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Yamaha needs to get serious about the YZ-2T models and do some R&D.
The Yamaha design is also more difficult to re-assemble due to the staked shifting fork design.
However, the YZ transmission does actually shift very well when new, and the close gear ratios are well suited for mx.
The transmission needs a redesign. Not for the purpose of improving the actual shifting, but for overall durability and modernized mechanical functionality.
Look carefully at #20, #15, #6. These gears engage with their opposing gear using only 3 engagement dogs. Other manufacturers use 4. Some KTM's with Pankl gearbox use 5. This is a weak design.
Look at #8. It's a bushing ("collar" in Yamaspeak) which weakly supports #7 (4th gear). Why did Yamaha use a "collar" to support 4th gear? Because they probably had a surplus inventory of #7's leftover from another bike. Rather than spec a new gear, they used an inexpensive bushing to get the inside diameter of #7 gear to match the shaft. The net effect is that #7 gear is not strongly supported on the shaft, hence many 4th gear problems.. Weak design.
How about the actual gear metallurgy? Yet another weak, cost saving specification.
Pit Row
The steering is not quick enough. It does not need to be Suzuki quick at the expense of headshake, but the YZ's bias toward high speed stability needs to be better balanced with quicker, more precise steering.
The brakes need an update. There is a reason why YZ guys install Honda brake pads. However this still pales in comparison to a Brembo unit. All of the Japanese mfgrs are guilty here.
The clutch needs an update. Notching aluminum baskets, and quick wearing and fade prone overall. Again, all Japanese are guilty.
The YZ ergonomics- John Deer tractor anyone? Needs a lot of work.
Keep the Kayaba SSS. Lots of work required elsewhere.
All the YZ/YZF's I've ever ridden felt like they had a near flat front tire in a sense of how glued to the ground it felt.
Here's another gem of Yamaha engineering.
Note that shifting forks #11, #12 and #13 are a single piece unit rigidly staked to their pins. The forks and pins move simultaneously together as a single unit when the shifting cam rotates. Other manufacturers use a fork over pin design as separate parts.
What does this mean operationally?
It means that on the Yamaha as the pins move together with the fork, the side of the pin that moves out of its crankcase support pocket will have less support than the opposite side of the pin which moves further into it's respective pocket. The out moving side will absolutely have less support, while the in moving side gets more. It also makes transmission reassembly more of a pain in the ass.
As opposed to other manufacturers using the fork sliding over the pin design which leaves the pins equally supported and equally spaced in both case halves at all times since only the fork moves. The pins remain fully supported and stationary.
Which design makes more logical sense?. The Yamaha way, or the other way?
Post a reply to: 21 yz 250