Whats the equivalent these days? Africa Twin, Yamaha Tenere and Dakar

cerastes

Thinking back, I recal or seemed to around the early nineties that it was Africa twins and Yamaha Tenere's, (what others were then too?) in use watching Eurosport and the Paris Dakar or Granada Dakar as it may have been. I watched what was shown, for the cars and trucks and to a lesser extent the bikes
Im guessing there were modified versions of those bikes, whats the equivalent now or is there? how do these bikes compare to bikes offered as replacements today or were they such great designs that despite advancements they havent really been surpassed or not so significantly?

CJhaughey

cerastes wrote: »

Thinking back, I recal or seemed to around the early nineties that it was Africa twins and Yamaha Tenere's, (what others were then too?) in use watching Eurosport and the Paris Dakar or Granada Dakar as it may have been. I watched what was shown, for the cars and trucks and to a lesser extent the bikes
Im guessing there were modified versions of those bikes, whats the equivalent now or is there? how do these bikes compare to bikes offered as replacements today or were they such great designs that despite advancements they havent really been surpassed or not so significantly?

Honda have a new version of the Africa Twin coming out sometime later this year, its a parallel twin of unknown displacement but probably 800 to 1000cc.
The Dakar has also changed from a Desert race to a Mixed Rally which has a lot of dirt roads unlike the original African race, these days bikes are limited to 150kph and a max of 450cc in the Dakar but other African rallies allow open class machines which are usually KTM based except for the Super Tenere 1200 in the Eco race this year which David Fretigne rode.
The super sized tanks are not really that necessary as fuel economy has improved a lot due to fuel injection but tank sizes are still larger than what would have been standard on the old Dakar racers which carried massive (70+ litres) fuel loads.
Don't forget, the race bikes in the Dakar were true works bikes not available to the public
Have a look at the Yamaha race bikes here
Yamaha still make the XT660Z Ténéré which is as close as you can find to the old style singles.
KTM make 690cc Enduro singles but most have smallish tanks in stock form.
Honda don't have anything at present but wait a while.;)
For my money the old XTZ750 Super Ténéré was a great machine, big tanked, lots faster than the Africa Twin and very reliable.
Time has proven Yamaha's decision of a Parallel twin to be the best use of space on a motorcycle compared to a V-twin like the Africa Twin.

cerastes

CJhaughey wrote: »

Honda have a new version of the Africa Twin coming out sometime later this year, its a parallel twin of unknown displacement but probably 800 to 1000cc.
The Dakar has also changed from a Desert race to a Mixed Rally which has a lot of dirt roads unlike the original African race, these days bikes are limited to 150kph and a max of 450cc in the Dakar but other African rallies allow open class machines which are usually KTM based except for the Super Tenere 1200 in the Eco race this year which David Fretigne rode.
The super sized tanks are not really that necessary as fuel economy has improved a lot due to fuel injection but tank sizes are still larger than what would have been standard on the old Dakar racers which carried massive (70+ litres) fuel loads.
Don't forget, the race bikes in the Dakar were true works bikes not available to the public
Have a look at the Yamaha race bikes here
Yamaha still make the XT660Z Ténéré which is as close as you can find to the old style singles.
KTM make 690cc Enduro singles but most have smallish tanks in stock form.
Honda don't have anything at present but wait a while.;)
For my money the old XTZ750 Super Ténéré was a great machine, big tanked, lots faster than the Africa Twin and very reliable.
Time has proven Yamaha's decision of a Parallel twin to be the best use of space on a motorcycle compared to a V-twin like the Africa Twin.

I always like the look of the Africa twin but thought it seemed to look very heavy and bulky compared to the tenere, wondered how it managed in those races where the sections were so sandy and soft. Still must look at that new Africa twin.

gctest50

could always build yer own :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzgbmr-sc6A

CJhaughey

Mad frogs, they are always at that stuff.
The French built a FZ750 powered Ténéré bike back in the 80's but like a lot of things we now know that 4 cylinder bikes don't give the correct power pulses to hook up in soft terrain like sand.
Twins and singles have the right power characteristics to allow the back tyre to grip and get traction where the smooth power (even if its a lot) just promote wheelspin and loss of control.
Thats why Yamaha have done so much with unusual crank layouts like the R1/M1 , TDM 270º Crank etc