2024 YAMAHA WR450F: R&D BACKSTORY

How has Yamaha’s WR450F continued to top the off-road motorcycle sales charts in Australia ever since it first arrived in 1998? Well, you could point to several reasons. But one of the key drivers of that enduring sales success is the fact that this model has been specifically developed by Yamaha Motor Australia for Australian riders and Australian terrain.

And that design ethos continues to apply to the 2024 WR450F, which comes in for a complete overhaul this year. So, at the bike’s recent Australian media launch, we spoke with one of the guys who’s been instrumental in that development process, ShopYamaha’s AJ Roberts, for the backstory to this latest evolution of the WR450F, and his take on this landmark bike’s standout design elements.