Inside the 2021 Yamaha YZ450F

 

Presented by OGIO Powersports

Last year, the  2020 Yamaha YZ450F was redesigned to provide a lighter, more powerful, and better handling motocross experience and the bike swept through the Swapmoto Live 450 Shootout, scoring a near-unanimous win. For 2021, Yamaha adopted the old adage, “If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it,” and left the bike as is, save for a set of new all-blue plastic.

Tunable via a proprietary smart phone app, the Yamaha YZ450F has been touted as having “the perfect powerband.”

The 449cc, liquid-cooled, four-stroke, electric start engine features an all-new compact cylinder head with redesigned combustion chamber shape, steeper valve angles and more aggressive cam profiles. The reward-slanted cylinder houses a higher compression piston with low friction rings attached to a longer connecting rod. The transmission has been refined to provide smoother shifting, and a more efficient crank breather system has been adopted to decrease pumping losses. In all, the lighter, more compact engine produces increased power across the entire RPM range for stronger and more linear pulling power.

The engine is housed in the latest evolution of Yamaha’s lightweight aluminum bilateral beam frame, which has been redesigned with all-new flex characteristics and provides improved cornering performance, traction and bump reaction to give the rider more confidence to push harder. Other chassis components such as engine mounts, top triple clamp, and front axle, as well as the class-leading KYB® suspension with enhanced compression and rebound characteristics, were carefully refined to reduce weight while improving handling and performance. To bring the new package to a stop, the 2020 YZ450F features a newly designed front brake caliper, brake pads, and front and rear disc. The overall changes of the 2020 YZ450F deliver increased power output with more controllable linear acceleration and lightweight handling characteristics that mimic a YZ250F.

The Yamaha’s KYB fork is considered best-in-class by many, including us.

Featuring Yamaha’s advanced racing technology, the 2021 YZ450F has been updated to give racers the edge right out of the gate. Standard equipment including electric start, a lightweight lithium battery, advanced fuel injection, and a wrap-around rear-positioned exhaust deliver powerful and reliable performance while balancing weight for excellent mass-centralization. Racers can achieve quicker, smoother race starts through Yamaha’s Launch Control System, adjust their on-track performance using wireless connectivity through the Yamaha Power Tuner App right from their phone, and now choose between two user defined ECU maps on the fly through the handlebar-mounted dual-mode engine map switch.