Dirt bike Models

Surj is Editor in Chief of San Francisco-based CityBike Magazine and founder of LaneSplittingIsLegal.com.

Yamaha and Star have given us a peek into their 2016 lineup of bikes. Yamaha has some cool stuff in the works.

I’m mostly a street rider, so I’ll start with the road bikes. You’ll be glad to hear there are no price increases on any of these models for 2016.

Yamaha’s excellent FZs both get new paint jobs. The FZ-09 now comes in Raven and a nice brilliant Blue, and the FZ-07 is available in Raven or a Tron-esque Matte Silver / Blue. The -07, still $6, 990, will hit shops in August, while the -09 will be available in September, still at , 190.

Star’s popular (the number three seller in the Yamah/Star lineup!) Bolt also gets snazzy new colors. The standard issue Bolt, still , 990, gets sprayed with either Raven or Deep Blue, while the R-Spec now comes in Rapid Red (obviously the faster color) or Stone Grey, with matching wheel stripes for an extra-sporty look, still at $8, 390. Both of these ’16 models will be available in July. We have to wait until fall for the C-Spec details, though.

Ok, some pretty cool new colors. What’s cooler? New dirt bikes!

Serious off-roaders will be stoked to hear that Yamaha is bringing us an entirely new model, the two-stroke (too stoked!) YZ250X, a closed-course competition-oriented woods racer, “the ultimate woods weapon, ” available in August for , 390.

We don’t have specs yet, but Yamaha tells us the 250X will be light and nimble, with a KYB AOS (air and oil separate) fork, a wide-ratio five-speed and power delivery tuned for cross-country racing. Bonus: you get a sidestand!

Yamaha’s best-selling motocross bikes both get engine and chassis updates for ’16, and as with the street machines, no price increases.

The big news: the YZ450F gets launch control, to help you get the holeshot. It also gets new cam profiles for improved control in the low and mid ranges, clutch and shifting refinements, revised suspension (settings and spring changes, fork offset changed from 23mm to 25mm), and a bigger 270mm front brake. The rear section of the frame has been beefed up, and the motor hangs in new mounts. There’s a host of other small changes, designed to make the big YZ more controllable and give it better feel. It’ll be available in June (that’s now!) for $8, 590.

The YZ250F also gets the “lots of refinement” treatment. There’s a new, lighter piston design, and an improved piston cooling sprayer that reduces running temperature in this area by 10° Celsius—a big drop. The 250 gets similar clutch and shifting refinements as the 450, along with additional refinements to the mill and suspension settings changes. It also gets a bigger 270mm front brake. The 250 will be coming to shops near you in July for $7, 590.