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/128235
2004 4 50cc Four-Stroke Motocross Shootout A Maller (Here are a 0 Opinion... ' (OU Ie o. them) Thi s shoo to ut was easy for me - at least as far as determining a winn er is co nce med. Th e Honda CRF450R is some thing else. Last year , I co uldn't deal with its slugg ish po wer delivery - I' m a two -strok e nut, and I alwa ys have been - but it m ade a big move in th e right direction there. The bik e co mes on much qui cker than befo re, whi ch enables you to snap up and ove r j um ps wit ho ut m uc h effort. I wasn't so confident on last ye ar's CRF. The CRF still handl es like mad. It act ually seems like it wants to tum, but it doesn 't feel overly unstable at speed eithe r. It' s no t hard to und erstand ho w Kevin Windham can rid e hi s fact ory bik e so well if yo u can only im agine how much better each of th e CRF 's good t raits are on his work s ma ch ine. Th e stock suspension 's awe some. and the addition of Renthal bars stock is really cool. It 's a hard package to beat. Howeve r, the battie ove r second in m y mind was much closer than I tho ught it would be. Having spent a lot of ti me on the 2003 YZ450F, I appreciated some of its changes this yea r, includi ng th e aw esome new forks, easier-to-pull cl utch and gripper seat . and its eng ine is still outsta nding, but I st ill th ink something has to be done to improve its turning capabili ties, and unti l that happens, I can 't see it as competitive. After all, mos t motocross track have lots of t urns, and if you can't t urn confidently, you won 't go fast enoug h to win . I gav e the runn er-up spot to the KTM because, altho ugh it doesn 't handle quite li k e the Honda , it turns better th an the Yamaha. It has pl enty of power , and the softe r seat, hydraulic cl utch, wave rotors, Renthal Fatbars and special -made Rentha l grip s make it a better choice as far as I'm conc ern ed. It mu st be said , th ough, th at, as is th e case with almost any MX shootout, with the right amount of m od ification s, any of th ese three bikes would be highly com pet itive . To choos e among thr ee really good bik es is a great problem to have. Steve Cox The Yamaha VZ450F features improved forks and power delivery. In th e rig ht hands, it's definitely dangerous. I' d have to say tha t th e Hond a is th e best all -around package in this shootout. I just like th e whole packag e, fro m th e suspension, th e way it feels under me , the balance of the bike in th e air, th e seat, and it comes stock with Renth al bars, so yo u don't need to do anything but tw ist th e th rottle. I reall y like th e stoc k t ires th at it co mes with, too. Th e suspension was spot-on right ou t of th e box, and th e power de livery was th e best. It just tracks really well - just po int and shoot . Com pared to th e '03 KTM 450 I rod e last year, the '04 just seems lik e a com plet ely di fferent bik e - especially with last year's suspe nsion set up for Anaheim I o r some thing, and this yea r it felt li k e I was driving in a Cad illac. It track ed, it turne d, and it floated ove r the bum ps . The br ak es are unbe atabl e, and the hydraulic clu tc h feels like butter, auto matically adj usting fo r clutch fad e. But I d idn 't like how fa t the radia to r shroud s felt go ing into comers - it felt li ke m y legs were spread way too wide. Plus. th e Renth al Fatb ars were too low of a bend for me. so I felt like it need ed more upsweep. Th e suspension m igh t have been a to uch on the soft side over big hits, but it was noth ing th at pro ba bly co uldn't have been fix ed with a little adjus tment here and there. The Yamaha has th e best m ot or for tight track s - it's sna ppy and has an im me diate response. I really dug the new fork too . Th at th ing 's un beli evabl e. But I fel t more cramped on the YZ450F tha n on either of the oth er bikes..Th e bars felt too narrow, and they were too clo se to me . May be a set of aft ermarket bars and tr iple cl amps co uld go a long way tow ard fixing th at , but as it sits st ock , it was rat her unc om fort able. I do li ke how slim it felt between m y legs than any of th e other bikes. The brakes were kind of mushy and unrespo nsive compared to the oth er two, so when I would be coming in hard to a comer and g rabbing a rut, it was m ore of a cho re, and I had to be consciousl y awa re of hav ing to let off earlier in order to get to a good cornering speed . The bike felt lighter than last year' s, wit h help fro m th e tit anium pegs , ex ha ust and th e li k e, so I ca n tell Yamaha's ma de improv em ent there . But overall, it was a hard decision - at least for second place - especially with KTM stepping it up this year, but if I'm paying basically th e same price for either of the bikes, I'm buying the KTM . At least with the Katoom, you get nice bars , grips, hydraulic clutch, wav e rotors and more. How can you beat that? Well , I guess yo u can beat that with th e new CRF450R. Dana Legere The CRF has an Im p rov ed power delivery, l ig ht e r weight, and a lower cent e r of gravity. What will they think of next year? One of the KT M 's bigg e st strengths is its h a n dling. It 's quite ag ile for a b ig four-str o ke. 24 O CTOBER 8 , 2 003 ' c ue I .. neVIl's