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/127930
As far as the suspensio n goes, the p ro of was in t he pudding. We were a ble to aggress ively ta c kle roc ky sectio ns like this a ll day without fea r of bottom ing or losing contro l. The a c tion was extreme ly pl us h. screa m blood y murder before. In highvelocity cross-grain, the rear end of the bike still tended to kick back a little bit, lead ing us tp believe that we could use just a tad more rebound damping, but on the co m p ress io n si de, th e s hoc k remain ed Cadillac-smooth and refused to bottom . Th e im p ro ve d sus pe ns io n actio n actually cleaned up the handling a little bit, as we noticed that the bike had less of a tend ency to kick back from side to side over nastier terr ain w hen the thr ottle was opened up. Overa ll, we have no probl em recommending either th e suspen sion or th e motor mods - as long as they are d one in th at order. The Race Tech sus pe ns ion m ods , totaling $680.15 including labo r, are a bargain - no matter how you look at it. At $11 00, "Pow ering- Up " is a p rice y p roposition, but you als o have the benefit of knowing that this engi ne kit has been d esigned b y th e fact ory. Who knows better how to extrac t reliable horsep ow er increase? Put th em together, thou gh, and the XR400R rises to a new lev el of performan ce that make s it the ultimate trailbike or pl aybike. And yes, it w ould be fun to rac e on occa sion , es pe cially in tight eastern woods. But a race bike per se? Well, let's just say that the Yamaha YZ400F and WR400F tha t we had along on our tes t were much more suited to th e frenetic pace of pure competition, but th e XR su rp risingly kept pace in mos t of the cond itions that we encoun tered aboa rd the "real" race bikes. So, ssshh. Keep it down, okay? 1'X • %Viewable • TraC~ '100 down• Minules Irom laS Vel\as lown 'I\"l camllinl\ • 01lernl " • t~~:~~BI~aCbers YAMAHA $ SUZUKI cfiB! B u,.. T _ Kawasaki HONDA NMA RIDER BIKE ClASSES 50 P.Wee Sdc•.Thru 6 125 Sdc. Beg• . 50 P.Wee Hod. Th", 6 125 Hod. Beg. 50 P.Wee Stk. 7-8 125 Stk. Novice 125 Mod. Novice 50 P.Wee Hod. 7-8 50 Super PW Hod.6-9 125 Stk. Inter. 60 Ir.Cycle Stk. 6-8 125 Mod. Inter. 60 Ir.Cycle Hod. 6-8 125 St k. Pro 60 Ir.Cycle Stk. 9-11 125 Mod. Pro 60 Ir.Cycle Hod. 9-1 1 250 Stk. Novice 80 Stk. Th", I I 250 Mod. Novice 80 Mod. Th", II 250 Sdc. Inte r. 80 Sdc. Beg. 12-16 250 Mod. Inter. 80 Sdc. 12~ 13 250 Stk. Pro 80 Mod. 12·13 250 Mod. Pro 80 Sdc. 14·16 Plus 30 Open B 80 Mod. 14-16 Plus 30 Open A SuperMini Hod.Thru 16 125 Open Thru 16 Non-Pro Fork .43kg / mm fork springs Gold Valve compressionvalve assembly Race Tech U5-2 oil (3 p t.) Labor $79.90 $149.95 $37.80 $85.00 Shock 9.2kg / mm sp ring Gold Valve assembly Race Tech U5-2 Labor $89.95 $139.95 $12.60 $85.00 Race Tech 3227 Produce r Way #127 Pomona, CA91768 909/ 594-7755 Engine Honda HRC XR400R $1100.00 P0:-ver-Up kit American Honda See your local d ealer. 21