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/128637
Ref ine m e nts to t he prove n Yamaha package have resulted in a po lished, do-i t· all motocrosser. All of ou r testers loved the VZ. If there was one thing that stood out in my mind from conducting this shootout it was how to place the Suzuki in my own personal ranking list . It was the one bike that really had me baffled throughout our testing. Overall I like the bike very m uch, but there were times when I just didn 't feel in sync with the RM and fought it on the track, while, on one particu lar occasion, I absolutely loved it. What had me puzzled even mo re was that the day I real· Iy liked the bike was on a track that I thoug ht the Suzuki would be a complete handful on. a new track in Beaumo nt, Califo rnia, called Third Gear Pinned. The threat of rain that day kept the water tru ck away, but the precipitation never did fall and the track ended up dry and slic k. Despite the Suzuki' s powerf ul, "o n/off"·type motor - not usually the best com bination for these conditions - the bike simply worked awesome (okay, maybe not as awesom e as the Yamaha but pretty darned close) . The bike's ultra lightweight feel, quick steering and explos ive motor just seemed to work in perfect harmony that day , yet at Glen Helen Raceway, for example, a track that I thought would suit the Suzuki to a "T ,· we just never seemed to get along quite as well. Go figure. I guess that it just goes to show that when everything lines up just right. and the correct com bination comes together, no m att er how weird they may seem, anyone of these bikes can be j ust the right bike for anyone. Kit Palm er As you' ll infer from our conclusion, we ultim ately awarded the Kawasaki with silver and the Honda with bro nze, but that was anything but an easy choice. Afte r all, the CR won our shootout last year, and Honda made some improvements to the new model. Not only that, but through the grapevine, we've heard that some other publications will choose the CR as the 2001 winner (others agreed with us that the Yamaha was best) . I personally agonized over this choice as well , but there was one thing that ultimately pushed me over the edge, and that was the fact that my initial fondness for the Honda would decrease as I became more tired, while I grew to like the Kawasaki more over the same period. Th e primary reason that I liked the CR less at the ends of test days than at the beginnings was that the bike seems less forgiving than the ones I picked over it. Th e power spread has something to do wit h this, but as preposterou s as it sounds, I suspect the aluminum frame is also a culprit: Honda's efforts over the years to design flex into its chassis (it has come a long way since '97) indicate that my suspicions aren't entirely off -base, but there's another reason I'm confident in my assessment. During a two-year stint working for a mountain bike magazine, I learned that even amateur riders can distinguish differences in frame construction (technically , aluminum frames' large tubes make more of a noticeable difference than the material itself). When testing mountain bikes, I grew to prefer the lively , forgivi ng feel of steel to the non-compromising stiffness of large·diameter aluminum tubes (which some riders like better). It appears that m y inclinations have remained consiste nt. Chris Jonnum The Podium Considering how evenly matched the five bikes in this comparison are, we are somewhat surprised that t he bike taki ng the top step of o ur 2001 250cc MX Cycle N ews Sh o ot ou t Po di u m would get there by a unan im ou s decisi on . B ut after all was said an d d on e , o ur test r i d e r s all agreed that the Yamaha Y Z250 deserves this year's gold m eda l. And there were no reservations from anyone. O u r test er s were qu ick to point o ut th at th e YZ required the least a m ount o f fidd ling (j etting , su sp en sion click ers, etc. ); that it s us er fri endly m o to r is powerful eno ugh to keep the fast gu y s happy, yet rn an aq e ab le enough for th e less-exper ienced rid ers , and that it ou t-hand les th e class c o ntend ers (alb eit by a slim ma rg in ) . D ecidin g on w hich b ik e should get th e silver , however, was a far more difficult decision than coming up w ith a w inner. It basicall y ca me down to a vi rtual dead heat between th e Honda and the Kawasaki , but wh en it was t ime to lay it a ll out o n t he li n e , o u r test ing team gave the n od - and the s il v e r medal - to the Kawie . Why? Just because the KX has a sl ightly more forgiving feel to it. That's all. Between the Kawasaki and the Honda, pretty much everyone agreed tha t the Kawasaki would be the bik e that they wo uld r ath er be o n d uri ng t h e late stages of a lon g moto, much of which h a s t o do with the K X ' s slightly smoother powerband and more-cushy rid e. B ut if you prefer a bike with a bit more of an edge to it, you may want to go wi th the Cycle News bronze medalist. Ju st b eca use th e Su zuk i a n d th e K T M d idn 't m a k e o u r Cycle News Sh o otout Podium th is year d o esn 't in refinemen ts . Still , po lished o r no t , the fi ts that b il l. As we m entioned earlier, any way mea n th at th ey are not c ap able m otoc ro ss b ik es, and we ' re not j ust Suzuki and KTM are worthy m ach in es a ll fiv e b ik es are great, but d iffere nt, that m erit serio u s consi deration when so yo u've really g o t f r e e d o m t o sa y ing that to keep everyone happy (it won ' t d o tha t , a nyway), Y ou mig ht ha ve not iced that th e th ree bik es that shopping around fo r a n ew bi ke. ch oose . F o r u s, however, there was ma de o u r CN p od iu m a r e th e t h ree bikes th at took on th e lea st am o unt o f sign ific ant c h a nges for ' 0 1. B oth th e Su zuk i an d KTM , on t he other hand , are v irtuall y all -n ew motorcycles th at are pe rhaps not ye t as p o li sh ed as the o ther b ik es , wh i ch r e c e i v ed m o stl y O f course, t h e r e are m an y o t he r n o qu esti on - ou r c ho ice f o r g ol d . thing s to mull over and to investigate m edal w inner in th e 2001 Cycle News wh en d eciding on w h ic h moto cro sser 2 5 0 c c m ot o cr o s s s h oo tout is the to b u y , s uc h a s co n t i n g e n c y pro g ram s, loc al d ea ler su pport, and y es , Yamaha YZ 250 . even color. Most o f all , you 'll want to c o nsid er which p articu lar c h arac te ri st ic s are m o st im p o rta n t to you, and lea n toward th e b ik e t hat m ost closely c u e ' e eN Th e C y c l e N e w s edito r ia l s ta ff would like to thank the OE M, testin g depa rtme nts of all (rue ma nufacturers for their assistance and suppo rt in our 200] 250cc MX Shootou t. neVIl's N OVE MBE R I , 2000 21