#yz250fx

In 2015, after Euro brands had been long dominating enduro and GNCC-type racing, Yamaha stepped into the game with a serious contender, a closed-course off-road competition model to do battle with the Austrians and others from tree to tree around an enduro course. The Yamaha YZ250FX is heavily based on the YZ250F motocross bike, but has been outfitted with essential off-road racing components, some of which would be costly to impossible to build out yourself. For 2019, the field is becoming more crowded with Honda’s new CRF250RX and KTM’s 250 XC-F. How does the Yamaha stack up to an increasingly competitive class? We made our way to the California desert to find out.

For the first time in three years, Yamaha Motor Corporation has announced that it will not be releasing an all-new motocross or off-road motorcycle in its comprehensive dirtbike lineup.

Yamaha’s reverse incline-motored YZ450F is kind of like the legendary rock band Kiss. Just like it took hard rock’s masked marauders five years and four albums to become overnight sensations, the YZ450F finally came Alive! in 2015 by hitting upon the right combination of engine performance, chassis rigidity and suspension compliance to make it a winner.

It might be easy to dismissively refer to the all-new 2015 Yamaha YZ250FX as a YZ250F with a six-speed transmission or a WR250F without lights. Based on the FX’s technical merits, both statements could be considered mostly true, but neither would remotely do justice to Yamaha’s all-new quarter-liter off-road racer.

Yamaha revealed two new 250cc off-road race bikes in the WR250F enduro and YZ250FX closed-course racer.