2012 wr450

[wondermuscle]

I'm excited to hear all of your ride reports when the bikes finally start to trickle in. My only concern lies in the sippy cup size fuel tank. I imagine IMS will make a slightly larger tank but only by 0.5gallons or so. Keep us posted on your fuel mileage, I'd hate to have to pack gas every time I head down to baja.

BoiseBee - This competition ECU you speak of.... Is it required to remap the fuel injection and ignition or can the stock ECU be programmed with the yamaha programming unit? I thought the stock ECU could be programmed am I wrong?

[BoiseBee]

I'm excited to hear all of your ride reports when the bikes finally start to trickle in. My only concern lies in the sippy cup size fuel tank. I imagine IMS will make a slightly larger tank but only by 0.5gallons or so. Keep us posted on your fuel mileage, I'd hate to have to pack gas every time I head down to baja.

BoiseBee - This competition ECU you speak of.... Is it required to remap the fuel injection and ignition or can the stock ECU be programmed with the yamaha programming unit? I thought the stock ECU could be programmed am I wrong?

I can't remember which manufacturer, but there is already a 3 gallon tank in production with integrated fuel pump. Word from the East coast is that the "standard" fuel map is the most fuel efficient, and guys are getting over 80 Miles. Obviously the fuel efficiency decreases as the Maps are tweaked for more performance.

The stock ECU is NOT programmable. The performance ECU is required for ANY tweaking to the fuel injection or ignition (thank you EPA). This is the main reason that Yamaha has made the aftermarket parts so affordable... I mean, $400 gets you the GYTR exhaust and competition ECU, and the performance gain is ridiculous. I have built a couple of Maps this week, and will ride the bike on Sunday and report back. I think I will start a "Owners" thread next week so that as others bikes start rolling in, we can start sharing maps and the like.

[OUTERLIMITS]

I'm excited to hear all of your ride reports when the bikes finally start to trickle in. My only concern lies in the sippy cup size fuel tank. I imagine IMS will make a slightly larger tank but only by 0.5gallons or so. Keep us posted on your fuel mileage, I'd hate to have to pack gas every time I head down to baja.

I hear ya. I still pack gas in baja even with a 3.6 gallon Clarke, but this one looks like it will be closer to 4 gallons. No doubt IMS, Clarke, and Acerbis will come up with something quick as the stock tank isn't gonna get it no matter how fuel efficient the bike is. IMS already has a 2.5 gallon tank for the 250 YZF so if the frames are almost the same I would think that they would only have to reconfigure the top of the tank a bit to get it closer to 3 gallons.

This one looks like it's good to go for baja ?

http://www.westcoast...ot-deal-and-all

Edited March 23, 2012 by OUTERLIMITS

[BFox]

Mines supposed to be in by the second week of April. Got a different exhaust insert and rad braces coming too, Just wondering if the performance ECU is for US models only to defeat the green sticker BS. Didnt see the ECU on the Canadian GYTR parts list

[BoiseBee]

Mines supposed to be in by the second week of April. Got a different exhaust insert and rad braces coming too, Just wondering if the performance ECU is for US models only to defeat the green sticker BS. Didnt see the ECU on the Canadian GYTR parts list

The non-programmable ECU is for the US models only... Its EPA spec. to the tilt. You should be able to plug the power tuner in to your Canadian spec. bike and program a way. Let me know when you get your bike and we can share map info. My dealer had 2 more bikes show up on the Yamaha dealer network yesterday, so their 2012 model WR450 #2&3 will be here next week.

Edited March 25, 2012 by BoiseBee

[BFox]

Ya sounds good BB. Was gonna wait and see how it was with the muffler uncorked, also wasnt sure if I should wait for a JD Programmer.

[BoiseBee]

Ya sounds good BB. Was gonna wait and see how it was with the muffler uncorked, also wasnt sure if I should wait for a JD Programmer.

The reviews of the uncorked stock exhaust are pretty decent. The Maps currently available are based off either the stock exhaust or the FMF pipe, so mapping an opened-up stock exhaust may take a little "tweaking"...

I wouldn't wait for a JD programmer, the GYTR unit is sweet... and the price of $279 USD isn't out of line.

Edited March 25, 2012 by BoiseBee

[Navaho6]

^{Best video so far. The WR being pushed hard !}

[OUTERLIMITS]

^{Best video so far. The WR being pushed hard !}

Great find. Those guys have some good skill sets obviously, but they throw those bikes around like MX'ers. I noticed that they deep six'ed the stock headlights on all of them along with the stock tail lights. I like the stock tail light better, but agree that the front has to go. I will say though, the retro Yamaha graphics look killer!

[FORMA MOTO]

Great find. Those guys have some good skill sets obviously, but they throw those bikes around like MX'ers. I noticed that they deep six'ed the stock headlights on all of them along with the stock tail lights. I like the stock tail light better, but agree that the front has to go. I will say though, the retro Yamaha graphics look killer!

Those are factory equipped bikes with full GYT-R packages. You can surely see the weight of these bikes when they go through the whoopy sand; they are a handful. I still want one....

[OUTERLIMITS]

Those are factory equipped bikes with full GYT-R packages. You can surely see the weight of these bikes when they go through the whoopy sand; they are a handful. I still want one....

Not as much of a handful as my '08 and I don't really consider it a handlful. Those guys are really tossing around the new ones. . I saw a few different exhausts being tried out as well. It will be interesting to read about what works and what doesn't in the coming months.

[mikestrutter]

In that video, 1 was a stroked 470(Phillips), 1 was a 450(merriman),and the other a yz250 (Milner)

[BoiseBee]

Rode the new 450 yesterday for the first time after installing the performance ECU, and the bike just keeps getting better. I started with the "base FMF" map, and fine-tuned it from there for the conditions I was riding in (sand and hard-pack) and the power is was just perfect from top to bottom. Its really hard to explain how good the throttle response is on this bike...

The best thing to come from the new ECU and improved mapping over stock is the starting. Before it was such a bear to start that I ended up kicking it every time because it was much faster.... several of the initial press reviews spoke of this same thing. Now with the correct mapping the WR fires up immediately. I purposely stalled the bike a couple of times after riding for several minutes, pulled in the clutch, pressed the magic button, and it fired right up and I was down the trail.

I LOVE this bike.

[BoiseBee]

In that video, 1 was a stroked 470(Phillips), 1 was a 450(merriman),and the other a yz250 (Milner)

WRONG. although those three riders do race on different bikes, that is a promotional video for the 2012 WR450, and all three are most definitely tearing it up on the new 450.

Edited March 27, 2012 by BoiseBee

[WR 911]

Rode the new 450 yesterday for the first time after installing the performance ECU, and the bike just keeps getting better. I started with the "base FMF" map, and fine-tuned it from there for the conditions I was riding in (sand and hard-pack) and the power is was just perfect from top to bottom. Its really hard to explain how good the throttle response is on this bike...

The best thing to come from the new ECU and improved mapping over stock is the starting. Before it was such a bear to start that I ended up kicking it every time because it was much faster.... several of the initial press reviews spoke of this same thing. Now with the correct mapping the WR fires up immediately. I purposely stalled the bike a couple of times after riding for several minutes, pulled in the clutch, pressed the magic button, and it fired right up and I was down the trail.

I LOVE this bike.

What where your mapping settings for better starting?

[Navaho6]

I've noticed that all of the bike's in the Coff's Harbor video and the subsequent ride reports indicate that the race sag was set at 90mm. I find that unusually tall. One of the riders also mentioned that this setting was not in line with the owner's manual.

I mistakenly set my '06 to 94mm sag earlier this year and the bike was almost unrideable. I can't image being able to do anything with it set at 90mm. All of the older YZ's and WR's work best at 100 -105 mm race sag. I'm curious as to why they use so little race sag on the new bike.

Edited March 27, 2012 by Navaho6

[Just_a_trail_rider]

I've noticed that all of the bike's in the Coff's Harbor video and the subsequent ride reports indicate that the race sag was set at 90mm. I find that unusually tall. One of the riders also mentioned that this setting was not in line with the owner's manual.

I mistakenly set my '06 to 94mm sag earlier this year and the bike was almost unrideable. I can't image being able to do anything with it set at 90mm. All of the older YZ's and WR's work best at 100 -105 mm race sag. I'm curious as to why they use so little race sag on the new bike.

You can set the sag to what you like. I think what's in the book is a starting point. You can adjust to fit. I like my sag at no more than 100mm. It puts a little more weight on the front wheel and stops the front end from pushing.

Rider preference, isn't it?

[Corkster]

Not as much of a handful as my '08 and I don't really consider it a handlful. Those guys are really tossing around the new ones. . I saw a few different exhausts being tried out as well. It will be interesting to read about what works and what doesn't in the coming months.

Team Ballards runs Akrapovics; probably more a sponsorship deal than performance related.

[Bandit9]

So if Yamaha is so bent on making the WR450 a better racer, why aren't they racing one in the USA? As in Pro riders in Enduro, Hare and Hound, GNCC, OMA???? I know AM PRO prefers the YZ as a base. Hell, I even prefer the YZ platform for a pure race bike. Remember Whibley being forced to ride one for the first half of the season when the 08's came out. He sucked, and when they switched to the YZ, he didn't suck anymore.

[FORMA MOTO]

So if Yamaha is so bent on making the WR450 a better racer, why aren't they racing one in the USA? As in Pro riders in Enduro, Hare and Hound, GNCC, OMA???? I know AM PRO prefers the YZ as a base. Hell, I even prefer the YZ platform for a pure race bike. Remember Whibley being forced to ride one for the first half of the season when the 08's came out. He sucked, and when they switched to the YZ, he didn't suck anymore.

Because they have to go up against KX450's, CRF450's, and KTM 450SXF's.