2016 YAMAHA YZ450F
FIRST RIDE
P50
YZ's chassis to attain a more
balanced feel and to improve
front-end bite in the turns.
First of all, Yamaha went to a
significantly softer spring rate
in the back (58Nm to 56Nm).
The idea here was to get the
back end to settle down more
for a lower and more level
ride. This alone, however,
changed the geometry of
the front end, so to compen-
sate, the triple clamp offset
was changed fairly signifi-
cantly, from 22mm to 25mm,
while also increasing trail,
effectively pulling the forks
closer to the rider. Despite
all this, wheelbase remains
the same at 58.3 inches.
Yamaha didn't stop here.
It altered the flex character-
istic of the YZ's aluminum
Bilateral Beam frame by
widening the frame spars
at the swingarm pivot area
12mm and installing new top
motor mounts. The mounts
are now 2mm thicker and
shaped more like a "V"
rather than a "Y." According
to Yamaha and one of its test
riders, Travis Preston, the
motor mounts play a huge
role in how the bike handles
and feels.
Also, they also managed
to drop the height of the
footpegs 5mm without actu-
ally relocating the footpeg
mounts themselves. This
move was for both rider com-
fort and to achieve a slightly
lower center of gravity.
The net result is defi-
nitely a more balance and
better cornering YZ450F.
The Yamaha was already
a solid-handling machine,
but the flatter more settled
positioning gives the YZ an
even more planted feel, es-
pecially when braking hard
over bumps while entering
turns. There seems to be
less movement overall—not
quite as busy feeling—as
before, which is a good
thing. This lets you concen-
trate more on the upcoming
turn where—as you already
know—races are won.
Speaking of cornering,
the YZ still doesn't carve
through a turn as sharp or
as precise as either the
Suzuki RM-Z450 or KTM
450 SX but it's certainly in
the same ballpark. The YZ,
which is again fitted with
Dunlop Geomax MX52 tires,
still turns well. The front end
seems to dig in and stay on
its intended course a little
better than before, and it
still loves the big berms and
