Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Sus ension/Handlin Now , of all of our catego ries in thi s year's shoo to ut, thi s one provided the widest variety of traits - and it m ay hav e also been the ultimate determining factor for the win ner of this shoot out. Let' s face it , all 450s are fast, so much of the test reall y does com e dow n to han dling. Th e Honda is a dream to rid e, no m att er what type of course yo u' re on. In the tight .stuff , no 450 tu rns easier or bett er, and in th e fast stuff, it's plenty stable enough to stay under you without much trouble. Much of Honda's im pro vem ents this year had to do with m ak ing th e bike lighter and m oving what wei ght it does have lowe r in the chassis. This is a dream co mbination on suc h a fantastic motorcycle. The CRF's susp ension is plush without being soft . It soaks up the litt le bumps wit h aplo mb, and it doesn't bottom hars hly on bi g la ndings. Th ere's really not m uch t o com plai n abo ut here. ' The KTM is also a fan tastic turner. All yo u hav e to do is get it into the corner, lean it over and pun ch it, and the KTM will track ju st where you want it to go . It' s light- feeling and nimbl e, and KTM has finally softened its seats , so th e suspe nsion doesn 't deliver bumps straight up your spine li ke it did last year. As far as its suspensi on is concerned, the KTM , if anything, i s a bit on the soft side. Although it doesn 't seem like it wallows much, it does have a bit of a tendency to bottom rath er harshly on m edium-sized jum p landings. Basically. it' s a good combination. but not great. However, the KTM suspension has been coming along nicely the last couple of years . Th e YZ450F is by far the m ost stable m otorcycle of the bunch , which can be a goo d thing at faster, rougher tr acks; however, at tighter tr ack s (which m ost tracks are in South ern Californ ia ). th e Yamaha is pl ain hard to tum in co m parison to the other two. It seems as if you 're uncomfortably sitting on top of the bike instead of down in it somewhat, as is the case wit h the Honda. This posi tion makes it seem as thou gh the bike has a much higher center of gravity than its co mpetition, which makes it mu ch harder to get turn ed int o tight co mers. Fast sweepe rs are fun on th e Yamaha , but it' s the tig ht stuff it struggles with . The YZ's suspension couldn 't be m uch better, though. The new 48mm fork tha t Yama ha introduce d this year is sim ply awesome. It hand les everything well - big hits, little brak ing bumps, and everything in between. It's almost unb eli evable how good it is. Every now and again, our testers found themselves cringing as they were abo ut to set the YZ's front end down in a hol e on the back side of a j um p , but th ey were pl easantl y surprised when almost none of the shock wa s transferred into their arms . It's aweso me st uff. And th e shoc k? Put it th is way , it lives up to the fork, wh ich is say ing some thing. The KTM 450 SX Is a strong and capable pa c kage. Honda "The for ks are much im proved over last year' s units. When yo ur arm's already getting a good workout just holdin g on so tightl y every time yo u ope n the th rott le, it's nice not have the forks hammering on th em as well. " Miscellaneous "I don 't think I ever even thought about the back end once. I guess that m eans I liked it." "The CR look s as good now as it did when it was delivered to us; holds up well to th e normal weekend grind. " KTM "Even for my 170 po unds, the KTM's suspension felt qu ite cushy - but I li ked that , actually. Overall , I was pl easantl y surprised how well the bike handled." " Having to worry about slow ing the KTM down for the turns never cros sed my m ind. It has good, stro ng brakes. Plus , the wave discs look cool ." "The cus hy suspension made me forget how har d the now -softer seat still is." Yam aha "Man, did they put Timmy Ferry's factory forks on this thing? If so, Yam aha 's cheating. If no t, you could probably still call it cheating. Th at fork is awesome!" "I feel like I'm sitting on top of the world - and not in a good way ." "That m ight be the m ost stable motorcycle I've ever ridden . It never shakes its head or rarely does anything scary of no te." the H o n d a CR F450R , KTM 450 SX ble c h o o si n g a winn er in this ye a r's a nd Yamaha YZ450F - takin g part. sho otout, but th e battle o ver th e sec - H opefully , we'll get th e c h a nce to o n d sp ot wa s heated . B oth bik e s spend some tim e with som e o f th e v y ing fo r t he runne r -up spot wer e othe r 450cc MX ers, s uc h as t h e c ap a b le , and each ha d st re ngt h s o v er Husqvarna 450 TC , later o n. So what other thi ngs make th ese bi kes stand apart from one another? KTM has th e m ost "afte rm arket " stuff on its stoc k 450, with Renth al Fatbars, a Magura hydrauli c cl utc h and wav e rotors on both ends . The ergos are m uch im pro ved th is year, although the bik e still feels com pletely different from its com petitio n. It' s thin ner in the middle and feels taller in the fron t. plus som e ride rs complained that they were distract ed by their boots getting hung up on the exp osed PDS shock when they got over the back of the bike. A ll three bikes now hav e ho t-start leve rs, wit h KTM being the last to add it, and all th ree have auto matic decompression syste ms . No ne of th e bi k es stood out as being hard er to start than any of the oth ers. Yam aha's new "gripper" seat is prett y aweso me , although a bit on th e stiff side. From ex perience , though, we k now that th e YZ seat always break s in to be really co m forta ble after tim e, so it's only an initial discomfort. The YZ's new titanium pegs are really cool looking and save some weight ove r th e old steel units, and the gold forks ju st plain look coo l. Honda is now the firs t of the Japanese ma nufa ct urers to incl ude afte rm arket parts on its stock m ach ines, as now every CR co mes wit h Renth al bars . Finall y , the Japanese O Es are figu ring out how m uch of a waste of steel stock bars are, as it' s generall y the first thing to get thr ow n in the trash upon receipt of a new mot orcycl e. With th e Renth als in place, you can spend yo ur m oney on the m any other afte rma rk et parts you' ll li kely be go bbling up for yo ur new steed. Th e Honda is still an awesom e fit for m ost riders, as everything feels like it is where it should be, from the pegs to the seat to the bars and lev ers. And Honda's brakes are at least as good as the KTM's and still bett er than the Yamaha's. They can haul yo u dow n from speed qu ite qui ckly whil e not feelin g gr abby or mushy . Good stuff . The KTM 's wave rotors offer p lenty of stopping po wer as well , whil e the Yam aha still seems needy of some thing m ore - especi ally up front. Som e of our test ers co m pl ained that after a few lap s, the YZ's front brake would sta rt to feel really spongy , whic h ca used th e rider to lose co nfidence in how fast they cou ld head into a co rner. All of these bi kes have their own qui rk s, but the Hond a is probabl y th e least quirky of all. It looks cool, with th e newl y designed front fende r and graphics, and it jus t wo rk s. th e other. In the end , a c h oice had t o We d i d t h e va st maj or ity o f o u r t esti n g at Sou thern Ca liforn ia 's oldest motor cy c l e ra cing f acil i ty , Pe rris Racewa y, a ppropriatel y loc a ted i n Perris , California . Perris is among o ur fa vorite m otocross t ra cks b e c au se it ha s a g r ea t m i x o f t i gh t tu rns and sweepe rs , ju m ps a nd wh o op s . Plu s , n ot o n ly d o e s i t h a v e so m e o f th e b e made , and w e mad e it - although it wasn 't ea sy . Our sho o t out rules are simpl e: The bik es m ust be left c ompl et el y st o c k . C omp lete l y . T he o n ly c hange we 'll Honda "As always, the Hond a j ust feels right. It' s co mforta ble, and the alum inum hand lebars and no-slip seat co ver reall y are a nice to uch ." "The new silen cer seems to do a better job k eepi ng the Honda qu iet." m ak e fro m time to t im e is a c h ange KTM o f t i r e s to p u t all t he b i k es i n t h e "Yes, the KTM feels different - bu t not for long. Once yo u get a lap und er your belt, the big KTM feels like any other bike." sam e sh o e s, but we d idn ' t e ve n do b es t d irt of an y tr a ck anyw h ere , th e y that th is tim e . T h e 2004 450 c c r e a rr an g e t he tr a c k o n a r e gul ar thump ers were t r e ate d to n umbers , b a s i s , so w he n we s how u p for a an d that's it. So th is is exactly h ow s hooto ut, c ha nces a r e pre t ty g ood you'd buy th e n e w thumpers b e f ore th a t we 'll be o n somew hat new and yo u spend another few th ousand d ol- "To o bad all biq -bore fou r-stro kes don 't start as easil y as the KTM . but the ot her ones are gett ing bett er. " diffe r ent t erra in . Ou r testers d id n ' t have much tr o u - lars on a c cessories and modifications a nd go rid in g . Yam aha "Cosm etic ally , the YZ just doesn 't hold up well. The plasti c loses its shine im me diat ely . scratc hes stand out m ore than on the oth er bi kes, and the decals shred easil y . And then th ere are those annoy ing whi te bruises that sho w up in the plast ic. Yuck!" "The YZ's han d co ntro is hav e m uch bett er feel and requ ire less effo rt ." eN eye I e n e vv s OCTOBER 8 ,2003 21

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