2020 Husqvarna FE 350s Review

Tractoring up the single-track ascent, switchback after switchback with relative ease, a few thoughts ran through my head. One, this thing’s street-legal. Two, it’s kicking ass on this trail. Three, two-strokes aren’t the only machines that can be comfortable doing technical trail work. Admittedly, I’ve become somewhat smitten with my own two-stroke dirtbike, so much so that I had forgotten just how well a four-stroke can handle similar terrain, despite having begun my off-road riding career on a four-stroke 250. 

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2020 Kawasaki KLX300R Review

Remember back in the good ol’ days of 2019 when we were gathering en masse, kissin’ hands and shakin’ babies? I do. Well, way back in September of last year MO had the opportunity to test three new Kawasaki motorcycles: the street-legal KLX230, and the off-road only KLX230R and KLX300R. Shortly after, as is usually the case, my reviews went live on Motorcycle.com to tell you all about the KLX230 and KLX230R. Why wasn’t the KLX300R included? Because I was only able to spend a third of one day riding it and honestly, I believed it deserved a more thorough test because it really is a compelling motorcycle for what I think could be a large audience, and at the low price of $5,499, it becomes even moreso.

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2019 Endurofest: Broken Bones and Broken Bikes

North of Payson, Arizona and just a few miles past the town of Pine, there’s a steep grade that climbs into the mountain range below the city of Flagstaff. Ahead, an older Chevy truck moves slowly through the trees. The Chevy is one of those faded metallic burgundy ones, the ones where General Motors’ ablative-burgundy topcoat survives only in the shady areas. Lower fenders and door sills, any body shape that falls downward and inward towards the centerline still had a glossy wine red finish. Whatever topside paintwork survived the sunlight consisted of chalky peeled silver. The hood and roof were littered with rust and the cargo bed rode at a 20-degree angle to the rest of the vehicle. Taken in its entirety, the auto-scene reminded me of prehistoric valley rubble deposited by a receding glacier.

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2019 KTM 690 Enduro R Review

The 2019 KTM 690 Enduro R fills a niche within a niche. Ask riders of different disciplines where the 690 Enduro R falls among motorcycle segments and you’re likely to get two different answers. To off-road riders, the 690 is an adventure bike. Its big Single is smoothed out by dual counterbalancers, and a nice electronics package sets it apart from the 350 or 500 EXCs and two strokes available in KTM’s enduro/dual-sport range. Ask the same question to a street rider and you get, “It’s a dirtbike”. Dirtbike ergos, dirtbike looks, a big ol’ 693 cc Thumper, and its relatively small size – compared to 1290s – place the Enduro R in off-road territory for asphalt-locked motorcyclists.

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2019 Yamaha YZ250FX Review

In 2015, after Euro brands had been long dominating enduro and GNCC-type racing, Yamaha stepped into the game with a serious contender, a closed-course off-road competition model to do battle with the Austrians and others from tree to tree around an enduro course. The Yamaha YZ250FX is heavily based on the YZ250F motocross bike, but has been outfitted with essential off-road racing components, some of which would be costly to impossible to build out yourself. For 2019, the field is becoming more crowded with Honda’s new CRF250RX and KTM’s 250 XC-F. How does the Yamaha stack up to an increasingly competitive class? We made our way to the California desert to find out.

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2019 KTM 500 EXC-F Review

For a number of years now, if you wanted a dual-sport bike with true off-road performance, a dirt bike with turn signals if you will, there was one option and it was orange. KTM’s EXC-F lineup of plated dirt bikes show little compromise to their off-road prowess in order to maintain 50-state-legal status in the U.S. to be used on public roads. EXC-F models can be had in 250, 350, 450 Six Days Edition, and 500. Since more is more here at MO, we snagged the big boy out of KTM North America’s press fleet to see what’s been up with the big orange dual-sport from Mattighofen.

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2019 BMW F 850 GS and F 750 GS Review – First Ride

The air had a brisk freshness about it. Pure mountain air with a hint of fall from the turning leaves. The kind of unsullied atmosphere that can only be found far from the pollution of civilization. The sun had begun its slow descent behind the surrounding red rock mesas, and the cottonwoods and aspens appeared to glow in the late daylight, contrasting beautifully with the red rock, blue skies and well-manicured grass of the Gateway Canyons Resort. The resort sits at 4,500 feet, in the juncture of five canyons, some of which had been carved out more than a billion years ago. This would be the proving ground for our evaluation of BMW’s latest mid-size GS offerings – the 2019 F 750 GS and F 850 GS.

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2019 Ducati Multistrada 1260 Enduro First Look

Now we know why Ducati wouldn’t let us borrow a Multistrada 1200 Enduro for our Adventure-Touring Shootout, as this new 2019 Ducati Multistrada 1260 Enduro was right around the corner. —Ed.)

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2019 Honda CRF450RX First Ride Review

If you’re anything like me when it comes to riding in the dirt, you’re willing to sacrifice a little comfort and user-friendliness in favor of higher performance and better handling. This was pretty much always the case for me as I’d ride my CRF450R both at the track and on the trails, or in the desert/woods/mountains/etc. At the motocross track in its intended environment, the CRF450R is a beast; out in the sticks, the R still rules. However, it definitely gives up certain advantages and conveniences to more trail-inspired bikes like the CRF450X. Fortunately, Honda has built a do-it-all bike for riders like us who don’t want to compromise performance and handling at the track for convenience on the trail – the 2019 Honda CRF450RX.

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The Rise of Electric Vs. Gas-Powered Motorcycles

As futuristic as the future may one day be, I’ll be the guy hoarding all the loud, leaky, inefficient, fossil-fueled motors that most of the world will consider to be boat anchors and giant paperweights – call it my Redneck 401k. One day they might be considered old-fashioned, but there’s just something extremely gratifying about an internal combustion engine that an electric motor could never replicate. Mostly it’s the sound and feel, obviously, and it used to be about the performance, but electric motorcycles have evolved and come a long way in recent years.

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Slow Motion Hard Enduro Training

If you’re looking to improve your hard enduro skills, be sure and check out the guys over at Cross Training Enduro Skills on YouTube. They’ve put together an extensive library of training videos that are both informative and entertaining as they lay on plenty of sarcasm in most episodes. This particular video goes over how to overcome vertical rock faces via “splats.”

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2017 KTM Freeride E-XC First Ride Review

If your idea of off-road riding is busting big air over triple jumps, the Freeride-E will disappoint. But KTM’s electric-powered off-roader broadens the scope of what’s possible in a dirtbike built to quietly conquer trails of fun.

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2017 KTM Freeride E-XC Electric Motorcycle Coming to US

KTM is bringing its Freeride E-XC electric motorcycle to the U.S. in an initial pilot program. The E-XC enduro, along with its off-road-only X-SX sibling, have been available in Europe since 2015, and KTM is now ready to bring its electric motorcycle technology to North America.

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2018 Ducati Multistrada 1260 Revealed by CARB

The Multistrada is getting a bigger engine for 2018, as the California Air Resources Board has released documents certifying a 2018 Ducati Multistrada 1260.

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The Marks of a True Enduro Champion + Video

This video perfectly illustrates why Matthew Phillips is a 4 time Enduro World Champion.  In this short video, he nearly endos, hits a tree, and then almost dumps his bike, but somehow he managed to right himself and be back on course while losing minimal time.

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