Australasian Dirt Bike – May 2019

78 | MAY 2019 http://www.adbmag.com.au

IS IT RELIABLE?
In the early days of modern four-
strokes, when other brands were
chewing up valves like sparkplugs, the
Yamahas were still out there chewing
dust and motoring. To this day I see no
difference in Yamaha’s quality.
Yamaha’s racing mad, just look at
their race representation, and they
aren’t about to blow their reputation by
releasing a bomb, which is why there is
so much research and development that
goes into a model before it is released to
the public. It takes months, if not years,
of testing and racing to develop each
model. You are not buying the first bike
off the assembly line. They iron out the
bugs long before the bike is released.
Sometimes it seems like too long but
that’s the way it is.
I am yet to hear anyone getting
around complaining about the 2019
YZ250F, in fact it is now common
knowledge around the tracks that these
bikes are total rocketships. I wish I was
the first to tell you but unless you’ve
been hiding in a jungle without wifi
then you’ll likely already know this. I
am also yet to see any problems.
Actually the only one that has been
brought to me had a clutch issue. The
cable was really stiff and the lever
couldn’t be pulled in to the handlebar.
It turns out there was a stone sitting in
front of the actuator arm on the engine
stopping the arm from moving. The fix
was as simple as flicking the stone out.

NowI’dbelyingifIsaidtherehave

never been any problems with the

YZ250F so I’ll tell you a few I have seen

with the 2014 model. Some of these you

might already know but the water pump

impellor failed on some and caused the

bike to overheat but this was rectified

through a recall and Yamaha fixed

bikes that had overheated.

The other issue I saw was where

people had installed heavier,

aftermarket pistons. This was either

causing the conrod to stretch and bend

or the piston pin or piston to crack.

Yamaha has beefed up these parts to

prevent these problems but my advice to

anyone is to stick with genuine parts.

HOW DOES IT RIDE?

Ummm incredible, I mean what else do

I say that hasn’t been said about this

bike. The second I rolled onto the track

andgrabbedahandful,mysphincter

begantotighten,myeyeswidenedand

myveinsbecamefilledwith

adrenaline.Thepowerwasso

impressiveyettotallyunexpectedasI

didn’tthinkitwaspossibletogetthis

kindofpowerfromaproductionbike.

Itfeelsmuchlikeridingafactory

machine.Thepowerisimpressiveright

fromidletoredlinebutthemost

impressivepartformewasthetorque.

Two-fiftiesaren’tusuallypraisedfor

theirtorqueso,forthisreason,Iprefer

toridea 450 asIcanusetheirtorqueto

drivemearoundthetrackinsteadof

ridingaroundontherevlimiter.

The YZ250F has so much torque that

you don’t need to rev it to ride fast. It

was comfortable because you could ride

that gear higher around corners to

conserve energy and the bike still had

loads of power to keep you moving. The

chassis is much tighter and more

compact than previous years and is a

much easier bike to handle.

The bike is now much more precise

and easier to steer with the front wheel

and no longer feels like a big bike

between your legs. You can still hear the

induction noise but it is quickly

forgotten once the power kicks in and

you’ve got something else to fill your

headwith.

Gotsomethingto sayaboutthisyarn?

[email protected]

More images and info at adbmag.com.au

TECK TALK I 2019 YAMAHA YZ250F

Tankwentfrom7.5to6.2Ltohelpmakeithappen

The YZ now feels as slim as the rest of the class

The second I rolled

onto the track and

grabbed a handful,

my sphincter

began to tighten,

my eyes widened

and my veins

became filled with

adrenaline