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/128076
lntro coniinured from pa 20 ge to moment the trigge r was about to . be pulled - deadline. This year, we recruited mostly intermediate- to pro-level riders for our 125cc shootout, while incorporating the usual eN editors (our "slow" guys novices at best) . We gave all th e ma nufacturers equal time with us d uring our three-week testing period, each of their representatives making sure we set their respective bike's suspension-sag properly, helping us with suspension fine-tuning, being there to solve any problem we might accrue and, most importantly, making su re we ate well. We spent the majori ty of our time riding the bikes at Glen Helen Raceway, wh ere the wh oops gro w and th e rut s ge t d eeper b y th e lap, th an ks to th e hun d red s o f rid ers wh o like to sharpen their skills there every Thursday for lpracticei day. Glen Helen offers a variety of track condi tions and elemen ts, making it an excellent place to tes t a motocross bike's versatility. We also visited Lake Elsinore's MX track, which provides a more smooth surface and more of supercross-style layout, a good place to put throttle control and suspension pounding to the test. In addition, we tried to make the playing field as evenly matched as possible by mounting all the bikes with the same intermediate tires (Dunlop 756) and handlebars (Renthal). .To ac hieve a w in ne r in th is s hoo to ut, o ur main objective throughout our testing was sim ple rid e, ride , 'ride... and then ride some more. (And take a lot of notes.) But . we did establish a few rules. Mainl y, no major changes to the bikes were allowe d. We d id not consider fork sp ri ngs, shock springs , jetting o r gearing chan ges to be major, though we did, perhaps, stretch the rule a little bi t b y allowing Kawasaki to swap the upper triple-clamp for a KX250 clamp to give our taller rid ers 'a little more stre tching room for th eir lo ng a rms. (We'll ju m p th e ga te a little bit to tell you that, yes, the KX125' s ergo nomics are a littl e cra mped for rid ers pushi ng 6 fee t and over.) What follows a re selected brief comments by our test riders regard ing significant areas of performance an d ergonomics of eac h bike. You might notice that so meti mes rid ers contradict one another, bu t that' s all a part of testing. After all, these five bik e s a re ve ry similar in perfo rmance. On the ot her hand, we d id not re pea t simi la r co mmen ts over and over agai n, inst ead , just a few tim es to solidify a particu lar point. After all, how man y times do you wa n t to hear that the KTM is fast? It ba sicall y comes down to this: We' ll give you the clu es - perhaps round them off at the end - and you can solve th e qu estion as to which bike is really best for you. On ly you kn ow what fit s your style. Sure, w e'll pick a winner (only because we have to), bu t hopefully by sorting through what each of our test ride rs hav e to say, perhaps you can decide which bike is the winner of you r own shootout. eN Story continured on page 82 INTERNA nONAL SPEEDWA Y • a OCTOBER 21-24,199 9 Don't miss th e unbeli evable action as some of the hottest stars of racing compete for national championships. See your favorite classes,from Sport Bikes to Harleys, compete on the famed road course with the "high banks of Daytona." You've just got to be there! . '" '" '" 25