WE RIDE DOUG DUBACH'S WORLD VET-WINNING 2010 YAMAHA YZ450F:

Doug Dubach’s personal YZ450F, as opposed to the ones he rides as Yamaha’s official test rider, is modified to suit his tastes. It has lower gearing, stiffer suspension, less offset, a DR.D pipe and a few trick gizmos.

Doug Dubach raced his first AMA National 28 years ago. He was a member of Team Yamaha (with Damon Bradshaw and Jeff Emig as his teammates) 20 years ago. Doug won his first and only AMA Supercross 19 years ago. He retired from the AMA National scene 15 years ago. Doug moved from Team Yamaha to the Yamaha testing department, and 16 years ago was assigned to a “secret project” which turned out to be the Yamaha YZ400 four-stroke. He won his first World Vet Championship 17 years ago. Doug was the first rider to win a major race on the Yamaha YZ400 12 years ago (although Doug Henry had won the Vegas Supercross on the CNC-machined prototype a few months earlier). And, since his retirement from Team Yamaha, Doug Dubach has won 17 World Veteran Motocross Championships. And, lastly, a few months ago, Doug used the all-new, 2010, reverse-cylinder, Yamaha YZ450F to win both the Over-30 and Over-40 World Vet Championships.

The ever-inquiring MXA wrecking crew wanted to throw a leg over Dubach’s World Vet-winning YZ450F. Why? Of all of the factory riders’ bikes that we have tested, Dubach’s 2010 Yamaha YZ450F has more in common with the bikes that the average racer rides than the unobtainable foof of a works bike. Doug isn’t a young buck anymore. His Supercross days are behind him. And, as a man who runs his own aftermarket company, he understands what rank-and-file racers want.

So, we arranged to hammer Doug’s 2010 YZ450F on the exact same course that he rode to his two Championship victories.

SHOP TALK: CHRONICLING THE COMPONENTS

It might be tempting to think of Doug Dubach as an old school rider, but nothing could be further from the truth. Although his factory days are behind him, Doug has spent the last 16 years as Yamaha’s official test rider. It is Doug who did the development work on the YZ125, YZ250, YZ250F, YZ400, YZ426F and YZ450F. And with each new model, Doug refined not only his riding style, but his setup. Although the 2010 YZ450F was totally new to the vast majority of consumers, it wasn’t new to Doug—he had been riding it in one form or another for two years.

Doug Dubach’s YZ450F focus was on getting the chassis balanced, the suspension stiff and putting the power to the ground.

(2) Gearing: “I thought the 13/48 gearing was too tall for racing. It worked well on the track, but didn’t have the kind of punch I needed to get out of the turns and into third gear sooner. I started practice with one tooth more, but eventually chose to run a 13/50 for the race,” said Doug.

(3) Lower radiators: For 2010, Yamaha’s engineers lowered the radiators 17mm to get the water weight lower on the chassis. Dubach used his proprietary DR.D radiator lowering kit to move his radiators down 24mm more. That means that Dubach’s radiators are 41mm lower than the radiators on a stock 2009 YZ450F. This is made possible by the fact that the exhaust pipe on the 2010 YZ450F has been moved to the back of the bike. The majority of Doug’s engine was stock: piston, valves, cams and head porting. He didn’t even reprogram the YZ450F ignition, but instead elected to run the stock map. Dubach’s YZ450F also used the stock clutch basket, plates and springs.

(4) Suspension: Since his factory days, Doug has relied on Enzo suspension. On his forks, he ran the stock springs with slightly softer damping than on his 2009 Enzo forks. It should be noted that when Doug says “slightly softer,” he still means very stiff compared to stock. Most of the damping increase was focused in the midstroke to help keep the forks from blowing through their travel. The fork mods ran $180 for the revalve and $70 for seals, bushings and oil. On the rear shock, Doug opted for the next softest shock spring (he only weighs 150 pounds). He set his race sag at 100mm, but said that depending on track conditions he sometimes runs 97mm if he feels the need to turn better. Enzo charges $180 to revalve the shock, $35 for the parts and oil, and $122 for the new shock spring.

(5) Triple clamps: Doug thought that the 2010 YZ450F’s front end felt a little light at turn-in. To get more bite out of the front wheel, he swapped the stock 22mm clamps for Applied 20mm clamps. This would give the YZ450F the self-righting effects of more trail. With the stock Yamaha clamp, Doug runs his bar clamps in the back hole with the eccentric spun forward. His Applied clamps put his bars 2mm farther forward from that setting. Amazingly enough, Doug ran the stock Renthal bend bars and Yamaha grips.

(6) Miscellaneous: With the exception of a DR.D graphics kit (from DeCal Works), a DR.D hour meter (mounted on a special YZ450F bracket) and a DR.D forged quick-adjust clutch lever, Dubach’s YZ450F was just a mildly modified stocker.

TEST RIDE: A BIKE FOR EVERY MAN

The first thing that the MXA wrecking crew learned in dealing with the new generation of fuel-injected bikes is that they tend to be a little flat on top (with the sole exception of the Kawasaki KX450F). The second thing is that flat-topped EFI bikes love aftermarket exhaust pipes. On the super-flat Honda CRF450, we couldn’t find an exhaust pipe that didn’t make the Honda run better. So, we had high hopes that the 2010 Yamaha YZ450F would respond in kind to a pipe swap. And it did.

WITH LITTLE MORE THAN AN EXHAUST PIPE AND TWO TEETH ON THE REAR SPROCKET, DUBACH’S YZ450F POWERBAND WAS INFINITELY MORE USABLE THAN THE STOCK YZ-F CURVE. ALTHOUGH DOUG CLAIMS TO HAVE GIVEN UP A LITTLE LOW END IN SEARCH OF A STRONGER MIDRANGE, IT DIDN’T FEEL THAT WAY.

With little more than an exhaust pipe and two teeth on the rear sprocket, Dubach’s YZ450F powerband was infinitely more usable than the stock YZ450F curve. Although Doug claims to have given up a little low end in search of a stronger midrange, it didn’t feel that way. What he did get rid of was the jolt that the YZ450F has off idle. Instead of jerking when the throttle was rolled on, the DR.D pipe transitioned smoothly off the bottom into a robust midrange. The boost in ponies in the middle and on over-rev was infinitely usable on Glen Helen’s big hills.

The gearing changes may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but on a race track they allow Doug to get into third sooner (and third is the payoff gear). With the stock gearing, third would sometimes want to lay down a little and rev slower.


Doug ran 20mm offset Applied triple clamps. He wanted more trail to help stabilize the front end on flat sweeping corners.

Doug’s forks were very nice. He seems to have gotten over his rigid-as-a-board setup stage. Older and wiser, he has learned that he doesn’t need Supercross-stiff front forks to go fast (especially since his Supercross days are behind him).

The Enzo rear shock wasn’t as pleasant for the MXA test riders. Although Dubach may have gone softer on his front forks, his rear damping was still on the firm side. Additionally, Doug’s softer shock spring wasn’t a good fit for MXA’s 185-pound test riders. The mix of a spring that was too light for our weight and damping that was too stiff for our speed resulted in a very dead-feeling rear end.

Doug changed the fork offset on his YZ450F by 2mm to increase the trail, and while we accepted the logic behind his mod, we never really came to terms with Doug’s clamps because of his suspension setup. Instead of getting the stability benefits of less offset, we couldn’t judge the offset experiment as a failure or a success, because Doug’s bike was setup for his weight, speed and style.

CONCLUSION: WHAT DO WE REALLY THINK?