Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

MOTOR W!*llt comes to englne-desIan theories, the four manufacturers rep--.ted here aM am-! at their ims1ded deo1IIlidloilS via reiatNeIy different paths: The Honda, Yamaha and KTM aM have motors based on their IllOIlXJ'OSs cousins; the FSE has a powerpIant unique unto itself. The Yamaha and Gas Gas have duaKam valYe trains; the Honda and KTM single cams. They Yamaha has five valves; the ochers have four valves. The Yamaha, Honda and KTM have tradilionaI carburetors; the Gas Gas has an eIectroIlic fuel-Injection system. The Yamaha and Honda have flYe speed IraIlSITlissioIlS; the KTM and Gas Gas have six speeds. The Yamaha and Honda have cabIe-operaled clutches; the KTM and Gas Gas have hydraulic. And the Yamaha, Honda and Gas Gas have nearly the same bore-and-stroke configurations; the KTM has a slightly Iongerstroke design. Yet, despite their cmr-.ces, when it gets down to digging trenches and throwing dirt on )'OUr trail-riding buddies, they are all remarkably similar In performance. They do, ~ have distinctive, albeit subtle, differences. As you can probably Imagine, none of the bikes here are Iacklng In the muscle department, as they all deliver the type of outright power that you've come to expect from a bIg-bore four~. This Is a ~: Grab a handful on any one of these machines and you are on wzy - like now! They aM rev quickly, produce gobs of power and are downright fast. Yet. they are aM remarkably controllable on the trail. The Honda's motor is just plain good. We found the Honda reacted well in both highand low-speed situations, is very forgiving, and is not overly prone to stalling. It has a smooth and wide powerband, but most of the excitement starts happening right around midrange. From there on up, the Honda simply hauls. It pulls pretty good off the bottom, too, but its strongpoint is in the higher rpm range (around 7000-8000 rpm), where you can simply blip the throttle and carry the front end easily over the next whoop. But do not think for a moment that the Honda can't bop along down low - it can. It is just not super hard-hitting off the bottom but is instead gentle and forgiving overall. The frve-speed transmission seems to be geared well for a variety of situations; first gear is quite low for the real tight stuff. But after riding the KTM and Gas Gas, a sixspeed gearbox would have been nice. Clutch pull is light and there is good feel, and the clutch itself held up well to some of the rather significant abuse we gave it - we experienced no slipping, grabbing or overheating problems. The Honda starts easily. hot or cold, and even after a minor flameout. Rarely did we need to use the handlebar-mounted hot-start lever. Since we received our X in January, we've had to recharge the battery a few times, but even with a dead battery, the Honda fired up after a few kicks. More than once, we caught ourselves hunting around for the choke knob on the Gas Gas, only to realize, "Oh, yeah, it's fuelinjected. Duhhh!" It does feel a little strange going straight for the start button on a cold morning, but the Gas Gas was always qUick to start, hot or cold. Our test bike usually started best with the throttle closed no matter what. But. a word of warning: Keep the battery charged! Of the four bikes, the Gas Gas was the only bike that we could not start manually - it just would not do it. The Gas Gas is also the only bike with a keyoperated ignition, and it is easy to accidentally leave it in the "on" position and find the battery dead the next time you want to go riding. We know from experience. Since we had never ridden the FSE4S0 before, we really did not know what to expect, but we were quite surprised by the Gas Gas' motor. Like the Honda, the Gas Gas makes good power across the board and is remarkably easy to control. Throttle response is spot on, and we never felt any kind of hesitation or hiccup from the EFI system. The motor just felt crisp from top to bottom. One of the Gas Gas' strong points is its bottom end. The Gas Gas always leaped ahead in the many secondo, third- and fourth-gear roll-ons we did across the dry lake bed, and it held its own through the gears pretty good. It would, however, eventually get swallowed up by the others in top gear, but it would more than make up for this when the trails tightened up or went straight up. The Gas Gas rules in the chugability department. We liked the fact that the Gas Gas has one more gear than the Yamaha and Honda, but the shift lever sure is a long ways out there. No problem if you have Shaquille O'Neal-size feet. We loved the super-light, trials-bike-type pull of the Gas Gas' hydrauliC clutch. It is so light, it is almost like pulling in on air - there is absolutely no resistance. It does, however, feel a little weird at first, but you do get used to it and eventually come to like it, especially when you are tired. It truly is onefinger-operationaJ. It even makes the KTM's clutch-pull feel heavy, never mind the Honda or Yamaha's. Simply put, the KTM has the motor of the bunch. It might not be the best off the bottom, but it kicks butt from just above idle to about the time the rev-limiter kicks in. It is smooth yet packs a punch. As powerful as the KTM might be, the motor is super easy to control and manage and is just as happy being flogged across the desert floor as it is tip-toeing over loose rocks, moon rocks or wet logs in first gear - as long as you do not plonk around too long. The KTM got a little steamed on us once after a prolonged ride in the super-tight stuff on a somewhat warm day in the So Cal desert. Cooler heads prevailed with the other bikes. Neither of the Euro bikes have tanks to catch boilovers. None of our testers experienced stalling problems with the KTM, and whenever we did stop along the trail, the KTM was always eager to fire back up and get going again. Like the Honda and Yamaha, the KTM was a breeze to start manually. Up until the Gas Gas came along. the KTM had the lightest clutch-pull around; it still requires little effort to operate but has better feel than the Gas Gas' clutch. We must say that we are becoming more and more a fan of the hydraulic clutch. The KTM also shifted gears nicely, and the tranny ratios seem to match the KTM's power output perfectly. making the bike feel more versatile than the other three. Of the four bikes tested here, the Yamaha requires an evening in the garage before you hit the trails for the first time. Since the bike comes rather choked up because of emissions, you must open up the airbox, adjust the throttle stop, and clip the infamous gray wire from the COl box. If you want, you can drill out the rivets and remove the small restrictor in the muffler but don't worry, you will still pass the sound test at your next enduro with ease. Now, adjust the fuel-mixture screw, and you are ready to roost. You will be impressed with the Yamaha's new motor. It feels a tad on the mellow side at first, but you soon find out that there is plenty of power down below when you open her up. The bike is still fast, yet it is not as explOSive as it was, which makes it more controllable on the trail. You do feel the piston pulses a bit more on the Yamaha than you do on the Honda or the KTM, but it feels quite smooth overall. It also vibrates more than the others, but it is really not an issue in the big picture. We found first gear to be extremely low - almost too low. It is best used only in lastresort situations, because all you will get is wheel spin on the loose stuff and a front end that wants to climb on the tacky stuff. But for rock crawling, it does work pretty well. Otherwise, second through fifth are quite useful for a variety of situations, and it matched the Yamaha's power output like it should. The clutch held up well and had good feel, but had the heaviest pull of the group. The Yamaha is a good starter, hot or cold, button or kick. Plus, the Yamaha's battery always held a strong charge, even after long periods of garage time. Uke the other bikes, the Yamaha resisted stalling quite well. CYCLE NEWS • JUNE 29 2005 27

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