As the fascination and crazy newness of the 2010 Yamaha YZ450F wears off, the impression it is leaving on us is still as good as ever. About the only thing that has truly worn out is the shine on the bike, and truthfully, ours is still looking pretty good. Now the better part of a [...]
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Kris Keefer On the chassis side of things KTM went all-out with a new frame and suspension setup, but it did not go to linkage on the two-stroke motocross bikes while the four-strokes did. Why? KTM feels two-strokes are about simplicity and easier maintenance, and the linkageless system is just that. The advantage the orange [...]
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If there was a bike that just keeps on giving and never asks for anything in return, it has been this Husaberg. Since we’ve had it, it has been the standby on any off-road ride we go on and the benchmark for a performance trailbike. Which is pretty strange for a full-size Open-class machine, but [...]
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Air filters are supposed to be oiled. But with the advances in chemical technology, some companies have gone away from “oils” to oil-like treatments that keep out the dirt, are claimed to be better for the environment and wash and clean out better than oils could ever dream of. We’ve been testing these three treatments, [...]
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Adventure touring is on the extreme end of dirt biking, on the polar opposite of trials. It takes from straight street touring and adds the off-road, go-anywhere element, thereby becoming adventure touring. Likewise the bikes available for this segment, rides like BMW’s popular GS Adventure and KTM’s 990 Adventure, are specifically set up and almost [...]
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And that corner speed carried all the way through what was a rough track since Wednesday at Milestone is sort of a mini national and amateur fast-guy practice day. The bumps were building, and ruts were pretty established. Not to the level one would see at an actual Outdoor National but way rougher than any [...]
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Read this story. I don’t care how little you give a hoot about anything but actually riding your dirt bike, but your being able to do that in the future depends first on you reading further. Even if you don’t give a rat’s ass about anything political, economic or involving land use.Shortly, if things continue [...]
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Whibley grabs a holeshot just like I thought I would. Dreaming is better than reality. Whibley’s WR isn’t that much of a WR really. Actually, he takes all of the less desirable or more trail-rider-friendly WR qualities out of the bike and spices it up with a much more race spec and design. Gone is [...]
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450 SX-FnBig brother 450 SX-F is very happy living the carbureted life, so it stayed that way and got even better jetting than before since it is being compared to FI. But the chassis, including the linkage, feels like it shaves off a few pounds from the attitude of the bike, and like on the [...]
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If you are going to put on a new seat cover and your foam is a little soft, try slapping the new cover right over the old one without removing it. It will make the foam seem just a little bit stiffer. Any tears or seams on the old cover might create an imperfection in [...]
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KTM has decided it is time to define its model lines even further and make a bold statement with a type of bike that only it produces. The idea is to make the XC line a benchmark so lofty that riders converting to motocross bikes or pumping up trail bikes have something to shoot for. [...]
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Since 2005 Honda has been satisfied with making very few changes to the 450X. Last year, the 250X got some updates and this year is the 450X’s turn. The big news is, of course, the addition of the steering damper and the resultant changes that come with it. In an effort to improve the comparatively [...]
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Yamaha wins the race to the showroom, but how’s the 2009 YZ450 at the track?Small changes highlight the 2009 Yamaha if you compare it to the upcoming Kawasaki KX450F and what we expect to be an all-new Honda CRF450R, but getting on the showroom floor first has its benefits, too.The biggest change to the bike [...]
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If you could build the perfect motocross bike, what would it be? Well, since Honda essentially started from a clean slate when designing and testing the 2009 CRF450R, perfection is what its engineers were striving for.Honda sought to build “the aerial battle weapon,” those words straight from the mouth of the project leader for the [...]
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Cobra’s stellar mini cycles provide a powerful
Carson Brown tests the 661 Comp Boot
Photos by Rodney WebbHILLSDALE, Mich., (Dec. 30,
I was born into a dirt bike
