P86
RACER TEST I 2025 BETA 480 RR RACE
race this bike will ever have. It must've
been bored going my speed.
However, I'll tell you—this bike is fast,
real fast, but is so easy to ride thanks to
dump-truck loads of torque on demand.
Behind its strength is a calm demeanor.
It doesn't light up and blitz or spin away;
instead, it grips and rips. This is where the speed
comes from. Zane's Beta does this even more than
the stocker. How? Well, one of the only things on
this bike you can't buy from your Beta dealer is the
engine management electronics and wiring sys
-
tem. The custom race-team-only ECU and electri-
cal signal bits in Zane's bike allow the race team to
engineer
deeper levels of tunability into the power
output and optimize things like fuel efficiency,
torque curves and even rev-limiter engagement.
The bike I rode in the Jackrabbits race
was Zane's practice/race bike, which is a
mirror image of his current and primary
race bike. It's also very similar to his
2024 championship-winning machine
because the production 480 RR Race
models did not change much from 2024
to 2025, namely updated crankcases.
THE BOMB
My race started out in the dust after I botched
the start, and it stayed that way for the next three
hours and 15 minutes as I gingerly tried to reach
the bike's potential. In comparison, Zane finished
in under two hours for the win. There were mo
-
ments when the bike and I were going fast, for
sure. But
for the most part, it was the easiest
Zane's weapon.
The stretched
ergonomics for
Roberts' height is
obvious from the
seat height to
the bar rise.
