What do you do to make the best motocross bike better? Yamaha’s engineers figured that riders don’t need any more power, instead they turned their attention to making the fire-breathing MY26 YZ450F easier to ride.
Because if a bike is easier to ride, it’s easier to ride fast.
Only elite riders demand the fierce power produced by an open class MX bike. Holding onto one for a 20 minute race demands skill, fitness and stamina. Fast lap times are achieved when all the stars align which includes selecting the right line, finding traction, nailing jumps and railing berms.
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Yamaha’s YZ450F has been the benchmark in this respect for a few years now, as demonstrated by AMA SX Champion Cooper Webb and a slew of US magazine shootout wins.
The YZ450F’s combination of big horsepower in a stable and sweet handling chassis has won plenty of fans over the years. But as far as tech goes, staying still in the MX development game is going backwards.
Every two years Yamaha takes a whole fresh look at their YZ250F and YZ450F motocross bikes and 2026 is the 450F’s turn. The factory meets with US and AUS/NZ testers to nut out the direction of the next model and their feedback leads to changes to the bikes on the showroom floor.
For example, when evaluating an MX bike, they break a corner down into three sections – entry, apex and exit. The bike needs to perform equally well in all three areas to get the thumbs up. It’s no good railing the entry only for the bike to push wide at the apex. Both wheels need to find traction all the way around the corner.
Constant evolution
With this in mind, changes have been made to the MY26 YZ450F’s chassis and suspension. The aluminium chassis is flex tuned by adding or removing metal in strategic locations.
This controlled fill process adjusts the rigidity of the chassis in three planes – torsional or twisting, lateral and longitudinal. Engineers can then adjust the engine mounts – the shape, material and thickness of these can change the feel and feedback the bike gives to the rider.
These chassis changes, combined with an all-new shock absorber and front suspension settings, result in a bike that turns quicker and easier with increased grip from both tyres. Other changes to the bike include more controllable low-down power, a hydraulic clutch – at last – new bodywork and an anti-theft lockable ECU.
Aussie journalists put this to the test recently at Appin Motocross Complex in NSW. Team Monster Energy CDR Yamaha was on hand to run in the YZ450Fs and set them up for each of the 11 journalists who attended.
CDR riders Jed Beaton and Aaron Tanti were on hand fresh from an incident packed ProMX season – where Beaton led the charge for most of the year before a broken femur in a practice crash dashed his title hopes. Tanti was still recovering from an early season broken neck and it’s fair to say that Team CDR have had more successful years, but that’s racing.
Factory bike experience
In addition to testing the standard YZ450F, journalists were offered the chance to ride Jed Beaton’s factory YZ450F race bike – they did not need to be asked twice. Works bikes differ to standard bikes to varying degrees but are essentially personalised to each rider’s style. And factory riders are on a whole different level to the club grade riders at your local MX track.
After a fun day riding Appin’s Bellbird track – the sun came out after a week of torrential rain – the consensus was that Yamaha has nailed the brief. The bike is indeed easier to ride than the previous model.
Standard tyre fitment is the high-performance Dunlop Geomax MX33 but for the launch the Team Yamaha specified the more recently developed Dunlop MX34, a soft to medium tyre with a new block design for better mud evacuation, enhanced durability and traction.
Testers also had a chance to change their own power mapping and traction control using Yamaha’s awesome smartphone tuning app – this can make your YZF go from mild to wild at the touch of a button.
Your phone can store different maps to suit different tracks and can also log lap times, offer set up and maintenance info via the app. The bike can run two maps that are switchable on-the-fly using the left-bar mounted blue button.
Pricing and special edition
While it’s not an easy task to evaluate a bike and tyres without back-to-back-testing, the overall vibe from the selected testers was super positive. The weather played ball and the track was still soft in places – but fun.
The 2026 YZ450F is available in dealers now priced $15,749 inc GST ready-to-ride. Or for nostalgia fans, there’s a Special Edition version in a trick 70th Anniversary colour scheme at $15,949 inc GST ready-to ride dropping in November.
The 70th Anniversary edition celebrates 70 years since the first Yamaha rolled out of the factory and features a speedblock design similar to the one Doug Henry ran on his Las Vegas winning 1997 YZ400F – the bike that kickstarted the four-stroke dirt bike revolution.