Tired of the 10/11 YZ450 Bashing?

[Cable Stretcher]

I am getting about tired of everyone blaming the 10 and up YZ's for poor performances frome Stewart and Purcell. I have talked to many local pro's that love the new yz, one of which is a retired factory rider. Just last week I let an AX buddy ride my bike and he thought it was great, also was the fastest in the expert practice group on it. I guess I am just venting a little her but seriously they are great bikes.

[onelik]

i own a 2011 yz450f an its a great bike only issue i have is the front feels like its gonna its gonna give on turns but im sure that can be fixed with a fly wheel

[RiderX]

I haven't seen anything from Stewart's failures that could be blamed on the bike. All the magazine reviews I've read have been positive. I'd take one over any of the other 450's any day. KTM would be my only other consideration for the button.

[RiderX]

i own a 2011 yz450f an its a great bike only issue i have is the front feels like its gonna its gonna give on turns but im sure that can be fixed with a fly wheel

I don't see how a flywheel will help front end push. Is your spring rate correct for you? If so have you set your sag?

[Gunner354]

I am getting about tired of everyone blaming the 10 and up YZ's for poor performances frome Stewart and Purcell. I have talked to many local pro's that love the new yz, one of which is a retired factory rider. Just last week I let an AX buddy ride my bike and he thought it was great, also was the fastest in the expert practice group on it. I guess I am just venting a little her but seriously they are great bikes.

Stewart gets fastest time every week and smokes everyone in the heat race. Then he can't handle the competition in the main. It's not the bike. It's pretty obvious what Bubbas problem is. He needs to look in a mirror to find that out.

[Dirt-rich]

I haven't come across any real proof that the new yz450f is crap and haven't heard any other pro riders on the yamaha complAin. It's easier to blame the bike then yourself

Edited June 9, 2011 by Dirt-rich
Oolops

[grayracer513]

only issue i have is the front feels like its gonna its gonna give on turns but im sure that can be fixed with a fly wheel

I don't see how a flywheel will help front end push.

Lost me on that one, too. Quite a stretch.

[cowboyona426]

Lost me on that one, too. Quite a stretch.

SWAG- he's thinking the flywheel will provide more engine braking and transfer more weight to the front tire in turns... yeah it's a reach.

[Cable Stretcher]

The further forward you can get in the turns the better these bikes handle! When I am comming into a corner, as soon as I get off of the brakes I sit directly onto the front tip of the seat.

[grayracer513]

SWAG- he's thinking the flywheel will provide more engine braking and transfer more weight to the front tire in turns... yeah it's a reach.

A reach? It's backwards. More rotating mass diminishes engine braking. The 2010 should already have less than previous years anyway because of the cylinder offset (not the tilt).

The further forward you can get in the turns the better these bikes handle! When I am comming into a corner, as soon as I get off of the brakes I sit directly onto the front tip of the seat.

This true of any modern MX'er because of their shallow head angles, but even more so the older YZF's. This is all a little odd because the complaint a lot of long-time YZF riders have about the new ones is that they turn in too readily, and have a little tendency to knife in or tuck under in turns. I think it's mostly in what you're used to.

[motoman808]

i love my 11 ,best bike ive ever ridden.

[Icon]

Just checked the results from the Freestone National. Of the 30 bikes there were 10 Yam, 9 Honda, 3 Kaw, 5 suz and 3 Ktms in the 450 class. 7 of the top 15 bikes were Yamahas and Yamaha has no Factory Team unlike the other 4 manufacturers.

[grayracer513]

Just checked the results from the Freestone National. Of the 30 bikes there were 10 Yam, 9 Honda, 3 Kaw, 5 suz and 3 Ktms in the 450 class. 7 of the top 15 bikes were Yamahas and Yamaha has no Factory Team unlike the other 4 manufacturers.

Obviously a piece of crap, eh?

[YamaLink]

This so-called "bashing" is nothing compared to the hammering Yamaha's 250F gets. It loses races all by itself due to that nasty carb thing.

[grayracer513]

(Yamaha's 250F) loses races all by itself due to that nasty carb thing.

That's a completely unsupportable claim.

[HRC]

I love my 2011 YZ450F ! Only thing I noticed is that the rearshock seems to be a little sensitive to get completely perfect. Ive ridden with both stock and Ohlins and the rearend like to kick up very hard when you ride on hardpack tracks with edgy ruts. Ive tried harder spring and adjusting clickers back and forth but nothing seems to really cure it.

Had a big getoff last weekend cause of this, my biggest crash in many many years actually . Right know I'm just glad both me and my bike came away with nothing broken !

[grayracer513]

I love my 2011 YZ450F ! Only thing I noticed is that the rearshock seems to be a little sensitive to get completely perfect. Ive ridden with both stock and Ohlins and the rearend like to kick up very hard when you ride on hardpack tracks with edgy ruts. Ive tried harder spring and adjusting clickers back and forth but nothing seems to really cure it.

There are two things at work there.

One is all that mass centralization you hear about. No question that it's beneficial in the sense that it makes the bike more maneuverable by the rider, but it also allows outside forces to alter the attitude of the bike more easily. In this case, it's being rotated around its pitch axis by an upward strike at the rear wheel.

The other thing for most people would be that the rear shock is way too slow to react to rebound, but I believe you have an Ohlins. That still may be something that will help you, though. With the KYB's Dave Johnson at SMART Performance has shown me that really beefing up the base shims of the rebound stack helps keep the rear of the bike under control. He thinks that this is a nearly universal shortcoming with Japanese shocks. I know it certainly worked well with my '06.

[Cable Stretcher]

I ran into the same thing, the backend was always wanting to kick up on me expecially when braking on the entrance to corners. I had Reynard Modifications re-valve form and I nowrun 108mm of sag, the combo of these seems to have solved this problem for me. I also try to do alls of my braking in the attack/standing position.

[ron_m]

Not too long ago I rode a friend's 2010 YZ450F on a MX track after we had already been doing a lot of trail riding that day and I didn't experience any major issues with it at all. Obviously it wasn't even set up for me and I still enjoyed riding it. The bike felt very planted in corners and the rear suspension never felt like it was going to buck me over the bars at higher speeds over rough terrain. I thought it handled and turned just fine. Yamaha makes extremely reliable bikes as long as they are maintained properly. There will always be exceptions with every manufacturer out there but all in all I think Yamaha's build quality is superb. Personally, I do believe that these bikes are getting a bad rap because of Stewart and a few other big name pro riders' struggles. Every rider isn't perfectly suited for every bike out there so maybe this bike just isn't a good match for these guys. In summary, I would purchase one and could be very happy with riding it.

[THE-OG-694]

i own a 2011 yz450f an its a great bike only issue i have is the front feels like its gonna its gonna give on turns but im sure that can be fixed with a fly wheel

???? A PC linkage arm fixed the wiggle and the push IMHO.

Edited June 11, 2011 by THE-OG-694