The Theory of Revolution

When an existing design approaches its limits, it’s time to call in the revolutionary thinkers. The creative minds who aren’t afraid to throw everything out and start from scratch.

Which is exactly what happened with the latest incarnation of our championship dominating MX bike. Accepted wisdom has been turned on its head to produce our most effective motocross bike yet. Meet the revolutionary new 2010 YZ450F.

The 2009 450F captured back-to-back World and Aussie MX titles as well as the World and AMA SX crown, so the challenge to take the open class weapon to the next level was a big risk. Because to reach that level, a new approach was needed.

The solution looks simple, but the decision was bold… take mass centralisation in a new direction by fitting a rearward facing and backward tilted cylinder. Now the heaviest part of the bike is closer to the middle… right where it needs to be for amazing levels of flickability.

But theory is nothing without practice to back it up, so Yamaha testers nailed berms, scrubbed jumps and blitzed straights lap after lap to fine tune the new design, to confirm the agility of the new bilateral beam frame, the linear power delivery offered by the sweet fuel injection system and awesome punch from the high torque four-valve motor.

It’s not change for change’s sake. It’s the lightest handling, whoop-skimming YZ450F yet.