Cycle News

Cycle News 2020 Issue 49 December 8

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/1315867

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P112 CN III CROSS-RUTTED BY JEAN TURNER O ur 450cc shootout is now in the books, and as always, it was a massive undertaking. (Be sure to check out that super awesome video, too. Created by yours truly!) The intro to every shootout includes some obligatory platitudes: these are all great bikes, clos- est shootout ever, our winner might not be the best bike for you, know your own strengths… Cliché as these might be after years of shootouts, they're all true. On top of those, there is also a degree of context that should come with decipher- ing shootout results. There are aspects that might help a bike win a shootout, for instance, but these same features will mean little to nothing once you own the bike. But before we get into that, some quick notes on the platitudes. They are all great bikes. If they weren't, we wouldn't be testing them in this very pres- tigious category. They are all incredibly close, which is exactly why we, and nearly every other motocross publication, conduct shootouts at all. There are hardly any other classes of motorcycles that call for a test of this nature. Sure, we might throw some simi- lar bikes into a makeshift catego- ry and compare them for fun, but those "comparisons" are not the same as a class shootout. The bikes in the 2021 450cc moto- cross class, for instance, are so close in performance that the only way to sort out their differ- ences is to hop from one bike to the next in the same day on the same track. The strengths and weaknesses are so subtle, and so subjective, that it prompts us to enlist a half-dozen testers and tally up the results before these nuanced differences even begin to emerge. If it takes all that for us to find a winner in this group, then you can believe us when we say there are no losers here. So why do we do it? Why even Live With It Which bike is the best all- around performer? Which bike is best for you to live with? We can only answer one of those questions.

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