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/128237
2004 250cc Two-Stroke MX Shootout Miscellaneous SU S PEN S IO N/HANDLING The m iscellan eous ca tego ry is where everything th at do esn' t necessarily hav e to do with perf or m ance fall s, In m ot ocross, engine p lus chassis equa ls performa nce . However, t here is m ore to all of the se bi k es tha n can be told by just desc rib ing th eir perfor m ance. Th e Honda is the fi rst of th e Big Fou r to offer some solid aft ermarket handlebars on its stock m achines, wh ich is a pr etty bi g thing. For m ost buy ers , it seem s t hat th e stock ba rs are ju st future t rash , wh ereas th e Renthals can be run until they 'r e bent . It's a good th ing . The Hon da's brak es are still am ong th e best out th ere, and th e ergos are ty pi cal Honda in th at everything is where you thin k it sho uld be . Honda's new gripper seat is also a welcome feature , and th e Hon da seems vi suall y to hand le abuse bett er than any of thern it look s new after many rides. Th e Ka wasak i 's new front br ake is reall y stron g , borr owi ng what was formerly k nown as "Honda-sty le" rou ting for its fro nt brak e. A lt hou gh some test ers co mplained th at the radiator shrouds seeme d a bit on th e wide side when up over th e front of the bik e, m ost felt it was n't an issue onc e th ey got used to it. Th e seat is soft and co mfortable, but th e bike co uld benefit from a soft and co mfortable cross bar pad · at least. Th e KTM has the most in t he wa y of "a dde d" feat ures . Its front and rear Wave rotors do a lot to haul the pu m p kin down fro m speed and are defi nitely among the best sto ppers in th e bunch, and th e KTM 's hydraulic d utch offers an easy pull · plus, it' s self -edjusting , wh ich is awesome. Some testers co mplained that the dutc h lack ed feel and wa s difficult to "slip," as it feat ured sort of an on/off engage ment, so it di d tak e some getting used to . With all of the power, th ou gh , slipping th e d ut ch was ra rely nee ded . KTM is th e onl y manufacturer to equip its ma chines with t apered bars , wh ich is a cool feature, too. Th e Rentha i Fathers have a special bend , spec ific ally fo r KTMs, and most of o ur teste rs li k ed it • alth o ugh a couple w anted to try th e KTM with a bend they were familiar with instead, but that was against the ru les. Th e seat, long a pa in in th e butt, is finally softe r alth ou gh still a tou ch on the hard side . It' s m iles better th an last yea r's spine-ja rring seat, t hough . Th e Katoom 's ergo s took a little gett ing us ed to , bu t most ride rs were fully adj usted a lap into their ride. Ev en tho ugh the KTM feel s co m pletely different fro m th e Big Fou r bikes, it still somehow feels right after a lap o r so. Th is year's RM250 do esn't featu re anything in th e way of "a ft erm arket" ac cesso ries, and it too could benefit fro m a cro ssbar pad j ust to start with , but it doesn't seem to need much. The new " Honda- style" front-brak e routing impro ved Yell ow's stopping ab il it y a whole bunch, and this year's lower seat m ad e a good thing better. Last year's seat w as soft and very hig h profile, which hindered the Zook' s handling somewhat, but thi s year's seat is still quite soft wh ile also all owing the rid er to sit more " in " the bike th an "o n" it . This bike also seems a tou ch weird feeling when you first tak e it out co m pa red to the Honda, Yamaha and Kaw asak i. bu t all of our test ers adj ust ed in no time, wh ic h is ev ide nt when you look at the la p times the Suzuki was alway s in t he running for th e best times of t he day . A nd finally, Yama ha ad ded quite a few little dood ads to th is year's YZ250, indud ing stock tita ni um pegs, an in no vati ve gripper seat , th ose incredibl y good forks and more. Th e seat is very well tho ug ht out , with m or e "grip" on the side t han on top · tha t wa y , yo u c an gri p the seat with your legs , and the to p doesn't pull your pants down. T he tit anium peg s are among a grip of ot her lighter it em s that Yamaha Incorporated into its bike thi s ye ar to shave we ig ht , an d the go ld fo rk s not onl y feel fact ory , they look it, too . Plus, guess what? E ven th ou gh the YZ still has steel bars, ours came with a Yamaha crossbar pad . Th e only real downside to the Yamaha has been its in ability to hol d onto its good looks over t im e . Sometimes after only one rid e, the Yamaha starts to look beat up • eve n t ho ug h, m ech anic ally , it 's co mpletely sound. > Th is is one of the first tim es that we can remember not having a sing le bike th at demon- strated any "ba d " handling tra its. It' s nice not to be afraid of a bik e because you "don't know wha t it's go ing to do ." However , the re were a coupl e of bik es that shined a little bri gh te r tha n th e othe rs in this category. Just like in th e "M otor" de partm ent , th e Honda som ew hat pol arize d our test riders. Some of them thou ght that it was typ ic al Hon da, m eaning it handled well and was sta bl e at speed . Ot her s thouq ht tha t it felt ove rly harsh and sti ff , m eanin g it wou ld de live r eve ry bump straig ht to t he rider's arms and legs. T he suspens io n seemed balan ced , thoug h. Th e Kawasaki gave us m ore of wh at we li k ed last year . Th e KX250 rea lly love s to be pushed hard into co m ers and j ust kn ifed in . It carves really we ll whe n it has a berm to lean on, but one complaint from som e of the testers was that it seeme d a bit hard to get turned in som e ruts and on flat grou nd. T he suspension is goo d enough that yo u never rea lly think about it. It 's almost an afterthought. Our riders wo uld co me off the t rack and say what th ey thought of the engine and handlin g but rar ely m ention ed th e suspension . There is noth ing mindbl owing here, just a so lid pa ckag e. Th e KTM wa s the biggest surpris e of t he yea r in th is c atego ry, by fa r. Last year's m ach ine 's ma rriag e of awesome raw hors epow er and shaky handling made that bike downri ght spooky, but thi s year 's KTM is d ifferent. Havi ng changed th e steering an gle and mellowed out the pow er, among m any other improvem ent s, the 2004 KTM 250 SX can flat get arou nd a mot ocross track . O ur testers indicat ed th at , altho ugh it doesn't seem too nervous or twitchy , it does still seem to be a little less forg iving than the Big F our blkes . meaning yo u mig ht be able to recov er from overcoo king a corner or swapping easie r on ano ther bike , whe re th e KTM might have more of a tende ncy j ust to pitch you off. Th e suspens ion, th ough , has neve r been bette r. Th e forks a re complia nt, now with less head- shak e issues of th e pas t , and the shock soa ks up th e bu mps remarkably well. As fa r as hand ling is co nce rne d, th e RM250 is the cream of the bun ch - eve n if it' s j ust by a Iittie. Basica lly, it does n' t do any t hi ng poorl y . It tu rns on a d ime, ju mps like a champ, and it' s not unstable - a reputa tion that it's bee n try ing to shake for qu ite some time now . The RM can do eve ryt hing - it rai ls berms , dices ruts and flies aro und fla t corners with ease . And the suspension is aweso me, if a little on the soft side . The new Showa cornpo - nen ts seem to float ove r brak ing and accelera t io n bum ps , and eve n if they fee l a to uc h soft. the bike stil l handl es the big hit s as well as almost any of the other bik es. Simply pu t, as good as the eng ine is, the chass is is better. The Yama ha p rovided more of wha t we've come to expect from Big Blue . T he bike is rema rkably stab le, and although some testers ind ic ated that th e bike seemed a lit tl e o ut of its ele me nt at t he supe rt ig ht and twi sty Piru MX, th e follow -up test s at Perr is Raceway and Gle n He len reac qua inted us with thi s g rea t pack age . A nd , by the way , th e new forks are almost too goo d to be t rue. Th e YZ fro nt suspe nde rs ar e no w officia lly the benchm ark to whic h all ot her for k s will be co mpa red un til fu rt her notic e. The shock isn' t bad , eithe r. > Hond a "The Honda feels kind of harsh to m e • yo u j ust feel every bump ." " I felt lik e th e Honda was sup erstabl e. So lid ." Kawasa ki "Th e KX ca n shred berm s to pieces." "To m e, the K awasak i felt ex trem ely stab le ove ra ll. Th e back -end wa s perfect , bu t if thi s wa s m y bike, I'd ha ve to spend some time gett ing the forks d ialed in better." KTM "No mo re ner vou sness? So ft. supp le but responsive , the KT M fee ls pr ett y darned Honda "Renthal bars! It' s abo ut time!" "I love the new front fend er, and this thi ng keeps a new look for a long time." K aw asaki "The Kawasaki looks just like last yea r. It' s good looking but kind of bland." " Hop- up potential on this bike is quite evident. " "The brakes ma ke q uite a difference this year." KTM "T oo bad the side num berplates are so small. You pr actic all y have to put Pee Wee numbers on th ere." "Wave rotors, Fatbars, hydrauli c dutch, excel wh eels . It's surprising that afte rma rke t co m panies even make pa rts fo r th is bik e, since the people buying them don't have to get anything extra for a while. " "The bike sti ll looks good aft er m any days at th e tr ack ." goo d." "I always fee l like I'm on the verge of crashing at the slig htest misc ue on this bike - even though I never fell on it." " Even thou gh th e KTM handles m uc h bette r, I never quite felt tot ally co nfi dent on it. no doubt a feeli ng left over from last year." "T he suspension is surprisingly plush." Suzuki "Ma n , does the RM co rn er or what? You go tta love Suzuki's emphasis on handli ng , and it's not like it's unstabl e, either!" "T hat suspension soaks up anything. Yamaha " How awesome are th e forks? Put it this way: I' d love to fee l what the Yama ha factory guys get to rid e." "So lid, stab le and pr ed ict ab le. T ypic al Yama ha ." "Overall , the Ya ma ha fee ls k ind of big and doesn't feel as nimble as some of the othe r bi k es." Suzuki " Not a whole lot of ext ras here, but everythi ng 's sol id . Th e yellow st ays dean looking longer than most of t he bik es; the seat might be the best in the bunc h." "These new brak es are a definite im provem ent. " , Ya maha "Cool new 'frosted' seat . It works well to keep you pl ant ed ." "The dark bl ue looks beat in a flash. It looks good if you change the stuff every rac e, like t he factory team does , bu t I co uld n't affo rd tha t." . "Ch eck o ut t he Ti pegs an d go ld forks . Th is th ing is high-tech ." 22 O CTO BER 22 , 200 3 ' c Y It