A friend has a YFZ and we just had to take it out to the open desert and give it a try. We went to Rasor (BLM open area about half way between LA and Las Vegas on I-15) for a night/morning ride (temp was 108 degrees at noon when we left!). Rasor is a great place to test a new bike because it has a little of everything: dunes, fast sandy whooped out roads, hardpacked fire roads, rocky hardpacked trails in the hills, dry lake bed, etc. Much of Rasor Road was washed out completely by flash floods. Hopefully they will regrade it before the desert riding season starts. http://bokasmo.com/pages/ohv/califor...sor/index.html

My friend is liking the bike more every time he rides it. He calls it a Blaster with more power! It has a lot of potential as a desert machine. Handling is precise (the bike has a steering stabilizer on it) but not squirly. It handled the big whoops as well as the DS650 that we had along. A proper desert machine needs to be 50" wide. So you could just plan on the expense of a wider axle and a-arms.

It was particularly fun busting out air in the dunes!! The power is great, but you can tell that the stock exhaust has the thing corked up really bad.

It definitely doesn't have enough ground clearance for cross country work and this will SERIOUSLY limit it as a desert racer. The swingarm linkage seems particularly vulnerable! A set of Holeshot XCT's would help some, but I think big tires will ruin the light feel of the machine. Can't see what the best solution would be here??? Get a good set of full chassis/swingarm skid plates and just try to pick the best line?? Serious desert racers may want to put this engine in an aftermarket frame that has more ground clearance, providing the engine proves it will hold up.

Lots of people ride cross country and desert race MX dirt bikes. They pick these bikes for their light weight and handling. Why not ride an MX quad?

 

Maybe PhilDampier will come upon this topic. We just ran a desert race in Johnson Valley, CA and he brought his YFZ450 out to play. From what he was telling me, he really liked it in the desert. But I'll let him fill you in on the details.....Hey Phil, where are you???...[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-cool.gif[/img]

 

I've been curious about the YFZs virtues in the dez too. A riding buddy of mine just bought one and has been hangin out at the track and really liking it. I havent had a chance to ride it (hate to ask to borrow it and ride it for any length of time since it's not mine - not to mention a torn rotator cuff) but my guess is that the power / handling seems real nice for the dez but the overall size may be a little smallish.

Also, I'm a little concerned about the long duration, wide open running you often see in the dez, unlike the track.

I'm curious to see how they do in the dez - probably real well in general..... I'm sure we'll start seeing them soon.....

 

I know what you mean! District 37 AMA races are NOTHING like the classic desert endurance races (like the Baja 500/1000 or Vegas to Reno, etc.) You frequently have to bust trail on a motorcycle single track. It is really more like real rough trail riding than anything else. MX dirt bikes are actually pretty common, and among my friends, the 03, CRF450 is THE bike to have!!

The YFZ handles quick, and I think it will make a great trail bike in terms of handling. On the other hand the engine is a revvvvvvver, and has a rather pipey 2-stroke like power band, making it more challenging to handle on the trail. On the top end, it has enough power to wheelie through the whoops even in 5th gear. But, it doesn't want to lug down and I was not at all impressed with the low end (particularly first gear) power. However, the bike is still bone stock and no doubt it will be a different machine with a pipe on it!!

In really rough stuff, I don't know if there is ever going to be any way around the low clearance problem?? The casual desert rider will probably do ok, but for racing?????

My dream bike for the desert would have a Honda XR650 engine in a 400EXish chassis, but my taste runs more toward endurance racing.

 

Just checking the last race results.....Eric Pealstron riding a YFZ first race (sat.) came in 4th O/A out of 16 entries....second race(sun.) came in 2nd O/A out of 13 quads.......1st in class..both races...not bad....[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-cool.gif[/img]