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/128198
f Thumper Racing Kawasaki KLX470 The Big Engi STORY AND PHOTOS BY STEVE Cox efore managing editor Chris Jonnum left Cycle News for the offices of Road Racer X, he came into my office, closed the door and said rather somberly, "Hey Steve, I've got a question for you." I thought from the way he asked that he was going to ask me to put down his dog or something, but instead he said, "I'm leaVing next week, and I won't be able to do this off-road bike test that I had arranged in Texas. Do you think you could go in my place and ride?" Like I'd turn down an opportunity to go riding. My only concern was that I'd be doing a lot of woods riding, and I'm a motocrosser - and I pride myself on being a motocrosser. Woods riding? Where are the jumps? Who am I going to bang bars with? What if I hit a tree? What if I get lost? When I landed in Dallas/Fort Worth a week or so later, I was picked up by Thumper Racing owner/operator Gary Hazel. He maneuvered his big (I'd heard everything was bigger in Texas, but c'mon!) Dodge diesel through the airport's narrow parking quarters and, within a few minutes, got us on our way to the McKool Ranch somewhere south of Dallas. I basically went straight to bed upon arrival at the ranch, even though I was still on West Coast time. It was late, and I was fairly certain Hazel and his partnerin-crime Dick Burleson would want to get an early start the B Thumper proves the adage "There's no replacement for displacement" next day. The next morning, I awakened to the sound of Hazel and Burleson yapping in the McKool kitchen, and when Hazel saw I was awake, he wasted no time in pulling out the Thumper Racing KLX470 that I had flown out to ride. The first thing that struck me was that it really looked cool. Truly. The KLX is a brand-new machine for the 2003 model year, although it's been around in yellow for a few years now - it's a DR-Z400 in green plastic. The graphics, seat and carbon-fiber accessories really made the KLX look fast. Next, I just had to find out whether or not its looks were deceiving. Hazel mounted one of McKool's KTMs and led me out onto the trail while Burleson stayed behind to rest up for the photo shoot. After all, Burleson had a broken collarbone at the time, and he just couldn't put up with riding all day long. It had been raining in the days before my arrival, and the ground was really slick. Once we were in the trees, the Dunlop 773 tires were doing an admirable job of grabbing hold of wet leaves on wet clay, but 28 JANUARY 29, 2003' cue I .. n .. vv s the Thumper Racing KLX is almost a cheater bike in those kinds of conditions anyway. The Thumper machine has tons and tons of torque, which makes for easy motoring on the slick Texas clay. Whenever Hazel would take me up a slick, rooted, steep uphill, all I had to do was get pointed and puJ) the throttle back. Easy. And the weight of the machine (make no mistake, it's still quite heavy) helped it plow right over roots and other such obstacles with barely a twitch. Actually, I was blind to how easy the bike made the conditions feel until I mounted the KTM 400 Hazel had Thumper Racing 470cc Big-Bore Kit _ __ $396 Thumper Racing Head Porting _. . . _. . . . . . . . . _. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$250 Thumper Racing Stage-Two Cams $318 Thumper Racing Serviceable Oil Filter $65 Thumper Racing/ESP Fork Mod $225 Thumper Racing/ESP Shock Mod ..........................•............$230 Thumper Racing Wrap-Around Radiator Braces $70 Thumper Racing Tall-Seat Kit $134 Thumper Racing Graphics Kit $70 Thumper Racing Carbon-Fiber Skid Plate $119 FMF Power Bomb/power Core 4 Exhaust Set $430 IMS Tank $241 IMS Pegs : $96 Where to get It: Thumper Racing 604 S. Washington, Marshall, TX 75670 800/259-5186 • www.thumperracingusa.com