Yamaha XTZ 750 Super Ténéré

In 1989 Yamaha present the Super Ténéré. The new developed two-cylinder twin engine has five valves and downdraft carburettors. The Model set new maximum performance values in the Enduro scene. It's not as light as a single cylinder bike and so not to use for everything. But if one gets used to the weight you can use it quite well off road. The Super Ténéré is a solid motorcycle for travelling long distances with much comfort.

I'm looking forward to meeting a Super Ténéré owner. My guess is that he'll be a cross between Buster Bloodvessel and Fatima Whitbread if he's bought it for off road use. Will his knuckles be constantly scabbed from trailing on the ground? Does he open Newky Brown bottles with his lips? Only time will tell.

One thing's for sure, anyone who buys a Super Ténéré isn't an introvert. You can't get much more high profile than a 34in seat height Paint it white, yellow and blue, put a pair of handlebars on it that, for all intents and purposes, crucify the rider for all to see and you'll please every extrovert exhibitionist from Dorking to Dungeness.

But writing off the Super Ténéré as some designer's drawing-board-abortion that got better would not only be unkind, it would be damningly unfair. For a start Mitsui have sold all 270 of them to their dealer network. You can hardly call the Ténéré's styling aesthetic but in the same way that Gail Tylsely is reputed to have sex appeal Yamaha's latest desert racer clone has a certain je ne sais quoi. It must have, all the dealers fell for it.

It may have a 21in front wheel and knobbly tyres. So what? My washing machine doesn't have any visible signs of forced induction despite the proudly displayed 'Turbo' stickers. In the same light the Super Ténéré uses its dirt styled specification to swoon potential customers. It's a pity really, because it's a cracking road bike. Most people who commented on the Ténéré said some pretty derogatory things about its confused sense of purpose. I had to agree.

But styling is in the eye of the purchaser. If you like the idea of owning the Range Rover of motorcycles, then read on. If you're not interested in the slightest read on anyway because I'm talking to you.

There have been a lot of enthusiastic, mumblings about the Ténéré ten valve motor and is adaptability. On paper it looks as though it should be the hot set up in a Battle of the Twins racer. Massively oversquare and with the super efficient FZ five valve combustion chamber, the 180 degree crank motor could quite possibly end the Italian domination in said racing class, but somebody's going to have to do a lot of tuning work first.

As a road bike the big lump of 750cc twin is a seriously brilliant all rounder. Make use of the prodigious midrange grunt by short shifting through the five speed box at, say, 5,000rpm and it's the ideal bike for zapping around town. The quick steering, good brakes and pot hole absorbing suspension only serve to strengthen its traffic dodging prowess. A full tank of petrol makes life more difficult though.

But it doesn't start to flounder once out of the built up areas. I'm not sure I'd like to do it regularly on my own bike, but revving the Ténéré deep into its wide reaching bloodline makes it go obscenely fast; more than enough to hassle most sports bikes. Revving its mechanical potatoes off in this way alters the previously Superdreames-que engine note to that of a thrashed RC30. The guttural induction noise of the twin downdraught Mikunis amplified by the enormous fuel tank drowns out any other mechanical whirr and whine.

Out of town and on the move, the ultra low first gear is completely redundant. I'm not sure whether Yamaha slipped the low ratio first gear in to give it some off road advantage or just to improve wheelying potential. The truth of the matter is that even if it had a higher ratio first gear to eliminate the huge jump from first to second it'd still have perfect power characteristics for pulling stonking wheelies. . .on private property of course, ahem. Maybe our neanderthal friend would take it trail riding and need a low first gear but not me, not without a three man back-up team and a surgical truss anyway.

If your name isn't Patrick Orioli the Super Ténéré's real forte is the ability to demolish twisty, bumpy B roads. Perhaps it was designed with the average British road in mind — it might well have been. The plush suspension absorbs all but the worst of craters letting the engine get on with laying the grunt down. This is where the Ténéré scores over any of its road rivals.

With the rider peering over the tops of the hedges from his lofty observation post, straights between corners disappear as if they didn't exist like the bumps. It's the perfect position to be in to muscle the bike around and its A to B speed is the proof.

If it means anything to you, I managed to get from Windermere to Leeds City centre in an hour... in the wet. Had I been on anything else I would almost definitely have missed scrutineering, the reason for the rush.

(Forsyth, you're sick. Why did you need to get scrutineered in Leeds city centre?—Ed). In this kind of against-the-clock rush the mirrors are very effective.

The roll-on top gear power is the sort of stuff that LC owners would and could only dream about. Keep the needle hovering around the 5,000 mark and simply point and squirt; great if you don't know the road.

It's probably a good thing but from about 95mph upwards it gradually begins to tie itself in knots. Long, fast sweeping corners are its pet hate. It's a cross between a wobble and a weave that gets more pronounced the faster you travel. It's probably not as dangerous as it looks, and it never gets totally out of shape, but it shouldn't do it at all. This is the late eighties, not the XS4100 period.

Still, it can sometimes be fun when the bike reaches its limitations before you reach yours. Know what I mean? And what would you expect from a 21 inch front wheel with a knobbly on and several miles of suspension travel? Bearing in mind its iffy 100+ handling this could be the ideal bike for those of you with heavily soiled licences (read bike journalists) or indeed those of you who have no wish to travel that fast anyway.

If you like to cruise at or around the speeds where you can get off with a telling off, the Ténéré will be the ideal bike for motorway cruising. The fairing keeps most of the wind blast off and the riding position is supremely comfortable. The plastic hand guards even manage to keep hands relatively warm and dry.

It will cruise at an easy 90mph for 140 miles until it splutters on to reserve. It's comfortable enough not to need a bottom rest at the refuelling stop. The tank will take the biggest Baglux tank bag in existence and there's room for a huge stuffa bag on the carrier, though it's a pity there aren't any bungee points. On the long distance touring bike scale of one to ten it scores an admirable nine. It would have scored ten if there was more room for the pillion. If you're planning that long promised Ted Simon type holiday you couldn't do it on anything better.

The fact that the Ténéré can scratch, tour and commute is mainly thanks to its engine. The rest of the bike just seems to have happened. The fairing panels have a nasty habit of vibrating against the tank at specific rev ranges and the convoluted right hand footrest assembly must have been designed by the apprentice. To clear the bulky exhaust system, the C shaped footrest hanger is placed under tremendous strain; our test bike started to bend its hanger and we only had it for two weeks. What would it look like after five years? What would it look like after neanderthal had taken it trail riding?

Because the right hand footrest sticks out so much to clear the (steel) pipes it also grounds fairly easily, and in the space of a few months it would be possible to wear through the brake pedal completely. Finally, the said pedal it is placed in a position that means the foot presses on it all the time. Don't be surprised if you're following a Super Ténéré and the brake light keeps flickering. Wonder how long the back pads will last?

Another oddity of the Ténéré layout is its peculiar behaviour under braking. Under fast cornering, especially right handers, Ground Clearance is already limited; try applying the front brake (the back brake is already redundant because it's an inch off the floor) and the fork dive uses up all the rest of the Ground Clearance. It does at least quicken up the steering, but beware the pillion headbutt.

Front brake action is a bit spongy, probably caused by having yards of un-braided rubber hose between the master cylinder and front calipers, and under extreme conditions two fingered braking is out of the question because the lever almost comes back to the bars. But the twin two piston calipers are as much as the forks can physically cope with.

Such shortfalls are common to any trail bike. It's the fact that it'll never be a trail bike that makes them seem even more pointless and ridiculous. Spondon and Harris are already working on alloy chassis kits for the ten valve motors and Yamaha are rumoured to be bringing out a sports bike using the same engine. If it weighs about the same as an FZR600 and handles and stops as well they should be on to a winner.

As it is, if you are struck by the styling of the Super Ténéré and want a bike that does most things admirably without , putting your licence in jeopardy, you'll get on fine together. Me? I think Yamaha could have built a better all rounder by ditching the knobbly tyres and 21 inch front wheel. How about a Super Moto replica instead.