A couple of weeks after the US press introduction the Europeans were invited to get a first riding impression of the all new Yamaha YZF450. At a nice late October day the traditional track at Bielstein in the middle of Germany was the place where Yamaha released their latest Motocross model.

After letting out the YZF400 back in 1997 and the YZF250 to rule the 125 class starting 2001 Yamaha again set a milestone in Motocross technology. The rumors were flying around for a couple of months and it finally came true: The YZF450 2010 has almost nothing in common with the 09 version.
An edge style design was created for the plastics and the frame but much more important the engine received some revolutionary treatment. The air box is found right behind the steering head with the EFI unit right below. With the cylinder head – that is a 4 valve one now after many years with a 5 valve type- turned around the exhaust needed a new design which resulted in the ‘tornado’ solution. A loop where the air box has been before leads into a long traditionally designed muffler.

One of the other significant changes is the 8.2 degrees backwards lending cylinder that has also 12mm offset to crankshaft. According to the Yamaha engineers this should help centralizing the masses and leading to a more efficient combustion.

On the track
As the Bielstein track did not offer too many difficulties and the time on the bike was limited this is only a first impression of the all new Yamaha. In opposition to the long and low look of the bike the seat position is one the tall site. The answer bars offer also a bent that supports riding standing up so the stock riding position is already comfortable.
Once we went out on the track the engine pulled hard and quickly forward right from the bottom of the powerband with the slightest twist of the throttle. The engine keeps pulling hard so it seems that the motor will not be the weak point of this bike.
What might be a problem is the noise level. There was no chance to make serious measurements but when you ride the bike the sound comes directly from underneath the rider and it seems to be on a higher lever than what we are used to.
The YZF450 seems to make cornering easy with a light and agile feeling. No complaints also on the straights where some rough parts were perfectly absorbed by the Kayaba suspension which seems to be on a high level as the big Yamaha is well known for.

After just one day of riding it seems that Yamaha is on the right way with the concept and we can’t wait to do further test and to draw comparisons with some of the competitors’ bikes to see where the blue or white bikes ranks at .