So, you’ve just bought yourself a shiny Yamaha YZ250 or YZ250X and plan on hitting the trails. In this article we’re going to go over some of the things that I did to protect and keep my new 2021 YZ250X looking clean and shiny.

Keep It Looking Nice Overall:
One of the more annoying things you’ll notice after buying blue is the stress marks in the plastic. If you want to keep that eyesore from being visible to everyone, you’ll want to look at a graphics kit for the bike (or just buy different colored plastics. I went with a kit from Factory Effex, but there are quite a number of options available.

Keep Your Hands Safe:
Over the years, I’ve smashed my hands many times and even broken a few fingers on the trails. I personally like bark busters when you do a lot of tight trail riding, but regular hand guards also do quite a bit for you if you prefer that. These Cycra Alloy Probend Bars are what I chose for my bike.

Alternative: Acerbis X-Ultimate Handguards
If you’re in the camp of standard flexible hand guards, because there are opinions on both sides of the aisle, something like this would do well.

Keep Your Radiator Safe:
One thing that could easily get you stranded on the trail is a punctured or cracked radiator..and they are not cheap. I bought myself a set of Devol Radiator Guards. For less than $200 they provide a front grille and rear brace to keep your radiators securely in place and protected.

Keep Your Engine Case Safe:
One of the next major considerations in keeping your new bike safe on rocky trails is a skid plate or engine case protection. I really like the Cycra Full Coverage Skid Plate. It’s plastic, lightweight and durable. You will need to remove the pipe for installation, but I did it in about 20 minutes next to the camper before a 50 mile trek into the Rockhouse Hatfield McCoy Trails. It took a couple hard hits and came back for more.

Rear Brakes:
Messing up your rear brake rotor or caliper during a tumble down a hill could leave you in your tracks, and the factory protection is more for roost deflection in my opinion. As you can see it’s just a couple flimsy pieces of plastic. If you even took a light hit to anything I don’t believe either of these would provide you with much protection.

Rear Caliper:
I replaced my plastic rear caliper guard with this Works Connection Rear Brake Caliper Guard. It’s aluminum, cheap and easy to install. You would really have no reason not to buy this, because the caliper is much more expensive.

Rear Disc:
I purchased the TM Designworks Indestructible Rear Disc Guard for my bike and was really happy with how thick this plastic guard was. It was very easy to install, and while more expensive than the caliper guard, I prefer not getting stuck with a messed up rotor miles from camp.

Stay Legal on the Trail:
Depending on where you are, you might have some laws that pertain to spark arrestors. In my state it’s required. Since the bike was new I wasn’t looking for a full pipe/silencer combo. So I bought the FMF Turbinecore 2 Spark Arrestor. It’s easy to install and easy to keep shiny.

Keep Your Factory Pipe Shiny:
One last point worth mentioning is keeping your factory pipe clean and shiny. Nothing is worse than seeing a clean bike with a dull, lifeless factory pipe that hasn’t been taken care of. This is really easy. Just wash your bike like normal, and afterwards spray some WD 40 on the pipe and wipe it down with a rag.