Shootouts

Fast & faster
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The battle of the New Old Stock (NOS)
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The whys and wherefores of quarter-liter thumpers
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The obvious winner of the fun factor
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CRF450 vs. YZ450F vs. KX450F vs. 450SXF vs. FC450 vs. RM-Z450
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We line the smokers up and run them down
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Four bike shootout —well 3-1/2
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big, mean and ready to ride
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Let's get this out of the way first. Although every bike in this shootout is designed to do the same thing, they aren?t all alike. In fact, they are completely different. You?ll have to take our word for it, because it's unlikely that the…
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Q: WHAT'S BETTER A 125SX OR A 150SX? A: The MXA wrecking crew can promise one thing with this shootout?KTM is going to win. But, we aren?t sure that there is an outright winner because each bike is designed and built for a different reason,…
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Not every rider is alike. There are riders who like the snap of a 250cc two-stroke, those who prefer to wring the guts out of a wide-open 125cc tiddler, and a third group that craves the abundant vibes of a 250cc four-stroke. The MXA…
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The idea behind a shootout hasn?t changed much since the Earps and Clantons met at the O.K. Corral. The plot is always the same. The antagonists come face to face to settle a grudge, and the winner is determined by who draws the fastest,…
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It has been a long and winding road, fraught with peril and surprises around every corner. But, the MXA wrecking crew managed to get through testing the 2013 250 four-strokes with nary a scratch. As for our six bikes, they took the brunt of…
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Q: WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A 250MX AND A 300MX? A: Since the TM 250MX and 300MX did not have any identifying marks telling which bike was which, it was impossible to tell them apart. Often we would send a test rider out to try a new…
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The MXA wrecking crew spends the majority of its test time racing and riding brand-new production motorcycles, but early on in each test session every bike gets its day on the dyno. It really isn?t all that revealing because by the time its…
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Let's face it, not everyone is in the market for a 2012 250 four-stroke. That's okay with us. There are many choices when it comes to purchasing a motorcycle?two-stroke, four-stroke, 125, 250 and 450. Depending on your…
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2011 KTM 250SX. No offense to Kawasaki, Suzuki and Honda, but they aren?t included in this 2011 shootout because they don?t make 250cc two-stroke motocross bikes ( although Suzuki does sell its 2008 RM250 overseas...and has it listed on…
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The Honda CRF450, KTM 450SXF, Yamaha YZ450F, KTM 350SXF, Kawasaki KX450F and Suzuki RM-Z450 are all major players in what consumers might well think of as a $8500 crap shoot. It is the MXA wrecking crew's goal to take the gamble out of…
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Historically, choosing shootout winners is easy for the MXA wrecking crew. We race the bikes every weekend for six months, switch back and forth (sometimes between motos), try every possible gearing and suspension combination,…
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Pity the poor fool who enters headstrong and dimwitted into the 2011 motocross fray. For the uninitiated, the motocross world is a confusing maelstrom of conflicting information?made all the worse by the rapid expansion of avenues of…
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Let's cut to the chase, which in Hollywood parlance means let's skip ahead to the action-packed part of this horse opera. You don?t need to be the Amazing Kreskin to realize that motocross racers read shootouts for three…
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NUMBER ONE: 2010 KTM 450SXF There is only one bike in 2010 that can claim to have the most peak horsepower, most top-end rev, best handling, strongest clutch, most powerful brakes, a no-tool airbox and an electric…
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There is a point in every motocross racer's life when he believes in magic. No, not voodoo, psychic readings or David Copperfield. Motocrossers cling to the idea of the ?magic motorcycle??the machine that will change them from an also-ran…
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NUMBER ONE: 2009 KAWASAKI KX450F Unlike the other fuel-injected bikes, which stumble at 8000 rpm, the 2009 Kawasaki KX450F keeps pulling to 9400 rpm. The ?09 KX450F has the second most horsepower in the class and decent…
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No offense to Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha and Husqvarna, but in last year's 2009 450 Shootout, the Kawasaki KX450F and KTM 450SXF finished one-two . And, with a full year of R&D behind them, the MXA wrecking crew wanted to take the latest…
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First, let's get one myth out of the way up front. It is common for modern critics of the 450cc four-stroke to claim that the AMA 500cc National Championship was terminated because bikes like the CR500 and KX500 were too powerful. Not true.…
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2011 KTM 1250SX. Both the KTM 150SX and Yamaha YZ125 originated from the classic two-stroke gene pool, but thanks to gene splicing, borrowed technology and constant revisions, both machines have evolved into the fulfillment of the…
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