Yamaha has revealed the latest version of the WR450F Rally that will compete in next year’s Dakar Rally.
The bike will be ridden by Helder Rodriguez, Adrien van Beveren, Alessandro Botturi and Rodney Fagotter in the event. The Dakar starts on 2 January from Asuncíon in Paraguay before continuing through Bolivia and ending on the 14 January in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Based on the WR450F enduro bike, the Rally model gets a bigger 33 litre fuel tank and an upgraded cooling system to cope with desert temperatures.
Appearance-wise, the high screen and four LED headlights are similar to the T7 concept (http://www.motorcycle-magazine.com/yamaha-t7-previews-tenere-700/) – a look that will continue with the mass-made Tenere 700 later in 2017. Behind that screen lies a GPS to help with rally navigation.
More exciting than the racer is the news that Yamaha is also developing a customer kit to allow existing WR450 owners to convert their bikes to WR450F Rally spec. It’s set to go on sale in July 2017.
