S ince I last wrote about my longserving Yamaha MT-07 , there ’ s been a bike swap in the Heron household . Ever since the Tenere 700 was reviewed at the launch here in KR , I ’ ve been lusting after one . I loved the LAMS MT-07 motor and figured an adventure bike with the derestricted MT-07 would be an absolute blast . Turns out ... I was right . In fact , I ’ d go as far to say that the Tenere 700 makes me look like I know what I ’ m doing . The bike is just so damned capable that a relative novice like me can take it completely off the tar seal and some how make it back in one piece . Ok , so maybe calling myself a novice is a little disingenuous , I ’ ve owned a couple of dirt bikes , but I don ’ t profess to be a Jock McLauchlan let alone a Chris Birch . I ’ d been looking for a Tenere 700 to come up secondhand as I could justify the cost of buying new - I have a young family to provide for . There was nothing on the secondhand market until the end of last year when the first one popped up on the Adventure Riding New Zealand Facebook page . The bike had only done a few hundred kilometres and was basically new , so I messaged and managed to get in there first . With the help of some friends to collect the bike ( thanks Mike ) and pick me up from the airport ( thanks Vege ), I rode back to Wellington on my very own Tenere 700 .