Love them, hate them, never heard of them... snow bikes are here to stay. And we are ready to embrace them.
We're jumping into the 2014 season with a couple new additions to the SnoWest fleet. Well, they are familiar faces, just new to the winter side of the garage. In September, Yamaha sent us a 2013 WR450F off-road bike that would later become what you see here... a dedicated turbo snow bike.
We rode the WR450F on dirt (with wheels) several times before the Timbersled conversion was installed. We wanted to get a good feel for the bike's capabilities compared to other 450s, 500s and other bikes that are popular among the snow bike crowd so we could speak to its abilities in snow.
We chose the WR450F over a YZ450F for its electric start and headlight initially, but fell in love with the bike on dirt trails because of its nimble frame, plush suspension and on-rails handling. Needless to say, this just might be our new favorite single track bike. But we really can't wait to get it on snow now.
It rolled into the Intermountain Snowmobile Show in Salt Lake City, UT, on October 24th and underwent a transformation from a stock WR450F to a modified, turbo Mountain Horse complete with Rekluse clutch, Boyesen water pump, ProMoto Billet Adventure pegs and Fastway hand guards (not pictured), and a Boondocker turbo.