How Much Power Does The Yamaha Ténéré 700 Have & How Fast Can It Go?

Adventure bikes are having a moment. Lots of motorcycle manufacturers are building and selling adventure bikes that can ride across any terrain. With long-travel suspension, upright seating positions, and sometimes even knobby tires, these bikes can get you to and from work on the weekdays, but will also transport you to remote campsites on the weekends — or at least that's the idea. Yamaha offers two bikes in their Touring category: the Tracer 9 and the Ténéré 700. The Tracer 9 is a bit more of a long-distance touring bike meant for on-road travel, but the Ténéré is aimed at buyers who want increased dirt capability — styling updates for the 2025 Ténéré 700 even include some changes to evoke images of the extreme Dakar Rally.

With all its off-road styling, however, you might be wondering how the Ténéré does on paved roads. It's powered by a 689cc parallel-twin (two-cylinder) engine known as the CP2 — the same engine powering the Yamaha YZF-R7, where it outputs between 65 and 70 hp. When Cycle World put a 2023 Ténéré on a dyno, it made 61.68 hp at 9,040 rpm and 42.45 lb-ft of torque at 6,470 rpm. That's a respectable amount of power for a bike that weighs just 459 pounds, according to Yamaha. It's enough power, in fact, for some riders to achieve top speeds of 128 mph on the open road.

Hitting top speed, especially on a bike as tall and off-road oriented as the Ténéré, probably isn't something most riders will be interested in. It's also not a great idea if you want your tires to last. Knobby off-road tires are designed for maximum capability in the dirt, and they can degrade quickly on the road, especially if driven at high speeds on asphalt. The Ténéré's Pirelli Scorpion Rally STR tires may be balanced enough to tackle roads and dirt, but they aren't ideal for top-speed runs. 

Yamaha isn't the only company offering adventure bikes, and alternatives to the Ténéré 700 include the Honda XL750 Transalp, the Kawasaki KLR 650, and the Aprilia Tuareg 660. The Transalp makes 83 hp and 55 lb-ft from its 755cc parallel-twin according to manufacturer claims. On the dyno at Cycle World, the Transalp made 70.85 hp and 47.01 lb-ft. Those are similar numbers to the Yamaha, and the Honda weighs about the same, too: 463 pounds according to the manufacturer. The smaller KLR 650 makes significantly less power (just 36.86 hp and 35.42 lb-ft on the Cycle World dyno), while the Aprilia Tuareg is a closer match to the Transalp with 69.94 hp and 44.27 lb-ft (as measured by Cycle World). Power is more than adequate on all four bikes for some off-road fun, and certainly enough to get you up to speed on the highway during your daily commute.