Yz450 Just a thought

Bike design and setup involves a ton of compromises. I'm pretty sure the factory gives its riders direction on what it is trying to accomplish with the new bike and, even though the riders might recommend a particular direction, it's up to the factory.

For instance, with the new Suzuki and other suzukis in the past, they try to improve the bike around the edges while not sacrificing what suzukis are known for - as being very nimble and great in the corners. I've always known Yamahas as more stable bikes that were more comfortable in really rough, fast conditions than Suzukis, and I imagine that making the Yamaha corner like a suzuki would require giving up some of that stability.

So in short, no, I don't think Travis' size has anything to do with it.

Considering Preston's boss is like 5'7" and 140#'s, and also has a big input on the bike, I'd say that's not the issue. My take is Yamaha took a big step into uncharted waters with the reverse engine and mass centralization. While all the other bikes a virtual clones of each other. So they are the only ones pushing the development of this layout- which means it might take a bit of time to get it sorted before it surpasses layouts that have been being developed for decades now. Also- all the different manufactures have different durability and safety design parameters. Yamaha's probably being the highest. Look at the rear hub and brakes set up on a YZ and compare it to a CR- it looks overbuilt by comparison. But that is because that have set a higher failure standard their designers have to meet. This contributes to the bike being heavier than the others. Then mix in the thick ergo's, and you have a heavier felling bike. Lots to consider when building a consumer product, I'm a long time Yamaha fan, and own a current gen YZ and like it. I think its biggest problem isn't so much that it isn't good(talking chassis- the rest is amazing!), it's just that it's different. Like I said, all the other bikes are very similar than the YZ in design, and therefore feel. While the YZ is it's own animal and takes a bit of warming up too. But once you're there, it's a great bike.

That bike went that way before Travis was there I believe.

chuckie108 wrote:

Considering Preston's boss is like 5'7" and 140#'s, and also has a big input on the bike, I'd say that's not the issue. My take is Yamaha took a big step into uncharted waters with the reverse engine and mass centralization. While all the other bikes a virtual clones of each other. So they are the only ones pushing the development of this layout- which means it might take a bit of time to get it sorted before it surpasses layouts that have been being developed for decades now. Also- all the different manufactures have different durability and safety design parameters. Yamaha's probably being the highest. Look at the rear hub and brakes set up on a YZ and compare it to a CR- it looks overbuilt by comparison. But that is because that have set a higher failure standard their designers have to meet. This contributes to the bike being heavier than the others. Then mix in the thick ergo's, and you have a heavier felling bike. Lots to consider when building a consumer product, I'm a long time Yamaha fan, and own a current gen YZ and like it. I think its biggest problem isn't so much that it isn't good(talking chassis- the rest is amazing!), it's just that it's different. Like I said, all the other bikes are very similar than the YZ in design, and therefore feel. While the YZ is it's own animal and takes a bit of warming up too. But once you're there, it's a great bike.

Bingo. You have to re think how you ride it in some ways and not everyone can wrap their mind around that.