Hello again guys, and welcome to another episode of the A DB podcast. We are out here today at Appin, the MacArthur Motorcycle Club in southwest Sydney. Our southwest Sydney is, they're yelling out to me. Uh, and yeah, we're testing the 2026 Yamaha YZ four 50 DF. Now I am a, uh, C grade motocross are at best, so we have bought out our technical editor Matt Boyd, who is an ex pro at an A grader, and I think a bike like the Yamaha, YZ four 50 DF. Deserves probably an aggravated to ride it. Now, before we get into telling you what Bodie thought of this bike, um, I probably should let you know we are the first in the world to test this bike, which is exciting. So if you're listening to this podcast, we've got this up as soon as we could. You're probably one of the first people to get some decent feedback on this bike. Alright guys, that's a full day of testing the 2026 Yamaha YZ four DF here for the Australian launch, a DB's technical letter. Matt Boyd is also our motocross guru. He has been out there spitting laps, many laps. You've probably done more laps than anyone else, so yeah, that's very impressive. Now tell us, mate, what was the most impressive feature of, actually, you know what, before we get the most impressive feature, let's talk about what do you change on a bike that already won our 2025, um, four 50 CC Motocross shootout. It is the winner. So how do you improve on a bike that we think is already the best in that category? So as our readers would know, we are the 24 model long term bike, and we threw a bunch of stuff on it. All the GYTR gear, we already had the GYTR clutch on it that we were, you know, big fans of. Uh, but that was a tough question. I was driving here yesterday thinking of that same question over and over in my head, I'm like, what could they have possibly done to make this bike better? Like, I really struggle to come up with something in my head to improve because this is one of those bikes that is just really hard to improve on'cause it's so good in so many different areas. So it was a little bit nerve wracking. Uh. I'm pretty vocal. I'm saying that this is a, you know, the YZ four 50, this current generation bike is a personal favorite of mine. So it's a little bit nerve wracking when you hear that a brand's changed a lot of components on the bike.'cause you're like, it was already so good. I already love it. They've changed stuff. Has it gone backwards?'cause you know, there's, we've seen brands do that in the past. Uh, but getting out there on the bike straight away. It still has all them same characteristics as the old bike had. It's, it's compliant, the suspension smooth that KYB stuff. I mean, you can't praise that enough. That's, that stuff's magic. Uh, the, the frame is really nice between the legs. There's a lot of feedback from the rear tire through the pegs and in the frame. Mm-hmm. You can feel a lot of traction in that rear wheel. These things are a fast bike. There's heaps of power there. So when you can get a direct feel through that rear wheel to the th. That's great on any four 50 because these things are, they, they're like trying to tame a dragon. There's a lot of power in these things. So that feel is awesome. Uh, but I'd be lying if I said my favorite edition wasn't the hydraulic clutch. Okay. Uh, I loved it when we put, I know there's a lot of guys out there that are gonna scream at me and say, no, we love the cable. Man, I grew up riding cable clutches. I rode'em my whole life. You get used to these things. Uh, yeah, sure. The friction, you know, point is different. They're, they feel different, get used to'em and you know, there's all these arguments, maintenance, pros and cons. Like, yeah, I don't care. I like that clutch. That clutch is nice. Um, really nice action. Really smooth. It's not heavy. Uh, it feels way nicer on this bike, in my opinion, than the, the cable. So everything they've done is moving in the right direction. Yeah, it's, uh. Yeah, like they've done everything right. I think, like you said, the scary thing for a lot of manufacturers when it sims like they have a bike that's working is that they go and change it. A lot of the time a manufacturer will change things because they're in the business of selling bikes and if you don't change a bike year to year, well what is the point in telling convincing customers to go out and buy a new one? And sometimes when they make those changes, it can actually pull back. We set out with other brands, pull back on the bike, uh, and its performance. But it's good to hear it hasn't done that. Yes. It's interesting to hear that you do love that hydraulic clutch. I know you had the GYTR hydraulic clutch on the long 2024 long term we had and you loved it. I rode that hydraulic clutch and I loved it too. Um, we're talk about the fork key. Looks like you've pushed the trip, the legs, all the way through the triple clamp. Is there a setup reason why this bike, you like to have them pretty much as high as you can get'em? So, particularly today, my setup is I'm running a hundred mil sag on the shop. I've gone a little bit stiffer. Uh, I've gone four clicks, stiffer on the compression and the four, and dropped them four slower. And I find that bike sits better balanced in the corners and steers better in the turns for me. Uh, if you're a smaller guy, you're probably not gonna want to push those through, but I just find that front end a lot more stable like that. Okay. Um, and so then explain to us, um, fork wise and feel wise. Coming into breaking bumps, hitting breaking bumps hard and getting it to to stick into ruts. And years gone past on Y Z's, not the previous model, but the models before that, they're a little bit hard to get into Ruts. Is this bike still just as easy to get into ruts with that front end? So this bike is easier now to get into ruts and the Yamaha's ever been like the previous generations. Uh. They were a bigger bulkier feeling bike, a bit more weight in them. Uh, they had a little bit of a different, you had to play with some funny SAG settings to get'em to steer properly. These are a very small light and nimble feeling. Four 50, like there's a lot of power in there. There's a lot of mass in that motor, but where they're put it all, you can't feel it on the track. So that can be the problem sometimes with a four 50, there's so much mass in there that it, it alters the way the bike handles coming into ruts and trying to turn, but the ahas fixed all those. Problems and they're, they're all long gone. That's these things no longer have any trouble steering into ruts. Um, Sean Goldhawk also mentioned that the shock is fresh for 2026. It's kind of been majorly overhauled. Did you feel the rear end kind of tracked nicely? It got power to the ground? Well, it didn't skip and jump over bumps. And was it different to the previous one you rode? Yeah, so they've changed to a six piston port in the, in the, uh, the, the valve in the rear shock. So that just flows oil a bit better. Obviously they've had to update their. Chi specs to accommodate, but apart from a, a, you know, a toolless adjuster. Uh, but yeah, it works really well. But, uh, I haven't touched the shock like I'm a hundred kilos and I haven't touched a setting on that shock all day and I have no intention of doing so. Wow, that's impressive. Um, alright, let's talk with grip of seat. Sean also made a mention of the fact that the grip of seat is new. Um, you fan of grip of seats. Do you like where it holds you on the bike? Did you find the old one was a little bit slippery? Uh, we did change it on our long termer. We, that was something we changed pretty quickly to a pleated seat cover. These, I mean, they've. They've thought about it quite well to put the sharp edge on this side and a rolled edge on the back so you can slide forward easy. Okay. But it grips your pants and you don't slide back. That's pretty clever. And it works well. So, yeah, I quite like the seat. It's uh, like a quite tacky rubber, so it's, it's gonna be durable. And the Yamaha is a little bit of a unique seat. They're not so much flat, they're more of a rounded seat. I quite like that'cause you can move around on the sides of the bike. Like it makes it easier to get onto the side of the seat for flat corners and things like that. So I'm actually a fan of the, the Yamaha shaped seat. Um, okay then let's lastly talk about the motor. Now Yamaha, for years now, have had the most, uh, powerful motor in the class. We had our four 50 cc motocross shoot at, at Goulburn, uh, six months ago. And as people in Australia know, Goulburn is a hilly track. Lots of big uphills, lots of big downhills, and the extra power in the Yamaha is essentially what got it, the wind. It was just so powerful on those hills. Is the new motor just as powerful, different, just kind of power? Um, has it changed at all? So it's kind of, it is definitely quieter. Uh, that can almost make you think that there's less punch off the bottom because there's not so much noise, but it drives the same as the previous model. Like there's a lot of straight line drive out of these engines, the way that motor puts that drive into the rear wheel and gets you moving. It's pretty impressive. Like it, uh, doesn't seem to matter. The terrain. It's, there's a lot of power in these things, but it's manageable, which for a four 50, that's what you want, right? Yeah. You have a four 50 that's making huge horsepower and it's a, the throttle's like a light switch that's really difficult to control and fatiguing. Yeah. So like if that wheel's spinning and you're having to hang onto the thing for your dear life all the time, that's, that's a tough ride. But these things have never, they haven't gotten slower. That's not what I'm saying. They're, they're more controllable than they've ever been. Yeah. That's, uh, that's saying a lot for the Yamaha because we know it's super powerful and, and, and like we've discussed in the past, there's not many people around the world that can ride a four 50 cc motocross bike to its full potential and especially a Yamaha. So to hear that it's just as ride, it's more rideable than it has been in the past, but has just as much power will be music to private tears, ears. Yes. Because that's my next question is if you were a privateer and you were picking a bike. To race at Prox or your local state series, your local club series next year, would you pick the YZ four 50 F? Because it seems to be like it has probably the best overall package without having to spend big on mods. And then if you did buy one, if you could pick three things that you do to the bike, what would it be? Yeah, so like it's, if I had X amount of money to spend, I would jump straight at the emha because this thing needs. The least amount of money on it. There are other brands where, you know, you buy it if you want to race it at the top level, you gotta change fork, internals, or shocks or you know, maybe an ECU or do something different there. But for these things, the forks are great. The shock's great. The power's great. Literally like. If you asked me, you know, to race this thing on Sunday, I'd probably throw a different set of grips on it and, uh, you know, some stickers, some numbers, and off I'd go, there's not much else. Maybe add a whole shot button. But they're like, there's probably$300 worth of parts. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, and you're ready to hit the track. Yeah. That's, that's, that's impressive. And obviously this has the button on the handlebars. You can set it in the whole shop mode where it retards the ignition until you get the third gear, then I think it clicks out a third gear. Yes. Which is also adjustable through the app. See that's amazing. So you can set what RPM you want that launch control to, to hold the Revs app. Wow. So that's fully tuneable by anybody, by downloading app to their phone. Wow. And obviously, uh, the maps within this, uh, uh, bike are also tuneable, which is exciting because it means you can kind of customize the, uh, power to how it suits you. Yep. And that can be done on your phone. You don't need an extra program. You don't need anything else. Um, alright guys, that's a wrap. We've talked enough, uh, that's a wrap on the 2026 YZ four 50 F. Fortunately, we're actually taking this bike home with us and we are gonna do so much more. Uh, playing around with it and, uh, and testing. Uh, bodie's gonna hang onto it for the next six to 12 months and Bodie has a dino at home. So we're gonna stick this thing on the Dino. We're gonna see how much power we can get out of it. We're gonna throw a whole bunch of parts at it and see if that makes any difference. Bodie's gonna race the bike, um, at upcoming events over the next six to 12 months. So keep folk, keep, uh, attuned to our YouTube channel and we'll keep updating you, uh, with where we are going with the YZ four 50 F. But for now, that's it from Appin, from me and, uh, TE Ed. Matt Boyd. We will see you at the next one.