2003 450

[Shawn_Mc]

Im plenty old enough to remember when technology found its way to motocross. Acutally I remembe when motocross found its way to the USA. Gee's, I remember when Gary Scott was a Novice at Ascot park on Friday nights on the half mile. I remember laying the shocks down on my BSA, and then I got this ultra trick set of Mulholland shocks that you could mound upside down. That set up got me a wopping 8.5" of travel. Then I proceeded to jump the thing into the sky with total abandon. Ended up bending the fork straight out forward, they must have been at least 28mm! Good god kids have it nice these days

[oldnbold]

A no link suspension would shave some tonnage off the yam, but I doubt that will happen as the Japs are notorious about not "thinking outside the box". They are great about refining... evolution, not revolution is their M.O.

[DPW]

Originally posted by oldnbold:

They are great about refining... evolution, not revolution is their M.O.

I think the first YZF was pretty revolutionary.

I'm with rest on the board , weight needs to be where the focus is at. The motor .... well more CC's would be nice, but don't change the power characteristics.

[ January 10, 2002: Message edited by: DPW ]

[motojunkie]

I think the first YZF was pretty revolutionary

Not really if you consider that all they really did was take proven road-race stuff, and wedge it into a dirt bike frame.

[sirthumpalot]

We'll if you're going to think that way then the first personal computer wasn't revolutionary. All they did was take proven computer technology and "wedge" it into a box that fits on your desk. The first internet service provider would not be revolutionary either, after all the only thing they did was sell a connection to an already existing network to someone in the public.

Personally I think that the first truely mainstream competition four stroke dirt bike was pretty revolutionary to the dirt bike world. ;D

[vs779]

Don't believe anything until Yamaha puts the 2003

bike info. on their site. Look at last year all the rumors were false and no one even knew they were redesigning the 2 strokes until the day Yamaha released the info. Also when they did the 426 no weight change they just take a few pounds off each year so you have to buy a new bike every

year. They had the chance to wet sump with the 250F, I don't think they will scrap that whole design after 2 years too many old parts lying around thay have to use up. My prediction 450F

same bike 2lbs lighter and both bikes get bold new graphics.

[motojunkie]

Personally I think that the first truely mainstream competition four stroke dirt bike was pretty revolutionary to the dirt bike world. ;D

My comment was referring to the technology, as it isn't cutting edge. Husaberg had competitive 4-stroke long before Yamaha, they just weren't very reliable. The only reason 4-strokes gained acceptance is because finally a Japanese manufacturer made one. Otherwise they'd still be obscure, and scoffed at.

[JohnnyG]

Yeah, its funny, nobody ever mentions that Husaberg. It gets credit for the revolution of lightweight MX 4 strokes in my book. It even had optional electric start!

That Husaberg motor was/is beautiful, too bad it was a POS.

[mat]

hey guys, after reading this post and hearing everyones thing on what bikes will be like in 20 years or so, well i hate to burst everyones bubble but think about this, with all the new laws their making and all i could(but pray they dont)see them making dirt bikes ilegal all together, i mean their about to outlaw 2 strokes and in nevada, they just made a new thing in the desert racing organization im in, that u have to have like a 2ft by 3ft square of carpet under your bike when u pit so they gas spilled wont pollute the ground, im not kidding, if theyed go this ridiculasly far id hate to see what else they'll do down the road a few years, just something to think about

[WileE1]

In the last few years the Dirt bike industry has really taken off. Its a wonder with so many of us into the sport these days that there has not been a huge backlash to all these crazy laws being passed. There is a lot of money being poured into this sport, but i guess its all ending up in the hands of the peace loving save the planet, tree huggers, which by the way tend to drive some of the most gross polluting vehicles around.

[WileE1]

In the last few years the Dirt bike industry has really taken off. Its a wonder with so many of us into the sport these days that there has not been a huge backlash to all these crazy laws being passed. There is a lot of money being poured into this sport, but i guess its all ending up in the hands of the peace loving save the planet, tree huggers, which by the way tend to drive some of the most gross polluting vehicles around.

[sirthumpalot]

2 quick comments.

Husaberg: They do get credit for the first performance 4-stroke (as far as I am aware), however it was not "mainstream". i.e. it was expensive, hard to get, parts were hard to get and as as result you didn't see many at the local track. The Yamaha was the first 4-stroke bike that I remember seeing many of at the track.

The sport: To make this sport last the best thing that we could do (IMHO) is to make some sizeable contributions to a few key politicians campaign funds. This goes against every moral value that I can think of, but as sad as it is in the real world this is how you get things done.

[FASTFRANK]

One more thing,

I am 24 years old and have been riding since I was 12 or so. I hope that when I am 74 I am still riding some type of motorcycle whether it be a streetbike or dirt.(God willing of course) I think people that love this sport as much as we do should voice their opinion in regards to this. But, we might seem like a big group right here but in the real world we probably don't mean much to the people that are trying to keep us from riding.

Everyone probably can remember riding somewhere that was just "Bad Ass" at some time or another and now that place has a shopping mall, or a McDonalds, or a low-income housing project sitting there. IMHO, we need to enjoy where we have to ride and what we have to ride. In the long run I don't think we will have much say so. If someone needs to speak up it is the manuf.'s (Yamaha, Kawi, Suz, Honda, etc.) If they want to keep selling bikes they need to put forth some money to these people trying to shut riding down in some form or another. Just my 2cents

[rmarion]

Originally posted by sirthumpalot:

[QB]2 quick comments.

Husaberg: They do get credit for the first performance 4-stroke (as far as I am aware), however it was not "mainstream". i.e. it was expensive, hard to get, parts were hard to get and as as result you didn't see many at the local track. The Yamaha was the first 4-stroke bike that I remember seeing many of at the track.

Husky made a 510 watercooled thumper back in 1985. This was the bike of the future. The only problem is Husky is still making the same bike with very little changed.

[bbeakley]

Personally, I think there will be a huge backlash against the protect the Earth tree huggers in the near future. Think about the number of people that are bass fisherman, recreational boaters, motorcyclists, mountainbikers, hikers, campers, snowskiers/snowboarders, etc... all of whom have had the availability of recreational areas diminished or eliminated by some tree hugging law. I think in the near future that we'll all get together and get back some of what we've lost. And I think we'll do it in an environmentally friendly way (of course they won't think so, but screw them!!)

Long live the 4 strokes!!!

[Guest Guest]

I read the article in cycle world and it was very interesting!

From what I got out of it the Honda vs. Yammy = a few Lbs.

They weighed absolutely everything including fasteners . They used a very small digital scale for the small stuff. The gist of it was that most everything weighed close to the same. eg. motor-motor / swingarm-swingarm / forks-forks etc etc.

They did say that the FASTENERS accounted for an unsuspected weight difference surprisingly. And the statement that summed it all up was that "the parts all weighed in about the same but the Yammy simply has MORE parts!"

I once read an article about the CBR900RR that I had at the time. They asked the engineers how they shaved 5lbs off of an already anorexic bike.

They quoted answer was "We took care of the ounces and grams and the ounces and grams took care of the pounds and kilos!"

Seems like a simple theory to me! ?

On the other hand......... I help my buddy with his Kawi 250 a lot and the first thing I noticed was that everywhere the Yammy has 10mm bolts (seat etc) the Kawi has 8mm!!!

Seems very cheesy and prone to breakage to me?!?!

But with the new metals they are much stronger than steel!

We will see in July!

[yamaha.dude]

If you guys want to put your bikes on a diet, then go here to the Yamaha Website and click on titanium... them bolts is gonna make all the difference (to your wallet) ?

David

[ January 13, 2002: Message edited by: yamaha.dude ]

[RichB]

On the other hand......... I help my buddy with his Kawi 250 a lot and the first thing I noticed was that everywhere the Yammy has 10mm bolts (seat etc) the Kawi has 8mm!!!

Seems very cheesy and prone to breakage to me?!?! ?

[/QB]

I don't know dude, I've stripped more bolts and nuts on my 426 that I ever did on my last 2 KXs combined. That's the only thing I don't care for on my Yamaha is IMHO the quality of the hardware is not as good as it could be (even if it may be a 10mm bolt vs an 8mm).

[BK]

Originally posted by RichB:

I don't know dude, I've stripped more bolts and nuts on my 426 that I ever did on my last 2 KXs combined. That's the only thing I don't care for on my Yamaha is IMHO the quality of the hardware is not as good as it could be (even if it may be a 10mm bolt vs an 8mm).

Rich, Use a torque wrench...problem solved!

BK