Anyone seen one yet? The review in Quad made it seem like a hot little bike, something that will outrun an LTZ250.

 

....and the new Suzuki LTZ250R (based on the RM-Z dirt bike engine...water cooled and maybe fuel injected), is going to blow the intermediate class wide open.......

 

i saw it on the yamaha site today, Here

 

I have no idea why I'm all worked up about a 250 but I think it is very freakin' cool that they released this. I just saw an article today about a 250EX with a 280cc big bore from Thumper Racing, I spent more time reading that than about the 450s.

 

You know, sometimes these guys over at Motodirt get is almost spot on! They were the first ones to break the news that Broome-Tioga was off the MX National Schedule a year early and they seem to have gotten both the KFX450 and now the Raptor250 long before they were announced. Of course they don't get everything right, but still they seem to kick DW butt on breaking news.

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http://motodirt.blogspot.com/2006_07_01_archive.html


However, the same cannot be said for the rumored YFZ250 that is supposed to drop is early 2007. Based on the powerful YZ250-F dirt bike engine, the YFZ250 is said to be a ready to pop entry level racer with a 44" wide track and a 325-pound dry weight. Rumors were not confirmed by Yamaha but they were not denied either. The fact that it is supposed to carry the YFZ badge and not the Blaster or Raptor badge should tell you all you need to know about this little screamer. It is said to use a modified version of the Blaster frame, much like the Raptor-350 uses the same base frame box design as the old Warrior.

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A guy at Yamaha I spoke with last week about this quad said that that the horsepower measured from the crank should be very close to 20.6

The Z250 and 250EX should not be any competition to this model is that is true. Even the Raptor350 and 300EX would be a close fight factoring in the weight differemces.


EDIT : I want to add that the HP number given above was said to have come from the YBR250 engine from which the Raptor 250 engine was originated from.
The Raptor engines' state of tune versus the YBR model is NOT currently known regarding actual power figures, but does share most of all the internal topend related parts other than the cam profile and compression ratio.

 

I hope they were smart enough to make this thing CARB/green sticker legal.....

 

Anyone else getting one of these? I just told the dealer to set one of the orange ones aside for me. It looks like Christmas shopping for my youngest son is done early this year, and now I need to find a place to hide his present for nearly six months. I guess we'll find out how good I am at keeping a secret. The Raptor 250 looked like the perfect quad for him to move up to. He will be twelve by Christmas, and started riding when he was six. He rode a Scrambler 50 for a year, then a TRX 90 for two years, and now a Grizzly 125 for nearly three years. I've been waiting for Yamaha to make a better 250 for a while now, so I'm glad to see this little Raptor being released. It should be a fun quad.

DV

 

Just bought one for my girlfriend who is a brand new rider and it is perfect! She loves it! She rode my 400ex and she said it seemed too big for her so we chose the Raptor 250. She got the orange/black special edition and she loves it! I rode it for a few miles and some trails and it handled my 220lb *** no problem! This bike really kicks ***! Can't wait to change the muffler! Rock on Yamaha!

 

I have one in my garage and its a great quad!! I also have a YFZ450R, but sometimes I take the 250 out to the track and play on it......Yamaha really stepped up the 250 market with the Rappy!