Youngsters race motocross. Older riders take up enduro. And when retirement looms it’s time to enjoy adventure biking. Generally, the older you get, the less hectic the ride. But no matter which type of riding you choose. dirt bikes deliver adrenalin by the truckload.
You can tell that many riders on the 2025 Ténéré Rally, a five-day tour of the Victorian High Country, still have those off-road skills they learnt as kids.
The fitness might desert them, but the talent never does…
Those skills were needed on the first hillclimb of the first day for sure. Dubbed Heartbreak Hill, the climb rewarded good technique with equal doses of commitment and momentum on the steep and rocky trail that climbed out of Bright through a pine forest. Around half the Ténéré riders needed a second attempt at tackling the technical climb, so things were starting to get real.
What’s a Ténéré?
Ténéré is the name Yamaha gave to its first adventure bike launched in 1983. The 600cc single boasted a 30-litre fuel tanks and was named after a particularly challenging section of the Sahara desert – part of the original Paris-Dakar race route.
The model became a Super Ténéré 750 twin and later a 1200 before the 689cc twin was launched in 2019. The XTZ690 Ténéré is currently Australia’s most popular adventure bike according to Federal Chamber of Motorcycle Industry figures.
Rally around it
Big Ténérés tackling terrain more suited to smaller bikes is all part of the deal. ADV fun is normally generated on bigger bikes on less technical trails than MX or enduro riding. For many whose racing days are behind them, it’s a chance to enjoy the scenery and hang out with mates while still getting their riding fix and talking about bikes.
Adventure riding also covers the odd stretch of tar which means you can ride to the starting point and avoid the hassle of trailering your bike around the countryside. Plus adventure riders are less exposed to Highway Patrol who don’t tend to hang out in the bush – another advantage for two-wheeled thrill seekers.
Organised adventure rides like the 2025 Ténéré Rally are not a race. You ride as fast – or slow – as you like in your own group of two or three. That’s because navigation is via GPS so you follow a map rather than a leader. You supply a GPS and the organising team from RIdeADV loads a map on it each morning.
Riders simply follow the trail set each day. One advantage of riding at your own pace is there’s no need to follow in someone’s dust – which happened to be brutal in the High Country in late March.
The event kicked off at the Bright Brewery with a welcome dinner where rallygoers would be the first Aussies to check out the new model 2025 Ténéré 700 featuring a host of updates. A fully GYTR-kitted Ténéré was also on display and Dunlop exhibited its range of adventure tyres.
Easy riders
Special guest riders included Yamaha ambassador Stephen Gall who is celebrating 50 years with the tuning fork brand and Yamaha Factory Racing Rally rider Rodney Faggotter.
Rod chatted to rallygoers about his racing exploits in Dakar and what the race version of the Ténéré World Raid is like to ride, while Stephen offered valuable riding tips to tackle steep and rocky conditions. American rider Brady Allen from @meerkatADV joined the RideADV crew as a special guest and talked about US adventure riding conditions.
Truck driver Alistair Sadler was riding his XTZ660 Ténéré on his first organised tour. The Victorian rider is no stranger to the dirt but recognises there’s a big step from riding AG bikes around the farm to a large capacity, road-registered adventure bike.
Fellow truck driver Jason Roser shipped his Ténéré twin from WA. Being in the business has its advantages – it cost the same to ship the bike from WA to VIC as the cost of a pair of tyres, which would need replacing after the cross-continental slog anyway.
Bathurst-based transport repair principal Ben Dickinson has already ridden his Ténéré 700 across Australia from east to west. Together with Rod, the pair conquered the 8000km journey from Steep Point in WA to Byron Bay in 2021 with no
dramas at all.
It was during this trip that the pair liaised with Safari Tanks to develop a 45L fuel cell for the Ténéré – the same one Ben ran in the High Country which contributed to his award for best bike setup.
That technical first climb set a benchmark for the event and turned out to be the toughest challenge – until the legendary Blue Rag trail on day four. The climb to the trig is steep, rocky and mostly whooped out by 4WDs. And was purely optional for the Ténéré rallygoers.
Campfire songs
Superb weather greeted the riders as they took in High Country beauty spots such as Craig’s Hut, Woods Point and the gold mining village Walhalla. Overnight stops at Mansfield and Dinner Plain allowed loop rides out of both venues and each night riders enjoyed a group meal to discuss the day’s action.
Rain did eventually drop on the evening of day four and combined with thick fog forced day five onto the tar. But the event had already delivered so much ADV fun that the Ténéré spirit remained high.
“The 2025 Ténéré Rally once again delivered a memorable adventure ride experience,” says YMA Land Mobility Marketing Manager and Ténéré owner Sean Goldhawk. “With steep and rocky tracks, the High Country is not for the faint-hearted and I take my hat off to all who tackled the tough trails. But if you’re going to take a big adventure bike up places like Blue Rag, Ténéré is the model to choose,” he added.
“The Ténéré Rally is not just about the ride, it’s about joining up with old mates and meeting new ones. Hearing riders’ stories, checking out other bikes – each one is uniquely personalised – and learning more about setup and which accessories to fit. It all adds up to a great week away,” Goldhawk added.
A week away from work riding adventure bikes with a group of like-minded mates?
It’s no wonder this type of riding has expanded into one of the most popular motorcycle categories in Australia. “A High Country adventure really should be prescribed by mental health practitioners,” Goldhawk added.
“Because these Ténéré riders will tell you that while four wheels move the body, two wheels move the soul.”
Look out for details of the 2026 Yamaha Ténéré Rally – open to owners of any model Ténéré from the original 1983 XT600Z to the XTZ1200 Super Ténéré and all models in between.