There is a certain amount of pressure that comes with launching a new YZ250F. Yamaha will tell you this is the bike with the most Supercross and Motocross championships behind it and the most shootout wins, and they are not shy about saying it. So, when Yamaha follows that up with‘ all-new’, I immediately want to know whether it actually means anything, or whether it is just a line with a fresh set of graphics stuck over the top. Queensland Moto Park was where we were going to find out.
FIRST LEG OVER The thing that hit me before I even got out of the pits was how neutral it feels. Not neutral in a boring way, more that the bar, peg and seat relationship does not push you anywhere. I wasn’ t fighting to get forward and was not perched on the back guard. I could move fore and aft across the bike without any effort, which is the whole game on a 250 four-stroke- where you are constantly shifting weight to hold a rut or load the front. A bike which fights you on that stuff is a bike you get tired on. A lot of that comes down to the new bodywork, which is now shared with the YZ450F. The seat has a honeycomb pattern surface with more grip through it, the numberplate is more compact, and the rear guard is now a rigid unit. It gives you a flatter platform to slide on rather than a series of steps and edges to catch on. Speaking of catching, the new side panels
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