🎥 The WR450F: How Far Has It Come in 16 Years?

Back in 1999, the arrival of Yamaha’s all-new WR400F knocked everybody’s socks off. Based heavily on the revolutionary YZ400F that was released a year prior (with titanium valves, no less!), the 1999 WR400F was on a whole other performance planet when compared with the venerable old Honda XR400, and the ageing Huskys and the yet-to-be-properly-sorted new-generation KTMs of the time. Curiously, though, the Yamaha’s performance advantage didn’t translate into race wins. In spite of Yamaha releasing the much-improved WR426F in 2001, Honda- and Husky-mounted enduro racers – super-talented guys such as Ian and Jamie Cunningham and Stefan Merriman – kept upstaging this high-performance blue machine and deprived it of the national titles it appeared destined to own.
It wasn’t until the 2003 Australian 4-Day Enduro (A4DE) at Millicent in South Oz that the all-new WR450F finally notched up its maiden Aussie enduro title in the premier 450cc four-stroke class. The bike in question was a near-stock ADB Magazine project bike, ridden by multiple Australian ISDE team representative and enduro stalwart, Stuart Morgan, who, by his own admission, was past his prime by 2003.
So, seeing as “Morgo” planned to come along and race the Transmoto 6-Hour at Nabiac a few weeks back, we suggested he swing a leg over a 2019-model WR450F – a near-stock Transmoto project bike this time around – and reflect on just how far Yamaha’s flagship model has evolved (from both performance and adjustability points of view) in the 16 years since that historic 4-Day title.