Are you in the market for a bike that can do it all? Are you a rider who likes to ride some motocross one weekend, then maybe go out and shred through the bush the next? Unsure of what to buy? Well, maybe you’re chasing a bike that can do it all, one with the lightness and power of an MX bike with the forgiving handling of an enduro bike. Lucky for you, these days there are manufacturers that combine the best features of their MX bikes with the best features of their enduro bikes, resulting in what we now refer to as hybrid cross-country bikes. It’s a bit of a niche market that doesn’t get a huge amount of exposure but for someone like me, who hasn’t quite grown up yet and still likes cutting laps, bikes like these are exactly what the doctor ordered. And today, I have the 2025 Yamaha YZ450FX at my disposal, and boy am I excited.

I love the concept of these cross-country bikes and in 2025 there are four brands offering these kinds of machines: the Yamaha YZ-FX; the Honda CRF-RX; the KTM/Husky/GASGAS XC/FX/TX models; and the Beta RX range.

Coming from an off-road racing background, I would always run an enduro-spec machine and then try to make it feel more like an MX bike. I was chasing more responsive power, firmer suspension and I wanted to shed some weight. But it was always a tricky situation because the manufacturers didn’t really want to promote a MX bikes racing enduro, and also it would seem that the MX bikes would be harder to sell once the season was over. So, having an MX bike base platform with the key enduro features that a bike like the Yamaha FX offers would have been ideal about 10 years back. Anyways, enough about what could have been – let’s dive into what the 2025 Yamaha YZ450FX is all about.

What’s different to the YZ450F?

Well, it’s basically the same engine package so you know it’s going to be fast but the engineers at Yamaha have paired it with a bigger fuel tank, 18-inch rear wheel, sidestand and off-road specific KYB suspension. So, you can still go fast, but for longer, and without getting as beat up and then at the end of your ride, you can park the bike wherever you want! Not going to lie, sidestands are a very underrated feature on a dirtbike!

There is one little detail missing on the 2025 Yamaha YZ450FX that kind of bugged me though, and that is no handguards. Handguards are essential when riding in the bush or racing off-road, so it’s a bit of a puzzle that they missed that one. Other than that, the bike looks amazing, and I applaud Yamaha for finally getting the airbox/shroud/seat combo slimmed down to what is now a very comfortable ergo package.

 Riding it

From the moment I sat on this bike, I was excited to ride it. I’ve ridden the 2024 YZ450 and 2024 WR450F, and they are both exceptional bikes, so this hybrid weapon must be fantastic, right? And this is an all-new machine to me, not just something with bold new graphics or ‘new for 2025’ updates, so I’ll admit I was smiling ear to ear.

Press the magic button and the bike fires up quickly… and oh boy, it sounds grunty! Super responsive too, and the exhaust note is nothing short of ‘barky.’ Yep, this beast wants you to ride it.

I took off down the track and gave it a quick flick of the clutch and holy smoke, is this thing fast! The first section we rode on was a grass track with some room to move and I was happy with that because damn, the corners come up on you quick. Gear changes are almost unnecessary as the bike has that much torque – you can ride around in second and third gears wherever you want. The engine is a seriously impressive bit of gear.

With the Yamaha Power App, you can customise the engine to suit whatever you need from it: faster, slower, more torque, less torque, you can play around with it to achieve what’s best for you. There are plenty of different maps and setting online for everyone to see and it’s a super simple process to make changes.

I found myself wanting to rev the crap out of the bike at the start of the day just to experience its full power because, well, it’s just so much fun to ride! The crazy bottom-end punch makes you feel like you can jump anything with the flick of the clutch. Of course, riding like that for a long period of time is near impossible, especially with my fitness level, so I gave myself a quick reality check and then proceeded to ride the remainder of my laps by short shifting, using the abundance of torque that the engine produces to lug my way around… which proved extremely effective.

It’s deceptively fast even when you are not revving it and I found that when I changed my approach to riding the 2025 Yamaha YZ450FX, from revving it out to torquing around, it became a whole new level of fun. It’s crazy how different the bike feels when you rely on its bottom-end torque and meaty midrange; instead of running out of puff after five corners, I felt like I could ride the bike all day.

Of course, being so fast, there is no shortage of ‘oh crap’ moments, especially when you get a little throttle happy coming out of turns, but overall the engine will have any rider who throws a leg over it grinning like a Cheshire cat.

As far handling goes, you can rest assured the KYB suspension has the bike well and truly covered. Up front is the proven and excellent KYB SSS twin-chamber fork. Being based on the MX bike, Yamaha has softened up the fork’s valving to make it more enduro friendly, but it’s still on the firmer side. Having said that, it still soaks up the off-road hits well and will handle anything you throw at it, but I think after a long day on the bike in rough terrain, you could feel a little beaten up. The testbike was fresh with zero hours on it so there’s a chance the fork would become plusher with use.

The KYB shock works a treat and does and excellent job of putting the power to the ground. Under acceleration, the rear tracks straight and I never found myself getting out of shape even with all that power at my disposal. Much like the fork, the shock has a firm feel to it, but the rear remains settled and predictable over choppy stuff and has no issues handling the biggest hits you can throw at it.

It’s worth noting that what Yamaha has done to slim down the YZ-F range, including this FX. A few years back, the Yamaha platform was wide and chunky, but in 2025 the bikes are super slim and comfy to sit on. The rider triangle is spot on and it’s easy to move around on this bike. I used to hate sitting on Yamahas, but the new ’25 chassis is comfortable and rider friendly.

 Quality kit

The fit and finish of the new 2025 Yamaha YZ450FX is awesome. The air filter access is super handy and it’s above the frame, so it hardly gets any dust on it even during dusty events. The seat flap for the tank is seamless and works really well. There are clear markings for sag on the rear guards, and little notes on the front plate to help you guide the cables around. The fasteners are mostly 8mm and 10mm, so it is nice to work on as well.

On the downside, I did notice that the stock plastics scratch quite easily.. but let’s be honest, who rides a bike nowadays without a graphics kit on it? I also found the stock ’bar to be too high for me and, of course, the biggie is that there are no handguards – that needs to be sorted.

Overall, this bike is an animal and so much fun to ride. The new 2025 Yamaha YZ450FX engine platform is damn impressive and holy crap is it fast! The smiles were endless throughout the day, just like the power and torque that is on hand. I appreciate the fact that this bike has so much adjustability within the ’bar mounted map switch and also through the Yamaha Power tuner app – it’s a really cool bit of kit. The KYB suspension is awesome.

If only I was fitter so I could ride it to its full potential for more than five minutes! I gotta work on that.