Cycle News

2018 SUZUKI RM-Z450 SUPERMOTO BUILD P88 Project as it was just a standard re-valve. All in all, it was a pretty simple setting change and very cost effective, allowing the user to still have a versatile bike." Off to the races So, does it all work? In short, yes. Riding a standard motocross bike with supermoto wheels and tires is a like riding a very fast see-saw, as the thing pitches like mad on the front and dumps all its weight on the rear when getting on the gas. One quick session at Adams with the revalved Suzuki and it felt like a new bike, so the only thing left to do now was go racing on the thing. We headed out to round one of the 2018 WAR (West American Racing) Supermoto series, held at Apex Kart Track at Perris. This was the first time I'd ever raced supermoto, and even though the field wasn't what you'd call packed, there was still about five rid- ers capable of turning in super-fast laps on proper supermoto builds, rather than a half/ half setup like our RM-Z. In what was about 105-degrees, we went out for practice and I immediately felt good on the bike. I ride in a road race-style simply because that's what I feel most comfortable in, although the next corner or two after the dirt section I always go back to moto-style just to scrub the dirt off the tires before getting my knee out. The days worked out rather well, I must say. We managed to win all four Pro races and go home with a handy $280 prize money, although I was struggling so much with fatigue that in the final race while leading into turn two of lap one, I out-braked myself, slammed through the barriers and was dumped back to last place—thankfully without crashing. That at least gave me a few people to chase, and I finally got the lead back with two laps to go, rolling over the line back to the pits and quietly dying of heat exhaustion. The best thing about the weekend was just how nice the Suzuki was to race. The changes made the bike a little harder to handle in the dirt as it didn't soak up the bumps like a standard RM-Z would, but at speed it was a totally differ- ent bike, much more composed under braking and allowing you to get real nasty on the throttle with that awesome Metzeler just hooking up and driving. It's unfortunately time to give our yellow and blue baby back to its right- ful owners, but I've had a blast with this project. Thanks to AHM, Dubya, Met- zeler, JGR and Motomaster for chipping in to make this a reality. CN Not a bad result: four starts, four wins. What's that saying of quitting while you're ahead?

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