Feb '10 MXA

[DPW]

Just got it...looks like some good stuff

'10 450 Shootout and a test on Dr D's '10 YZ450

also a story on how to program the new YZ

[kotaro]

So, which is the best 450F, the YZ?

[Troutman]

I think KTM won this year. Congrats to KTM for a great bike. They have really been stepping it up for the last few years, I cant wait to see the 350!

[LIL ROG]

I will be running to the mail box when I get home

[RCannon]

My online version arrived today...Boy, remember when "Shootout" felt really cool , like you were reading something special???

[PapaSneakyHoleshot]

So who won? What was the order? Why bring it up if you're not going to tell us??

[Davey762]

ktm, yami, kawi, honda. Found out by clicking the digital mag and browsed through it online, you have 5 free zooms but you are able to flip through the whole magazine, thats how I was able to see it. They also test/review the lightspeed glide plate and drd's yami 450.

[RCannon]

So who won? What was the order? Why bring it up if you're not going to tell us??

Because it feels like telling someone the end of a bad movie...after you know the ending, your left with one and a half hours you cannot have back in your life.

[DPW]

Because it feels liek telling someone the end of a bad movie...after you know the ending, your left with one and a half hours you cannot have back in your life.

+1

So who won? What was the order? Why bring it up if you're not going to tell us??

go to www.zinio.com the issue is there....

[SparksXR426]

Are the shootout results really that big of a deal anyway outside of being a status thing? I know they help, to a certain extent, the manufacturers sell bikes if theirs does well but how many really buy one based on that alone?I really like my 08 for the type of riding I do and some guys dont. First, its okay if somebody doesnt like it and secondly, I dont care. I read the shootouts too and, while neat to read, they really have little bearing on what I would pick, very few of the new bikes nowadays are total disasters anyway.

[PapaSneakyHoleshot]

Come on, shootouts are fun to read (even if you don't agree with the outcome). Even guys like me who aren't brand-loyal secretly root for their own bike to win. Besides, like it or not, they have more to do with bike sales than who wins on Sunday. Carmichael won everything you could win on a Suzuki and they still had the worst sales. Congrates KTM.

[highmarker]

Every rag has their niche and demographic. MXA's niche is to pick bikes the other mags didn't rate at top. The demographic is quite obvious from the amount and type of advertising, looked more like womens fashion magazine than a dirt bike rag.

[yz_for_me]

Out of curiosity, I wonder where an '08 CRF would rank if it were thrown in this shootout? I'm guessing it would rank ahead of the '10 Honda and Kawi.

[RCannon]

Come on, shootouts are fun to read (even if you don't agree with the outcome). Even guys like me who aren't brand-loyal secretly root for their own bike to win. Besides, like it or not, they have more to do with bike sales than who wins on Sunday. Carmichael won everything you could win on a Suzuki and they still had the worst sales. Congrates KTM.

I always liked the charts and technical info. This shootout was missing that. Also, with Suzuki MIA it felt incomplete.

[yz_for_me]

I always liked the charts and technical info. This shootout was missing that. Also, with Suzuki MIA it felt incomplete.

Yeah, not a lot of substance here. It felt like a shootout lite. Like they didn't have the time, or money, to do a full blown shootout. Kinda dissapointing.

[Scrubba]

MXA is starting to become too politically aware.

They state that the yz450 didnt win, because it was risky being so innovative, with a possibility of too many things going wrong with such a new design.

then the next sentence says "but nothing went wrong."

these guys have been indoors too long.

Im getting the yz. had a ktm one time, never again. too many things can and did go wrong.

[twenty34]

MXA is starting to become too politically aware.

They state that the yz450 didnt win, because it was risky being so innovative, with a possibility of too many things going wrong with such a new design.

then the next sentence says "but nothing went wrong."

these guys have been indoors too long.

Im getting the yz. had a ktm one time, never again. too many things can and did go wrong.

You may be living in the past. I feel there are too many new changes to the YZ and I would tend to think the YZ might have too many things that can go wrong in comparison. You may have had something you didn't like in a particular year, but how does that related to 2010? Do you feel they haven't progressed like any bike maker for that matter? From what I understand, MXA has liked the YZ in the past, but didn't commit to a raving review this time, perhaps this tells you something?

Edited December 24, 2009 by rickk

[grayracer513]

It tells me MXA is becoming too politically aware, among other things. The "too many changes" angle is highly speculative, and resistance to the bike on that basis strikes me as the fear of some yet unknown peril. In the end, that may simply prove to be the loss of the courage they once would have had to stand up and say that the bike is a bold break outside the cookie cutter, and the fear of being reminded of their early support for it if it doesn't live up to the hype.

I think, as I've said before, that most of the current magazine "tests" have become far too much "impressions" than methodical tests. The subjective element is certainly important, but so is the objective, and that is hardly ever seen anymore. Cycle World, for example addressed the weight issue the way they always have, by ignoring the spec sheet, and using a scale (237 wet with an empty tank, 247 with a full tank).

What really annoys me is how much of the really technical info is mischaracterized and/or presented in an only partially accurate (or worse) manner. If it isn't explained so that it can be correctly understood, it will end up being misunderstood. The result is that someone will make a poor decision based on such info.

[Scrubba]

Rickk:

Gotta admit it was a KTM from 1985. cracked frame, leakin waterpump seal. funny feelin ergos, expensive and unavail. parts, all drove me back to honda. cant beat the big four.

but like greyracer said, you cant hold it against a bike just cause something could go wrong. If the yz was tested properly before release, (i hear it was more than 3 years in the making) this would help eliminate unforeseen problems.

and why have a test for a bike, if youre gonna leave it all up to interpretation? "to be or not to be" can go on forever.

and the honda last? after they said the KX was a "run away train?" all they did was drive down the resale value.

[Mike546]

I think that before anyone bashes MXA or KTM for winning the shoot out they should at least ride both bikes. I was looking for the Yamaha to win too but I havent ridden either bike yet and I have the Yamaha in my garage.