VOLUME ISSUE APRIL , P115
grounds. The five-speed trans-
mission felt diverse enough
to handle anything we saw
in South Carolina. First and
second gears have the same
ratios as the motocrosser, but
third gear is slightly lower, and
fourth and fifth gears are taller.
Softer suspension settings
come standard in the X com
-
pared to the motocross YZ.
Yamaha's stock sticks, the KYB
Speed Sensitive System (SSS)
48mm fork, are some of the best
in the game, and they feel com
-
fortable right out of the gate.
The softer settings, compared
to the motocrosser, eat up the
roots and acceleration bumps
in the woods without bottom
-
ing out over on the moto track.
I'd run a lap of the woods loop,
then immediately spin onto the
jumpy moto track without pitting
or touching the clickers. Surpris
-
ingly, I never felt like the bike
was giving up too much in either
direction. It's still going to feel
softer overall than your normal
YZ motocrosser, but the extra bit
of squish comes in handy when
attacking the trail at speed.
I had no issues with the
brakes, which are made up of
270mm and 240mm front and
rear rotors fitted with Nissin
calipers.
The engineers are tasked
with designing one bike, like
the YZ250X, that can handle a
variety of riding conditions, and
I feel they hit the mark with the
X, at least in the suspension
The YZ250X thrives in the
East Coast woods.
