First Ride! Yamaha’s Race-Ready YFZ450R

By Nic Granlund
Photos by John Pellan
Test Riders: Nic Granlund, Allen Knowles, John Pellan

I remember the day the boys at Yamaha dropped the bomb on the ATV industry with the introduction of their high-performance YFZ450. Thanks to Dennis Cox of Dirt Wheels Magazine, I was fortunate enough to be a part of that instrumental day when Yamaha invited the press out to ride the top-secret project that they had spent nearly five years developing. Thinking back I would call the experience the Barack Obama Presidential Inauguration of the ATV Industry, since it truly was a day of change. It was really cool to learn first hand what Yamaha had up its sleeve for several years. I didn’t expect such a well-designed, high-performance, race-worthy quad. After realizing how serious Yamaha was about their new YFZ and its role in the ATV racing world, I remember being really excited about the future of the sport on that Spring day in 2003. Like ATV Scene said back in ’03, with the 2004 Yamaha YFZ450 feature, it truly was the quad that changed everything.

YFZ 2.0
Fast forward four and a half years later and thanks to ATV Scene I was once again a part of another equally exciting YFZ ground breaking introduction. The YFZ becomes the first of any 450 on the market to be completely revamped from the ground up. The word revamped isn’t even fair. Let’s put it this way, the only parts carried over from the 2008 YFZ are the front disc brakes, the rear caliper and the axle carrier. As they say, if it’s not broke – don’t fix it. The frame, engine, suspension, plastic, tires and just about every component on the machine is completely new from the ground up. To fully understand what I mean here, you really should check out the Yamaha YFZ450R “Yamaha Goes All In” feature that was posted a few months ago. This article and the video walk-through provides a lot of detailed information about the all-new YFZ450R.

 Ride Test
Yamaha set us loose for two full days of ride testing on their new YFZ450R. We put it through desert and cross country rigors at Gorman OHV Area on the first day and logged a zillion laps at the LACR Motocross Park in Palmdale, CA the second day.

Both ride spots were superb. I especially liked the new and very much improved LACR facility. I thought it was kind of fitting that the new LACR track, with its new elevation changes, is night and day better than the last time we rode there, which was during the first YFZ intro in 2003.

Its horsepower-sapping terrain complimented what the new YFZ450R was capable of quite well.

 

Engine
I was going to start off with my initial impressions as soon as I sat on the machine and talk about how much more roomy it is for bigger guys like myself, but I’m just too excited about what impressed me the most about the YFZ450R, the power! This thing flat-out rips! The bone stock engine, even with the corked up stock exhaust makes effortless power that you’re going to fall in love with. From down low, all through the mid-range and tapped out in 5th, this baby hauls!

Yamaha told us the new YFZ450R has more GYTR integration than any other vehicle Yamaha has ever produced! That statement tells me that they really must have taken their time and developed the quad with careful consideration to the competitive racing market.

The completely redesigned 449cc four stroke DOHC liquid cooled engine is nothing like the old one. It features an all new titanium 5-Valve head, all new crankcases, new gear ratios and new crankshaft. Bigger and beefier, cases, crankshaft and gears may increase weight a touch but the extra reliability is well worth the additional weight. Also, with the beefier foundation, the new YFZ450R engine will hold up to modification much better than the old one.

The new YFZ breathes smooth as silk with a new fuel injection system that uses a 42mm Mikuni throttle body, up from the 39mm carbureted YFZ of old. The overall mission was to build a brand new made-for-racing YFZ powerplant that would provide the least amount of fatigue to the rider as possible. I’m here to tell you they did just that.

Besides the butter-smooth fuel injection delivery, in order to greatly increase the power curve yet provide a smoother less fatiguing ride than prior models, Yamaha fitted a bigger counter balancer into the bigger bottom end. Yamaha told us before we rode the machines that the new YFZ450R is now perfectly balanced and that we should be able to feel the reduced vibration, which indeed I could.

The new cylinder head, based on the YZ450F, increases the compression ratio to 11:6:1. Also with its new cam shaft profiles there is no need for the old cam modification many riders used to do in order to squeeze a little more top end out of the old YFZ machine.

The old external oil tank was replaced with a simplified internal one. Good riddance! I hated messing with that tank and external oil lines every time I needed to wash the quad or pull the engine.

A stainless steel head pipe and a sharp-looking new oval muffler provide decent power and easily meet current noise guidelines. Of course the GYTR exhaust really woke up the engine but I’ll get to that later in the GYTR section.

Also worth noting is the new gear ratios. Every gear is 2% larger and 4mm further apart. No complaints here, the new YFZ450R shifted well and pulled hard in every gear. Come to think of it I don’t think I missed a shift once in two full days of riding.

Frame
You can also see here that the frame is actually five sections, four upper aluminum sections and one lower tensile steel section. The rounded steel allowed Yamaha to mount the engine lower in the frame than they would have if they opted for an all aluminum frame. In this they were able to maintain a low center of gravity, which aids in the machines ability to corner well.In the last ten years, Yamaha sure has released a lot of firsts in the industry. They were first to introduce the high performance four stroke engine (the YZ426), first with Power Steering on an ATV (the Grizzly 700), first with the lightest pure sport 250cc ATV (the Raptor 250), first with a light weight 450cc 4×4 (the Wolverine 450), first with a high performance race-worthy 700cc sport quad (the Raptor 700R) – and now they’re first to combine a high-tensile steel lower frame rail with an upper cast aluminum main frame. When you stop and think about it, it’s hard to believe no one has done this yet. If you ask me, the lower frame is far to vulnerable to be made of aluminum, and if it is, the aluminum needs to be so thick and tall that you end up losing out in the all too important lower center of gravity game. I was very impressed at the all new sectional frame design that they produced. It’s 15% lighter than a frame made entirely of steel, and since there are no welds the frame is more durable than frames that are welded together. Plus, since there are no welds, you can replace one of the five sections of the frame if needed.

The near 10 inches of travel is night and day better than last year’s YFZ as well as many other 450’s I’ve tested.I’m also happy to report that the new increase in the lower front frame rail rake (was 8, now 11 degrees) hasn’t really affected the YFZ’s superb turning ability like I thought it would. I know Bill Ballance probably had something to do with the increase in rake. That was his biggest pet peeve on the old YFZ. More rake is better for aggressively hitting obstacles since it provides more of a sloping angle as well as additional clearance at the front of the machine. This undoubtedly makes for a better cross country application, but too much rake will typically not allow the machine to steer as well as one with less rake in areas like TT or Supemoto. By completely changing the entire frame geometry, Yamaha arrived at a nice compromise and somehow got the best of both worlds. In my two days of testing I feel it steers equally as well as the old YFZ and now provides that nice swept up front end which allows the machine to slip over jump faces and cross country obstacles much better. My hat’s off to them for figuring this out.

Suspension & Handling
I love the added width, which shouldn’t be a problem at all out West. And I’ve heard that today’s GNCC race tracks seem to be getting wider and wider. So perhaps the stock width will be fine out East as well. I think a hot set up for GNCC guys will be to swap the ‘09 R wheel hubs with ‘08 YFZ hubs. This should narrow the machine up by an inch or so. I’ve tested just about every ATV that’s been available over the years. It’s funny to think back of all the former testing. I never really rode an ATV with even a remote thought of leaving the stock shocks, arms, swingarm and axle on the machine. It was always automatic, you had to test ride the machine with the idea of how much better the quad would be after you shelved the many stock parts and bolted up aftermarket replacements. As much as I liked the old YFZ, that machine was still no different – you needed to spend another $3k-$4k if you wanted it to perform well on the motocross or TT track.

Like Barack says, it’s time for change, right? I’m with you for sure on that. At 48.8 inches, the new YFZ450R is now three inches wider than the old YFZ. Since the front frame is very narrow at the A-arm mounting points, this reduces changes in the camber as the A-arms travel through their full range of motion. This, combined with the additional width combined with the new shock mount points allows for a true long travel suspension package. Finally!

The piggyback KYB shocks, which are massive compared to the old YFZ shocks, worked quite well. They feature Kashima coating and offer a whopping 83% increase in oil volume. All three shocks offer high & low speed compression, rebound and threaded pre-load adjustability. Up front you get 9.8 inches of travel and 11 inches in the rear. Now that’s more like it! The new KYB’s are far more like expensive aftermarket shocks.

I was very impressed with the stock KYB shocks. Don’t be afraid to experiment with all the shock adjustments. You’ll be surprised how much better you can make the bike perform with a little tinkering. Be sure to keep a journal of the original setting so you always have a base line to go back to. The R’s cast aluminum swing arm is slightly longer than the standard YFZ and rear linkage ratios are increased as well. With the massive increases I was pleased to see that the seat height remained the same. The low center of gravity really allows you to rail turns at speed without any tippy feeling whatsoever.

Handling was absolutely superb! As for suspension, as I said, I was very impressed. I was able to ride the machine as hard as my current pro-level YFZ. That included hitting the big uphill triple wide open and launching off the downhill ski jump at LACR. Both jumps were well over 100 feet in distance yet my landings were surprisingly plush. As for racing with the stockers, I feel the shocks don’t need to be touched for A class racing. And with a little revalving and custom springs to fit your exact weight and riding style, I truly believe these stockers could be used in Pro and Pro-Am classes! Wow, I didn’t think I would ever get to say something like that.

I will say I was a little disappointed that there is no caster and camber adjustability like the A-arms found on the new KTM SX. I’ve already talked with Leager’s about this. They will be offering a upper A-arm kit for the YFZ450R that allow the ability to adjust camber and caster. They estimate the kit should be around the $300 price range.

Lastly I was a little bummed to hear that the new YFZ450R is nearly 30 pounds heavier than the old YFZ. I know the beefier engine, added width and fuel injection components should make the machine heavier, but in four years of progression I would have like to see it only 15 pounds heavier than the old YFZ, not 30. I will admit, the machine handles and jumps so well I really didn’t notice the added weight as much as I thought I would. And to Yamaha’s credit the YFZ450R is 18 pounds lighter than the widened and fuel injected Suzuki LT-R450.

Tires & Wheels
Yamaha told us of a study they made that compared the same age demographic of 450cc motorcycle buyers with 450cc ATV buyers. They found that 54% of 450cc motorcycle buyers raced their bike on a motocross track, while only 10% of 450cc ATV buyers raced their machines. They basically found that ATV motocross racers made up for a small niche market. You may be asking yourself, why even make the machine then? They went on to tell us that although many of these buyers don’t race, they still want race-worthy motocross performance regardless. Because of this Yamaha decided it was in their best interest to release the YFZ450R with taller tires.

In the rear 20×10-9 Dunlop radial tires come stock. Up front 21×7-10 Dunlop radial tires are used. I feel they hit the nail right on the head here. Even if you’re a pure motocross rider it’s nice to have taller tires for mud races and I’m sure a lot of dune riders and cross country guys will appreciate not having to swap out originally equipped motocross tires with something more practical for their needs.

Even though the tires are taller, they’re still designed for motocross use. In my two days of testing, I never experienced any tire roll, steering was precise, hard hits were absorbed quite well and pitching the quad sideways when needed was simple and fun. In short you just might leave the taller stock tires on even if you exclusively ride motocross terrain and nothing else, especially if the terrain is loamy or sandy, they’re that good!

Ergonomics
Yamaha told us they wanted to take a clean sheet of paper out and try to look outside the box to design the most fatigue-free machine it possible could.

At 6’-4” and 235 lbs, I’m a little bigger than the average rider, even so, I was amazed at how much room the new YFZ450R has over the standard YFZ. A tad taller seat may have fitted me a little better, but no complaints here. I really liked the shape of the seat too, which is similar to what Suzuki has offered for many years. It’s easy to maneuver to either side of the machine quickly and when you get there, it’s nice to have a little padding for your butt, especially for long full days of riding.

The black side panels aren’t just for looks. They provide flex and some cushion for your knees. This is another first in the industry for Yamaha, and something I feel they’ll improve on in the future. I bet they come up with an even softer material in the future, perhaps something more rubbery. Something that hasn’t been talked about too much is the fact that these side panels also protect your plastic. You can just replace the side panels when they start wearing out cheaper than you can the front and rear fender units. I’m also happy to see they used a flat black design. A glossy one would have shown scratches after just one ride.

There’s no need to buy new levers and bars. The stocker comes with quality adjustable levers and the clutch can be adjusted on the fly. Also you’ll have four positions you can move the bars to.Keeping true to their mission of providing the least amount of fatigue possible, the YFZ450R boasts ProTaper handlebars, which reduce vibration over typical bars. As good as these are I would have liked a set of Flexx Bars, but the Flexx Bars would add to the price of the machine so I don’t blame them for going with the ProTaper units, if it means keeping the retail price of the machine under $8k. What’s really cool is the fact that Yamaha followed KTM’s lead and allows four-position handlebar adjustability. There are two sets of holes in the handlebar crown and eccentric clamps that allow the rider to choose between the standard setting, 10mm or 20mm forward, or 10mm back. I decided to use the most forward position.

Some old school guys like me prefer a twist throttle, but I have to admit the newly shaped thumb throttle lever offered a far easier and smoother throttle control than the old YFZ assembly. Clutch and brake levers are adjustable and worked great. Meanwhile the pegs were awesome! At 65mm wide, they’re probably the widest stock pegs ever. They’re also 12mm longer than last year’s YFZ. The benefit is a sturdier foundation that better spreads the load from impacts. They also provide a nice kick-up at the ends to help keep your feet from slipping off. I felt they were a touch too tall, but this can be taken care of when you bolt on the GYTR nerfs, which come with adjustable pegs.

If you put all the above together Yamaha claims you’ll be able to race faster and longer with less effort. After two full days of riding the machine I completely agree.

The 2009 YFZ450R comes in a standard Yamaha Blue/White or Red/White. By the time you read this dealers should already have units in stock. Retail price is $7,999. For those of you that don’t need such a high performance 450 Yamaha’s standard YFZ450 is still in their lineup and available for $7299.

Brakes
Removing the front and rear fenders is nothing like the old YFZ. Up front, remove four simple bolts and the plastic can easily be lifted off. The key and instrument panel remain on the machine while the plastic is removed. This is an area that we always needed to address because in the past you never knew what kind of quality you were going to get when it came to the braking department. Now days, I feel the brakes found in high performance ATVs are about as good as they can possible be. The YFZ450R offers pro level braking, just like you would expect. I suppose you could swap out the lines with a set of GYTR or Streamline steel braided units and make them a tad better especially for long ride sessions, but if you did nothing to your stock brakes you’ll enjoy excellent braking power.

Maintenance
This is something that I feel only KTM has gotten correct, that is until now. In my opinion a race machine should be easy to work on and it should never have anything on it that isn’t absolutely necessary for racing. Yamaha told us they listened to all the complaints in the last four years and addressed them all.

I like the fact that you can take the front and rear plastic off with just eight bolts. That’s a 50% reduction from the last YFZ. What’s more, the battery, which is much smaller than prior years by the way, doesn’t need to be touched to get the rear fenders off. And when removing the front plastic there’s no longer a need to hassle with the key or instrument panel as they are fitted to the machine not the front plastic unit. Also the black body panels come off easily, so getting at the bare frame and engine only takes a few minutes.

As I said early, the oil tank is now integrated with the crankcase so it’s now much easier when it’s time to wash the machine and remove the engine from the frame.

Also concerning maintenance is the handy instrument panel seen through the front fender in front of the rider. It includes vital indicators signaling low fuel, coolant temperature, check engine, and neutral gear in a sharp LED display. You can also purchase a self diagnosis cable to trouble shoot the machine.

GYTR
I was told to talk about the stock machine first before mentioning the GYTR bolt ons. Let me tell you, this wasn’t easy. If you’re like me, the GYTR goodies that were developed right along with the development of the YFZ450R are of special interest.

First off, like I said earlier, no other Yamaha product has received as much GYTR integration as the new YFZ450R. All this joint development planning from the get-go has allowed 70 different YFZ450R GYTR products! I’m not going to get into all 70 available GYTR products, but it’s nice to know that Yamaha supports its new YFZ450R so well.

Yamaha let us take 10 laps on a YFZ450R that was equipped with 20 of the hottest GYTR go fast goodies. I’ll tell you what, the GYTR YFZ450R was absolutely incredible! Let’s put it this way, it was almost as fast as my heavily modified pro level YFZ race quad. Yamaha’s Dustin Nelson said the same thing.

 

 In my opinion anyone that wants to race should seriously consider purchasing an exhaust system. There is an approximate 20% increase at 9500 rpm and 10% increase at peak rpm, when the GYTR exhaust system is used with a GYTR air filter. I feel it’s actually safer to ride with the added power, because you can blip the throttle and easily get over obstacles that are much harder to clear with the corked up stock exhaust system on the machine. Since it has been perfected right along with the development of the YFZ450R from the beginning stages of the quad, the GYTR Full Stainless Steel System is an excellent choice at $574, You A and Pro-Am guys can probably do just fine by only adding this upgrade.

The machine I rode had just about every available GYTR engine enhancement including the following; a High Performance Piston Kit, which increased compression to 13:2:1 ($193.95), an ECU unit ($349.95), a High Flow Air Filter ($54.95), an Air Filter Adaptor ($89.95), a Clutch Cover ($110.95), a Clutch Basket ($209.95), a Clutch Inner Hub ($279.95), a Clutch Pressure Plate ($149.95) and last but not least the GYTR CNC Ported Head Assembly ($2,245.95).

Yamaha claims that a 33% increase will be obtained with the above GYTR hop up components and I believe every word of it. If the quad had wings I think I could have flown it. With all this added power I really like the fact that the crank and engine cases are bigger and beefier, so I’m assuming the stock engine should be able to handle the added mods without a problem.

 The GYTR CNC Ported Head Assembly may appear pricey but if you’re a serious racer or performance person like me, I think you’ll agree you really get a lot with this assembly. First off it has been heavily thought out through extensive development, with flow bench, dyno and plenty of track testing. When you buy the head from your local dealer you can be sure you’re getting precise CNC machining dimensions. The GYTR cylinder head comes completely ready to bolt on with valve train and GYTR Performance Camshafts pre-assembled. And for the thousands of dollars you’ll spend for the mods elsewhere you certainly wont have a complete spare cylinder head assembly ready to bolt on in case of a future problem.

Lastly, regarding the cylinder head assembly, here’s something to make you ATVers proud and to further emphasize my point. James Stewart recently bolted on the GYTR YFZ450R ATV cylinder head assembly on his new Factory Yamaha YZ450 motorcycle. So far he’s pulled the holeshot in 16 of 18 motos and won the US Open and Supercross De Bercy in Paris. It’s not very often that a pro motorcycle racer, especially the best in the business, bolts on a product originally designed for an ATV.

GYTR (continued)
I saw Dustin Nelson launch off this 100+ foot triple so I had to try it myself. I did not take into consideration that I weigh 50 lbs more than him so my first attempt did not go so well. To my delight the YFZ450R’s suspension swallowed up my shortcoming and allowed me to have another go at it. After never letting up in fifth gear I could easily clear it from then on.The unit I rode had a set of GYTR Nerf Bars with footwells and pegs included. I was especially impressed with the build quality and the ability to adjust the pegs .75” or 1.25” lower than stock. They retail for $425.95. For me, they’re worth the price since I feel much safer with them on. Trust me, you don’t want to go cheap on a nerf bar set up and end up getting your leg caught up under your machine.

The bad-to-the-bone GYTR equipped YFZ450R I rode also had 18” ITP QuadCross MX Pro rear tires mounted on ITP black 8” track-lock wheels ($569.90) on the rear and a set of 20” ITP QuadCross MX Pro front tires mounted on Black ITP 10×5 T-9 GP Rolled Edge wheels ($349.90). This tire and wheel set up is better for motocross, but I have to admit after riding both, it’s amazing how well the bigger stock Dunlops performed on the motocross track. If and when it is time to bolt on the smaller meats you will need to adjust the gearing. I noticed that I ran out of gearing with the GYTR YFZ on the long run before the big uphill triple at LACR.

Rounding out the remaining 20 GYTR products on the test quad I rode include; a Racing Front Grab Bar with number plate ($94.95), a Rear Grab Bar with number plate ($99.95), a Blue GYTR Graphics Kit ($54.95), a Blue 36mm Engine Plug ($29.95), a Blue 14mm Engine Plug ($26.95), a Blue Magnetic Drain Plug ($27.95) and a Plastic Frame Skid Plate ($114.95). I have to say I was impressed with the plastic skid plate. I think an aluminum unit might offer a little more protection for guys like me racing desert races, but after checking out the GYTR plastic unit I’m not so certain.

To check out all 70 of the GYTR products available for the YFZ450R click Yamaha-motor.com then navigate to the YFZ450R Accessory Page.

Summing it Up
Yamaha really did their homework with the new YFZ450R, with electric-like power, superb handling, amble suspension and outstanding cornering it wasn’t easy for us to give back our test units. As impressed and excited about the sport’s future as I was in 2003 when Yamaha knocked my socks off with the first high performance 450 in our sport’s history, I’m equally as impressed and excited about their second installment of the ATV that changed everything.

Back in the second half of 2003 and early in 2004, Yamaha enjoyed about eight months or so of no competition. Now, not only does Honda, Kawasaki and Suzuki make high performance 450cc ATVs, so does Can-Am, Polaris, KTM, Gas Gas and ATK. And rumor has it that it won’t be long before Kymco and BMW will have a 450cc high performance quad of their own. A lot certainly has changed in four and half years.

If you’ve read this far and checked out some of the videos we’ve put together, I think you’ll agree Yamaha certainly has done their homework with their entry in the highly competitive 450cc market.

At $7999 the YFZ450R is not the cheapest of the available 450 high performance sport quads, and it’s certainly far from being the most expensive. You’ll have to decide for yourself if the new YFZ450R is the right machine for you. As for me the choice is clear, since they’re already in route to dealers, I’ll be picking mine up any day now.

More at yamaha-motor.com

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