VOL. 55 ISSUE 28 JULY 17, 2018 P71
tween small-bump comfort and cushioning hard
landings.
Along with the stiffer suspension, they also
went with a thicker front-axle bracket, and thicker
front- and rear-axle wheel-collars—doesn't seem
like much but they really do make a difference.
Yamaha techs explained to us that they had been
testing the thicker collars for quite a while and
they made a noticeable difference in increased
front-end rigidity and traction. Like we said, on the
track this was quite noteworthy.
Riding the 2019 back-to-back with the 2018
made last year's model feel soft and spongy,
almost like trail-bike suspension. The 2019 setup
feels tight like a well-set-up race bike in stock
form. Since the introduction of the backward
engine in 2010, the 2019 is the most precise and
best-handling Yamaha YZ450F to date.
Yamaha's
wonderful SSS
coil-spring fork
took on some
valving changes.
Heavier and
more aggressive
riders will like its
stiffer and more
balanced feel.
There isn't much not to like about the YZ's
engine and its power output. There is more
than enough and it's extremely tunable.
Other Refinements
To go along with the stiffer suspension changes,
Yamaha also went with 16% stiffer seat foam. Last
year's model was so soft that I often felt the seat
base every time I would seat-bounce a jump. The
added density of the new foam feels much better
and seems to cure that issue. (We will see how
well the foam holds up as we put more hours on
the bike.) It's pretty amazing how seemingly small
things like seat foam can make a big difference for
the better. A great example of this is in MotoGP
where a slight reshaping of the fuel tank resulted
