After spending a considerable amount of time on our 60th Anniversary 2016 Yamaha YZ450F, it was time to start fine-tuning the bike and slowly introduce some well thought out upgrades! First up we decided to replace the worn out stock tyres with fresh units from Michelin to gain as much traction and feel as possible on track.

Luckily for us Michelin has recently released their latest and greatest, the StarCross 5 and we were supplied with a set to fit to our YZ450F. Only good things had been said about these tyres from test riders in the US, so it was an exciting addition to put to the test that’s for sure.

Instantly the StarCross 5 tyres made a difference to the bike, I was actually blown away at just how good they were. I could go on all day talking about the specifics of the tyres and how great they are, but not everybody wants to hear about tyres. So if you’d like to read more about those you can click here to view my full written Review.

Image: Alex Gobert (Foremost Media).

As I mentioned in my initial introduction of our 2016 YZ450F (click here to view that), I was going to get the GYTR Power Tuner and modify the mapping to better suit my riding style and myself. Using the Power Tuner is a very simple process and the fact that Yamaha provides baseline maps direct to the public on their US website is awesome. You can click here to view those.

My aim was to find smoother power delivery and overall just mellow the power out. We’re riding on predominantly hard pack and slick surfaces here in New South Wales, so the hard-hitting power curve that the bike previously had made riding those kinds of tracks a bit tricky. I went with the ‘smooth linear/slippery conditions’ mapping and it completely changed the bike for me, absolutely amazing how much of a change I felt.

Image: Alex Gobert (Foremost Media).

For me this updated mapping allowed me to be a lot smoother, more comfortable and ride for a lot longer. It must be noted that mapping changes in no way remove power from the engine, but they change the delivery and move the power around to different areas. So now what I have it a smooth and more gradual delivery of power, which still continues to pull forever.

Next on the agenda will be tackling the suspension front and rear to set it up for my weight and riding style. We’ll be enlisting the services of Ken Wheeler from Factory Spec Suspension in Western Sydney for that. Ken is currently working alongside the likes of National Pump Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Matt Moss and Husqvarna-backed MX2 contender Nathan Crawford, so we’re sure our setup will be in good hands with him.

We’ll also be adding a GYTR slip-on muffler to the YZ450F very soon, an addition that will be quite interesting, as we’re not going for the full system. Will it add just sound and looks? Or will the performance be enhanced at the same time? Stay tuned for the next update to find out!