Ride Report - 2010 YZ450

[CaptainKnobby]

went riding at the track today for the first time with this bike. It was fun riding it but the forks and rear shock felt pretty stiff to me. All the settings were stock (on the forks and shock).

i noticed when doing this big triple jump(90ft)that when I landed it felt stiff in the forks when I landed. I could feel the harshness in the handle bars. Later on in the day I went out 2 clicks on the fork compression to 15 out and 2 clicks out on the rebound to 12 out.

I wound up going 3 more clicks out on the low compression on the shock to where it is 11 clicks out. The rebound i went to 16 clicks out (just 2 more out from stock). On the high compression I went 1/6 more turn out to try and to get the shock to sink a little more.

I was running the stock race sag which was on my bike and it was 102mm with 38mm static sag.

the only thing I didnt like about the rear shock was that it seemed that it wasnt giving any around turns and made the bike feel that it wasnt squating enough for me around turns. But i got to thinking that if I lowered my race sag down (to say) 98mm to 100mm "wouldnt that make the spring stiffer", for what I'M want the rear shock to do(squat or give more when going around turns)?

I dont know!......maybe it is just me or The all the suspension's is just stiff for this bike to accomodate heavier riders. I weigh 197lbs with all my gaer on and 174lbs in just underwear.

I rode today about 1 hour and half (actual riding time) so i guess the bike is ready to be raced now. First race is the second weekend in march. I will try to ride it again one more time before that but we are going to get some bad weather this week and this next coming weekend so I guess it will be the weekend of the race before I can ride it again.

Oh! one other thing about the power. It was throttle sensitive and i put more play in the throttle cable. I know around turns if you werent all the way up on the tank the bike wanted to rare up with ya.

I found it sorta hard to get it to stay in the ruts and to go around turns. May be it was because of the stiff forks and rear shock and the tubes flush with the top clamp or the combanation of both.

After the third time out and when I came back in and let the forks cool a bit i bled the forks and to my surprise no air came out (bike was on the stand).

One other thing I want to mention was that I had the power tuner there with me but I like the power the way it was stock. It seemed to do well with my FMF 4.1 full exhaust. If there was anything I would like to change about the power(by the way it was coming in) would be to somehow change that first initial hit some how. Not that is was too much or uncontrolable, it just seemed to me it made the bike want to rare up. Maybe I just needed to sit futher up on the tank cause, they were times I would catch myself going around turns and be in the middle of the seat or just slightly to the rear.

It seemed to be hard to hold on to when you opened it up, "let me tell ya" It would throw ya to the back of the seat if you didnt have a good hold to the bars.

Overall it was fun to ride and it was easy to do jumps with it cause of all the power it had but the forks a suspension just need to be a little more plush(or softer) for my likeings. May just need to turn the clickers alot more out to get the results I want.

[rickallen124]

I rode mine for the first time yesterday. The track is fairly small with alot of jumps and some very sandy sections. To start out I rode it with the stock map which was fun but a little too touchy. I then went with the less hit map which really mellowed it out, actually too much for this tight track. I cut all of the differences between the two maps in half and found a map that works well for tight tacks. The suspension was ok to start and got a little better as it broke in. Still not as balanced as my '08 was but I haven't really touched the clickers as I wanted to get it broken in first. Next step is to try mxa's suspension settings. It's going to take some time to adapt to the bike as it certainly handles differently than my '08 did. The bike always started in 2-3 kicks and ran well. I only had one issue with the bike and that was that the vent hose kept coming out of the steering stem and flopping around. One other thing, has anyone noticed that when the bike is cooling off that there is a gurgulling sound coming from the radiator or gas tank? It kind of sounds like there is pressure being released or liquid passing through a baffle of some sort. I checked the radiator and it's full so I'm not sure what to make of the noise unless there is air trapped in there.

[racerxx276]

Captain Knobby- Glad you liked the bike..

Suspension.. Mine took about 3 hrs of hard riding to break in...

I usually don't agree with MXA suspension settings but they are close.. I know they say to stiffen the compression on the forks and like your's mine felt pretty stiff, however for what ever reason the stiffer settings actually softens up the travel? Same thing with the shock, try mxa setting especially the rebound which is very fast stock. however I don't agree with their sag, I like mine around 104 and I weight the same as you..

try it out next time and go from there...

[Scrubba]

went riding at the track today for the first time with this bike. It was fun riding it but the forks and rear shock felt pretty stiff to me. All the settings were stock (on the forks and shock).

i noticed when doing this big triple jump(90ft)that when I landed it felt stiff in the forks when I landed. I could feel the harshness in the handle bars. Later on in the day I went out 2 clicks on the fork compression to 15 out and 2 clicks out on the rebound to 12 out.

I wound up going 3 more clicks out on the low compression on the shock to where it is 11 clicks out. The rebound i went to 16 clicks out (just 2 more out from stock). On the high compression I went 1/6 more turn out to try and to get the shock to sink a little more.

I was running the stock race sag which was on my bike and it was 102mm with 38mm static sag.

the only thing I didnt like about the rear shock was that it seemed that it wasnt giving any around turns and made the bike feel that it wasnt squating enough for me around turns. But i got to thinking that if I lowered my race sag down (to say) 98mm to 100mm "wouldnt that make the spring stiffer", for what I'M want the rear shock to do(squat or give more when going around turns)?

I dont know!......maybe it is just me or The all the suspension's is just stiff for this bike to accomodate heavier riders. I weigh 197lbs with all my gaer on and 174lbs in just underwear.

I rode today about 1 hour and half (actual riding time) so i guess the bike is ready to be raced now. First race is the second weekend in march. I will try to ride it again one more time before that but we are going to get some bad weather this week and this next coming weekend so I guess it will be the weekend of the race before I can ride it again.

Oh! one other thing about the power. It was throttle sensitive and i put more play in the throttle cable. I know around turns if you werent all the way up on the tank the bike wanted to rare up with ya.

I found it sorta hard to get it to stay in the ruts and to go around turns. May be it was because of the stiff forks and rear shock and the tubes flush with the top clamp or the combanation of both.

After the third time out and when I came back in and let the forks cool a bit i bled the forks and to my surprise no air came out (bike was on the stand).

One other thing I want to mention was that I had the power tuner there with me but I like the power the way it was stock. It seemed to do well with my FMF 4.1 full exhaust. If there was anything I would like to change about the power(by the way it was coming in) would be to somehow change that first initial hit some how. Not that is was too much or uncontrolable, it just seemed to me it made the bike want to rare up. Maybe I just needed to sit futher up on the tank cause, they were times I would catch myself going around turns and be in the middle of the seat or just slightly to the rear.

It seemed to be hard to hold on to when you opened it up, "let me tell ya" It would throw ya to the back of the seat if you didnt have a good hold to the bars.

Overall it was fun to ride and it was easy to do jumps with it cause of all the power it had but the forks a suspension just need to be a little more plush(or softer) for my likeings. May just need to turn the clickers alot more out to get the results I want.

this is why i told you to go to the mxa settings. it balances out the bike to a totally different neutral feel.

if the power pulls you back, you are not forward enough and leaning forward will cure this. sit forward, and pull the bars to your waist on accel, to where the power is pushing you, not pulling you.

as mentioned, the siffer mxa settings seem to soften up the hits.

problem is, there are two sets of mxa settings. im gonna try the second set next time i ride.?

[CaptainKnobby]

Captain Knobby- Glad you liked the bike..

Suspension.. Mine took about 3 hrs of hard riding to break in...

I usually don't agree with MXA suspension settings but they are close.. I know they say to stiffen the compression on the forks and like your's mine felt pretty stiff, however for what ever reason the stiffer settings actually softens up the travel? Same thing with the shock, try mxa setting especially the rebound which is very fast stock. however I don't agree with their sag, I like mine around 104 and I weight the same as you..

try it out next time and go from there...

I'll try that this sunday and I'll set mt sag at 104 and see how that does. If 104 doesnt do it I'll go down to 100mm.

One thing I'm gonna have to do is try and find some handlebar risers of some sort to pick the bars up some.

Every time I stood up on the bike while in the air, seemed like my fingers were the only thing holding onto the grips.

My Billet axle blocks and two GYTR air filters came today and I have a 50 tooth rear Vortex sprocket to try on it. Hope the 50 tooth will let me use third gear more instead of shifting down to second around sharp turns with a little straight.

[excalibur174]

I just rode mine in italy for the first time on a track and it is fast very fast along with everything everyone has already said. The track had deep ruts in every corner and the yam sticks in them no problem. Im still getting used to this power, coming off a 125 the 450 it is mind blowing. I feel like that ewok who stole the speerderbike in return of the jedi, my legs are flying behind my body. lol I have no regrets of buying this bike but I do have to get used to the whole 4t riding style.

[CaptainKnobby]

Captain Knobby- Glad you liked the bike..

Suspension.. Mine took about 3 hrs of hard riding to break in...

I usually don't agree with MXA suspension settings but they are close.. I know they say to stiffen the compression on the forks and like your's mine felt pretty stiff, however for what ever reason the stiffer settings actually softens up the travel? Same thing with the shock, try mxa setting especially the rebound which is very fast stock. however I don't agree with their sag, I like mine around 104 and I weight the same as you..

try it out next time and go from there...

Your right!.... I tried the settings yesterday at the track and it made a world of difference. It was like a whole new bike all over again. I cant believe by setting the clickers that siff would make the bike handle smoother.

Prior to go riding early yesterday morning I raised my forktubes in the clamps 3mm set all the clickers to MXA specs and the bike turned and felt so much better. It wasnt near as stiff as it was last weekend.

I set my race sag to 100mm and my static was 32mm. The only thing I didnt like about the MXA setting was on this one jump at the track which is(a 90ft. triple). When I hit the face of the jump the front end stayed down and kinda low in the front while in the air (like a nose dive) which kinda caught me off guard and I panic reved to try to bring the front end up some but it wouldnt, so when i landed I was in the sitting postion and was dreding the landing but when I landed it was as if I never had jumped.

I guess where the clickers were set to so stiff that the forks and shock absorbed all the landing. I tried the jump again thinking it was maybe the lip of the jump that caused the front to stay low but the same thing happened.

Last week at all origanal setting I was doing this jump flawlessly but with a little harshness when landing if I over jumped it just a tad.

I think what caused the front end to stay low was cause of the compression on the forks. Stock clicker setings are 13 out(from all the way in) and the MXA settings for the compression of the forks are only 5 out.

I think the forks didnt compress enough when hitting the face of the jump which caused the front end to stay low. Either that or the rebound on the rear shock was set to hard which caused the back end to pick up higher in the rear than the front.

Other than that it was a whole different bike while riding it.