Deegan’s Bike

He doesn't know how to ride a 450 yet. 

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the bike other than it’s 20lbs heavier and more hp. Deegs is gonna get better with it. 

There's always another excuse with you people. 

He's getting his ass handed to him by more talented riders. That's all there is to it. 

It’s bad enough that Chad Reed made a post on Instagram about it.

If his bike isn't set up to his liking, that's kinda on him, right?

I think any past or current pro would agree that Haiden spends way too much energy throwing down aggressive whips on every jump. 

Smooth is fast.  

Yeah but I hardly can tell when Reed is trolling or serious. Better would be a suggestion to fix it. Like DV pointed out about what Tomac should change in his setup. 

I know it was months ago but I don’t remember anyone saying the bike was an issue early in the season. Heck the team rented southwick to spend extra time testing and setting up the bike. Obviously they do everything they can to give team 38 what they want. Where is this narrative all of a sudden coming from?

When was the last Yamaha win? MXGP or AMA 450? Of course Jett would win on one, but Gasjer is having a hell of a time on one.

His bike setup looks absolutely terrible, he needs to practice on rougher tracks than the star facility. He also needs to change his riding style which isn’t helping him right now,

Boy what a change. Just a year ago Star was the darling of the fans and racers. Now Eli left and it’s back to the blue pig…guess Chase better not go there either!

I just got a '26 450 and it's certainly not the blue pig lol. Great bike, in my opinion. Obviously the Star bike is it's own thing but I think people are always so quick to say a bike is great/terrible based on whatever recency bias. Hunter's bike in moto 2 looked to kick around a decent amount and he also crashed. So does the Honda suck too? 

On a more serious note, I think Deeg's set up on the 250 was based on him bulldogging the bike. And I think maybe the transition in riding style, hasn't allowed him to dial in a set up to mesh with him yet, if anything. I don't think the bike sucks. And I don't really think it's holding him back. He's riding great and he's pretty consistent. Typically if a bike sucks, the rider has very up and down moments.

Go on, what did he have to say about it. 

he won on a Yamaha in the 250's, Loretta Lynn's and anywhere else he raced. The 450 class isn't for dudes nicknamed "dangerboy". he rides like he still a 125 junior albeit a lot faster. how is a 450 not going to bind up a bit riding it wide open in second gear? doesn't matter the brand.....the little shit should learn to shift

How does Barcia's bike handle?

It could be that he's just plowing into everything that the Lawrence brothers are skipping over and around

You can see and hear it on the broadcast. He slams into corners and whips off even the smallest jumps while the other three top guys are dancing around. Prado and the brothers go by the camera and you hear Buuuuuuhhhh, then Deegan goes by and you hear Brrrrraahaahaa paap paaap paaap.

Always a Reed fan, but... Was this his excuse against RC outdoors? Sometimes you just don't have it.

Funny that you could probably compare RC's style closer to Deegan and Reed's to the Lawrence bros. It's a different world out there now.

It's only 9lbs heavier in stock trim...

Reed would blame the bike anytime he got beaten straight up by RC or Stew. Probably one of the most notorious bike blamers of all time. 

Listen…..Deagan said he was learning !

I’m sure he’s still learning……by no means am I making excuses for advocating him.

He’s learning that 400 cc of Botox in your lips is way too much

he doesnt have a trey canard level rider doing his testing

To be fair Reedy was often proven right with his complaints and he does know a thing or two about badly mannered Yamahas, however if you put Prado or the Lawrence bros on Deegan’s bike, I bet it doesn’t look as bad.

Interesting points.

Who is having a better year? Chase/Kawi or Gasjer/Yamaha? Do either, both or neither stick it out another year?

Many people simply compare the overall bike weight and don't understand the real difference between a smaller displacement bike and a larger engine bike.

The gyroscopic effects of all of the spinning parts make the greater cc bike much harder to move about when racing.  One of many reasons not to spool a big-bore up like a smaller bike.

The crankshaft is larger and heavier; the primary gears, clutch and transmission gears are all beefier to handle the extra power of the larger and more powerful bike.  And it's all spinning around in circles.  

I discovered this riding road-racing bikes with identical chassis but different size engines in back to back in practice sessions at Road Atlanta. 
I had been endurance racing a Yamaha FZR1000 all season long, then took one of my teammates FZR750 out for a session.  
I could not believe how easy it was to flick around! 

It explained the difference between riding my YZ250 and my IT 490 all of those years ago to me.

I agree with the original post.  Just watching the back end of Deegan's Yamaha at Unadilla on TV it was bouncing way more that the Honda's of the Lawrence boys or Prado's KTM.  I pointed that out in the bench racing thread and got a bunch of thumbs down from non-observant people.

Nothing wrong with the bike, it's the way it's being ridden - rev limiter almost 100% of the time like his 250 days, makes it very difficult to ride smooth imho 

When did eli last win outdoors on one? The blue 450 isn't looking great on either side of the pond. I think the last time someone won an ama national on a Yamaha 450 was 2022. Maybe 2023 for the an mxgp overall win?  Not saying is the bike.  But it hasn't been overly competitive for wins by anyone for awhile...  

Nothing says doesn't know how to ride a 450 like being third in the standings behind the two fastest riders in the world, and ahead of a 4x World Champion. What does that say about all the riders he is beating, every single one who has been riding a 450 for several years?