This Retro Dakar-Inspired Tenere 700 Is The Coolest Adventure Bike Out There
Adventure bikes are, with a couple exceptions, generally pretty dweeby. They're objectively good at many things, but their function-over-form aesthetic often makes them subjectively extremely pocket protector-y. That's only most ADVs, though, not all of them. This modified Yamaha Tenere 700, with its bodykit inspired by an era back when Dakar was cool, is an exception. It may well be the neatest looking adventure bike on the roads today.
The Tenere is a Bike Shed project out of the UK, built with a kit from Holy Moly Motorcycles. It's actually a personal bike of Bike Shed founder Gareth Charlton, and the bike was built up in the club's Shoreditch location. Yet, despite being an actual dual-purpose on- and off-road bike from the factory, this Tenere might be the first Bike Shed project I've seen to not wear Continental TKC80s. They love to throw those tires on their builds over there.
Remember when Dakar was cool?
Charlton's build may be my favorite with this Holy Moly body kit, thanks to its graphics package and high-mount exhaust. The white, yellow, and blue colorway really shows off the new parts, and fits with my new theory that motorcycle windshields are actually way less necessary than everyone thinks. The exhaust, too, looks more off-road ready than Yamaha's factory fitment — especially after all the horror stories of bent stock pipes on the forums.
Truly transformative body kits are rarer than they should be, but this one throws the Tenere back in time by decades in the best way. Retro dual-sport looks with modern middleweight ADV capability is a match made in heaven, and this Bike Shed build shows off just how good the kit can be. I'm still not sold on ADVs for city use, but damn if this one doesn't make such a use case tempting.