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Yamaha brings power steering to the midsize 450 ATV

The addition of power steering to Yamaha’s midsize 450 Grizzly midsize ATV is a feature likely to impress farmers and small property owners, Barry Ashenhurst reports.

Yamaha invented power-steering for ATVs and has now gone one step further by adding it to the midsize 450 Grizzly. 

No advance in the past 10 years has made ATVs easier to ride than power steering, so one would assume that this latest update will make the Yamaha 450 Griz even more popular.

The 450 is substantially shorter and narrower than the full-size 700 Grizzly and one of the most agile ATVs on the market.

With a tight turning circle, and good traction from its ‘On-Command’ 4×4 system, the little blue ATV slides easily through heavily wooded country.

Thanks to the brilliant power-steering, very little effort is required from the rider on any terrain, and of course that makes the 450 an excellent mount for those coming to ATVs for the first time.

Unlike competitors from the US and Canada who make everything on an ATV as automatic as possible, Yamaha gives the rider total control over the drive system. To engage or disengage four-wheel drive and/or the diff-lock, the rider merely presses a button on the right hand switch block.

The braking system is conventional as well. The right hand brake lever activates the front brakes while the left hand lever activates a single ‘oil-bath disc’ on the back of the machine.  The little Grizzly’s brakes are adequate for a machine of this size and speed but they lack feel and are not what you’d call strong.

The 450s most useful attributes are ease of operation and manoeuvrability. Anyone can ride this ATV, or quickly learn to ride it. It’s certainly a handy machine for moving small loads around a property or getting stock headed in the right direction.  The power-steering is brilliant, in fact we believe it’s the industry leader.

See Barry’s video test of the 450 Grizzly online next week; and read the full review in the February issue of NewFarmMachinery

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