A double celebration at the tuning fork brand, as Yamaha marks four decades of its Ténéré off-road machinery and 25 years since the first R1 superbike was launched.
The first Ténéré was the XT600 Z, launched in 1983, with the name coming from the Tuareg area of the Sahara Desert, made famous by the original Paris-Dakar race route. And the firm has applied the moniker to all sorts of road and race bikes since, from the 600-class singles to the parallel twin 750cc Super Ténéré, the later 1200 Super Ténéré and the current 700 models.
Now the firm is taking a Ténéré 40th anniversary tour across Europe to celebrate, with a collection of historic Ténéré road and race models and guest stars such as Nick Sanders and other adventure legends. The show stopped off at both the UK’s ABR Festival and Spain in June, and will be moving on to Germany later this month and then France in September, with other dates being added throughout the year.
The R1 is younger than the Ténéré, but has had just as big an impact, revolutionising the litre superbike class when launched in 1998 and is still a contender at the top of the sportsbike class today. Yamaha Europe marked the model’s 25th anniversary with a special Yamaha Racing Experience event for R1 owners at Mugello in July, with track action, special guest stars, and riding and bike setup instruction from the likes of WSB ace Toprak Razgatlıoğlu, BSB champ Bradley Ray and Moto2 champion Remy Gardner.