2016 Yamaha YZ250X First Riding Impression

By

Keep It Simple, Make It Potent

Story By Jimmy Lewis

Photos By Drew Ruiz and Jimmy Lewis

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Jumping to the point, Yamaha has made a statement that they are serious about off-road and with the YZ two-stroke in the mix, they are looking to be fully vested. The YZ250X is a no excuses off-road racer drawing heavily from the YZ250 motocross bike with a few pointed and wise changes. We picked up our bike earlier in the week and have been riding it out at the track and on a few off-road racing loops to get our photos done and grab a first impression of the 2016 bike. Six-gallons of pre-mix later we’ve got a great start to our test but wanted to post up our first thoughts while in-between riding locations.

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We spent our first day with the bike at the motocross track and were blown away by how good it worked here. It has every bit of YZ character that we love; the sharp crisp power, light handling feel and a chassis that has no hang-ups or girth that does not need to be there. Sure the suspension uses more stroke and will bottom easier than a motocross bike but it took riding a motocross bike on the same day on the same jump-filled track to realize that.
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It looks like a motocrosser with a fatter rear wheel and a kickstand and it isn’t much more–externally. Well chosen factory modifications make this YZ a lot more than that.
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The suspension rides on the same springs as the YZ MX bike but uses less low-speed compression damping and a little more high-speed compression valving internally to give a ride that is much more compliant on the small bumps. It uses more stroke but stays away from ever being harsh. We were surprised how well it worked on the track even though you can tell it works excellent at off-road racing speeds.
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The power isn’t tamed much but it is more manageable. Without adding flywheel weight Yamaha got some additional smoothness with less compression but actually boosted the overall power with a raised exhaust port. Additionally the powervalve opens slower and helps smooth the delivery. It is so strong running you hardly feel the wide ratio spacing in the gears in shifts between 3-4-5. The traditional YZ sign-off at peak power is gone in favor of a very long overrev character. Yes, this may be better than the YZ motocrosser for some.
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The five-speed transmission and lack of an electric starter may have some questioning the Yamaha’s relevance in relation to the KTMs. Yamaha’s answer and we tend to agree is that there are plenty of riders who feel they don’t need those features or are very focused on simplicity and less weight. Plus there is always the retail price, $7390 which is roughly $1300 less than the KTM.
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While you’re reading this we’re putting more time on the YZ250X and trying to learn the bike inside and out. We’ll have a full test up pretty soon. All of our impressions are positive other than for some reason this bike is sucking down fuel like a thirsty two-stroke race bike. Oh, that is because that is exactly what it is. We’re running out of pre-mix!

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