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/430196
2015 450 MOTOCROSS SHOOTOUT P50 SHOOTOUT pick up down the straights and the track gets rougher, the Suzuki turns into a bit of a shaker and mover. Again, this is nothing new to Suzuki owners. Unfortunately, the new Showa SFF- AIR fork does little to alleviate this prob- lem, since this is chassis issue, not a fork issue. The fork, however, definitely im- proves the RM-Z's suspension as a whole. Again, it's a big improvement over the old fork; it has better action and compliancy. But compared to the other air forks in this comparison—Ka- wasaki's Showa SFF-AIR Triple Air Chamber (TAC) fork and the Honda's revamped KYB PSF air fork—the Su- zuki's rated third right out of the box. It felt stiffer from the get-go and took a bit more dialing-in attention than the other two air forks. Don't worry, you can find that sweet spot, but it takes some more fiddling in comparison. But don't get us wrong, again, these are excellent and are light years better than the previ- ous SFF coil-spring fork, it's just that the bar has been raised significantly in the fork department with the improve- ments made to all of the other forks in this comparison, including the coil- spring forks on the Husky, KTM and Yamaha. The Suzuki's motor is again liked by all of our test riders. It's not the most powerful overall of the group; in fact, it produces the least amount of max horsepower on our dyno, but what the Suzuki lacks in pure power is almost made up for by ease of use. It has a broad, useable powerband. When rid- den in that sweet spot—in the middle part of the powerband—the Suzuki's motor has lots of potential. Overall, it's a good but not spectacular mill. Pros will want more "go" from the RM-Z, but everyone else should be pretty happy. The Suzuki also feels a little on the heavy side, even though it falls right in the middle of the other bikes at 247 pounds. Still, the RM-Z is quite agile. Ergos are comfortable, but the grips are horrible—too hard! We like the RM-Z's new Holeshot As- sist, which is a button on the handlebar that allows you to change mapping/ fueling for the starts. "A" mode is for slippery and/or concrete pads and "B" mode is for soft pads with decent trac- tion. Or you can use no mode at all. Overall fueling can be quickly altered among one of three—rich, lean and standard—pre-programmed couplers that attach to the bike's ignition wires. The couplers change the character of the motor for certain track conditions. Our test riders generally preferred the lean (more aggressive) setting for most conditions. All of the bikes here have some sort of engine-mapping adjust- ment system: the RM-Z, KX and SX-F all rely on a coupler-type method, both the CRF and FC have simple handlebar switches, and the YZ uses an aftermar- ket programmer to get the job done. In the big picture, the Suzuki is a bit more track specific than the other bikes. If you're a Supercross guy or your favorite local track is fairly smooth and has tons of turns, then, no ques- tion, this bike is the best for you. But for extremely rough and faster tracks, the Suzuki can be a handful and will require closer attention to detail when it comes to the RM-Z's suspension set- tings. Again, the Suzuki is much im- proved over last year's RM-Z; it's just that the other bikes have gotten better as well.