Did tHe best get any better?
By THE CYCLE NEWS
STAFF
PHOTOS BY KIT PALMER
O U see it happen in the music
indust ry all the time: A band
re leases an album and it shoots
straight up to number one, but
when the highly anticipated follow-up album comes out, it tanks. And how
many times have movie sequels flopped ,
too? Sometimes it is just plain hard living up
to expectations , especially when they 're
high ones.
The same type of thing happens quite
often in the motorcycle industry. How
many times have we seen a motorcycle
manufacture pump out a shootout winner,
only to see the next year 's version take a
step or two backward? Sometimes, the
manufacturers try too hard to stay on top
and make changes that probably didn't
rea lly need to be made , resulting in a long
freefall off the pedestal . Suzuki found itself
in this somewhat bittersweet pred icament
Y
wit h its 'OS RM 250. Last year, the RM250
won ou r annua l 250c c two -st roke
motocross shootout and did so withou t
much debate, and the bike won many
other magazines' shootouts, as well. 50
Suzuki was left in that enviable position of
producing another follow-up winner. 50
when we rode the 200 5 RM250 Suzuki for
the first time , we weren't so much con cerned about it be ing any better as we
were, well... did they screw it up?
On paper, the 'OS RM250 didn't take on
too many changes that would make us too
worried, though Suzuk i did dec ide to make
a few changes to the already-good Showa
fork. They also tweaked on the previously
powerful yet very controllable motor by
doing such th ings as fiddlingwith the cylinder's exhaust and scavenging ports , updating the exhaust valve and sub-exhaust valve
timing, and adding a little weight to the
