Vital MX 450 Shootout - Feature and QNA

Awesome shootout!

I'm curious though, what changes were made to the KTM other than the new threaded radiator cap? I was reading about the improvements made to KTM for 2026 but can't seem to find out what changed.

Thanks ML! Looking forward to hearing some feedback on the factory edition. Trying to convince the wife that I need a new bike....

I can understand the gripes with the TF450X Suspension. I picked one up recently and threw some springs in it for my weight. I mimicking my Yammies settings a bit at a baseline despite the different bike. 

That was a mistake, the bike was almost completely unridable, and has zero confidence. It felt like it was skating everywhere, blowing up the rear tire. Tried to high side and low side me everywhere. I was dying because I had the muscle it around to get it working at all. It took about a day of playing with the clickers and adjusting to get it right. Bike is fabulous now.

Great work, team!

You're 41 and riding 50+ class @CarlinoJoeVideo 😉

Thanks for putting the "article" version together! Nice..

thanks ML! appreciate all the work!

Great job, thanks!!!!!!!

New business idea: for a small fee, I'll create a fake moto news site and post an article about how your current bike was found to be dangerous or prone to failure or causes hair loss - whatever you want me to say. Let me know what bike you want to buy and it will also win my fake shootout. Wait till she reads how the new bike's sound made all of the test riders better listeners, or how the new app also helped them remember important dates and events. 

I literally told mine I could go another year on my current Yamaha and then they announce the FE's a week later.  Uphill battle for me but making my case.

How long ‘til we see a Triumph Suspension Fix Report?

I want to thanks ML because it's been few years we havn't got a full writing shootout like this ! Thank you for delivering we love writing shootout ! I really hope you will do the same for the 250 ! Great job

An absolutely superb shootout - the best I've ever seen! The moto community owes you a debt of gratitude for all the work that went into this. 

Please do and report on it.🤜🏻

A technically unchanged KTM leap frogs from third to first over an unchanged CRF450R and a technically improved YZ450F. So was last years shootout incorrect or this one? Or did ktm pony up with some extra advertising dollars to try and repair some image… 

So what Im seeing is the Triumph is just a KTM with aluminum frame.

They clearly said there were aspects of the Yamaha they felt were worse now. And the scores are close enough amongst the top 3 that a position here or there is really meaningless. 

Man, I love 450 shootouts. It's weird -- I don't prefer 450s and don't intend to own a new 450 for the rest of my life, but I LOVE 450 shootouts. 

It just seems like it is representative of the best dirtbike effort from all the respective manufacturers, and also feels like the one area that the moto media/reviewers put together a meticulous, comprehensive overview of all the bikes.

The major Yamaha changes were clearly focused on making the old LOUD AS HELL but firebreathing bike quieter to meet the new sound requirements, so that one is pretty clear cut. 

The write up is awesome ML, really enjoyed seeing the level of detail you captured on the evaluation sheet. 

Can you help us Vitards understand one thing? What makes the Yamaha's engine so appealing despite being nearly dead last in HP and torque across the rev range? It seems to be the opposite of the Triumph in that respect. 

Great writeup! I thought it was well done as it informs the reader as to what each rider thought about the bikes. You could add or subtract testers and the results might change so the specific finishing positions aren’t much of an interest to me. Top four and bottom four are how I view them.

i find it odd that the Honda and Yamaha have the lowest HP and TQ. In my head, I thought they had the strongest engine packages in the fleet. I guess numbers aren’t everything. Good mapping?

Also, I think there’s a typo on the KX TQ. No way it’s peaked at 5900. 

Exactly my thought as well. Great work put in for this shootout and very well put together but once I seen the top 3 and an unchanged KTM in first ahead of the Honda and Yamaha, it didn't make sense to me and lost credibility. Husqvarna 6th, GasGas 5th while a VERY similar bike that's unchanged and finished 3rd last year in this shootout gets first ahead of the unchanged Honda thats excellent, finished 2nd (ahead of the KTM) in last years shootout and an improved in most ways Yamaha? Nah. Bajaj Auto sending Vital a nice size check for this one.

Great job, ML. I liked the simplistic approach to the video. I feel like you always have a good way of putting everything into words, and it just made it very seamless from bike to bike. And then the written article has everyone's feedback, which is still nice to hear. Also, the data was interesting.  Well done.

Good lord, not everything is a conspiracy or plot of some kind, especially dirt bike shootouts. Save the pay off cabal theories for non moto. It's just opinions on scooters boys.

Same bikes, same riders, same tracks, next month will produce different results.