I acquired a 17 YZ450F as most everyone on this forum knows, my previous bike was an 09 KX450F that I loved, but was getting a little long in the tooth and I wanted something new, I am a long time Yamaha fan, so to me it made sense to come "home". I set the sag to 100 mm, tire pressure at 15 front and rear, threw on a set of acerbis hand guards, and took her for a spin.
The bike is a bit tall over all to get on, but once on, my 5'10" self took a while to get acclimated to the overall short nature of the controls, throttle is super responsive, it feels almost a tad disapointing down low, but mid range to top it pulls like a champ, it feels a lot lighter than the KX, especially in the corners, which btw, imo it is extremely good at, I have a section that is one corner after the others that I practice on, I was only .3 seconds slower than my best time on the kx according to my stopwatch, and it was my first try on a new bike and I haven't ridden seriously since november. The suspension is fantastic, I kept expecting things to give a jarring expierence, maybe its not so much that the suspension is worlds better so much as the chassis and the whole center of gravity thing yamaha has going on with the fuel tank under the seat and reverse tilt engine, but it never once felt out of control or like it was deciding it no longer wanted to go through the rough sections.
Summary: Pulls like a monster mid to top, bottom end is nothing to write home about.
Throttle is extremely sensitive, almost too sensitive. EFI seems well thought out, not once did it flame out or act like it wanted to stall
Suspension and chassis feel top notch, most everyone else either has air forks or SFF, while yamaha has kept tried and true SSS, and it works just like you'd expect, it was the best stuff we'd seen on a stock bike in 06, fast forward 11 years and its as perfect as its likely to get. I will miss it when they phase it out.
Bike is tall when you throw your leg over it, but when riding it the bars particularly felt like they were too low to me, something that as expected was less bothersome the more I rode it.
Rear brake feels a little mushy, it has a noticeable pop on occasion when slowing down, and when you let off the power you can really feel the momentum shift, it also loves to corner while on the gas, the whole chassis feels a lot more stable while still being maneuverable.
IMO, from the 450's I've ridden, kx, crf (not the brand new ones) ktm, this one is probably the best overall
The bike is a bit tall over all to get on, but once on, my 5'10" self took a while to get acclimated to the overall short nature of the controls, throttle is super responsive, it feels almost a tad disapointing down low, but mid range to top it pulls like a champ, it feels a lot lighter than the KX, especially in the corners, which btw, imo it is extremely good at, I have a section that is one corner after the others that I practice on, I was only .3 seconds slower than my best time on the kx according to my stopwatch, and it was my first try on a new bike and I haven't ridden seriously since november. The suspension is fantastic, I kept expecting things to give a jarring expierence, maybe its not so much that the suspension is worlds better so much as the chassis and the whole center of gravity thing yamaha has going on with the fuel tank under the seat and reverse tilt engine, but it never once felt out of control or like it was deciding it no longer wanted to go through the rough sections.
Summary: Pulls like a monster mid to top, bottom end is nothing to write home about.
Throttle is extremely sensitive, almost too sensitive. EFI seems well thought out, not once did it flame out or act like it wanted to stall
Suspension and chassis feel top notch, most everyone else either has air forks or SFF, while yamaha has kept tried and true SSS, and it works just like you'd expect, it was the best stuff we'd seen on a stock bike in 06, fast forward 11 years and its as perfect as its likely to get. I will miss it when they phase it out.
Bike is tall when you throw your leg over it, but when riding it the bars particularly felt like they were too low to me, something that as expected was less bothersome the more I rode it.
Rear brake feels a little mushy, it has a noticeable pop on occasion when slowing down, and when you let off the power you can really feel the momentum shift, it also loves to corner while on the gas, the whole chassis feels a lot more stable while still being maneuverable.
IMO, from the 450's I've ridden, kx, crf (not the brand new ones) ktm, this one is probably the best overall
