VOL. 51 ISSUE 4 JANUARY 28, 2014
P59
COUNTDOWN
1ST PLACE
YAMAHA YZ250F
W
hen Yamaha gave us the
chance to ride the preproduction 2014 YZ250F
back in early August, we thought
the other manufacturers were
in trouble. It was that good. But
when we rode the production
YZ in September, we knew the
other manufacturers were in
trouble, because the production
YZ was just as good as the prepro. Would there be a new 250F
king? Most definitely. And for
many reasons.
The new Yamaha YZ250F is
an amazing all-round solid package that no other motorcycle in
its class can match. It has a very
powerful motor that has absolutely no weak spots. It has great
bottom end, pulls hard in the middle and doesn't peter out on top.
There is no give or take when it
comes to the YZ's motor; it's all
give, give, give. On our dyno,
only one bike (the KTM) had
more peak horsepower than the
Yamaha and only one bike (the
Honda) had slightly more torque,
which explains why the Yamaha
felt so strong from turn to turn on
the track. Let the R's drop a little
too much in a tight, rutted turn?
No problem, one quick fan of the
clutch and the YZ is quickly back
up to speed again. We absolutely
loved the YZ powerful, yet easy
to use, motor. While the KX's
motor might feel nearly as powerful as the YZ's, it's not nearly
as user-friendly. The YZ's motor
was also the easiest to start of
the kick bikes.
Luckily, the YZ has the suspension and chassis to keep up with
the motor. The Yamaha is super
stable on rough tracks, yet it can
still get in and out of the turns
quickly and effortlessly. It might
not turn quite as quickly and pre-
