~~WBikes
2003 Yamaha Off-roaders & Street Bikes
YAmAHA U/A CELEB ATEI 25 YEARI
RllId Star SlVerado
SlIver Edmol GrIISer
and most of the manufacturer's street
BY CHRIS JONNUM
hortly after the writing of last
week's story on Yamaha's 2003
YZ and YZF motocrossers, we attended the tuning-fork company's annual
dealer meeting at the Mandalay Bay
OFF·ROAOERS
bikes.
The 2003 season marks 25 years
for Yamaha USA, and it seems that
Yamaha's remake of the fourstroke YZ Uneup was big news, but
we're happy to report that the company did not forget the motocrossers'
WRF siblings. In fact, the WR line now
has its own project leader, perhaps
an acknowledgment of the increased
importance of the built-for-off-road
machines now that Yamaha has
made the YZ450F more moto-specif-
the quarter-century has been good to
Yamaha shops. The company has
enjoyed 300-percent growth since
Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, where
1998, and it almost completely ran
we were treated to a look at most of
out of 2002 product. No wonder the
dealers we saw in Vegas appeared to
be in such a good mood.
the remainder of Yamaha's 2003 lineup, including the WRF off-roaders
44
JULY 3. 2002·
EO
U
EO
I
e
nEtwvs
ic with the adoption of a four-speed
transmission. The big WR is more
versatile, retaining its wide-ratio fivespeed gearbox, though it gets all of
the performance improvements of the
YZF. Those include a longer-stroke
motor, smaller and lighter engine,
redesigned frame and automatic
decompression system. In addition,
there's a long-awaited electric starter,
and the fuel tank (larger than the YZ's
