SHOOTOUT
P60
2014 250F MOTOCROSS SHOOTOUT
Our 2014 Cycle
News 250F
Motocross
Shootout winner
– The Yamaha
YZ250F.
dictably as the RM-Z, but it's pretty darn close. We also found the
YZ to be one of the best-handling
bikes of the group when it came
to holding its own in deep ruts; it
had the least tendency to stand
up halfway through the corners.
The one thing we're glad Yamaha didn't change this year
was the YZ's KYB SSS forks,
they are still arguably the best
production fork in the 250F
class. Enough said. The back
works well, too.
Even though the YZ is about a
pound heavier than the Kawasa-
ki, it feels lighter and more agile
than the KX, as well as the other bikes. It's very easy to throw
around and to make mid-flight
corrections. The slanted and reversed cylinder theory seems to
work quite well with the YZ250F.
We also loved the YZ's trim
profile and the seamless tank/
seat junction, hidden fuel cap,
in-mold radiator-shroud graphics, new rubber-mounted handlebars, the bend of the tapered aluminum handlebars and the YZ's
Bridgestone tires, which provide
excellent traction on a wide vari-
ety of surfaces.
And to top things off, the YZ
is the least expensive bike of the
group. It's about $500 less than
the most expensive bike, the
KTM.
Yes, Yamaha definitely raised
the bar to new levels with the
2014 YZ250F and is a solid winner of our 2014 250F Motocross
Shootout. Even though all of the
bikes are incredibly good and
gave the Yamaha a worthy run,
especially the Kawasaki, the new
YZ250F is the new undisputed
king of the 250F class.
