Yamaha Super Tenere Archives

Yamaha Tenere 300 To Be Introduced Soon? If there is enough demand

Yamaha already has two models powered by the 300cc engine – the YZF-R3 and the MT-03.
Yamaha Italy has said that if there is enough demand, it will produce an adventure variant powered by the same 300cc engine.
The Yamaha Tenere 300 is likely to be produced but unlikely to be introduced in Malaysia.

Downsizing and efficiency among motorcycle makers is all the rage these days – after decades of upsizing in terms of weight and engine displacement.

Perhaps it is safe to say that KTM was the one that started this with the 200, 250 and 390. But there is news that Yamaha is about to jump on the bandwagon with a new Tenere 300.

This makes sense considering that the Tenere itself has proven to be such a capable bike, and the Asian region is booming in terms of motorcycle sales and has been longing for capable bikes with smaller capacity.

How did this news about a Tenere 300 come about though? Apparently an Italian motorcycle publication called Motociclismo had interviewed the Product Communications Manager for Yamaha Italy, Fabrizio Corsi, during the Yamaha MT-03 test ride.

The journalist involved in the test ride had asked about the possibility of Yamaha coming up with a Tenere 300 and Corsi pointed out that the BMW G310GS and KTM 390 Adventure has received a lot of attention.

And if there is enough demand for a small capacity Yamaha adventure bike, then yes, Yamaha will come up with something.

Though it all sound nice and interesting, especially considering that there are already two models utilising the 300cc engine – the YZF-R3 (above) and the MT-03 – an adventure variant will make a lot of sense.

And it is unlikely that Yamaha will give up on the chance to make life difficult for Kawasaki’s Versys-X 300 as well as BMW and KTM.

But before we get too excited, the chances of a Yamaha Tenere 300 making it to the Malaysian market are slim – simply because of the way our motorcycle licensing structure is set up.

The B2 license, which is what most motorcyclist have, limits the owner to 250cc bikes and below. To trade up to a full-B license will cost quite a bit of money for most people and is extremely time consuming.

Hence why most people tend to stick to small capacity bikes, and it is also why we have not yet seen the new Kawasaki Versys-X 300 even though it has been a few years since its global introduction.

So yes, the Yamaha Tenere 300 sounds like a lot of fun, but it is unlike to be offered here. At least not officially.

Fret not though, for hardcore fans of the Big Blue there is the Yamaha Tenere 250 – but that too is not offered officially by Yamaha Malaysia.

What do Motorcycle Names Mean? (Part 3)

Motorcycle names can be as interesting as the bikes themselves.
There are ones which made you wonder what they mean.
There are just too many, thus we’ll break them into parts.

Motorcycle names can be as interesting as the bikes themselves. Manufacturers usually choose them based on heritage, branding, range or the kind of emotions they allude to.

There are too many to think about, so we’ll put in what comes to mind. Here’s Part 3.

12. Honda CBR1100XX Super Black Bird

The CBR1100XX was Honda’s weapon to wrest the world’s fastest production bike title back from the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-11. They succeeded in doing so. Honda named their bike after the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird spylane, which hit Mach 3.3 (3.3 times faster than the speed of sound) or 3529 km/h.

13. Suzuki Katana

Here’s a simple one. The iconic bike is named after the equally iconic Japanese Samurai sword. As such, the name alludes to something of cutting edge, sharp, just like the bike was when it broke new grounds in terms of motorcycle design.

14. Suzuki Hayabusa

Suzuki didn’t want to get left behind in the fastest production bike game and hit back with the Suzuki GSX-1300R Hayabusa in 1999. Although it fell short of hitting the 200 mph (320 km/h) mark, it did go over 300 km/h thereby winning the game. The name “Hayabusa” is the Japanese peregrine falcon which could hit 390 km/h in a dive. But what most didn’t know is that one of its prey is the black bird. In other words, the Hayabusa is a “black bird” killer.

15. Yamaha Super Ténéré

The Yamaha Super Ténéré was the roadgoing adventure bike named in honour of the Paris-Dakar Rally winning bike. Ténéré means “desert” in the Berber (Northern African ethnic group) language. Had Yamaha used the Arabic word for desert, the bike would’ve been called the “Sahara.”

16. Yamaha Virago

The Virago is one of Yamaha’s cruiser range. Virago means a warrior woman, an amazon. Naming it Amazon wouldn’t have given the bike the right image since it’s not an adventure bike.

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