RUMORS, Gossip, OR UNFOUNDED TRUTHS

THERE IS NO MENTION OF JETT LAWRENCE, ELI TOMAC OR KEN ROCZEN IN THE RUMORS, Gossip, OR UNFOUNDED TRUTHS

By Elizabeth Haire

When a motocrosser sees a new bike with solely BNG (bold new graphics), such as the 2022 Suzuki RM-Z450, KTM 450SXF, Husqvarna FC450, Kawasaki KX450, GasGas MC 450F, or Yamaha YZ450F, he checks it off his must-have list. BNG has a reputation for being the kiss of death. Buyers don’t find fresh graphics interesting when they’re continuously blasted with words like “new,” “radical,” “ground-breaking,” and “revolutionary.” However, BNG is the new normal for the 2022 crop of 450cc motocross motorcycles.

It should be noted that the only true-to-life new bikes in 2022 were the Honda CRF250, Yamaha YZ125 and, to a lesser extent, the Yamaha YZ250.

Except for Yamaha’s new rear wheel and Husqvarna’s transition from Magura to Brembo clutch hydraulics, none of the seven popular 450 motocross motorcycles saw significant upgrades. Oh, there were minor tweaks to the suspension settings, colour palettes, and graphics of some of the bikes—KTM/Husky/GasGas added an Air/Oil Separator, Honda made last year’s mid-season ECU recall permanent, and there were the expected minor tweaks to the suspension settings, colour palettes, and graphics of some of the bikes.

In a normal production cycle, it has become de rigueur for manufacturers to release redesigned, remodeled or heavily updated machines every four years. And, just by happenstance, there has never been a time when a majority of manufacturers released all-new bikes in the same model year. Which bring 2022 into question—not because of all-new models, but because of the dearth of them.

Is BNG the end of the world? No. Although it freezes the status quo in a time warp, if a bike is good, it stays good. Could it be better? Yes, but that’s the year-to-year choice of the product managers. We decided to take a close look at the 2022 Yamaha YZ450F (as an average example that can be applied to most 450’s over the last five years) to see if BNG is actually fatal. During the last five models years the Yamaha YZ450F has not sat still, even if the non-initiated think that the 2022 YZ450F is just a warmed-over 2018 model—it’s not! Need proof? Here are the list of changes that Yamaha’s engineers have made since the 2018 model was introduced.

The pandemic certainly played a role in causing turmoil with production schedules—factories were closed for large swaths of time, outside suppliers fell behind and timelines were juggled. All of the world’s troubles made BNG the safest business model to adopt for 2022.

2018. With the addition of electric starting and Wi-Fi mapping, the 2018 YZ450F got new camshaft profiles, a redesigned crankshaft, a higher-compression piston and a 44mm Mikuni EFI throttle body (instead of Keihin). The cylinder was slanted 2 degrees more upright. The radiators were enlarged, the muffler was moved farther forward and the radiator shrouds were redesigned. The seat was 9mm lower at the front and 18mm lower at the rear. The bar mounts were raised 5mm, and the now-aluminum head stays were repositioned lower on the cylinder. Oh yeah, the rims were blue anodized.