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Yes sir. If a guy buys a bike that is sold in his favorite color he’ll be a happy man.
KTM 450 won some shootouts last year. The same track on the same day can change how a bike feels. Sounds like the KTM was the most consistent over the 3 days. Other reviews have complained about the fork on the 26 YZF 450.
I think price, dealer support and looks matter the most these days. None of these bikes are going to make you any faster than you already are.
If you run a scientific study over and over again you can get different results because there is chance involved. While Vital adheres to procedures like they state in their content a dirt bike shootout is less than scientific. Thats not to say it is invalid, it's useful in many ways. Said simply this years shootout has different results from last years shootout because it was a different shootout. Also their results from the 2026 shootout largely correlate with 2025 shootout results. If the Suzuki was winning in current form you'd have a point but a podium position shuffle is hardly a conspiracy or cause for concern for Vitals shootout testing quality.
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Tin foil alert.
One thing that cracked me up the most this year was our lap time day. Every rider set their fastest lap time on the bike they have personally ridden the most in the past 12 months.
Caskey, owned Hondas for about two decades now. Set his fastest time on it. (First bike he rode in his lap time test)
Tokarski, he put probably 70 hours on CRF450R in the past 8 months, sets his fastest time on it. (It was his fourth bike in the lap time test)
I never ride any bike more than two or three times in a row before I switch to something else, but I have spent the most time on a KX450 in the past year or two…it was my fastest lap time bike. (Fourth bike in my lap time rotation).
Santos owns a fleet of Austrian bikes for his rental business, rides a bit of everything but is on Austrian the most often…the KTM and GasGas were his two best bikes on averages. (One was his first bike of the rotation, the other was his seventh…so about an hour between when each one took place)
Carlino owns a YZ450F, sets his fastest lap time on one when it was his final bike of the times rotation…
Even data can be quite subjective when it comes to Dirtbikes…
No Suzuki, No TM, No Kove. Not really a full test. Can't say the Suzuki is a bad bike, still fully capable of winning... biased testers just stuck with the negativity.
Thanks for written article!
Second note it doens look good for Triumph and leaves questions about Ducatis test team as well. Triumph been most hyped bikes but seems to have most problems and durability problems not mentioned by moto media.
maybe I missed it but…was the Stark ever considered for this shootout?
Everybody with eyes and reading capability knows exactly where the Suzuki stands. I 100% understand why some outletts choose to not include the bike. It doesn't add any significant value to the test.
As for the TM, well it's i think ML:s explanation of why it wasn't included was valid.
As for the Kove, i do think that it's time to include it. They are the most capable Chinese brand on the market and will continue to push forward.
1 question I have about the Yamaha, is the fork. It sounds out of balance with the shock. Is this due to them trying to negate the added engine braking? It almost sounds like they stiffened it up to try and keep the chassis level when off-throttle. Or is it more related to the change to the frame itself?
If a scientific study produces different results when repeated then the hypothesis is invalid.
Last, last, anddddd, dead last.
This has to be the best, most comprehensive shootout I've seen, maybe ever. It's very difficult to make a shootout "fair" and balanced, but this is about as good as it can get, IMO. There's enough information and data here to occupy my mind for quite some time 😁. Well done, Vital.
False.
Something to be said about this. Maybe the best thing you can do to get faster is to...... ride your bike fellas.
I'd agree, except it was addressed. I'd like to see the TM, but it's more of a curiosity. Would LOVE to take that 300 for a spin that's been making the testing rounds given that I'm a 350 rider.
Also, you're assuming at this point kove wants to be included... I'd bet not.
This is NOT a scientific study. The final result of this effort is the average of 5 riders opinions on riding these bikes on those three tracks. That is all. Period.
If you change the riders, the number of riders, the tracks, the conditions, or the selection of bikes, you are changing the evaluation and can get different results without it being any kind of conspiracy or in any way making it less valid (whatever that even means).
Pit Row
Then what does it mean if your results are inconsistent?
Thank you for all of the effort you put into the shootout. Was really hoping the Triumph would have done better. If you get the chance to ride one that's been revalved well I would love to hear your opinion on it.
Hypotheses aren’t tested for validity, they’re tested to see if they are correct/true. To do this effectively, you need an experimental method that produces repeatable results. It’s the experiment and research design that is valid or invalid. So if your results are inconsistent that means your experiment is flawed so the results are invalid. A flawed experiment has failed to actually test the hypothesis because it hasn’t produced reliable evidence.
This shootout isn’t testing a hypothesis nor does it seem to be making any claims about being more than the opinions of the testers (with some objective data added for those interested in knowing such information). Some opinions are actually informative, valuable, and worth listening to and in my opinion this shootout contains such opinions.
Stevie and I did a day of testing with Ross Maeda / Enzo, like two months ago, with our RC edition Triumph 450. It was dramatically better; we still wanted to improve the fork a bit more, though.
Takeaways: Once the suspension actually had some comfort, we noticed the bike seems to be a bit more front-biased than we expected, lot of engine weight on the front. The balance between comfort and hold up under braking was still tricky to find, but the chassis really is stable.
Power is a mind trip. On the dyno chart, you can see it's a bit weaker from low to mid, and that is very obvious when you ride it. With only a 110 rear tire, it still doesn't spool up quickly and doesn't have great recovery character when the rpms drop low. The top end is good, but the rev limiter character sucks.
If you buy one, yes, get the suspension done asap, and maybe look into an ECU. There's a GET that works on it and either a Carrot or Aime ECU. Sadly, no Vortex option. I know the clutches are still a bit of a weak point as well.
Awesome! but missing:
- manufacturing quality
- durability
- reliability
- good/bad basic operation
- oem parts prices and availability
For exemple Triumph's transmission...
Statistical variance in test results is a reality of scientific process. Not understanding variance is not understanding how well you know what you know.
In the write up, for just about every bike, you mention characteristics to describe it as a "fun" bike. which bike did you have the most fun on?
The Zook finished last previously and is unchanged, but two very expensive new models came in last and second-to-last this year that were not tested last year.
Conceivable that the budget Zook, while not beating out the rest, could finish above those models, which could be very telling information to buyers.
Kawasaki and Honda were the most "fun" for me.
on the last day you had oem there. What changes did you do to the honda generally speaking to balance it out and how much of a difference did it make?
This is the most important intangible to me. Nice work and thanks for the info.
Not a huge amount. We went from 5mm to 2mm fork height, stiffened fork slightly on compression, slowed fork compression a little, ran 106-107mm sag instead of 103-104 range. Took some weight off the front to get the front feeling stiffer, a little more stable.
It was better for a few riders, but a few wanted more balance and more hold up deeper in the stroke of the fork.
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