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Genuinely curious for some of you that say any 450 is down on power - please explain what you mean.
Do you not like to shift? Does down on power man “didn’t lug 3rd the entire lap”? I use 1-4 gears on my RMZ450 and this bike is genuinely a rocket. It’s uncomfortably fast. Do you guys only use the first 40% of the throttle? I’m honestly confused how vet riders complain about low power 450’s and top pros want them calmed down. Plz explain.
Hughes and LaPaglia collaborating on a bike shootout....that made me giggle.
lmao wow. how did he keep a straight face thru all that.
ducati seems like a very non-consumer-friendly company with a very shareholder-first mentality. as cool as it is theyre in the sport, i would personally steer clear for awhile until they realize they cant bend over moto guys like they do street squids
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Exactly…like Steve telling Phil he’s WFO up Mt St Helens and is like 20% throttle. These guys saying a 450 slow are full of 💩, maybe change the throttle cam and twist that wrist…
Of course all available 450s are fast enough for every non professional racer. I’d also put money on Carson Brown beating most of us here on the YZ65 he just posted riding.
When comparing a bike or mod I can also say one bike can pull third through this particular corner better than another. I can say one bike handles slap down OJs better or one revs longer and doesn’t need to be shifted on my local track. These are all reasons to spend your money on one bike over another. You can’t lose the nuance just because every 450 has enough HP.
I'm the only one in this thread that said a 450 felt down on power. Specifically the Beta 450.
Imagine a 125 that goes 35mph in 1st gear, it's fast but it will also feel down on power most of the time.
The Beta didn't have great torque for pulling out of corners, took a second to wind up to get into the meat of the power in each gear.
It doesn't have good overrev, so riding down a gear wasn't working either.
I felt it made the bike difficult to steer with the throttle and recover if I lost momentum, and put the bike inbetween gears for hopping bumps or jumps out of corners. I compensated with more clutch
After a few rides, I changed from the stock 13/49 to 12/52. Seems like a huge change but it fits this bike really well. Plenty of torque in corners now and still plenty of length in the gears.
No longer concerned about the Beta's power, it had good power but was just in the wrong spot, loving this bike now.
Well… a 2008 YZ450f ”motocross bike” then… everybody understood my point… almost…
I couldn't believe how bad the pegs were, honestly horrific.
I've heard some guys are using a Honda shifter for a little more length, but after getting new pegs and raising the shifter a little I haven't noticed it, which is a good thing.
Just choose even weighted testriders for the actual test.
Should they make a separate test for fat or really short/tall people?
Also where power sits depends on the rider too. Some people like high revving 450s with the powwr at the top, others like it straight off the bottom, then we got the smooth linear power guys and the aggressive hit guys. Then throw in size, age, location.
Sometimes, I think we do a bit of injustice to the local non pro rider sometimes. A lot of us are a lot more perceptive and sensitive to power, chassis, suspension and how it affects the bike more than we give ourselves credit for. Or maybe even the riders themselves not giving themselves credit for their own abilities. We may not be pros or at pro level but it doesnt discount our abilities just because we aren't Lawrence, Tomac, or Roczen.
That makes alot of sense. I see what you mean now. I do hear that alot in shootout videos too - "down on power".
I just always get confused because since getting onto a 450 power is literally a non-issue. If i want more, I twist more, and the bike just goes its pretty crazy honestly lol.
So now you want to alienate a huge portion of the buying public? I'm sure the 180lb only shootout with valving and springs will be a big hit.
Its a general test, always has been that way. Meant to be a baseline for the vast majority of riders.
I think the best approach would be for one or two riders to have $1,000 to spend on all the bikes as they see fit.
So, first, ride and rank the bikes in the major test. Phase two includes allowing one or two riders to modify the bikes to accommodate for their weaknesses up to $1,000. That one (maybe two) rider(s) now conduct the shootout again and rank the bikes based on their new performance upgrades. Ideally you would just want to do this with one rider but two would be neat to see.
That's reasonable. I wonder if the manufacturers would be on board to provide bikes with that kind of thing.
Absolutely not! Why does some people really want to misunderstand!
Test could be conducted with even weighted riders for ease of work, bigger/fatter riders still have to change springs/revalve. If a tested bike has a obvious flaw, use $500-1000 to fix it and the test will be fair.
Exactly what i meant!
Yo @ML512 have you ever done like a light mod bike shootout?
Pit Row
No. Two main reasons. Usually can’t have all the bikes long enough. Secondly, not a clear route of what the mods would be and what would be fair. Everyone says suspension revalves but who in the shootout is the bike setup for, the heavy guys or the light guys? The fast guys of the slow guys?
Should have had the KOVE in the Asian group test, then have a laptime shootout between the last placed, and 1st placed.
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