Tested Dirt Bike Products – Yoshimura 2003 YZ250F Exhaust System – Experts On Dirtbikes At Dirt Rider Magazine

With Yamaha’s current monopoly on the 250 four-stroke market, going back to the drawing board to build a second-generation 250F before the other manufacturers could build any competition only added insult to injury. Much to our liking, the 2003 YZ250F rolled off the assembly line lighter, faster and easier to start. In the process of updating its little thumper, Yamaha gave the linear powerband better bottom and mid with less top-end and overrev. Although the change was not for the worse, we got on the horn with Yoshimura to order a $745 Tri-Oval titanium exhaust system to see if we couldn’t squeeze some more top-end out of our well-ridden 250F.Typical of Yosh, the titanium system bolted up with ease. As soon as the YZ-F fired up, we instantly noticed the pipe was louder than the already-mouthy 103-decibel stock unit. We immediately felt the added bite to match the bark on the track. The Yosh system retained the stock’s great roll-on power down low but really enlivened the thumper’s mid to top. The Tri-Oval’s exceptional peak power eliminated the constant riding at the rev-limiter for our rev-happy test crew. Our testers also noted they didn’t have to shift as much and could carry a lower gear due to the greater overrev.Despite the 105-decibel (ouch!) sound reading, every one of our testers greatly preferred the Yoshimura unit to stock. The system did come with a spark arrestor; we pulled ours out since we were only interested in the Tri-Oval’s motocross performance for this test. Plus the decibels could have earned us a ticket here in California (the limit at the time of the test was 101, it will be 96 by the time you read this).YOSHIMURA R&D: 909/628-4722DR Rating 9.5