VOL. 50 ISSUE 49 DECEMBER 10, 2013
P57
COUNTDOWN
3RD PLACE
YAMAHA YZ450F
W
ith all of the bikes except the
Kawasaki and KTM 450 being
available to ride at the time,
which bike did chief Cycle News
tester Jason Abbott choose to race
at the recent Day In The Dirt event at
Glen Helen? The Yamaha YZ450F.
The much-improved Yamaha made
our 2014 Open-class Shootout podium for many reasons: It has a powerful and much more usable motor,
stable chassis, great handling, and
excellent suspension. Many of the
quirks that our testers complained
about last year with the YZ are gone,
or at least almost gone. Airbox noise
has been reduced, access to the air
filter is easier, the bike is slimmer and
it turns better. We still like the fact that
you can easily adjust the YZ's mapping (but you have to buy the Power
Tuner), and we dig the disappearing
fuel cap. We still had some gripes,
however, that prevented it from possibly being higher on this list. Our testers complained of a false neutral between third and fourth, a hard-to-turn
throttle and heavy engine braking. It's
not the lightest bike, either. Overall,
though, the YZ450F is a sweet machine and very capable of winning on
any kind of track.
