off-road

The pecking order in the dual-sport world is well-established, and the Husqvarna FE501s is right at the top. At the risk of rehashing common knowledge, the FE is the Husqvarna version of the KTM 500EXC. Don’t fall into the “white KTM” camp…
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The overlap between motocross and off-road has never been so wide. Machines like the Honda CRF450RX can stake a claim in either camp. The RX is, in its simplest terms, a Honda CRF450R motocross bike that won’t chew you up and spit you out.…
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Kawasaki has dropped the bulk of its 2023 off-road bikes. This includes the KX450X and KX250X competition models as well as the off-road play bikes and dual-sport bikes. The official description of each model from Kawasaki's own corporate…
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By Mike Webb We had a great opportunity to ride the 2022 Beta 200RR and the 300RR while up in Idaho with Beta’s Rodney Smith. What follows here is a two-day test of the duo, so there’s nothing long-term about this; it’s basically a riding…
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In the U.S., there are two different 300cc two-strokes that carry the KTM name: the 300XC and the 300XC-W. Up front, the two bikes seem very similar. They both have the most successful motor in KTM history; the 300cc two-stroke. Both have…
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There is no doubt that the two-stroke is riding a wave of popularity inspired by a rise in off-road passion, new technology and the status of extreme or hard enduro racing. There are several players here, notably the Austrian TPI…
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Some bikes can be understood most easily by process of elimination. You gotta understand what they aren’t before you understand what they are. Unfortunately, that doesn’t help in the case of the Husqvarna TE150i. Defining what it can’t do…
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In the U.S., the motorcycles we call off-road vehicles fall into several broad categories. Some are officially recognized as OHVs by the federal government, and those are generally regulated for noise and emission. Others are what we call…
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Let’s look at the world of extreme enduro. In the Pro class, there is not a single four-stroke machine. The 300cc two-stroke utterly dominates this world of technical riding and impossible obstacles. And, having a machine that makes better…
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The goal was seriously demented. Beau Law, the owner of Ready to Ride Rentals, wanted to take a brand-new, bone-stock KTM 300XC-W TPI machine and torture it. His dream was no maintenance for the duration of the test. Nada. No oil changes,…
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In 2019, Cody Webb rebuilt himself. Everything in his life had changed that spring when a knee injury forced him out of racing for the season. This was on the heels of an injury sustained in the prologue of the 2018 Erzberg Rodeo in…
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Question: When is an off-road bike not an off-road bike? Answer: When it’s a Yamaha YZ450FX. The FX, along with a whole class of “closed-course competition cross-country” products, might be what we dirt bike enthusiasts consider off-road,…
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During a bench racing session the phrase was muttered, “We should race the 3 Brothers 24-Hour endurance race at Glen Helen this year.” With that one sentence, Josh Trimble, Randy Garrett, Josh Dalton, Joey Martin and Dan Dreier’s lives…
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Some motorcycles become icons after generations of service. Others graduate to that status ahead of schedule. That happened with the KTM 350XC-F. It came out 10 years ago and almost immediately was granted membership in the elite ranks of…
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Green-sticker-legal off-road bikes are a dying breed due to more stringent requirements being implemented each year to meet emission standards in the state of California. In the past, riders looking for a serious off-road machine had few…
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Sherco has just revealed its 2022 line of off-road motorcycles. The French company will again feature two-strokes and four-strokes in several displacements. Internationally, Sherco divides its products into two different lines: the…
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You gotta love a motorcycle that makes people look. Bob Casper’s KTM 380SX Factory Edition is like that. What’s even better, it makes people listen too. This is a dirt bike that confuses onlookers on so many levels. On initial contact it…
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According to the cliche committee, “You never get a second chance at a first impression.” We disagree. The 2021 Honda CRF450R motocross bike was a victim of supercharged expectations. It looked to have everything perfect, but when it was…
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SSR Motorsports came to life in 2002 and developed a strong following building Chinese-manufactured pit bikes, scooters, UTVs and full-size motorcycles. They are known for being very competitively priced and are visually cutting-edge. One…
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The GasGas EC300’s nucleus came from a pipeline straight from the KTM mother ship. It’s TPI-injected, oil-injected, a 6-speed wide-ratio gearbox and, more important, counter-balanced to erase all forms of vibration. The frame, too, comes…
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