Pro motocross riders are, by their nature very brave animals. One thing though, that can strike fear into their hearts is the words “all new model” especially if their current steed is working well.
There is no doubt Eli Tomac has gelled with the 2022 YZ450F, winning the AMA Supercross title with his best indoor season ever and being in the title hunt in an amazing AMA Motocross season so far. This leaves us wondering about the all new 2023 YZ450F and how it will mesh with Eli next year. I’m pretty sure Eli would have been happy if the only update was “bold new graphics”. This is particularly interesting with Eli as he is notoriously fussy on bike set up, he does have a really great team around him in Star Yamaha to get that new whip sorted though. Time will tell, I hope he loves that new machine and has it dialled for A1, I just love it when ET is on fire.
The 2023 YZ450F
In the past there has been a few hits and misses with all new models, here’s a few
examples. Miss – the 1997 Honda CR250R One of the most infamous new model misses in moto history, I could do a long article just on this bike and there is plenty already written, but I’ll stick to 2 key points. This bike was the first mass production motocross bike with an aluminium frame, it was rigorously tested as you would expect with the aim of matching the flex characteristics of a steel frame. The
pre-production test bikes were by all reports excellent, but somewhere between the highly skilled test team’s final product and the production line, material was added to the frame.
This was due to the suits in Japan having concerns about frames cracking, which would be a very public and expensive disaster. This extra material resulted in a super stiff and harsh machine that was bloody awful.
One rider who didn’t like the bike was the King of Supercross himself, Jeremy McGrath, so much so he left the team. At the time he had just won his 4 th premier class title in a row for Honda on the much loved 93 – 96 era bikes. Jeremy also had some other concerns at Honda but he’s on record as saying this bike was his reason for leaving.
Hit – the 2001 Suzuki RM250 (last generation RM250)
The last generation RM250, this machine really hit its straps in 2003 when Suzuki totally copied the cylinder of the class leading YZ250, but the 2001 model was the basis of the much loved, magic handling, shootout winning machine that stuck around until the sad end of 2 stroke Suzuki’s. Often regarded as the best 2 Stroke from its era. Its performance was a key part of Ricky Carmichael moving to Suzuki and winning the last ever supercross title won by a 250 two stroke in 2005. It’s also the machine Travis Pastrana was still backflipping up until a couple of years ago when he ran out of parts!
Miss – the 2009 Honda CRF450R
This machine had a hard act to follow, the 2008 CRF450R was fantastic, it’s often regarded as the best bike of the 4 stroke era. It was the pinnacle of development of the very good first generation CRF450, a bike that was class leading its entire run. So, the 2009 machine had high expectations, What arrived on the dealership floors was a weird handling machine with a new fuel injection system that had mapping issues, and the bike got roasted.
Interestingly though with some tweaks over the next couple of years the bike became a very good machine, in fact this platforms last year in 2012, is Chad Reeds favourite bike ever.
Miss – the 2010 YZ450F
You knew this one was coming. People don’t like change and this machine had the biggest change the major manufacturers had seen since disk brakes! (Or maybe since aluminium frames). The engine was turned backwards, the airbox was weird, the fuel tank was weird, the little curly exhaust was very weird, don’t mention the rough textured shrouds.
Personally, I hated this bike just based on the look, most people hated how wide it looked and felt. In reality though this bike was probably hard done by, it was a decent and very reliable bike for most riders. The biggest knock on the bike was that pro riders couldn’t figure it out, including James Stewart, his distaste for the machine almost led to him retiring, until he was given an offer from Suzuki.
As the YZ450F has progressed through its backwards engine era it’s gotten better and better with major revisions and improvements in 2014 and again in 2018.
Hit – the 2013 KTM450SX/ 2012 ½ factory edition (aka the bike that Ryan and Roger built) Children, gather around. This is the bike that started the orange juggernaut’s rise to world domination. It’s not that long ago when an orange machine was rare sight on a start line, would you believe I bought a KTM in 2003 to be different! The Austrian powerhouse has very humble beginnings in supercross, and motocross for that matter, they had success over the years but it was few and far between and a story in itself.
Late 2011 and Ryan Dungey takes a very bold step and moves to KTM for the 2012 season, reunited with Roger Decoster from their championship winning Suzuki years. Shortly after, the first Factory Edition arrives complete with Red Bull graphics and number 5 on the plates. A very limited amount was built to allow Dunge to race the bike that season under AMA homologation rules. He went on to win KTM’s first ever premier class supercross race at round 2 in Phoenix. And golly gee, the big orange machine has won a heck of a lot of races since.
The 2012 ½ Ryan Dungey Factory Edition KTM450SX
Hit – the 2014 YZ250F
The bike that launched Cooper Webb and Jeremy Martin into superstardom and began Star Yamaha’s 250 class dynasty, particularly due to the horsepower delivered by that reverse engine. Before this bike, Star Yamaha were probably like the Bar X Suzuki of the field, hard to believe that now. The 2013 YZ250F was a decent bike but very outdated and still running a carburettor. That carburettor was sneered at in much the same way a kickstart is today.
The reason the 250 was so behind in development was of course, the huge focus on the aforementioned 450. That said, it’s no doubt that the 250 benefited from the trial and error of its big brother.
A young JMart on his way to the 250 national championship 2014 – awesome pic by Simon Cudby
Miss – the 2022 KTM450SX/ 2022 Husqvarna FC450
The problems faced during this years supercross season and MXGP season have to put this machine on the list. With the Supercross season done and late in the Pro Motocross season and the MXGP season this bike has a total of 2 wins across all 3 major series, being Marvin Musquin’s win at St Louis in April and Brian Bogers MXGP win at Lommel in July. For an organisation so used to winning, that’s gotta hurt. Fair chance heads have rolled.
Why don’t they just ride last years bike? A common question. Motocross is one of the very few motorsports where Joe Blow can walk into a dealership and buy the same basic machine that the elite guys are on, exactly the same if you want Chiz’s bike! So, a manufacturer throwing in the towel and rolling out last years bike would be a marketing catastrophe.
For comparison, If Will Davison tells us at Bathurst that he’s gone back to last year’s car, it’s not going to stop Barry and Shirl from Wagga Wagga buying their new Mustang. Or if Marc Marquez raced last year’s bike, it’s not stopping Rowan from Ascot getting his new Fireblade and searching for the perfect latte.
So, teams have to persist with the new machine, no matter how frustrated the riders are. Fingers crossed Yamaha has nailed this new machine, the sports better when we get to see beast mode.
Go Riding
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