RUST magazine: Rust#14

months on the bikes non-stop) their damping
settings, and found both on front and rear
that less compression damping made the
biggest difference. They’ve stuck with the
stock springs rates, although in some
countries, such as Australia and the US,
there’s been a trend to fitting firmer fork
springs, but in the woods of Wales, those
4.5N/mm springs work just fine (see the
panel for the Yamaha Off Road Experience
final settings).
MIND THE GAP
As for the engine mapping, well, one issue
that needed addressing was the curious
absence of bottom end. It’s not exactly
lacking, but the stock fuelling seems to
leave a glitch right off the bottom and, given
it doesn’t pull too strongly from the bottom,
when you reach the strong mid, that then
comes in with a hit. So YORE sought to fill
that bottom end void. This meant richening
up the fuelling, while retarding the ignition,
mostly through the part throttle settings.
This, says Dylan, really smoothed out the
first half of the rev, making for a strong but
controllable bottom end with a smoother
transition to the mid-range, while the top
end of course is just fine!
SCHOOL OF ROCK
Dylan was delighted with the tuning, it’s substantially
changed the nature of the WR.
The bike is still a full-fat 450 and will still call
for a strong rider to be ridden fast all day, but