MXA TEAM TESTED: FCP YZ450F STEERING RACE CUPS

WHAT IS IT? FCP is known for engine mounts, but now they’re expanding their catalog to feature an entirely new product that has never before been available to the public. Steering races (or “Race Cups,” as FCP calls them) are in charge of setting the rake and trail of your motorcycle. They allow you to adjust the geometry of the chassis by changing the angle of your forks. 

WHAT’S IT COST? $589.00.

CONTACT? www.fcpracing.com or [email protected]. 

WHAT STANDS OUT? Here’s a list of things that stand out with the FCP steering race cups on the 2024 Yamaha YZ450F.

(1) First-ever. Rake, trail and offset are all important factors that affect a motorcycle’s handling. One of the biggest secrets about factory motocross teams is that they can change their steering races to adjust the stability, agility and handling of their bikes to tailor it to each rider. Some bikes are inherently sharp at cornering and unstable at speed, and others are stable at speed but slow to turn. By changing steering races, factory teams can make big changes to chassis geometry with one small part.

This concept is not new in Supermoto or mountain biking,  In fact, it has been offered on a production motorcycle before—most notably the 1973 to 1976 Can-Am motocross models. Can-Am’s eccentric races allowed the rake to be set anywhere between 25 to 30 degrees, When Can-Am folded their motorcycle division, the idea was never repeated—except by factory teams. It’s has never been available as an aftermarket upgrade in motocross before.  

(2) Offset vs. trail. Don’t confuse head angle, fork rake, fork offset and trail. Head angle is measured at the head tube (and is fixed in the frame). Rake is the angle of the fork in relationship to the ground. Offset is the measurement of how far ahead of the steerer tube the forks legs are positioned. While trail is a measurement of how far ahead of the tire’s contact patch the head angle meets the ground,  These are interrelated, but not interchangeable terms. When you buy triple clamps with more or less offset, you change the trail. More trail increases stability and less trail increases front end quickness in corners.  Eccentric Race Cups, that hold the head tube bearings at a different angle than the fixed head tube’s races, do not change the fork offset or the head angle, but they do change the trail, the rake of the fork and the wheelbase of the bike. FCP Race Cups are reversible, which means you can dial in more or less rake and its effects.

MXA has installed adjustable offset Luxon triple clamps on our ’23–’25 Yamaha YZ450Fs. Going from the stock 22mm offset to 23mm and 24mm offset lengthened the wheelbase slightlyand calmed the chassis down. The FCP Race Cups aren’t intended to change fork offset, instead they work together with different offsets to increase tuning options. 

(3) Kit. The FCP Race Cups change the fork angle by one-third of a degree (or 20 minutes on the 60-minute chart). This is a big-enough change that most riders will be able to feel a difference on the track. When you purchase Race Cups from FCP,  you get two bearings and race cups (top and bottom), an O-ring, a seal, and a fancy titanium seal washer to keep dirt and water out. 

(4) YZ450F. The Yamaha YZ450F won our 2023 and 2024 shootouts, but it’s still not perfect. We make multiple “free” adjustments to calm down the twitchy front end. We run our forks flush in the triple clamps to raise the front of the bike to change the head angle, and we set the sag around 105–108mm to also lower the rear end and reduce the front-end shake. Then, we go tighter on the steering nut than most 450s, just to calm it down. 

(5) FCP Performance. When we first ran the FCP Race Cups on our YZ450F, the front end felt heavy in the middle of the corners. When you feel like the front wheel should be hooking up and carving a rut, it wants to stand up longer, and this caused our testers to accidentally have to make adjustsments to their body position. However, this was with our previous setup with the tight steering stem, flush forks and low sag. We quickly set the steering stem nut to a normal range comparable to other bikes, raised the forks up with 2mm showing above the clamps, and opened the rebound clickers up two clicks and—voila!—we were off to the races.

It took some testing to figure out the settings, but our test riders were impressed with the improvement that came from such a small part. It fixed our oversteer issues, lessened head shake at speed and helped smooth out the corners.

WHAT’S THE SQUAWK? Replacing bearings isn’t a simple task for riders who are mechanically challenged.

MXA RATING: The FCP Race Cups are expensive, but they have made huge improvements to our YZ450F. The YZ450F is even more fun to ride, and it feels safer to go fast on it now. We could trust the front end and didn’t have to “muzzle it” with stiff steering. FCP is expanding the brands they make Race Cups for to include all major brands..