2018 YAMAHA YZ450F
FIRST TEST
P106
A thinner
profile
makes
maneuvering
the YZ450F
a little
easier.
Position Sensor (TPS).
A long-standing complaint
with past YZs has been the
width at the gas tank and
shroud area. Many felt that
it was too wide. Yamaha
made a big effort to fix this
and ended up reducing the
width by 16mm. The seat
and rear fender are also
lower, 8mm at the back of
the seat and 19mm lower
by the end of the fender,
all designed to allow a little
more clearance when riding
and standing. The seat is
also 18mm narrower. We
found the bike to indeed feel
narrower, front to back, as
soon as you sit on it.
The airbox has also been
reworked to help narrow the
width of the tank/shroud
area, and it's also been
designed to make access to
the filter easier.
The YZ450F is a proven
powerhouse. Its engine has
never been criticized for
lacking power, even from the
most HP-hungry riders, who
will like the '18's engine even
more. According to Yamaha,
the 2018 engine tops last
year's engine by a whooping
three horsepower. With gobs
of power comes responsibil-
ity—as in throttle response—
so Yamaha worked hard to
make the 2018 engine more
user-friendly through a num-
ber of engine changes and
ECU settings.
Even with bigger HP num-
bers, the '18 has smoother
power delivery and better
roll-on predictably than the
'17. As rpm climb, the power
builds into a very robust mid
and an impressive top-end
rev out. The 2018 engine
pulls farther and harder than
it did in 2017. Our testers no-
ticed that it was possible to
pull each gear further before
shifting. But don't worry,
it has plenty of low-to-mid
power for those riders who
don't like to rev a 450 and
prefer to short shift. Over-
all, though, right out of the
crate, we were impressed
with the YZ's engine and,
because of the increased
power and higher-revving
engine, we didn't feel the
need to shift the bike as
much per lap compared
to the '17. That is a major
bonus.
With a new app tun-
ing system, you can easily
adjust the engine's power
delivery to suit your style of
riding or track condition. The
free downloadable Yamaha
Power Tuner App for smart-
phones, using both iOS and
Android operating systems,
allows riders to change the
maps very easily through a
WiFi connection to the bike,
and once connected, we
found that it only takes a few
seconds to make mapping
adjustments.
On the track, the three
provided maps are notice-
ably different. The alternative
maps include one for "Linear
Torque," "Smooth Linear"
and "Hard Hitting (loamy)"
setups.
GEAR ID'D
HELMET: FOX RACING V3 SECA HELMET
GEARSET: SHIFT BLACK LABEL MAINLINE
GOGGLES: 100% ACCURI (MILKYWAY)
BOOTS: FOX RACING INSTINCT
