill of adventure
and enlarges the world in which you live," Irving Mather (1892-1966)
I bought a Tenere XT660Z in 2009 and for many years I said it was the best 'out of the box' travel bike with its high screen, rally cockpit, large fuel tank and a really wide gear box. It really helped me become a better rider offroad and I remember writing what a marvellous machine it would be if only it could be mated with BMW's 800cc twin and a wide ratio 6-speed box. But boy, was it heavy. And changing tubes was a nightmare with the deep wheel rims.
It seems ages ago that I sold the Tenere but to put dates into perspective, it was actually a year after Yamaha announced the T7. If the company had started deliveries of the T700 a couple of years ago it would have been a roaring success. But it didn't and Yamaha is now launching with what is really quite a dated specification. Times move on and KTM has really moved the goal posts with the 790 Adventure.
By comparison with the KTM 790 Adventure (base model) the T700 lacks decent fuel range, tubeless tyres, traction control, cornering ABS, offroad ABS, ride modes, and 20 bhp of fun. In addition the T700 is likely to be heavier.
What the T700 does have going for it is the price. Will that be enough?
__________________ "For sheer delight there is nothing like altitude; it gives one the thrill of adventure
and enlarges the world in which you live," Irving Mather (1892-1966)
I bought a Tenere XT660Z in 2009 and for many years I said it was the best 'out of the box' travel bike with its high screen, rally cockpit, large fuel tank and a really wide gear box. It really helped me become a better rider offroad and I remember writing what a marvellous machine it would be if only it could be mated with BMW's 800cc twin and a wide ratio 6-speed box. But boy, was it heavy. And changing tubes was a nightmare with the deep wheel rims.
It seems ages ago that I sold the Tenere but to put dates into perspective, it was actually a year after Yamaha announced the T7. If the company had started deliveries of the T700 a couple of years ago it would have been a roaring success. But it didn't and Yamaha is now launching with what is really quite a dated specification. Times move on and KTM has really moved the goal posts with the 790 Adventure.
By comparison with the KTM 790 Adventure (base model) the T700 lacks decent fuel range, tubeless tyres, traction control, cornering ABS, offroad ABS, ride modes, and 20 bhp of fun. In addition the T700 is likely to be heavier.
What the T700 does have going for it is the price. Will that be enough?
Hi Tim - as you know, I was another early adopter of the XT660Z (in 2008), and like you for a long time considered it the best 'out-of-the-box' RTW style bike, and still do to be honest...
To answer your question - I think the T700 will have everything the 660Z had going for it, just ten years on...
In the meantime, while all the other manufacturers have stuffed their bikes full of electronic 'aids' and other marketing flim-flam, the new Tenere is reassuringly simple - something that manufacturers (of both two and four wheels) seem to forget is important to some people.
Of course the Starbucks crowd are going to get a hard-on about all the gubbins KTM are sticking on their bikes these days (traction control on a 690 thumper, really?), but as you know - out in the real world none of that crap matters - certainly not more than an inherently strong, simple and reliable machine.
As the old saying goes: If it ain't there, it can't go wrong or get broken...
I applaud Yamaha for sticking to their original Tenere ethos in that regard.
Jenny x
ps. I'm not saying there is not a place for uber-tech (although I'd question its validity on a genuine all-terrain bike that is actually going to be used in adverse riding conditions with any regularity) - but that in a broad market, filled with multiple manufacturers, why do we expect everyone to make exactly the same thing?
Leave the techno stuff to BMW and Ducati (and KTM, bless em), and similarly leave the opposite end of the market to the likes of Royal Enfield... I'd say this new Yamaha sits somewhere in the middle, above the KLR and below the F850... I'd say that is bang-on niche filling?
I also bought a 660Z soon after they came out, took it straight to Morocco and enjoyed it immensely for what it was, despite it weighing some 30% more than my original ’83 600Z.
But I’ve had enough big singles and have long said a mid-sized P-twin makes a much better do-it-all, travel bike motor. Sadly, for me the amazingly economical CB500X was not that motor, but the grunty 270° CP2 sure is.
Quote:
... tubeless tyres, traction control, cornering ABS, offroad ABS, ride modes, and 20 bhp of fun. In addition the T700 is likely to be heavier...
The only thing I’d miss are TL tyres but I now know there are various ways of achieving that.
I’ve never knowingly ridden a bike with traction control, cornering ABS, off-road ABS or ride modes – things that I mostly associate with keeping crazy-horsepower sports bike riders from clogging up the wards.
Why would a torquey, 70-hp bike need ride modes? Because it can? If conditions are slippery, back off.
Having run an XSR7 for a year, the same, proven 70-hp* motor will do me nicely.
So will a 16-L tank, if the XT7 also averages 26kpl (400km).
(*I keep forgetting my XSR was restricted to ~48hp, tbh I never noticed as there was never a need to go over 6k rpm).
Along with the 850GS (probably), we are lucky enough to finally have such a choice of brilliant machines offering an alternative to the quarter-ton tanks and the 790 is one of them.
It will be much discussed and rightly admired, but like all KTMs, bought by the relatively few who value (or can use) it’s off-road attributes – or that image.
Meanwhile, the less dazzlingly sophisticated T700 will be a hit, like just about all the Teneres before it.
So it's taken years from being announced to reaching UK shops. So did the AT, iirc. Is there a hurry?
Quote:
… unfinished ... especially at the rear.
I’m afraid I really don’t know what that means ;-)
Quote:
Also, what company launch new motorcycle after season...
Abject buffoons, obviously! (remind me when 'the season' is again?)
The T7 will be a sales hit for sure based on price alone it offers a good spec and a great all round platform.
It's too big for me, I'd love the engine but I don't need the height and weight so I'm looking at the smaller (cheaper end of the scale) if KTM bring out the 390 Adventure which lets be honest they could have developed a good one within a year of the 390 bikes coming to market, I might be interested however I wish yamaha would make a smaller lighter tenere using their mt03 engine as I think this would do everything I'm looking for and be even more affordable.
JMo hinted at a 300 cc Honda a while back too
I think the company that gets a good small adventure bike out soon for around the 5 grand mark will really see some great sales
In the meantime, while all the other manufacturers have stuffed their bikes full of electronic 'aids' and other marketing flim-flam, the new Tenere is reassuringly simple - something that manufacturers (of both two and four wheels) seem to forget is important to some people.
Triumph had the same attitude in the 1960s and 1970s—who needs anything more than a four-speed gearbox, who needs engines that don't leak oil? And Honda and the other Japanese manufacturers walked all over them.
And I bought Honda. With champagne tastes I really wanted the CB750/4 but my money salary dictated that I had to make do with the fabulous Honda 400/4, a wonderfully smooth four-cylinder engine with a six-speed gearbox that I took all over Europe.
For safety reasons ABS is now mandatory on motorbikes including the T700 and in the last twenty years the weight has become insignificant, as the chart above shows. Cornering ABS is a brilliant safety concept that recognises ABS needs to be more sensitive when cornering. It probably only adds a few grams in weight for the sensors but the T700 doesn't have it. Offroad ABS is a simple switch that allows the rider to maintain a reduced ABS function on the front wheel whilst turning it off on the rear to enable slide turns. With the T700 ABS is either all on or all off; there is no offroad mode. How much money did that save?
A lot of experienced riders will say the best traction control available is their right hand on the throttle, but the reality is that you can't get the mix of traction and limited slip that an electronic system will provide. So there will be times when a T700 won't make it up a difficult slope yet another bike with traction control will. Is having traction control somehow 'cheating'? Well if it is, so are knobbly tyres and we should all go back to road tyres.
Sure, I recognise (but don't particularly agree with) the argument that the more bits of complexity are added to a bike, the more there is to go wrong—that's the 1960s Triumph head set again.
__________________ "For sheer delight there is nothing like altitude; it gives one the thrill of adventure
and enlarges the world in which you live," Irving Mather (1892-1966)
The T7 will be a sales hit for sure based on price alone it offers a good spec and a great all round platform.
no it won't, wanna bet?
BTW, T7 offer which good specs...don't see any.
This bike cannot be even compared to xt660z, which was tough, reliable machine and T7 engine is..well, too delicate IMO
Have YOU ever wondered who has ridden around the world? We did too - and now here's thelist of Circumnavigators!
Check it out now, and add your information if we didn't find you.
Virginia: April 24-27 Queensland is back! May 2-5 Ecuador June 13-15 Germany Summer: May 29-June 1 CanWest: July 10-13 Switzerland: Date TBC Ecuador: Date TBC Romania: Date TBC Austria: Sept. 11-14 California: September 18-21 France: September 19-21 Germany Autumn: Oct 30-Nov 2
Check the RAW segments; Grant, your HU host is on every month!
Episodes below to listen to while you, err, pretend to do something or other...
2020 Edition of Chris Scott's Adventure Motorcycling Handbook.
"Ultimate global guide for red-blooded bikers planning overseas exploration. Covers choice & preparation of best bike, shipping overseas, baggage design, riding techniques, travel health, visas, documentation, safety and useful addresses." Recommended. (Grant)
Ripcord Rescue Travel Insurance™ combines into a single integrated program the best evacuation and rescue with the premier travel insurance coverages designed for adventurers.
Led by special operations veterans, Stanford Medicine affiliated physicians, paramedics and other travel experts, Ripcord is perfect for adventure seekers, climbers, skiers, sports enthusiasts, hunters, international travelers, humanitarian efforts, expeditions and more.
Ripcord travel protection is now available for ALL nationalities, and travel is covered on motorcycles of all sizes!
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Horizons Unlimited is not a big multi-national company, just two people who love motorcycle travel and have grown what started as a hobby in 1997 into a full time job (usually 8-10 hours per day and 7 days a week) and a labour of love. To keep it going and a roof over our heads, we run events all over the world with the help of volunteers; we sell inspirational and informative DVDs; we have a few selected advertisers; and we make a small amount from memberships.
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