Yamaha YZ250X long-term test bike update from ADB issue #439 - April 2016.
Hours: 10
Mods this month: GYTR tank, B&B bashplate
Mods next month: Motoz Hybrid tyre, GYTR pipe and flywheel, ProBolt kit
With the YZ’s duties as a pristine magazine photo model completed with a hit-out against the Sherco 250SE-R it was time to hook into some serious mods. ADB’s enduro testing crew and freestyle motocross fans had managed to leave boot marks on the front guard and headlight with their heel clicker routines but never mind.
At least it wasn’t too late to protect the frame rails, by organising an alloy bashplate from B&B Off-Road in Ballarat, Vic. These guys have been around almost as long as the YZ two-stroke so it was no surprise that they had a jig to make the required component.
The B&B bashplate doesn’t go around the expansion chamber but the stock exhaust seems to be built tough enough to take a few hits. Not having the extra protection also avoided us having to worry about whether the bashplate would clear the GYTR by FMF Nickle Torque Exhaust that’s on its way from Sydney.
We have finally managed to get the hour meter into double figures and that was partly thanks to the GYTR 12.1 litre fuel tank, with its 50 per cent increase in capacity over the stocker. Nothing like a boost in (petrol) supply to increase demand.
There were no issues fitting the tank, we just swapped over the mounts and fuel tap from the stock tank and flushed it out with a few litres of petrol to make sure there were no traces of plastic from the moulding process. The tank is translucent so you can watch the level go down but the radiator shrouds stop it looking totally naked.
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- YZ250X
It does kick the shrouds out slightly, particularly at the top, so we were a bit worried about what would happen to them in the tight. It’s also slightly wider between the legs when sitting forward to weight the front-end.
First stop was the Stradbroke State Forest for a quick blast on fireroads and non-techo singletrack to get that hour meter ticking over. We did three laps of a 50km circuit at moderate pace without breathing hard and it looked like the GYTR tank was still good for another lap.
The main tracks had all been groomed for the fireys but didn’t look like they’d had much use since then. It was pretty funny to see rock wallabies come shooting out of the new stormwater pipes under the road as we approached. It was a hotday.
With the revised ergos, it seemed more comfortable to keep standing and lean forward to weight the fork. The extra fuel certainly hadn’t stopped the YZ’s friskiness.
A couple of days later we were up at the Toolangi State Forest trailriding area with Editor Mitch Lees on the RMX450Z long-termer. You couldn’t have more of a contrast from Stradbroke, was lots of tight singletrack, climbs and descents at Toolangi. The terrain up there is an interesting mixture of loam and rocky sections.
The stock gearing on the YZ-X was a little high for this stuff but the bike reinforced its reputation for being light and flickable. Still, would’ve accepted a 5kg penalty to have been able to use a start button before Mitch turned up on some of those hills.
We did fill up the tank before this ride, which wasn’t really necessary, and the stock Dunlop AT81 rear is pretty flogged out for hillclimbing so we’ll be back up at Toolangi shortly to test out the latest changes. There’s also the suggestion of some dirt tracking at Broadford with a Motoz Hybrid on the back. Mitch reckons I’ll eat dirt.
Wolter Kuiper