Dirt Rider 2009 Torture Test

Escargot
One of the tests in which a solid performance is a must is the Escargot, an endless circle controlled by Chris Denison. We know you learn a lot about bikes just in turning-from third gear pinned to first and crawling around the center-because our bikes live and die in a turning state. To help with the testing duties, Chris recruited Alexander Smith-spawn of the great Malcolm Smith-and together the two spent over 100 minutes just turning these bikes.

If there is one thing the Escargot teaches you, it's how well a bike's power gets to the ground. Certain machines-such as the Pro Moto Billet RM-Z450 and the Zip-Ty Husqvarna 450 TXC-had power spreads that worked magically around the giant dirt snail. Other bikes like the Precision Concepts KX450F were too fast for the tight circle and thus hard to control. Obviously, cornering prowess becomes crystal clear in the Escargot Test, and as a general rule much of a bike's performance had to do with the quality and makeup of the front tire; those Torture Test steeds with stickier shoulder knobs had a great advantage in the tighter center section.

Denison was partial to the Dr.D CRF450's strong bottom-end power, while Smith called his top Escargot pick a tie between the KTM 450 XC-F and the KTM 250 XC. The fastest lap by a test rider was spun by Denison on the Zip-Ty Husky (1:48.53), while hero rider Rory Sullivan raced the Pro Moto Billet RM-Z to a quick 1:39.94. Track owner Ryan Hughes came by and threw down a 1:38.45 for the fastest overall time, then was barraged with joking ridicule from his training student Ricky Dietrich about having a home track advantage. Hughes kindly reminded Ricky that there is no advantage to riding in circles on a flat patch of dirt. Touche.

2009 KTM 250 XC
Parts And Modifications:
KTM North America, Inc.: KTMUSA.com
Map switch: $44.99
Hourmeter: $48.99
Bar pad: $19.99
2009 250 XC MSRP: $7898

Tale Of The Tape
Pete P. was busy weighing and measuring everyone's bike and wondering if he'd recognize Randy Hawkins by his not-so-British accent. In between keeping the line flowing and trying to spot national champions pushing a bike (almost every third bike) he realized that starting with a light bike doesn't mean winding up with one, as weights varied radically even between same-model bikes and two-strokes didn't necessarily have the big advantage here you might expect. (Check the chart on page 48 and see what you think.)

Radar Test
I was busy drag racing. Running all bikes full stream up an inclined road that would just top out fifth gear on most bikes. And since I'm cocky about my drag strip prowess and I knew I didn't have to chop early to avoid going off the cliff at the end of the strip, I'd taunt the hero guys that I could go faster on their bikes. Sometimes I actually did. Here, the MX-based bikes' gearing caught them out too short, the 250F and smaller bikes slowed on the incline, comparatively, and I thought the Husky 450 was a 510, it felt that fast. Our gun said it was clearly the fastest bike in the 775-foot strip. Other revelations; The Christini KX-F 450 holeshot every bike to 40 mph on the loose surface, surviving to be the third fastest machine, passed by the second fastest bike, the Am-Pro WR, on the top-end pull. Most of the other bikes were clumped into a very tight bunch and largely indecipherable for the most part. Did anyone check to see if that Husky was really a 450?

Moto Test
Motohead Jesse Ziegler commanded the Moto Test on Rynoland's lower track. Why have a moto test? Because we're looking for the do-it-all bike! The lower moto track is long and rough. How long? Well, Ziegler's baseline lap on our stock KTM 450 XC-W was just over three minutes. And it wasn't a groomed, manicured or a nice lap, either. It was ugly and incorporated every terrain-laden obstacle known to man. We recruited Dave Donatoni to split real-guy evaluation duties since there was no way Ziegler could do 25 three-minute laps without updating his Facebook status to "Jesse's arms fell off."

Moto-edged bikes, or those based on motocross bikes, would seem to have the advantage here, but that wasn't necessarily the case. And the dead two-strokes were resurrected. You can go two ways in the compromise for all-around usability: aggressive or soft. And if you went soft, the bike suffered in the moto. All these bikes are powerful enough for a fast lap time, so power delivery seemed more important than quantity.

KTM dominated with its stock 250 XC and 450 XC. With development tester and supercross regular Mike Sleeter on board, the 250 XC dropped the fastest test-bike time. Factory WORCS racer Justin Soule was close behind on the 450 XC. Ziegler actually pulled his third fastest lap on the 250 XC as well. These were the only bikes to get under 2:40.00 for the heroes, unless you count Hughes's silly 2:25.47 on his full-moto CRF450R!

The top motocross bike, the L.A. Sleeve Honda CRF450R, showed up in the fourth spot behind an off-road conversion: Am-Pro Yamaha's WR450 with Duvall on board. Donatoni got along well with the Beta 525 for his best time, and Ziegler's fastest was on Dubach Racing's CRF450X. Most of the motocross bikes went more off-road in their builds and that hurt them on the MX track where the true off-road bikes that were built up to handle higher loads performed better. Except for the Pro Moto Billet RM-Z450 and its smooth power. It was the only MX bike to hit both DR testers' top three. Even a true, almost untouched YZ250-a genuine motocross bike-with its snappier power delivery and aggressive suspension setup couldn't match some of the smoother performers here and ended up mid-pack.