making a yzf450 into a enduro racing machine

[gossmoss]

It's been a few years but I want to get back into racing Enduros and hare scrambles. I live in Washington state so most races are in the tight trails. I bought a 2004 wr450 and I love it except for the extra elephant thats hiding in there somewhere...the weight is unbelievable! I was thinking that I would be better off getting the yzf450 and setting it up for trails just to lose the weight. Anybody have any experience racing a YZF450 in the woods vs the WR450? I would expect to add lights, odometer and wt the flywheel a bit, but I need some insight.

[Zique]

I don't know about the 450, but on the 426 all you need to do is swap the yz stator and rotor out for a wr stator and rotor and you can run lights off that. That in-and-of itself adds weight to your flywheel.

[gossmoss]

Well that sounds easy, how does the yzf handle in the tight technical stuff? and then does four gears end up being enough for those wide open sections? All these guys talkiing about putting the wr gears in the yzf makes me believe that the yzf needs some taller gearing.

[Bluemarlin04]

Well that sounds easy, how does the yzf handle in the tight technical stuff? and then does four gears end up being enough for those wide open sections? All these guys talkiing about putting the wr gears in the yzf makes me believe that the yzf needs some taller gearing.

I would also like to know, Im thinking about one of these too, gearing it down some and riding the tight stuff. Hope you figure it out.

[Zique]

You need to understand that the YZ was built for motocross...as far as I understand, you can just place a 5th gear in the YZ, but I'm not for certain. You'd have to do a search on that. Changing your sprockets will help with this and the tight trails as well.

Do a search, it's been discussed before. When it really comes down to it. It depends on your riding style and where you prefer the power to be.

Finally, you may want to go ride a YZ450 around a bit...once you get the extra weight in your flywheel and with lights, etc. you are probably looking at about the same weight. As far as the specs I can get, you are only about 7 lbs apart dry. But maybe that's worth it.

02 YZ426F = 231.5

04 WR450F = 232.6

04 YZ450F = 220.0 + I'm guessing about 5lbs. in the extra gear...7 or 8 if you run a battery set-up or full baja-kit

[gossmoss]

not sure where you found the weight specs but the Yamaha site shows the '04 WR450 at 245 lbs dry weight and the yz450f (depending on the year) comes in at 220 lbs. Losing 20 lbs seems like it would be worth it. I wouldn't add a battery but I did weight the WR450 battery and it came in at 8 lbs. I would love to take a yz450f for a little trial run but that's a hard thing to do unless you know somebody that owns one....and I don't. Bummer for me.

[00YZ426FMRCD]

GossMoss - You need to talk to NCMOUNTAINMAN. I believe he has converted a YZF450 to the ultimate woods machine.

[snow]

Buy a Rekluse that will make it a whole new bike.

[gossmoss]

a guy wanted to trade my Wr for his YZF that had the Rekluse clutch. I don't really know much about those. Would it be a good thing to have for racing in the woods?

[ncmountainman]

my 05 yz is alot easier to ride than my 04 wr was,even after removing 20 lbs from the wr it still didn't feel right. the yz 4 spd is a bonus,as long as you don't have to do alot of high speed fire roads. in 05 they reduced the primary gear ratio for less engine braking (a definate plus) i run the rekluse with a +6 trail tech FW this is about as much traction as you can handle. the trail tech also boosts output and there are rebuilt stators available for 100 watts or so(about all you'd need) a battery is not needed. i run 23 mm offset clamps as these bikes do not turn so well in the tightness (it does now though) 13/52 gearing works well for me as some of the HS i run are very tight. i keep a 14 on hand for faster stuff. and beleive me unless your running baja,its plenty fast. i'd go for the 05 they are probly quite cheap because of the 06's and they offer alot more than the 03/04's. with the money you save you can get all the goodies. i'd really hate to say how much $$ are in my bike and alot of people think its fluff but i'm all about fine tuning a bike to your needs and ability ?

[Zique]

Where did you find a rebuilt stator that produces 100 watts? The best I could find was 55 watts which isn't worth it if you ask me.

[MHill]

There is a big write up in this months DirtBike magazine about this very issue. Looks like everyone racing GNCC went with the YZ450F.

[MotoGoalie]

I race my YZF almost exclusively offroad and enduro style.

I don't have a very good topend speed (due to lower gearing) on it but other than that its perfect. I regeared as most of my trails are tight, steep and rocky. a rekluse would cure that problem I suppose.

One tooth smaller C/S.

Utah skidplate.

Q spark arrestor.

Clarke 2.8 gallon tank.

Tall Ceet

Acerbis rally IIs, the all plastic ones.

Renthal soft grips.

Rerouted breather hose into airbox.

[steve-o-2slo]

I have an '04 yz450f and was tearing my hair out over this kind of decision last year until one of my buddies picked up an autoclutched yz250f and showed me it could make a killer woods bike. We ride B.C. trails and recently got into harescrambles, alot of it is tight, steep and wet.

I run 13-50 and with the rekluse clutch I find its good for very tight stuff but I bring a 14t in case the trails are fast. I'm so glad I went this route instead of a WR or EXC, the bike is absolutely amazing in the woods and any extra weight really pounds you, the 250f actually has a bit of an advantage here but after getting used to all that power I can't go back down!

Also unibiker rad guards are awesome, just not sure if they will fit with a larger tank which this bike could really use! ?

[dbehr624]

Russ Pearson

Check out his bike. Scroll down on the pictures to see pics of it.

[ncmountainman]

zique,just using the trail tech increases the output of whatever stator you use,steahly offers a couple different stators,i thought one was higher than what you mentioned. maybe not

[Zique]

This one is the only stator I can find for my application:

http://steahlyoffroad.com/weightsdet.php?s_partnum=L-38

It is rated at 45W...so you say that the flywheel weight will add more power? I haven't ever really dealt w/ FW before. What weight do I need? Where is the best yet inexpensive place to get one, etc?

[Zique]

Electrex also has a stator for $125 after shipping and it is the one rated at 50W that I spoke about earlier. The guy says that I need their regulator as well because it is a 'full wave type.' What does that mean?

[ncmountainman]

the trail tech FW increases 10-15% over whatever its rated,so the 50 watt should do at least 55w they make some special bulbs that only draw 20 watts and have a output of something like 80 ,forgot who has them but they weren't cheap. i run a +6 oz on my 05 yz and like it

[Zique]

Thanks for the help ncmountainman.

The bulbs are HID which are very pricey but much more efficient than standard halogens. Nite Rider and a couple bicycle shops sell them. The smallest weight I can find for my 426 is 10 oz. is that going to be too much? It is $90 do you know of anywhere cheaper?