2019 DUAL-SPORT SHOOTOUT
COMPARISON
P82
tester intended to buy a 450L soley for "tradi-
tional" dual-sporting—cruising dirt roads and
the occasional two-track. And even he admitted
it's not a lot better there than the others. His
position is one of brand confidence more than
anything. For all others, the slight advantage
on the open road the Honda has over the rest
didn't improve its ranking.
Dual-sport isn't about race weight and if you
know you're going to ride more two-track and
2019 BETA 430 RR-S
The sneaky Beta came into our comparison
and blew everyone away. We're not sure why
we didn't see it coming because Beta's dual-
sport bikes have been impressive for years,
but still, the smaller displacement bike woke
us up with an awesome engine and a fun ride
that prefers the tight stuff.
Honestly, Beta is probably the least con-
cerned with the long-term legality of their
yearly models in this class. This bike could
easily be labeled as the hooligan of the
group, skirting the regulations tightly and
loving it. They are certainly born from the
European way of putting some gear on a race
bike and calling it street legal. And it works
for them, for now, so more power to them.
We have favorable opinions of Beta's off-road
race machines and this fits in that area nicely
with the added benefit of road legality.
With that comes a lot more noise. From the
exhaust, especially, but also from the run-
ning gear. The exhaust note isn't motocross
obnoxious, by any means. It actually has a
really great sound to it. But when you're riding
with more sound-conscious machines, it's the
loud one in the group, for sure.
A 430 is a weird displacement on paper.
But man, does it rip. All of our test riders
claimed it was the most fun to ride thanks to
its quick-to-rev attitude and healthy low-end
power. But what really shined was its inability
to sign off on top. It simply takes off in the
fire roads at a pace that doesn't require aggres-
sive changes in direction or technical terrain
domination, you'll really love the bike. But, if you
want to make it easier on yourself in technical ter-
rain and over hill climbs or rock gardens, the other
bikes in the test are a better choice with only slight
compromises in ride comfort and handling. This
is a great bike to ride a blend of easy trails, great
dirt roads and two-track trails. It shows its weak-
nesses when pushed out of these elements.
