Product Review

Introducing the FULLNOISE, Yamaha YZ65

Author: Aaryn Minerds

Author: Aaryn Minerds

Posted:

Wednesday, June 20th, 2018

9:52 PM

Fresh and recently released out of their creates in Australia, the Yamaha YZ65 is now available in Australia and we have one of our own to get to know.

They have landed in dealerships around the nation and thanks to Yamaha Australia; we have our very own all-new Yamaha YZ65 to get to know inside and out over the remainder of 2018 and beyond.

One of the most anticipated new release of 2018, especially for riders aged under 12 years of age, the all new Yamaha YZ65

THE BIKE

There is not much that has not already been covered on Yamahaâ€™s YZ65 on media pages around the world, including here at Fullnoise.com.au since the bike was first revealed earlier this year.

CLICK HERE to read more on the YZ65 and the 2018 model specifications.

The YZ65J marks Yamahaâ€™s return to the 65cc class (formerly 60cc) with 1983 being the last time the manufacturer produced a bike for small mini bike class.

I would have been five years of age at that point in time, and can only vaguely remember the YZ60 as a kid. I canâ€™t lie, I had to google to find out when Yamaha last produced a bike for this class.

Race ready from straight out of the creat, but for those looking for some bling , Yamaha have a host of GYTR parts ready to bolt on to the YZ65

The 65cc class both here and pretty much around the world has been for the most part, a one make class in recent years, with KTM machinery filling the gates, along with a handful of older KX models and in the past few years, KTMâ€™s identical twin brother has added a little bit of white to the start gate with Husqvarna entering the mini bike market.

But that is not only about to change, but has already started to change, with a number of YZ65â€™s already beginning to show up on the start lines around the country over the past two weekends and going by the popularity of the recently held YZ65 demo days around the nation that will only continue to increase over the coming months.

It is a great time to be a 7-12 year old racer, with Yamaha deciding to add a race ready 65cc bike to the market giving riders and families not only have another choice, but it also adds a little spice, competition and support to the younger junior classes.

THE RIDER

Jayden and his new YZ65. Jay will have fun riding the 65, while I am on washing and maintenance duties.

While I will be getting to know the YZ65 from a maintence stand point and working on it with the guidance of both Grant Beale from Bike Tune and Andrew Pringle form APR MX, both highly respected Adelaide based mechanics, my seven year old Son Jayden will get to spend the weekends and occasional week night racking up the hours on his new blue machine.

Having only just turned 7 in March this year, he is old enough to race the 7-9 yr 65cc class, however most of our focus will be just on weekend rides, learning how to ride a 65 and moving up to a bike with a clutch and gears and we will throw in a couple of local club races later on in the year.

Riding since the age of four, Jayden is a confident little rider with some good technique, which I can assure you he has not picked up from me, but more so from spending hours on end watching YOUTUBE MX videos along with some local riding schools with Shane Metcalfe here in SA.

He is not the fastest rider for his age, but can handle a bike well, and has already quickly picked up the art of taking off using a clutch and changing gears.

Like many riders around the nation, Jayden's first ride on the Yamaha YZ65 was at the YZ65 Demo day in South Australia.

Like many riders aged 7-12, he took full advantage of the YZ65 Demo day to have his first ride on the Yamaha YZ65, spending the day carving laps around Gillman in South Australia and he was more than a little pumped when we were able to take a bike home with us at the end of the day.

Since then we have had one more chance to get out and spend a morning riding, spending a day at a local ride park focusing on changing gears and getting used to riding the bigger bike. It's fair to say he is more than a little happy to be riding a 65.

THE PLAN

After the YZ65 demo day, we went over the basics on the bike before racking up another hour of riding the following weekend.

It is pretty simple really. We are going to put as many hours as we can on this bike as we can over the coming months and give you a rundown on our findings and break down what it is like to live with Yamahaâ€™s YZ65 on a week to week basis.

Being Jayden is in the early stages of his 65cc riding dayâ€™s there are no plans on going chasing more performance with this bike, instead focusing on how it performs in close to stock trim.

Of course being on the shorter side still, we will look at some ideas to make the bike a little more comfortable to ride for his 117cm height and 21.5kg weight.

The Yamaha YZ65 we have in our possession was used at the South Australian Demo day, so already has a good 3-4 hours racked up (Yep the kids there that day certainly put in some time on the track) and we have an hour meter on the way to continue to track precisely how many hours we put on the 65.

We are looking forward to our time with Yamaha's new YZ65 both on and off the track, with plenty of riding planned over the coming months.

Taking the bike home directly from the Demo day also gave us a chance to go over the necessary maintenance from the get-go, with a gear-box oil change, air filter change, chain adjustment, and an opportunity to give the bike a general once over, checking bolts, spokes and the general things you need to keep an eye on after every ride.

The bike is with us for the long haul, while our focus will be on the remainder of this year, we do have long-term plans and plan on staying with the YZ65 into next year as Jayden moves up to racing the 65cc class from the get-go in 2019.

We are pretty excited to have this opportunity with Yamahaâ€™s YZ65 having it alongside our Yamaha YZ450F for the remainder of this year, hitting up local tracks just about every weekend, enjoying what we all love doing, riding and racing with family and friends.

Another cool little fact. I only had two bikes as a kid, a Suzuki JR50 and a Yamaha YZ80. The YZ just happened to be a J model, the first of Yamahaâ€™s water-cooled 80s. For Jayden now to have the first YZ65 that also just happens to be a J model, is kind of cool!.