RIDING IMPRESSION
P56
2014 BETA 300 RR
The Beta 300 RR feels right at
home in the woods.
trees as good as anything else in
its class.
We also liked the 300's powerful brakes and electric starting,
which never missed a beat. The tapered aluminum handlebars have
a nice fit, but they're missing hand
guards. Grips are quite good.
Our test bike came fitted with
Michelin Enduro rubber, which
seemed to work well on a variety
of surfaces.
The headlight appears to be
quite powerful, though we never
got the chance to ride the bike in
the dark to see how well it lit up
the trail.
Servicing the air filter is super
easy, and all it takes to remove
the seat is a push of a button.
Unfortunately, we didn't get
a lot of time to spend with the
300 RR, but what time we did
have was well spent. We found
the bike to work as good as any
other 300 we've ridden lately
in extreme conditions, as long
as the trails aren't too open and
speeds weren't too high. That's
when the motor and soft springs
hold it back a bit. It's definitely a
woods bike in every sense of the
word, and is certainly capable of
rivaling the well-established 300s
that came long before it.
There is one area where the
Beta clearly wins over its rivals
and that is price. At $7999 (the
same price as it was last year) the
Beta is a good few hundred dollars less than the KTM 300 XC-W
and Husaberg TE 300, and we
assume the same will be said for
the new Husqvarna TE 300. Tack
on Beta's Build Your Own Beta
Program and you have a machine
that's certainly worth checking
out.
CN
