The 2WD Yamaha
Imagine lining up on an enduro bike, twisting the throttle and feeling both wheels pulling you forward. Christini does it, but did you know that Yamaha also built a 2wd dirtbike?
Meet the Yamaha WR450F 2-Trac, a seriously clever and slightly bonkers dirt bike that arrived in limited numbers in 2004.
Based on Yamaha’s WR450F enduro bike, the 2-Trac used a system developed with Swedish suspension specialists Öhlins to give the motorcycle two-wheel drive – and this wasn’t some complicated chain-and-sprocket contraption running down the forks.
The front wheel is driven by a hydraulic pump. Clever tech…
Instead, a small pump driven from the gearbox fed hydraulic fluid through two hoses to a hydraulic motor built into the front wheel hub. When the rear wheel started spinning, hydraulic pressure increased and the front wheel joined the party, receiving up to around 15 percent of the engine’s power. The clever bit was that the system was self regulating, so the rider didn’t have to switch anything on or off.
And Yamaha wasn’t just building it for a laugh.
The big advantage was traction, particularly in deep sand, mud and other loose surfaces where a conventional rear-wheel-drive dirt bike could easily start digging a hole. The extra pull from the front wheel could help keep the bike moving and make it more stable in nasty conditions.
The idea had already proved itself in competition. David Frétigné rode a 2-Trac Yamaha to seventh overall and victory in the 450cc class at the 2004 Dakar Rally, beating plenty of considerably larger machines along the way. The technology had also taken victories in the Moroccan Shamrock Rally.
Underneath all the clever plumming was a proper 449cc, liquid-cooled, DOHC, five-valve single-cylinder four-stroke, backed by a five-speed gearbox. The production also received Öhlins suspension and a steering damper, making it considerably more than just a standard WR450F with a pipe bolted on.
Yamaha planned a tiny production run, with 250 bikes planned for 2004, built at its Belgarda factory in Italy. Other sources put total production at around 445, so the exact number remains a bit murky, but either way, these things were seriously rare.
And perhaps that’s the best thing about the WR450F 2-Trac.
It was clever. It worked. It even won races.
But two-wheel-drive motorcycles never became the next big thing.
Which makes this strange little Yamaha exactly what Quirky Bikes are all about.
