Funny, those remarks on the Yamaha handling. It's not really a problem for my 16 year old, it makes you wonder what's going on with those retired pros who work for magazines. Our '04 250F turns with the best of them and since the replacement of the stock link with a Storm Cycles link, our 450F turns tight with the best of them. Yeah it's still heavy, but it will hold a rut and slice the inside all day long. Best $130 I ever spent on the 450F.
The YZ250F engine is bulletproof and hauls with a pipe, cams and wiseco. I'm glad they didn't change it much. While redesigned for '06, the 450F engine is still just a refinement of the same configuration engine. My dealer/sponsor tells me our yellow 450F will make it in Dec. and our yellow 250F is waiting for me to pick it up. I'll probably slap on some Dubach pipes, 756's, mixture screws, throw a couple teeth on the rear sprockets for AX, and go racing!