450F Evie the YZ450F

I acquired a 17 YZ450F as most everyone on this forum knows, my previous bike was an 09 KX450F that I loved, but was getting a little long in the tooth and I wanted something new, I am a long time Yamaha fan, so to me it made sense to come "home". I set the sag to 100 mm, tire pressure at 15 front and rear, threw on a set of acerbis hand guards, and took her for a spin.

The bike is a bit tall over all to get on, but once on, my 5'10" self took a while to get acclimated to the overall short nature of the controls, throttle is super responsive, it feels almost a tad disapointing down low, but mid range to top it pulls like a champ, it feels a lot lighter than the KX, especially in the corners, which btw, imo it is extremely good at, I have a section that is one corner after the others that I practice on, I was only .3 seconds slower than my best time on the kx according to my stopwatch, and it was my first try on a new bike and I haven't ridden seriously since november. The suspension is fantastic, I kept expecting things to give a jarring expierence, maybe its not so much that the suspension is worlds better so much as the chassis and the whole center of gravity thing yamaha has going on with the fuel tank under the seat and reverse tilt engine, but it never once felt out of control or like it was deciding it no longer wanted to go through the rough sections.

Summary: Pulls like a monster mid to top, bottom end is nothing to write home about.
Throttle is extremely sensitive, almost too sensitive. EFI seems well thought out, not once did it flame out or act like it wanted to stall
Suspension and chassis feel top notch, most everyone else either has air forks or SFF, while yamaha has kept tried and true SSS, and it works just like you'd expect, it was the best stuff we'd seen on a stock bike in 06, fast forward 11 years and its as perfect as its likely to get. I will miss it when they phase it out.
Bike is tall when you throw your leg over it, but when riding it the bars particularly felt like they were too low to me, something that as expected was less bothersome the more I rode it.
Rear brake feels a little mushy, it has a noticeable pop on occasion when slowing down, and when you let off the power you can really feel the momentum shift, it also loves to corner while on the gas, the whole chassis feels a lot more stable while still being maneuverable.
IMO, from the 450's I've ridden, kx, crf (not the brand new ones) ktm, this one is probably the best overall
evie.jpg
 
Nice write up on the Blue Crew. I have been seeing a good quantity of these out in dez being ridden buy some top dez dudes.
 
Nice write up on the Blue Crew. I have been seeing a good quantity of these out in dez being ridden buy some top dez dudes.
it varies by year, I remember riding the first of the reverse cylinder yz's, 2010? and thinking they had really messed up because the bike did not feel very well balanced. Here, everyone rode ktm or kawi up till recently, I'm seeing more people go back to blue bikes out in the desert, probably because 4cs or the air forks don't work very well for the desert.
 
it varies by year, I remember riding the first of the reverse cylinder yz's, 2010? and thinking they had really messed up because the bike did not feel very well balanced. Here, everyone rode ktm or kawi up till recently, I'm seeing more people go back to blue bikes out in the desert, probably because 4cs or the air forks don't work very well for the desert.
Plus the fact the Yamaha is investing in the off-road world or racing in general again. Good to see.
 
Do you like the 180* head and where everything sits? I'm still trying to wrap my head around that design. Wonder if they will stay or if they will change it back. Why can't they have the exhaust go straight back, or off to a side enough to miss shock. Instead they wrap it around the front. Never really gave them a good look at the dealer.

Oh know, I said head...
 
Do you like the 180* head and where everything sits? I'm still trying to wrap my head around that design. Wonder if they will stay or if they will change it back. Why can't they have the exhaust go straight back, or off to a side enough to miss shock. Instead they wrap it around the front. Never really gave them a good look at the dealer.

Oh know, I said head...

Man, you just must not understand the importance of "lengh" when it comes to pipes. I think ( at the risk of getting someone else's rabid attention) that with the tilt back head the pipe would be about 8" past the rear wheel. (Tuned exhausts really just don't come in any length short of optimum.)
 
Do you like the 180* head and where everything sits? I'm still trying to wrap my head around that design. Wonder if they will stay or if they will change it back. Why can't they have the exhaust go straight back, or off to a side enough to miss shock. Instead they wrap it around the front. Never really gave them a good look at the dealer.

Oh know, I said head...
its deff unique, it seems like it'd be a lot more open than most for working on the engine with the engine in the frame, fuel tank replacement seems like it'd be a bitch though, I'm sure the exhaust wrapping around the head has to do with flow and having proper length of exhaust for the engine to flow properly (or something like that)
I think this is proof that mass centralization works, and that those cannondale dudes weren't entirely crazy all those years ago
 
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