2010 Yamaha YZ250F Revealed

-Engine Head Mount Changed
Instead of one center-biased head mount for the motor, the 2010 Yamaha YZ250F gets two side-oriented mounts. This is a big tuning area in frame design. Engineers at Yamaha told us that even the shape, angles and thickness of the piece of aluminum spanning from the motor to the frame makes a huge difference in the chassis balance and feel.

-Suspension: Fork settings/coatings changed
KYB's Speed Sensitive System front fork is updated with new damping settings and a new fork seal shape for the 2010 Yamaha YZ250F. Also, the piston rod gets a new surface treatment and the fork protector slider is changed from plastic to steel.

-Suspension: Shock Spring Lowered and Damping Specs Optimized
The big change in suspension on the 2010 Yamaha YZ250F comes in the shock department. Side-by-side the 2010 KYB shock looks a lot different than the 2009 version. Most noticeable is the lowered nature of the spring. It's 30mm lower to be exact. The lower section of the shock is modified to drop the spring. The lowering drops the weight of the spring down lower in the chassis for an improved ceneter-of-gravity feeling to the bike and makes room for the straight-shot intake tract.

-Improved Ride Position
Pro Taper Bars with four-way adjustable bar mounts mount up to the 2010 YZ250F with an exclusive Yamaha bend. The handle bar mounts are 5mm taller and the footpegs match that with a 5mm boost of their own. Yamaha is trying to keep a decent range of adjustability in the cockpit and match the chassis characteristics of the new YZ 250F. The theme is light, nimble and with quick directional changes.

-New Seat Shape
Yamaha's 2010 YZ250F gets a flatter and more forward seat. They claim this will be easier to transfer weight on when going from cornering to straight-a-ways.

-New Fuel Tank
The new 250F from Yamaha gets a smaller, more centralized fuel tank. Capacity goes from 7.0 Liters (About 1.8 Gallons) to 6.4 liters (About 1.7 Gallons). The fuel petcock is relocated, too. The tank fits the new frame, obviously, but was designed to keep the fuel weight in the center and to minimize the weight shift as is sloshes around.

-New Brake Pedal and Kickstarter shapes
These simply match the new frame.

-New Skid Plate and Engine Guard Designs
A simpler one-piece design with an integrated water pump guard replaces last year's two piece unit. Also, the 2010 Yamaha YZ250F's guard is plastic instead of aluminum. Plastic doesn't affect frame rigidity like metal bolt-on plates can and the increased coverage of the one-piece unit covers the vulnerable frame rails.

-New Body Styling
This is obvious but the 2010 Yamaha YZ250F uses all new body work plastic. But what you don't know is that Yamaha engineers envisioned an arrow (maybe shooting off to a distant Anime world of wonderful enjoyment and happiness with dirt bikes jumping over pink and yellow panda bears) when they laid out the molds. The bike's look is supposed to emphasize "the light weight and nimble handling character of the YZ250F". It's also a "sharp, horizontal styling movement".

Also on the style-watch radar is the addition of more cool-colored metal parts. Front fork feet, spread out engine side panel coverage, triple clamps and wheel hubs all get the factory, showroom valuable black look.

The 2010 Yamaha YZ250F is available in two colors: Team Yamaha Blue/White and White/Red.

Now that you know all there is to know about the nw important to remember where the Yamaha YZ250F came from. It's a historic bike, as are all of Yamaha's four stroke motocross dirt bikes.

Yamaha YZ250F SUCCESSES
.1ST TO MARKET WITH 4 STROKE 250F (2001 YZ250F)
.1ST TO WIN AN INTERNATIONAL RACE (2000 Final round All Japan- Ernesto Fonseca)
.1ST TO WIN AN AMA SX (2001 Anaheim 1-Ernesto Fonseca)
.1ST TO WIN AN AMA SX TITLE (2001 West Coast-Ernesto Fonseca)
.1ST TO WIN AN AMA NATIONAL (2001 Red Bud-Larry Ward)
.1ST TO WIN WORLD GP (2003 GP of Austria-Stefan Everts)

Second, with so many options out there, why would you want to buy a YZ? Here's a few things Yamaha likes to point out to shoppers looking for a new Motocross bike. The 2010 Yamaha YZ250F gives you all this.

.ONLY JAPANESE MANUFACTURER WITH A WARRANTY.

EVERY YZ IS SOLD WITH A 30 DAY WARRANTY THAT COVERS AGAINST MANUFACTURER DEFECTS.

.OVER 13 MILLION DOLLARS AVAILABLE IN CONTINGENCY.

EVERY YZ SOLD IS CAPABLE OF TAKING HOME ITS FAIR SHARE OF THE 13 MILLION DOLLARS POSTED IN YAMAHA CONTINGENCY.

.COMPLETE PARTS CATALOG AND OWNERS MANUALS AVAILABLE ONLINE.

ALL ONLINE AT YAMAHA-MOTOR.COM UNDER THE PARTS AND SERVICE TAB.

Check out our first riding impressions and full tests online and in the magazine soon. Until then, dream of Pandas on dirt bikes and smile!

For more specs on the 2010 YZ250F mx bike, click here.