If, and I doubt they did, Yamaha didn't go cheese ball on bearings, tie-rods, bushings, axles, and air intake systems like Polaris and Can am (forget artic crap) I think this machine will ROCK!! Looking at all the technical points like frame, bearings, beautiful exhaust, suspension, trans and diff locking rears, I think Yamaha was watching the competition and upgraded all of these! Going to a dealer to inspect one soon! Looks like Yamaha's first machine is going to be better than over 7 years of the competition! I own a 2012 RZR XP900 and although it's fun as hell, I do get tired of replacing parts every damn ride! Polaris and Can Am have used ALL OF US for their R&D department at OUR expense! If this machine is anywhere NEAR as good as all the 660 and 700 Raptors out there, it will be a winner!! Just my 2 pennies.
Finally some non-CVT junk transmissions. I always said the only way I would ever buy a 25k side by side is with at least a 4 speed sequential like the rally cars, a big old stick and handbrake to yank on. Well done Yamaha, this thing will be a home run and a game changer.
I'm a BIG Yamaha fan. I bought a new in 2010 Polaris RZR 4 and have had zero problems. Keep in mind all of these Polaris, Can Am, Yamaha and the like machines are NOT race ready. Scroll down and ppl (wanna be pro-racers) are saying " Baja 1000, 500"....you'd be a fool, broken down, hot and thirsty in the first 10 miles at competition speed. But these are great fun to roll at modest, safe speeds. I have the most fun crawling over obstacles, ruts and hills. My RZR goes over or climbs just about everything in front of it...with-in reason. There's plenty of "With-out Reason" on RU-vid "Failed RZR Crashes". I like to walk....not wheel chair. I was holding out on my next big purchase for an RZR with gears....which this machine has...I will "wait and see" how these perform in tight, slow speed crawls. Yea...."No more belts to burn" ($80)...but clutch plates and baskets can cost $100's....like $400's...maybe more. Sand is fun...but the by-product of sand is heat, and pure sand is for people who can't negotiate real desert without breaking something. I still love my dirt bike....Way faster and much more safe in the big picture of atv's.
Good lord this thing has literally everything going for it. Poo guys can have their extra inch of travel. I'll slap a Rekluse clutch on this puppy and out mud and out crawl them all day and I still won't break.
A sequential manual transmission (or sequential manual gearbox) is a non-traditional type of manual transmission used on motorcycles and high-performance cars for auto racing, where gears are selected in order, and direct access to specific gears is not possible. With traditional manual transmissions, the driver can move from gear to gear, by moving the shifter to the appropriate position. A clutch must be disengaged before the new gear is selected, to disengage the running engine from the transmission, thus stopping all torque transfer. This type of transmission is often referred to as a H-pattern because of the path that the shift lever takes as it selects the various gears. As the gear shifting process requires attention and dexterity that might be needed in managing sharp corners in car races, sequential transmission has been introduced into many competition rules as an alternative. A true sequential transmission will very often use dog clutch engagement rather than the more usual synchromesh as fitted to a normal H-pattern road car gearbox. Engagement using dogs only requires a very brief interruption of engine torque to complete a shift into any adjacent gear. This allows shifting between gears without the use of the clutch. The clutch would normally be used only for standing starts.
The new Yamaha YXZ's are awesome machines!! In desert style racing or in the dunes with its 5spd tranny anything from Polaris or Artic-Cat will not touch it or even come close. But in a rock crawling/bouncing situation that transmission is going to be a major hindrance, and the RZRs & Wildcats should out perform the YXZ. In the mud that will left to be seen as mud tears everything up. If Yamaha were to add a CVT type transmission to the YXZ line-up next year they would dominate all areas of the side-by-side world.
+Jason Ostler Not to sound dumb but that's the first I've ever heard of the Rekluse auto clutch, haven't road a bike with a manual clutch in at least 15yrs. Don't fully understand it yet have to read up more on them, but what I did look up real quick is the cost of it, $900 bucks, WOW!! That's a lot it had better out last the bike for that kind of money. I haven't read everything on the new YXZ yet but it seems more like car transmission and it might be a while if ever before someone like Rekluse has a auto clutch for it. It would be a lot easier for Yamaha to off a a transmission like on their Wolverine.
+Aaron CMH I just found that out the other day. I had a Polaris 425 xpedition which had a 5spd tranny that was basically a auto clutch set up. I take back what I said about the YXZ's manual tranny being a hindrance in the mud & rock crawling. With a auto clutch as a option this new SxS will dominate ALL AREAS of the SxS world. Polaris & Artic Cat are going to have to design new machines if they want to stay in the game. Another bonus to the YXZ having a 5sp manual tranny, it may be possible no for aftermarket gear ratio changes, something that isn't possible with a CVT tranny.
+jdj62464 I'm sure Yamaha will have a solution, a "hill holder" in the brake master cyl would do it. It's just a ball bearing that blocks return flow from the brakes while the SxS is on an incline....easy to do
Why didn't Yamaha put a R1 based engine with a beefed up transmission in it? Those engines are bulletproof, have tons of power, and are very light. And with the short gearing necessary for a side by side...the machine would have been a fire breather.
I own a 2015 rzr1000 ,but this looks really fun to drive I can't wait to test drive it.everything is awesome about it love it but it's sure is ugly lol I I can't wait to see the real side buy side comparison with the rzr1000 's out in the real world and what people have to say.but I got a feeling I'm keeping my rzr love that thing
Yep, I'll take one of them over a shitty Polaris any day... Too bad they start at $20,000 that's more than I payed for my truck, my boat and both my motorcycles combined!!!
I can't wait to see what polaris will squash this thing with : ) I bet they just throw the slingshot engine into something and call it a love story : )
with the clutch its going to be hard to handle in a rock crawling app. like in moab. but its going to be great every place else. but just think....if this is the first one out next years will be even better. this is just to get the ppl that love Yamaha to buy. then the bad bitch will com out next. just my thoughts
+TheOutty500 Because of the manual transmission on the Yamaha, it brings 20 percent more power to the wheels, it's like having a 134.4hp CVT machine. They will be very similar.
I'm a BIG Yamaha fan. I bought a new in 2010 Polaris RZR 4 and have had zero problems. Keep in mind all of these Polaris, Can Am, Yamaha and the like machines are NOT race ready. Scroll down and ppl (wanna be pro-racers) are saying " Baja 1000, 500"....you'd be a fool, broken down, hot and thirsty in the first 10 miles at competition speed. But these are great fun to roll at modest, safe speeds. I have the most fun crawling over obstacles, ruts and hills. My RZR goes over or climbs just about everything in front of it...with-in reason. There's plenty of "With-out Reason" on RU-vid "Failed RZR Crashes". I like to walk....not wheel chair. I was holding out on my next big purchase for an RZR with gears....which this machine has...I will "wait and see" how these perform in tight, slow speed crawls. Yea...."No more belts to burn" ($80)...but clutch plates and baskets can cost $100's....like $400's...maybe more. Sand is fun...but the by-product of sand is heat, and pure sand is for people who can't negotiate real desert without breaking something. I still love my dirt bike....Way faster and much more safe in the big picture of atv's.
