With Yamaha making such radical changes on the 2010 YZ450F, it figured that the top race teams would be scrambling to refine the production bike into a full-on weapon capable of running at the front against the best riders in the world. After all, the YZ release was late, and the SX opener is January [...]
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As our eyes scoured the 2010 KX250F looking for EFI, our orbs blew right past the myriad of changes the bike did receive. Part of that oversight can be blamed on a rumor mill that claimed the bike was unchanged, and the rest we’ll chalk up to the fact that most of the changes are [...]
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Sometimes it takes some added incentive to give the old steed a good service and check-over. My nudge came from a volleyball-size rock. It was just one little broken bone that allowed walking, but kickstarting a 450 was out for a couple of weeks. The bike had been running fine and strong, but at 76 [...]
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Just 12 years ago Yamaha dropped a bomb on the motocross world: Not only would the company release a four-stroke motocrosser to the public, it would laugh at what was considered to be four-stroke doctrine at the time. For those of you too young to remember, four-stroke motocross machinery at the time-when there was any-came [...]
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The whole concept of a street-legal race-capable bike like the KTM 530 EXC gelled when we reached the end of the Tejon Trail-a single-track through the mountains above the Hungry Valley SVRA. You end up at a paved road with a sign that says, “Street legal vehicles only.” I had a huge grin as, rather [...]
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When Honda redesigned the XR200R in 1986, it basically acknowledged that the ’84/’85 four-valve machines were a mistake. Honda redesigned the ’85 frame to accept the much smaller, simpler and lighter 1983 and earlier two-valve engine. The combination worked, and thousands of riders got to experience a real trail four-stroke. The two-valve engine isn’t a [...]
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The word on the moto-grapevine was: No change for the KX250F for 2010. The economy killed a revised EFI model, and we’d get the same old shootout-winning, championship-winning bike we had for 2009. Basically, grapevine fail. EFI did not appear, but the KX is the same old bike except for the piston, piston pin, cylinder, [...]
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The loose end of almost all tiedown straps is sewn in a loop. I think that loop is to keep the strap material from unraveling and to allow a better hand-hold when you pull the tiedown tight. But another rider once told me that the loop is to slide off the main run of the [...]
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Just 12 years ago Yamaha dropped a bomb on the motocross world: Not only would the company release a four-stroke motocrosser to the public, it would laugh at what was considered to be four-stroke doctrine at the time. For those of you too young to remember, four-stroke motocross machinery-when there was any-came from Europe or [...]
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With National Hare Scrambles Champ Jason RainesThere are many motocross and even supercross riding techniques that pay off huge for an off-road guy. A seat-bounce jump is a big one. A “seat-bounce” is a technique for maximizing your air time by loading the suspension of your bike into the face of a jump. Jason Raines [...]
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Price Range: $500-$3000The earliest XR250Rs were basically a 500 chassis and a shrunken-displacement 500 engine. Not a shrunken engine, so the bikes ended up with the weight of a 500 and the power of a 200; Honda finally got the right equation in 1986. The engine was a four-valve configuration with an oil cooler to [...]
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The KTM 250cc two-strokes are the most popular size across the country, and after riding the bike we can see why. The engine is tuned specifically for cross country racing. KTM 250 XCThere is a lot of goodness in the $7898 250 XC two-stroke, with some of the best news being that KTM hasn’t forgotten [...]
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The most dominant performance by a motorcycle
I’ve been living on the Honda 150R
HILLSDALE, Mich., (March 21, 2012) – Right
HILLSDALE, Mich., (March 15, 2012) – American-made
