I WENT BIKE SHOPPING

I’ve spent some time recently riding around on other people’s bikes, which is mainly because I needed to find something to replace the long-suffering 990. The Batbike isn’t going anywhere but it currently doesn’t work, and even when it does, it has a habit of not working again shortly afterwards. If I want to be a successful motorbike YouTuber then I kinda need a bike that works! So… I went bike shopping.

The plan was to test ride a few midweight adventure bikes – a lot of which were recommended by you lot – to help me find my new steed. I wasn’t too fussy but I needed something reliable, capable of getting dirty, and hopefully a bit “cool” seeing as I need to make interesting videos for the masses.

AND THEN I BOUGHT ONE

I was with my mate Jay, who was also looking for a bike, and we visited a few dealers to do some test rides; a Kove 800 Rally and 800 Pro from Rugged Roads, and an Aprilia Tuareg 660 Rally. They all had their positives, and some had their negatives, but they were starting to give us both a good indication of what we wanted from a bike.

Now, we did plan to ride a few more, but while browsing eBay I spotted something that looked rather interesting. One phone call led to another, and before I really had time to think about it, I’d bought a bike. It wasn’t the bike I’d originally planned to buy, and I know some of you are going to call it the boring choice, but it ticked the boxes. The bike? A Yamaha Ténéré 700 World Raid. More specifically, a 2023 model with the 43mm KYB suspension, steering damper and the enormous 23-litre twin tanks. It’s also got a few nice extras, including a rather lovely exhaust, but underneath it’s essentially a standard World Raid.

BUT… WAS IT A GOOD IDEA?

I honestly have no idea yet. I’ve only done a couple of miles on it and barely touched any dirt, so I’m reserving judgement until I’ve actually put some proper miles under its wheels. It might be the sensible choice, it might be the boring choice, or it might turn out to be exactly what I need. Either way, I’ve got some big plans for this bike and I’m looking forward to finding out what it can do. Jay, meanwhile, still hasn’t bought a bike. Apparently his wife spent his deposit on garden furniture. That’s a true story.

Catch you next time! Ollie.