We’re excited about the new Yamaha YZ250FX. Photography by Kit Palmer
Yamaha’s YZ250FX is an all-new motorcycle and is also a new addition to the company’s off-road lineup. Like the new WR250F, the FX is based closely on the YZ250F motocrosser—far more closely than the WR. Unlike the WR, the FX is aimed for the racer and is designated as a closed-course race bike.
Basically, the FX is a YZ250F ready to race in GNCCs and other types of closed-course competition. Before the FX came along, if you were a hard-core and serious off-road racer and wanted to compete in the 250 class on a Yamaha you had to first start off with the YZ250F and turn it into an off-road racer, but Yamaha has done that conversion for you, including doing some things that you’d never be able to do to your YZ yourself, like install a six-speed tranny.
The FX comes fitted with an 18-inch rear wheel and standard MX front number plate. It also has a kickstand, which can easily be removed and, unlike the WR, has no skid plate, but there are mounts in case you want to install one later on. It also has a stiffer spring in the back and stiffer valving in the fork compared to the WR. And since the FX is designed as closed-course, all EPA and noise restrictions have been removed (versus the WR). Like the YZ, there is no throttle stop limitations or baffling restrictions. It has a motocross muffler but comes from the Euro-spec YZ which is a little quieter.
Like the WR, the bike comes off the showroom floor hand guard-less. Otherwise, the FX is ready to go GNCC racing.
Wow. What a cool bike. The FX is a blast on the trail. It’s very fast (like the YZ250F) yet can chug its way out of trouble down low. It has excellent bottom-end, yet still packs a punch from midrange on up. The FX’s six-speed transmission is well suited for a variety of terrain. We rode the bike in some extremely tight situations and the FX zig-zagged its way through the stuff with remarkable ease, much easier than most moto-turned-off-road 250Fs we’ve ridden. It has noticeably more snap across the board than the new Yamaha WR250F, yet is still easy to control as a whole. The extra power means that it could maintain second gear much better than the WR250F did on the same trails. Throttle response is excellent, and we did not notice any lean spots like we did with its WR brother. If we had, no biggie. As mentioned, the FX’s ignition/EFI is designed so it can be altered via Yamaha’s accessory power tuner. We felt no need to do so on this day. Like with the WR, we love the FX’s electric starting.
When it gets down to it, the FX really does feel a lot like the YZ250F in that it’s very snappy, handles quickly and has sturdy suspension that just plain works. Like with the YZ, we are quite satisfied with the FX’s suspension right out of the crate. We made only a few clicker adjustments all day long. The FX is nine pounds lighter than the WR and feels “two-stroke” light on the trail; it just doesn’t have that four-stroke, sometimes, sluggish feel from tree to tree.
The FX is indeed race-ready right from the showroom floor, well, almost. We’d throw on hand guards and remove the kickstand for the GNCC opener in March. Depending on the terrain, we’d consider installing a skid plate, too, which we wished Yamaha would have installed in the first place. Heck, the mounts are already there. Overall, we are really excited about the new YZ250FX. Hopefully, Yamaha will follow up with an all-new WR450F and/or WR450FX. Check out an upcoming edition of Cycle New magazine for a more in-depth test on the 2015 Yamaha YZ250FX.