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Only $10 for all 2024 SX, MX, and SMX series (regularly $30).
The list price is more than the YZ250F motocross bike.
It means Japan is finally starting to sweat KTM. We the consumers ultimately win.
Yamaha is doing what no other Japanese manufacturer is doing, putting money back into the off road market. I think this is a great move by yamaha. Bike looks like legit, 6 speed, 18" rear wheel, and electric start? If it was orange people would be saying how smart it is to cater to peoples needs and wants. As soon as a blue bike does it, its a fail?
Its already the best 250f motocrosser, so why not tweak it to make it applicable to the off road market (which is HUGE, look at KTM's sale). Its the same formula KTM uses, start with a great base with a mass run of identical bikes and parts, create minor tweaks to each base type to fit the needs of the niche markets.
The Shop
This seems like a big win in my book. Thanks Yamaha!
Big deal here. For years KTM has owned the majority of the off-road market by making racing-focused machines, while the Japanese brands usually shade their off-road bikes a little further toward the trail riding side of the market. As a result, most off-road racers who use Japanese bikes usually just use the motocross version as a base.
Yamaha is changing that with the new YZ250FX, which is a closed-course competition off-road racer. No lights, minimal off-road fluff, just an engine and suspension retuned for off-road racing, coupled with electric start. It's a motocross bike massaged just enough to race cross-country events, which is something KTM has been doing for a decade with its XC line. This bike is a direct shot at those KTMs. We haven't seen a Japanese brand make an off-road bike that wasn't designed for green-sticker emissions compliance, or came without lights, in a long, long time.
Yamaha is also redesigning the WR250F, which is a more traditional off-roader with lights and emissions compliance. Both new bikes are based on the YZ250F, which was redesigned last year with considerable success. No word on if a 450 is coming at any point.
Here's the official PR announcing the new bikes. We'll see if it signals any sort of shift in a market KTM usually dominates.
Even Yamaha's recently re-designed WR 450 is no where near as racy as KTM's XC bikes This new Yamaha seems to be.
I think it's a great new direction for Yamaha and I hope we see both a 450 version and some sort of YZ 250 2-stroke version as well.
Pit Row
not a huge fan of the Honda X models, they're heavy as fuck (sorry Ridge)... would be interested to see how these perform offroad.
Not sure why with a KTM you can get a plate in most states even with a two stroke and with the jap bikes, the Cert of Orig say "offroad only". There is some kind of a difference there, and perhaps its just happenstance. However, for a large portion of the offroad market, we still have to slap a plate on there.
This is great, and is an impressive move by Blue. The WRs never interested me at all (way too heavy and too much unnecessary stuff added for no reason), but a stripped-down, focused off-road version is a stellar idea.
I'm pretty loyal to KTM, but this thing is enticing.
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