CONFIDENT CHASSIS If I had to pick the change that has made the biggest difference to my riding, it would be the chassis. The 2027 bike picks up the YZ450F’ s compact aluminium bilateral beam frame, and Yamaha says it has been very deliberate about where it is stiff and where it is allowed to flex. I could feel this in two places. The first is in the rough, where the bike stays balanced rather than getting into that pitching, unsettled thing that makes you riding defensively. The second is on corner entry. It goes in flatter and holds a line without needing to be manhandled, so you can actually pick a line and commit to it rather than surviving whatever line the bike decides on. That is what I mean when I say it is a confidence-led bike. It rewards you for being aggressive instead of punishing you for it. The suspension backs that up. There’ s new KYB gear both ends, with a new rear shock running a new base valve and piston, and a tool less low speed compression adjuster. Yamaha claims more damping force and better shock absorption out of it, and that lines up with how settled the bike felt underneath me. The tool less adjuster is the sort of small thing that means you actually make the change at the track rather than telling yourself you will sort it later. The other update worth flagging is the clutch. It is now hydraulic, lifted straight off the YZ450F. Yamaha has run an increased spring load with it and reckons that actually cuts the effort needed at the lever, with feathering and engagement on par with a cable setup. That last bit is the important claim, because a hydraulic clutch which loses the feel at the friction point is a hard sell to anyone who grew up on a cable. Consistent all day, no fade, no chasing free play.
60 KIWI RIDER