Cons

-Stock suspension settings are too stiff for desert riding. Turning all adjustments to fully SOFT helped but made the quad uneven front to rear when going over long whoop sections. The back was rebound too fast. After a few adjustments, I settled on two clicks harder on the Slow compression for the front shocks and two clicks harder on the rebound for the rear from full soft. This made the bike much more even. It is still much stiffer than a properly set up 2008 YZF450 with Roll Design +2" arms and Elka Elites.

-The biggest problem with the quad is that the throttle is VERY sensitive off idle. This cause great difficulty when following a slow group. I had to use an On-Off technique to keep pace. No throttle and I couldn't keep up and a miniscule about of pressure on the throttle caused me to catch them. Under normal faster riding conditions the problem isn't noticeable because your not using less than 1/4 throttle.

The throttle problem reared its ugly head again when going up a very rocky hill. Climbing large rocks requires smooth throttle control. This again was almost impossible and I had to use the clutch to regulate the throttle. Unfortunately, that's not good for the clutch. The dealer said the fuel injection cannot be reprogrammed but I will be taking the quad back anyway to see if anything else can be done.

-Stock protection underneath is minimal with plastic guards. For a desert bike, it'll need a full glide plate and a swingarm skid plate at the least.

-Front bumper again is minimal

-Computer not reprogrammable.

-Single rate springs

-Doesn't like to start in gear with clutch pulled. Seems like the battery does not have enough capacity.

-Missing bolt on engine skid plate. (Update 12-5-08: dealer sent missing bolt)

-Talked to Yamaha rep. at the Cycle World Motorcycle Show in Long Beach (12/6/08). He said the carburated version is easier to tune and will make more power than the fuel injected bike and for trail riding the YFZ450 is better than the YFZ450R. He actually had never ridden one so his info may only have been opinions from someone else. I told him that the Yamaha rep at the Sand Sport Super Show said the "R" would make lots more power. This rep. said the other rep was wrong. Too bad it's so hard to get correct information from the Yamaha reps. A call to Yamaha Customer Service let no where either. They said to get any information a Yamaha dealer would have to call the Tech Hotline.