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There are KTM guys and there are Husky guys. That’s certainly true among the general riding public, but it’s even true within the offices at Pierer Mobility, the parent company of both brands. Product planners clearly want Husqvarna to succeed—but not succeed too much, or so it seems. Even though the motorcycles are similar, they […]
The arrival of the GasGas MC 450F is a litmus test for the optimists and pessimists in the motocross world. The bright side is that there’s another 450 motocross bike in the pool to choose from. There will be another set of dealers to visit, and racing will be deeper and richer as a result. The […]
Some motorcycles are taken for granted. If a new 250 four-stroke motocross bike suddenly arrived that weighed less and made more power than anything in the class, it would be big news. If it had a hydraulic clutch, the best brakes, electric start, a programmable ignition and every cutting-edge development in the MX world, it […]
If you watched any of the 2020 Lucas Oil Pro motocross series, you might think that the Yamaha YZ250F is the all-time horsepower king of the 250 class. The bikes ridden by Dylan Ferrandis, Justin Cooper and the other Star Racing/Monster Energy team members were the fastest machines on the track, hands down. You gotta […]
We have a record crop of bikes, so we took our time to make sure we gave each of them a fair and full evaluation. That includes a newcomer to the motocross world: The GasGas MC450F. We have also included the unchanged Suzuki RM-Z450 thanks to the support of Simi Valley Cycles. Those two will […]
The 2021 GasGas MC450F is in the house and we got to ride it at Glen Helen Raceway this week. As you might expect, it’s very similar to the KTM 450SX-F, but with a key difference: Price. The GasGas will sell for $9399, whereas the 450SX-F is $10,199 and the Husky FC450 is $10,299. That places […]
The GasGas MC250F is the first 250 motocross bike to carry the GasGas name, which is traditionally associated with trials and off-road bikes. Last year, Pierer Mobility acquired controlling interest in GasGas, placing the company under the same umbrella as KTM and Husqvarna. The trials bikes will continue to be manufactured in Spain, but the […]
The 2021 Husqvarna FC450 is here, and even though this can’t be considered a year of major changes, Husqvarna and KTM are beginning to diverge in some meaningful ways. We began to see some hints of that last year. The Husky’s power delivery was a little milder, and the suspension was a little cushier, apparently […]
A bullet-point history of the Kawasaki KX250 would miss all the really important facts about the bike. Yes, it would point out that it’s the winningest bike in the modern era of pro motocross; the KX250 (formerly known as the KX250F) has earned 18 championships and 189 wins in pro motocross and Supercross. That’s just […]
The TM 250 is a blend of old-school two-stroke thinking with modern technology. Racing fans often say that if two-stroke motocrossers had received the same development as four-strokes over the years, then racing would look and sound very differently today. Well, TM is a small Italian company that has given two-strokes just as much emphasis […]
Honda’s big milestones seem to arrive at irregular intervals in the 450 class, but there were four years that changed everything: 2002, 2009, 2013 and 2017. Now, the 2021 model is another bike to remember. It has a new chassis, a mostly new motor and, most important, it represents a change in philosophy. THE PARTS […]
If ever there was proof that pro-racing results don’t matter in the real world, the Yamaha YZ450F is it. It continues to be one of the best-selling motocross bikes in America. It continues to be wildly successful in the hands of local riders. It continues to be reliable, accessible and effective in the hands of […]
The Kawasaki KX450 received what we call a “ground-up rebuild” for the 2019 model year. They addressed almost every issue we had with the machine in previous years, and it has won the last two Dirt Bike magazine 450cc motocross shootouts. Factory racer Eli Tomac has been very successful aboard the machine as well, winning […]
If there’s any one bike that can sum up all the changes that have occurred in the motocross world in the previous decade, this is it. The KTM 450SX-F is the MX poster child of the 21st century. It hasn’t always been the fastest, the most advanced or the best in its class, but it […]
As the dirt bike industry is distilled to its most essential components, we increasingly look to small companies for innovation and purity. TM is a small Italian company making motorcycles that matter; motorcycles like the 250MXE two-stroke. This is currently the only electric-start two-stroke motocross bike available in the U.S. Beyond that, it’s a new […]
The Kawasaki KX450 is the first of the 2021 models to arrive and we have already spent a day testing it. The bike might look unchanged, but it has a number of welcome improvements. The most significant is the redesign of the clutch; it now has a single cupped disk spring rather than five coil […]
The Husqvarna FC450 Rockstar Edition is traditionally a preview of the coming year’s model, so even though this bike is called a 2020½ version, it provides a glimpse of the 2021 FC450 that will be released in the spring. The most important changes are all invisible, but are very significant. The WP XACT air fork […]
Yamaha got back into the game in a big way last year. The YZ250F had been eclipsed by faster, lighter electric-start bikes, and despite a solid run of pro motocross success, it had been saddled with the stinging title of “Good Novice Bike.” Then 2019 came and everything changed. The new YZ250 had been recast […]
Back in 2018, Honda released a CRF250R that was almost the complete opposite of the previous model. The new model liked to be revved, with the power all up top. Honda changed its image in the 250 class almost overnight from beginner-friendly puppy to pro-level screamer. For 2020 the engineers went back to the drawing […]
Suzuki has a reputation for finding a platform it likes and keeping it relatively unchanged for several years. The 2020 RM-Z450 model is a perfect case in point. Literally, the only change Suzuki made to the machine was cosmetic color changes to the graphics. But, you have to remember that in 2018 Suzuki made huge […]