First Test of the 2021 Yamaha YZ250F

Realistically, Yamaha could’ve left the YZ250F unchanged and had an extremely competitive bike for 2021. Could it have won the Bike of the Year honors once again? Hard to say, but it is a very real possibility. However, that is not what the bLU cRU had in store for their small-bore machine. The list of updates and changes is impressive. How about an all-new chassis following in the 450’s footsteps – aimed at quicker handling, lighter feel, and better cornering? Engine updates? You bet! Several actually. In fact, click on the Tech Briefing Video we did with Yamaha’s own Mike Ulrich to get educated on all the changes to the bike, here, we are going to focus on how those refinements translate to feel on the track.

Right off, Best handling YZ250F we have ever ridden! Let’s be honest, although the Yamaha has won our Shootout the last few years, it was the deep grunt of the engine, the incredibly plush suspension, and confidence-inspiring straight-line stability that carried the water for the Yamaha. Frankly, the bike still won in spite of its wider feel and decent, yet uninspired cornering manners. Agile and flickable are generally not words rolling off the tongue when describing the Yamaha but rather terms like planted and predictable were more common…. until now.

The new Yamaha seems to have found the sweet spot of retaining the consistent and trustworthy feel we’ll have grown to expect but in a fun, more exciting, lighter feeling package. We notice it the most at turn-in. Although the new Yamaha retains a very balanced feel, the front-end traction entering corners is more solid and urges you to go ahead and dive in aggressively. The sometimes indecisive, wandering, wallowing feel of the front-end is gone and replaced by a sharper, more deliberate intent. But aside from being more responsive, the YZ250F feels much more nimble and eager to lean over into ruts and stay there consistently throughout the corner. Some of this is aided by the new engine character (we’ll get into that in a moment) but most of it is just a lighter more agile chassis. Heck, it even makes the shrouds feel narrower – even though they aren’t really.

So how about the engine? Well, last year’s bike felt more like a 300 down low against the rest of the 250s. The low-end grunt was off the charts in comparison with great mid-range and respectable top. We said respectable… but not class-leading. In fact, the Yamaha may not have even been top three up top. Had it not made so much power early in the curve and into the mid, the Yamaha’s lack of pull on top may have been a bigger issue. However, the R&D department has wasted no time addressing their shortcomings. A freer-revving engine with more top-end power was their goal for the new bike and that is exactly what they delivered. Technically, the goal was more top without sacrificing low-end, but that power has to come from somewhere. Is the low-end as gnarly as it was last year? No. But in most cases, this is a good thing. As mentioned, the smoother delivery down low makes the bike a little easier to control coming out of the corners and compliments the new handling. However, as you get on the power and accelerate to the mid-range, the revs come up quickly. The new YZ250F likes to scream! The top-end pulls far beyond where the 2020 signs off and keeps making great power – certainly closing the gap with the competition.

Overall, we think the changes Yamaha made were all positive. Great power throughout the curve, a boatload of more top-end, a lighter feel, better cornering, quicker handling, all on the plushest, predictable suspension package in the class… Yamaha is not resting on its laurels.