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What really impresses me is how fast Albertyn was outdoors, he was always a threat even though he had the worst bike out there. I think a lot of his crashing was due to him pushing too much to compensate for a slow bike. IMO Albertyn would be a mulit time champ in the US nationals if he rode for a different brand.
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2001 US OPEN CANNONDALE by teyblyy, on Flickr
McGrath's KTM 250, the year he retired
Suzuki 2501987 -- watching Johnny O and Hannah trying to race that dog was just painful
Were the bikes really that bad or was it just a lack of time, dollars, or effort to make them work for the factory riders?
Rallendude has a great point -- you can't just call it a bad bike because one guy didn't do well on it. I tried to think of ones that seemed to give everyone a hard time.
The whole while they were up against the KX500 and CR500.. two of the best MX bikes of the era..
Pit Row
The factory 82 YZ's that were racked, (front end) out air cooled piles of shit. They were racing against the 82 RC 250 works Hondas.
McGrath on the 97 RM250. That was literally a joke. The bike had no low end power. I was watching McGrath at the LA SX in practice riding. I just could not believe how poorly his bike was set up. They had both factory Suzuki and Pro Circuit building his bike. I just coul not understand how they could be so far off on it. Emig won the championship by default. McGrath was dissabled on the Suzuki that year.
The 91 WR 500 was actually lighter than the CR and KX500's. The problem with the WR was that it would get hot and the power would fade. You could not keep pace with the guys on the water cooled bikes. The WR had plenty of power, as Bradshaw holeshot many motos on the WR. He just could not stay with them for the entire moto. Remember the CR500 does not have a power valve like the KX does. The WR did not have a power valve either. My point is with a 500 you do not need one.
The 84 RM 250 factory bikes. They turned the air box into the gas tank for Barnett and Burnworth's bikes. They handled like crap.
I still think the 86 RM's are the worst of all time. They went from having the best linkage system ever (original full floater), to the eccentric cam system, the worst possible linkage ever. It was worst than not having a linkage at all. The motors on those bikes were so SLOW. Both the 125 and 250. That was the year Hannnah came aboard after leaving Honda and racing the 85 RC250 works bike. Talk about culture shock. We can only imagine what he thought after leaving team Honda and riding the Suzukis.
dungey should have won the championship! but his factory bike let him down! so his bike to me for this eyars gets the worst factory bike award!
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