VOL. 52 ISSUE 44 NOVEMBER 3, 2015 P63
BY THE CN STAFF
PHOTOGRAPHY BY KIT PALMER
E
ven though Beta off-road bikes
have been around for quite
some time now, the Italian brand
is still a relatively unknown in the
U.S., this is clearly evident by the
many stares and bewildered looks
on the faces we got from those
curious enough to walk up to us and
our 2016 350 RR test bike. This
was almost always followed up with
the question: "Beta, what's that?"
Our standard answer is: "It's a small
manufacturer in Italy that pumps out
amazingly good off-road bikes. It's
popular in Europe."
But Beta's presence is rapidly
growing as of late in the U.S. and
has been doing some damage on
the racing scene lately. They have
formable off-road racing teams in
the desert, in the woods and in the
arenas, EnduroCross to be more
specific. In fact, Beta is the defend-
ing champ in the AMA EnduroCross
Championship and also won the
AMA West Hare Scrambles Champi-
onship in 2014, these things simply
don't happen if you build crap bikes.
Beta is no longer the Goliath in the
world of Davids.
Beta pretty much started out
many years ago building top-of-the-
line trials bikes, which expanded
into off-road or what European
manufacturers commonly refer to as
"enduro" bikes. Beta now has many
enduro models, in both two-stroke
and four-stroke forms, to chose
from. They designate all of their off-
road bikes "RR." (Their dual sport
models are designated "RS" and
trials bikes "EVO.")
It's tough to say which RR model
is Beta's "bread and butter" since
they are all so good, but the 350 RR
four-stroke and 300 RR two-stroke
quickly come to mind. The 350,
however, just might be the one.
Beta's 350 RR is hard to fault
for technical, single-track off-road
racing. It's definitely competitive
Beta still might
not be as popular
a brand as KTM or
Husqvarna in the
U.S., but the small
manufacturer in
Italy knows how to
make very good
off-road bikes.
350
THE OTHER
NO LONGER THE GOLIATH, THE BETA
350 RR JOINS THE RANK OF DAVID
