I put over 200,000 miles on my 2021 Yamaha Tenere 700. I didn’t wear it out, I raffled it off for a Multiple Sclerosis charity. My 2025 Yamaha Tenere 700 barely has 60,000 miles on the clock and still smells new! Because I travel the country full time sharing my story, I always add accessories that make long days in the saddle comfortable and fun. Auxiliary fuel tank, custom seat, aftermarket cruise control, auxiliary lighting, a taller windscreen, tankbag and hard saddlebags have made my 2025 Tenere just about the perfect adventure touring bike for me.
Yamaha introduced a brand-new version of the Tenere 700 during Daytona Bike Week called the World Raid. It had 50% more fuel capacity, cruise control and more electronic controls for stability and traction. It also had a 35” seat height which makes it interesting for me to sit on considering I have a 28” inseam! They were due to arrive during in the summer. Yamaha asked if I wanted one.
“Probably not,” was my reply. The new model was tall and didn’t seem to have anything special that I hadn’t added to my new bike already. Or so I thought.
For the first time, Yamaha USA organized an Owner’s Rally for anyone riding a Tenere. The Yamaha Tenere Trek Rally took place this past August in Tamarack, Idaho. I had planned to ride from my home in southern New Hampshire to Tamarack, Idaho on my well-equipped T7, when I got the email. The new World Raid model had finally arrived at Yamaha USA’s headquarters in Georgia, and I was asked if I would be interested in taking one for a little test ride. The little test ride turned into having me ride a spanking brand new 2026 Tenere World Raid from Atlanta across the country to the Tenere Owner’s Rally in Idaho!
I never turn down a chance to ride someone else’s motorcycle, and knowing I would be the first civilian to ride a World Raid in the United States, I was happy to oblige. I would be riding the new bike 2500 miles over five days to get to the Rally.
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Five days? I could almost walk to Idaho in five days. I secretly decided to add a few side trip adventures along the way. After all, the World Raid was built to go the distance, and why not put it through a real long distance test?
With a million and a half motorcycle miles over the last 38 years, I’m comfortable traveling alone and far from home. I travel loaded to the gills, packing a ton of tools, spare parts and extra riding gear. I have no less than 8 flashlights, two air compressors and four pairs of gloves in my kit at all times. At some point at every national rally I attend, I’m fixing someone else’s bike, car or semi truck with tools or parts from my saddlebags. I like to be prepared for anything! For this test ride, however, I would be leaving almost all of my tools, parts and gear in Georgia.
The World Raid I was riding was stock naked and so it felt considerably lighter than my heavily loaded T7. I put what essentials I could cary into my jacket pockets, filled a small dry bag with my medications, phone charger, toothbrush and a set of clean clothes. Riding an hour or two without the tools needed to tighten a loose mirror or to patch a flat tire is one thing, but I was about to log more miles in five days than the average riders travels in two years!
I kept my ambitious extended route to myself. After all, I wasn’t sure yet how far I could ride the World Raid with the stock seat without needing to get off to rest my butt.
I said goodbye to my tools and spare gloves and parked my 2025 Tenere in the visitor’s lot at Yamaha’s headquarters. I jumped up onto the red and white World Raid, posed for some photos, waved good-bye, and at just about 10:00 am, headed west.
It was July 29th and humid as hell. Within seconds, my wet and clammy jacket began to dry off and the faster I went the cooler I became. Escaping the Atlanta humidity quickly was worth the risk of a speeding ticket.
The first day’s miles melted away, and I found myself flying smoothly through Birmingham, Memphis and Little Rock. Without the 38 inches of saddlebag width, I am filtering through traffic like a plastic knife through a pan of hot brownies. The seat height of the world raid is quite an advantage in freeway congestion, I could see far beyond the cars in front of me. As familiar as the 700cc engine was, the suspension was all new. Not heavy, but solid and planted. I kept repeating these two simple words whenever anyone asked me what I thought about the new bike. The front end was solid and planted. Not that I would ever do it, but one could probably set the cruise control, sit back on the passenger seat relaxing, arms riding the waves wind, while watching the miles of scenery blow by. My cheeks were tight from grinning in my helmet.
Do I want a Tenere World Raid? I think I might.
The beauty of having a 300 mile range is that you don’t have to worry about stopping in the middle of busy cities to find gas. You aren’t thinking about refueling every hour and a half when you are traveling. It’s a marvelous way to travel, after all. Would you buy a car that needed to get gas six times a day? A larger tank gives you options and time to plan gas stops where it will be more convenient and quicker to get back on the road. I wish my bladder got the memo!
I rode for 10 hours to the Oklahoma state line and the hotel I had booked the night before. My first day on the World Raid was just under 700 miles. I was surprised the stock seat didn’t suck, I probably could have ridden a couple hundred miles more. One thing was certain, I was going to ride the World Raid as many miles as I could, adding in as many cool places and National Parks as I could before reaching Idaho. I called my friends at Yamaha and suggested they bring a new rear tire to the Rally, as I planned to wear this one out! They laughed. I didn’t.
I needed to be in Tamarack Idaho in five days. The direct route was 2500 miles. My new route would double that.
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I had myself a shower, grabbed a beer and a burger at the Courtyard Bistro and began plotting the next day’s ride. Pike’s Peak had some incredible views and was only 800 miles away. Unfortunately, finding a hotel that wasn’t $400 a night meant riding an additional 100 miles to Denver, and so I booked a room in Denver, set my alarm and fell asleep.
4:00 am came quick, although I was already up when the alarm went off. I filled up the fuel tanks and packed my small dry bag the night before, so 15-20 minutes is all I need to shower, have a cup of mushroom coffee, gear up and be rolling down the street.
Lots of early morning two lane roads and a stop for lunch in historic Dodge City, Kansas. I finally reached Pikes Peak about 4:00 pm. The last time I had been to Pike’s Peak, it was so windy, I was unable to put my kick stand down without the wind blowing my bike over. Not this time! I made it to the top without issue, got some great photos and then got stuck behind slowly moving traffic on the way down. This was the first Tenere World Raid to ride Pike’s Peak, and over the next few days would also be the first to ride to dozens of incredible locations.
The next day on the World Raid had me riding all over Colorado. Loveland Pass, along the Snake River, Independence Pass and The Million Dollar Highway. Only 600 miles, but a full day of scenic two-lane roads, on a two cylinder motorcycle built for adventure. The day was filled with lots of elevation, including my opinion of the World Raid version of the Tenere 700.
I only needed two stops for gas!
Do I want a Tenere World Raid? I think I might.
The next day brought on the HEAT! If I was to truly test out this new bike, I needed to see how it would do in the hot weather. Just how would the World Raid handle Global Warming? The weather forecasted 120 F degrees in Death Valley, and I could think of no other place to put this bike to the fire, so to speak. In all seriousness, I live with Multiple Sclerosis and anyone who knows someone with MS knows we do not do well in the heat. Uhthoff’s phenomenon is the worsening of neurological symptoms in MS when the body is overheated. Let’s just say, it would be really stupid for me to ride a motorcycle through a desert alone in the heat of the summer. A flat tire or running out of gas in such a desolate area would not end pretty.
I got up early and rode through Zion National Park. By the time I got to Las Vegas it was 112 degrees. I didn’t stop for the photo I wanted in town. Although riding naked seems like a good idea when it’s blistering hot out, my experience in the desert heat has taught me to keep fully geared up, close all my helmet and jacket vents, gloves tight at the wrists, hydrate constantly and with no skin exposed, keep moving. The three-day old motorcycle couldn’t care less, it’s temperature gauge never rose above half. Cool!
Red Rock Canyon was next, and I did stop for a few photos, opening my helmet visor was like lowering the oven door to see if the pizza was done. It’s amazing how the body’s 97 degree temperature can feel like air conditioning when it’s 120 degrees outside. The World Raid behaved like nothing was wrong, while my pepperoni was getting cooked. I needed to get moving again and needed to decide if I was going through the desert or around. Did I mention my brain slows down a bit when it gets overheated?
Riding a brand-new motorcycle through Death Valley in August at high noon may not be the smartest route to take when you live with a chronic illness, but I trusted the Tenere motor more than I trusted my own mother. After a quarter million trouble free miles on Tenere 700’s, I had zero doubt we would reach the other side of the desert. The 6.1 gallons of fuel meant no stops were needed and if I did stop in the 124° heat, it was only because I wanted to.
I didn’t!
I blasted through the desert heat as if the last Cuban sandwich on earth was waiting for me at my hotel in Tehachapi. I drank water from the CamelBak I stuffed into my jacket and rode fast, disregarding all the signs, whether they were flashing heat alerts or speed limit suggestions. There were only a few other park visitors and certainly no other motorcycles in Death Valley that day.
I was on a mission to cross hundreds of miles of desert and it just seemed wrong to be trusting my life to a horse with no name. I stopped for a quick photo in the park. With my legs melting into the tar, and barely half my neurons firing, I decided I could not go any further until I gave my strong, dependable workhorse a proper name.
Of the two colors available, Yamaha had given me the Redline White. It may not be politically correct to name a motorcycle after a pack of cigarettes, but the bike was made in France and the French seem to still enjoy a good smoke, so, without a formal christening I gave my 2026 Tenere World Raid a name, Marlboro – Hard Pack.
I made it to Tehachapi California by dinner time. The World Raid and I clocked 850 miles of two lane roads for the day, with more than half of it above 110 degrees. I drank 650 gallons of water. I was too worn out and it was still too hot, so I didn’t bother to lube the chain. In fact, I hadn’t looked at anything mechanical on the bike since leaving Atlanta, 3000 miles ago. It didn’t matter, Marlboro was one tough machine and I trusted it.
After a few thousand miles, I really thought I would be missing some of the creature comforts I had on my personal T7. At this point, I couldn’t even remember what color my bike was.
Do I want a Tenere World Raid? I think I might.
The next day was Sunday, and my planned route had me riding through the Sequoia National Park, the Sequoia National Forest, up to Yosemite National park and finishing in Carson City Nevada. About 600 total miles of national parks and scenic byways. After fighting traffic in the Sequoias for 7 hours and barely getting through 200 miles, I decided to change my route. After all, Marlboro had never seen the Pacific Coast before!
The World Raid hooked a hard left and we headed for San Francisco where I heard there was a bridge of gold. It had been a few thousand miles since we had been on the freeway, and I was reminded how well the air flowed around the new designed cockpit. The windshield side deflectors are quite a bit larger than the stock Tenere and with the taller redesigned shape of the windshield, provide a calm pocket of air even though I was trying to make up lost time. 52 miles per gallon was my overall average on the entire trip and I don’t like to waste time.
The viewing spots for the Golden Gate Bridge were jam packed, but without saddlebags, I was able to squeeze us in for an obligatory photo. Waiting to enter a one-way tunnel in Sausalito was the closest I came to dropping the World Raid. It was a long five minutes, smiling and making imaginary friends with the guy in the truck next to me hoping he would help me pick up the bike after it fell over. It wasn’t a question of if I was going to drop it, but when.
Every time I came to a stop over the last four days, I had to make a choice of what foot would make it to the ground. Typically, it was the left, with my right foot on the peg and rear brake. This particular time, It was the wrong choice and it was so windy, I couldn’t swap! 5 minutes seemed like an hour, but, somehow, I managed not to get blown over!
I think we crossed every bridge near San Francisco before heading back east to Carson City Nevada where I had booked a room the night before. This was my longest day on the road, as the morning chewed up so many hours, the Pacific Ocean detour and hitting a roadblock a half hour from my hotel that required a 30-mile detour around lake Tahoe. We rode 800 miles over 17 hours, and we certainly saw some stuff!
I saved the offroad testing for the final day of my demo ride. When I say offroad, I’m talking about dirt and gravel roads, maybe a jeep trail or two. For the first time since leaving Atlanta, I turned off the traction control and rear ABS. There are a ton of rider adjustable aids, but honestly, I forgot they were all there because they just work!
Out in the desert, near Gerlach, Nevada, there is a memorial to long distance motorcycle riders who have died. There is also a plaque listing all the winners of the biannual Iron Butt Rally. Although I have competed in two Iron Butt Rallies, my name will never appear on the winner’s plaque as I retired from competition over 20 year ago after getting diagnosed with MS. It was a quick 150-mile ride from Carson City, and I had been to the site before. Sadly, a few more names have been added to the memorial section since my last visit.
The Black Rock Desert is where Burning Man takes place, and, thankfully, I was two months early. From Gerlach to Winnemucca there is a gravel road that Google says is too treacherous of a short cut to get to Burning Man. Jungo Road is 100 miles of gravel, hard packed clay, mud and sand. There are sections that contain jagged rocks pointing up like swat team spike strips. Some reviews of the road say getting a flat is 100% guaranteed. There is no cell service, no houses or businesses; the road is famous for being treacherous and desolate. Perfect!
Standing on the footpegs for two hours was the hardest part of riding Jungo Road. Sure there were a few sandy sections where I glanced at my phone’s status to see the NO SERVICE or SOS where the signal bars should have been. There were some muddy sections as well, had I been a foot taller, I may have tried to put my outriggers down, but my feet had no chance of touching the earth unless both wheels fell off! I kept my speed up and weight back a bit and the World Raid glided over the rough terrain like a speed boat over water. It was smooth. The front end was solid and planted. Noticeably improved over my stock suspension. I felt confident and really enjoyed the couple hours I spent riding all 100 miles of Jungo Road.
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We were greeted by a group of Yamaha employees as we arrived at the Tamarack Resort in Idaho. The 2026 Tenere World Raid affectionately known as Marlboro had 4,720 miles on the odometer when I handed them back the key. I had a box of memories and a giant smile glued to my face.
“How was your ride, can we get you anything?”
“Yeah, I need a cigarette, and I need a World Raid.”
LongHaulPaul.com
