the Honda, the lightest of the
Japanese bikes. This reduction
in weight is apparent after only a
few corners. The bike feels light
in every way possible. Paired
with a responsive steel frame,
the bike is flickable and can be
put wherever the rider wants.
Many of our guys raved about
this lightweight feeling as they
went out for their longer motos,
saying that they could ride the
bike for a longer period of time
and feel noticeably less tired as
the laps wore on.
And we haven't even men-
tioned that new air fork. Once
again, our groups were split
on this topic. Half of our riders
currently ride on WP forks, while
the others stick to the tried and
true coil spring design. At least
they did until they rode the new
Xact air forks! The WP engi-
neers are really on to something
this time as they've been able
to get the fork to work well in
every area of the track. Stutter
bumps, check. Charging down
hills, check. The plushness and
up-top compliance are things
we've longed for with the air fork
and are greatly impressed with
this year's updates. Our riders
also appreciated that the plastic
fork clickers can be tuned by
hand. Only two of our six testers
touched the clickers on the
KTM, but it's a nice feature,
nonetheless. We concurred that
this is the best rendition of the
air fork we have seen to date.
KTM's 450 SX-F finds itself
moving up one spot from last
year's shootout. A new fork,
updated mapping, lightweight
design and top notch clutch and
brake combo truly propel it onto
the podium. They hit the mark
when they say, "ready to race,"
as this bike is a true race-ready
machine in stock form. The
KTM was nearly the winner this
year, missing the crown by
just one point in our overall
rankings.
P76
2021 450 MOTOCROSS SHOOTOUT
SHOOTOUT
