Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1131259
P104 2020 SHERCO OFF-ROADERS RIDE REVI EW "Carburetion is the two-stroke mentality," said Sherco founder Marc Teissier in a recent interview in Cycle News. "It has simplicity and ease of use and maintenance for the cus- tomer with less cost. Fuel injection will add an extra cost on the bike. We have all the technology for the four-stroke, and now also for the two- stroke fuel injection, but we wait. The bike is ready, the system is ready, and we are ready, but it is not yet necessary to put it on the market." You should start seeing more blue, white and yellow Shercos in the U.S. and North American market soon. Ryan Young Products (RYP) in Shelbyville, Kentucky, is the new U.S. importer of Sherco off-road motorcycles. RYP was al- ready Sherco's U.S. trials importer, and has been for nearly 20 years, and will now take on the off-road models, as well. Sherco says it has plans to significantly expand its presence in the U.S., which will hopefully include firing up its first dealership in California. Sherco has yet to announce pricing. CN to reduce engine noise and, more importantly, spinning inertia. Evi- dently, these changes worked! The 450 was surprisingly agile and responded well to rider input. I found the best way to ride the 450 was to click it up a gear and let all of its torque and bottom-end do the work while keeping the R's as mel- low as possible. It worked quite well, and I felt comfortable on the bike right away. On the tight trails of Italy, I rarely had to shift it. I did most of that instead on the fast grass track that Sherco had laid out for us. Sherco did not have a 500 on hand for us to ride. Nuts And Bolts Even though Sherco is all ready to introduce fuel injection to its two- stroke off-road bikes, it's holding off. All of their 2020 production two-strokes are still carbureted. Sherco feels that FI for two-strokes isn't worth the cost versus the benefits, so their reasoning is: Why pay more for something that isn't necessarily better when it comes to performance? When eventu- ally forced to because of emission regulations, Sherco will make the switch but probably not before then. (Euro4 regs lasts until 2024.) The U.S. also gest a Cross Country version, sans lighting and instrumentation. Suspension is also stiffer.