'04 YZ450 in the woods

[Goosedog]

Anyone here riding trails with the '04 YZ450? I've got a chance to pick one up and would want it for woods primarily. I'm leary of the 4 speed gearbox though and I'm not interested in the Rekluse, I like using a clutch. Maybe with the right gearing and flywheel weight it could be as good a woods bike as my 426 has been...opinions please.

[flintlock28]

I have the same year bike. I ride both MX tracks(s) and Woods..... I haven't changed anything to help the bike for Woods riding, but I would lean toward a 8 oz. flywheel weight, while maybe adding a couple teeth to the rear sprocket. The 4 speed is less practical for the Woods, because if you add two or three teeth to the rear sprocket to give you lower gearing, than you are gonna loose your top speed when you get those wide open stretches that you may encounter. I have simply kept the bike stock because I don't want to lose top end speed, and I like the hit of the light flywheel.

The only problem I have with it stock, is when riding off-camber (i.e. riding across the side of a Mountain or large hill), and I go to make a 90 degree turn uphill, I will sometimes get wheelspin, or almost wheelie the bike; that's due to the tall-gearing, along with my lack of proper usage of the clutch. Stock, you are going to have to manipulate the clutch a lot more in the tight, twisty deep woods area's. When I first got the bike, I would often stall it on the tight, twisty stuff, but with experience, I've gotten pretty good with it......Oh, one more thing, if you leave the bike stock, than one helpful hint is to turn the idle up higher than normal in the tight, twisty areas, this will keep you from stalling so often.

Don

[big t]

What's up Goosedog? How ya been?

I put an 8 oz DRD flywheel on mine and it helped me a lot at the track. I haven't taken it to the the woods yet but plan to soon. I'm going to try the stock gearing for the first outing. If anything I will put a 13T on the front. I think the bike will be pretty good in the woods.

[Goosedog]

What's up Goosedog? How ya been?

I put an 8 oz DRD flywheel on mine and it helped me a lot at the track. I haven't taken it to the the woods yet but plan to soon. I'm going to try the stock gearing for the first outing. If anything I will put a 13T on the front. I think the bike will be pretty good in the woods.

I've been good Big T, how things in Tenn? Yeah, I've got a 13/51 combo on my 426 but I wasn't sure if that be enuf on a 4 speed for tight trails.

[ovrrdrive]

The '04 already has a heavier flywheel than the '03. I didn't mess with that at all and haven't had any trouble stalling what so ever.

I did add a PMB endcap for the S/A and the quiet tip. You're going to need a S/A and that is about the cheapest alternative.

I added a Trail Tech kickstand...

I dropped the front sprocket to a 13T to lower the 1st gear...

That's all I did and love the bike... I use it at the track too and it works there for me too.

[new2blu]

hey Mark,

My 04 YZ 450 is still for sale if you want it let me know--I will even deliver it for you!

[Goosedog]

hey Mark,

My 04 YZ 450 is still for sale if you want it let me know--I will even deliver it for you!

Just PM-d you Paul.

[big t]

I've been good Big T, how things in Tenn? Yeah, I've got a 13/51 combo on my 426 but I wasn't sure if that be enuf on a 4 speed for tight trails.

Everything is going good here. Planning a trip to NC in September. I plan on doing some street riding. Maybe we can get together and ride some.

[ncmountainman]

mark,i run 13/52 on my 05 and i've yet to run out of speed except on long straight fire roads(which i don't really ride much of anyway) and can cruise 55-60 without over revving. 1st gear is still fairly tall even with this gearing,i would say without a rekluse i'd go at least a +12 for the riding we do. i run the rekluse and a +6 on mine and it works very well as far as traction control goes. you might want to try mine again and you'll probly change your mind about the rekluse,we'll be at brown thurs if you have time to ride

[Radbuster]

Hi,

I second NC on the Rekluse. I know it take a little fiddling to set it up, but once you have done that, these old (03-05) 4-speeds might be one of the best kept secrets out there. Nothing's more reliable, you can now get them dirt cheap and the available accessories are endless.

On the flywheels, go big! They have so much torque they could pull almost anything, and that's why took a chance and made them 4-sp. I'm running a 10 oz. Steahly but would go even bigger if I'd choose today.

Later

[spaze2112]

i have an 04 with Dr-d's 8oz flywheel weight and the slip on.got the flywheel weight first then the can. the pipe helped more than the flywheel weight,made the power way more usable but whats help most is just figuring out how to ride the bike.in the tight twisty stuff first gears all you need.

[mxrayser]

I have the same year bike. I ride both MX tracks(s) and Woods..... I haven't changed anything to help the bike for Woods riding, but I would lean toward a 8 oz. flywheel weight, while maybe adding a couple teeth to the rear sprocket. The 4 speed is less practical for the Woods, because if you add two or three teeth to the rear sprocket to give you lower gearing, than you are gonna loose your top speed when you get those wide open stretches that you may encounter. I have simply kept the bike stock because I don't want to lose top end speed, and I like the hit of the light flywheel.

The only problem I have with it stock, is when riding off-camber (i.e. riding across the side of a Mountain or large hill), and I go to make a 90 degree turn uphill, I will sometimes get wheelspin, or almost wheelie the bike; that's due to the tall-gearing, along with my lack of proper usage of the clutch. Stock, you are going to have to manipulate the clutch a lot more in the tight, twisty deep woods area's. When I first got the bike, I would often stall it on the tight, twisty stuff, but with experience, I've gotten pretty good with it......Oh, one more thing, if you leave the bike stock, than one helpful hint is to turn the idle up higher than normal in the tight, twisty areas, this will keep you from stalling so often.

Don

Absolutely, I put bars for a honda 50 on mine, helps in the tight stuff, 4 gears is ok, flywheel weights would help, havent donr that yet though

[Robert]

How do you guys find the YZ suspension in the woods & trail? Did you have to revalve?

[Diode663]

I run my 04 450 in the woods most of the time and I havent done anything to make it more woods worthy. I may bump the rear sprocket to 51 teeth though but I dont see a need to get a flywheel weight around where I live, its tight but I have no trouble stalling.

[ncmountainman]

How do you guys find the YZ suspension in the woods & trail? Did you have to revalve?

it depends on how big and how fast you are,i'm both big and fast so i find the stock valving with a few mods like,proper oil weight and height and proper spring rate to be ok for woods,but i was after more so there are quite a few mods one can do to fine tune it to your liking(one thing i've learned, there is no one size fits all) and that unless you find a tuner that will actually listen to what your saying your better off learning to do it yourself

[Serenity Now]

I rode mine both on the practice track and in the woods. After riding my CRF450 I tend to like the 4 spd of the YZF better. Plenty of torque but less shifting. They both top out at the exact same speed too (about 75mph). Of course my CRF450 has a rekluse and is street legal so I've pretty much decided to keep her and sell the YZ450. If my YZ450 had a street title and a rekluse I can't imagine not keeping it for years to come as it would be the ultimate trail/track/street bike.

If anyone is interested take a look at the pic and info. I'll take $3300 cash firm, and that is a steal for the shape it's in and all the extras: http://ktmtalk.com/index.php?showtopic=173072&st=0entry1390446

I'm in Raleigh, NC if anyone is interested.

[BC3]

In Northern Cal we are kinda limited to where we can ride where there isn't

ten billion guys on bikes and worse yet Quads....Without starting a FLAMEOUT

with quad guys it seems that it never fails that you meet a quad head on at speed around a blind curve.... Not the way I want to end my day...

Anyway my 03 450 was pretty hard to trail ride unless you went where there

wasn't alot of SINGLE TRAIL stuff....Letting the engine that already wants

to spin the rear wheel have its way by keeping the speed up....Stoney Ford

and a couple other places offers both types of riding....What all this story is

tring to tell you is these bikes weren't designed to be GOOD TRAIL BIKES...

Their Moto-Crossers....you can make them work better than stock with changes

but they will never be a WR especially the early four speeds.....Thats been my experiance......But Im an old beat up 58 year old and that might have something to do with it also.......Seems things were so much more fun trails riding with our TT 500s than these new tall rocket ships...