Yamaha’s 2025 Off Road Competition Range
POSTED: 10/07/2024
Having been at the forefront of off-road motorcycle racing for more than half a century, Yamaha’s successful racing heritage speaks for itself. Leveraging cutting-edge technology and insights gained from racing, the 2025 Off Road Competition range offers riders unmatched agility, power and control derived directly from a championship-winning legacy. These models cater to all riders, from seasoned professionals to amateurs and young riders, offering a range from the YZ450F to the legendary PW50.
THE 2025 YZ450F
A WINNING FORMULA
The ultimate mission of a racing motorcycle is simple: to win races. And the YZ450F is exactly that, the ultimate racing machine. Engineered with success in mind, the YZ450F is designed for victory. But it doesn’t stop there, as there’s also focus on delivering an exhilarating and enjoyable riding experience. The foundations the YZ450F is built upon is the application of the ‘winning formula’, recognising that riders progress at their own pace, which in turn adds to their motivation and ultimately leads to better results. For this reason, a rider-centric development approach has been adopted.
The 2025 YZ450F features a new rear suspension linkage to improve stability in a wide variety of riding circumstances. This, combined with revised rear suspension settings, contributes to an improved feeling in traction on corner exit, and lends to a more planted feeling when taking on jumps. To match the changes at the rear, the front suspension settings have also been updated, including extending the length of the spring to increase internal preload pressure, changing the layered valves from the current circular shape to a more triangular shape and increasing the size of the inflow oil holes to adjust oil flow. This results in a calmer front-end and increases the bike’s overall manoeuvrability. The front suspension changes have also been revised to provide the rider with a more consistent damping feeling across mixed terrains and riding situations, especially under braking and cornering.
New front engine mounts have been designed to improve the overall chassis balance, while matching the changes made to the suspension, altering the chassis rigidity to make it less susceptible to outside forces, ultimately improving stability. To further enhance the YZ450F’s renowned reliability under hard, continuous use, the clutch’s cooling efficiency has been improved, with the number of holes feeding oil to the clutch plates increasing three-fold from six to 18. The riding experience has also been refined, with a newly designed seat featuring a single layer of surface material with a seamless design, removing joins and welds, while new aluminium footpeg brackets enable a greater sense of unity with the machine through a firmer hold on the chassis.
A newly designed handlebar switchbox features a ribbed shape to help avoid riders pressing the wrong button while wearing gloves. And to decrease pressure on the rider’s right thumb, the 2025 YZ450F features a new type of throttle grip set. In line with the FIM’s new noise regulations for 2025, the YZ450F sound level is reduced by a new exhaust system. And by optimising the fuelling and ignition timing the controllability and throttle connection have been improved to provide a more precise riding character. New graphics complete the 2025 look.
THE 2025 YZ250F
A PROVEN WINNER
A favourite among riders looking for the ultimate combination of controllable power, agile handling and Yamaha durability, the YZ250F saw a significant update for 2024 including an all-new chassis derived from the YZ450F, plus revised geometry and a re-positioned headpipe, lowering the centre of gravity to enable more agile cornering and rapid directional changes.
Taken to no less than 15 victories in the MX2 class last year with riders Jago Geerts and Thibault Benistant , the YZ250F is a proven contender. This is further refined for 2025, with the new rear suspension linkage and corresponding suspension settings at both the rear and front improving traction on corner exit, taking the YZ250F’s renowned agile handling to the next level on the track.
As with the YZ450F, the exhaust system has been redesigned to produce a lower sound level in line with the FIM’s 2025 noise regulations. Furthermore, the power characteristics have been refined to produce a smooth and controllable response in the bottom end as well as a linear mid-range.
The switchgear and throttle housing have been refined to improve the rider experience, minimising the risk of hitting the wrong button while wearing gloves while new graphics complete the Icon Blue look.
