Ron’s Wrap

If you remember the name Benelli, you've just dated yourself. Benelli was an Italian company that started before World War One, and was still making motorcycles in Pesaro the '90s. In the U.S., Benelli was once sold under the Montgomery…
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The 2022 model year has officially started. Husqvarna has shown its motocross bikes and cross country racers. Honda has shown its 450s. KTM and GasGas will soon follow with their own initial product releases. So far, there’s nothing…
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Donny Emler Jr (aka "Little D") at FMF has been working there pretty much his whole life and has seen some of the coolest bikes in the world pass through the shop. His latest personal bike is a very well appointed Husky FE501S dual-sport.…
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We spent much of this week testing various configurations of the 2021 Yamaha WR450F. The WR is a true-blue off-road bike, as recognized by the EPA. This year it got updated to the same platform as the current YZ450F, at least mechanically,…
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This week we got to swing a leg over the 2021 Husqvarna FE501S dual-sport bike. This bike is like a crossbreed of two other bikes we tested recently; the Husqvarna FE501 dirt-only model and the KTM 500EXC dual-sport. If you think there’s no…
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In the October, 1996 issue of Dirt Bike, Roger DeCoster talked about the future in a story called "Motocross Bike: 2000 A.D. It's kinda fun to look back at what he saw coming. What will motocross bikes look like in the year 2000? If…
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We got a chance to ride the 2021 Husqvarna FE501 this week. This is the dirt-only model, not the -S, which is street-legal. This bike is still blessed by the EPA in terms of emissions and noise. In the overall Husqvarna model line, here’s…
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We now have a 2021 Honda CRF450RL dual-sport test bike, just in time for some good trail-riding weather here in Southern California. The Honda CRF450L was the biggest news in the dual-sport world two years ago when it was first introduced.…
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The 2021 Honda CRF450RX Works Edition has arrived and we have some time on it. This begs obvious comparison to the KTM Factory Edition, but the concept is quite different. In the case of the KTM, the FE is sometimes a preview of the next…
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The Honda CRF450RX bike arrived a little late after the reception to the motocross version was less than what Honda hoped. Honda's testing department came up with new mapping for both bikes, and now we have the updated CRF450RX off-road…
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Back in the late '90s, motocross looked and sounded very different.  Then, in late 1996, Yamaha made an announcement that changed everything. That was when the news came out that Yamaha would be using its one-time exemption to the…
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We have a few different dual-sport projects at various stages of completion right now, but  this 2017 KTM 350EXC by Jay Clark is absolutely wicked.  Jay is a  rep for Dunlop, PivotWorks and about a half dozen other companies, and he builds…
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We delayed our 2021 250 MX Shootout in order to get a full house. The GasGas MC250 and the Suzuki RM-Z250 had late arrivals. Some would say that the Suzuki and GasGas don't deserve to be in the comparison because they have little chance of…
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We’ve been hearing about KTM’s smartphone-based tuning app since the first of the 2021 models hit, but we haven't actually had the opportunity to try it for ourselves until now. The 2021 ½ 450SX Factory Edition is out and its most…
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Last weekend, the Dakar rally wrapped up with two Americans in the top 10. Monster Energy Honda factory rider Ricky Brabec was second overall and privateer Skyler Howes was fifth. Now that they are back in the U.S. , I got a chance to…
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This week we’ve been playing with the Husqvarna 701 Long Range. The line between adventure bike and dual-sport bike is getting very blurry. The Long Range seems to fall on the adventure side of the line, yet most of the machine is identical…
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We have an odd-couple of 300cc off-road bikes that we're testing now. One is the GasGas EC300 two-stroke and the other is the TM 300 four-stroke. Both of these were obscure European companies a few years ago, but now they are entering the…
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The year 2021 has just begun and we've already tested most of the new motocross bikes of the year. Last week, we posted the 2021 450 motocross shootout, which had seven motorcycles, including the new GasGas MC 450F. The Suzuki RM-Z450 still…
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At the beginning of 1998, Ricky Carmichael's Pro Circuit Kawasaki KX125 was fitted with his first number one plate. Until that time, AMA National MX championships had only gone to factory bikes and factory riders. Back in the late '90s, Pro…
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The full 2021 GasGas line of motocross and off-road bikes was presented to the press at Glen Helen Raceway this week. We got a chance to ride them all, and when it was through, we took the MC250F and MC450F back to the Dirt Bike shop to be…
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