Ron’s Wrap

The 2025 Dirt Bike 250 MX shootout is done. We had to take our time with this one. First of all, it was eight bikes deep, which is hard enough. Making it harder yet was the fact that four of them had significant changes (the GasGas, Honda,…
Read More...

For such a small company, Beta is being pretty aggressive lately. The company’s off-road bikes have undergone some pretty substantial changes for 2025--to the point that they figured they should have a new name. The standard RR models are…
Read More...

We took delivery of a Chinese-built GPX TSE300R two-stroke a few weeks ago. The guys at USA Motortoys in Utah are the importers and architects of the GPX line. The TSE300 is miles ahead of the products that China was offering a few years…
Read More...

The EICMA show in Milan has once again become the official start of new model season for most of Europe. There were a few  Covid years when Milan seemed to be fading in importance, but for 2025 it was as big and strong as ever. Those of us…
Read More...

We live in interesting times. In just the last year, we have tested more new brands of dirt bikes than we had in the previous 10 years. There are several reasons for this. We have old companies like Triumph making new types of bikes, and we…
Read More...

This week we took delivery of the new Honda CRF250RWE. This bike is new on two levels; first of all, it’s a model that Honda has not offered in the past. The “WE” on the end stands for "Works Edition” which means it has a whole bunch of…
Read More...

The guys at Suzuki just had a celebration commemorating the 50th anniversary of the first RM. Chris Wheeler got on the phone and called everyone who was important in the development of the RM line, and got an impressive turnout at Perris…
Read More...

Chris Siebenhaar is the product manager at Dunlop tires. That means he is one of the most well-connected people in the motorcycle industry, so when he built a dual-sport bike for himself, you know it’s going to have all the right stuff. His…
Read More...

It seems like we’ve already tested about a zillion KTMs this year, but we’re just now getting to the one that’s been my main ride for the last couple of years: the 450XC-F. It follows a formula that KTM basically created. KTM took the…
Read More...

I spent the last two weeks in a very strange world riding a Royal Enfield Himalayan 450. This is a new motorcycle to the U.S. but certainly not a new company. Royal Enfield is legitimately the oldest continuously run motorcycle maker in the…
Read More...

The 2025 450 MX shootout is a wrap, at least as far as the video production goes. There's more detail coming in the December print edition, which will include dyno testing and other goodies. For quick reference, here are the rating that we…
Read More...

We are right in the middle of our 2025 450 motocross shootout right now. The last bike to arrive is the GasGas MC450F, so I figured it would be only fair to focus on that bike alone before it gets diluted in an ocean of other 450s. GasGas…
Read More...

It’s the Monday of a three-day weekend so that’s a good excuse for a Labor Day edition of The Wrap. We like cool stuff. And, there’s nothing cooler than this: the new BMW R1300GS. It’s amazing that the guys at BMW would even lend us a bike…
Read More...

If you were limited to one motorcycle, what would it be? I know, for most people, that’s not a hypothetical question. It’s reality. I have to admit that most riders in my world have at least three bikes in their garage at any one time. I…
Read More...

No modern motocross bike generates such diverse reactions as the Yamaha YZ450F. Some love it, others don’t. There’s even discord among recent teammates on the Monster Energy Star Yamaha racing team. Last year Eli Tomac was a true believer…
Read More...

Eric Crippa was honored earlier this week by a gathering of motorcycle royalty in Granada Hills, California. Eric was on the ground floor of motocross in the U.S. He started with Husqvarna, working with riders such as Gunnar Lindstrom, Brad…
Read More...

We have been getting more opportunities to ride electric bikes of various sorts. Some are better than others. The fact that Beta is offering the Explorer is an endorsement of sorts. Here’s a company that specializes in the most hard-core…
Read More...

Finally! We have a Triumph TF250X test bike. It’s been six months since we were invited to Florida for the introduction of this bike. Triumph made a big splash at the time; all the magazines (all three of them), all the websites (maybe a…
Read More...

The 2025 models are arriving almost daily. We picked up our 2025 Husqvarna FC450 test bike two weeks ago, but we didn’t have our first chance to ride it until Thursday. This bike has few surprises, even though it’s very different from last…
Read More...

This week we’ve been riding the 2024 KTM 350SX-F out in the California heat. Needless to say, this is one of our favorite motocross bikes--it’s one of everyone’s favorite motocross bikes. With temperatures around 100 degrees, the 350 is a…
Read More...