#motocross

As a parent, few things bring you more joy than sharing a passion with your children. So goes the story of Michal Kubanek, Founder and CEO of Kuberg electric motorcycles. A passionate motorcycle enthusiast, Kubanek wanted his kids to experience the joy of riding a dirt bike, but instead of simply buying a children’s bike like a Yamaha PW50, Kubanek built his own using electricity instead of gasoline. Hence the Kuberg line of electric motorcycles was born. Based in the Czech Republic, Kuberg currently offers four different models of e-dirtbike.

This week’s video comes to us from an FIM World Motocross Championship round in Teutschenthal, Germany, in May. Championship leader Tim Gasjer performed an absolutely filthy scrub, turning his bike horizontal and scraping his knee on the dirt just before he takes off.

After a complete redesign in 2016, the big KX impressed us with its new, slim chassis, strong mid-range power and much-improved handling, but we felt that there were other issues that kept it from living up to its potential. Kawasaki has addressed those very concerns for 2017, and these refinements pay off in big way, edging the KX closer to the top of the 450cc motocross class.

For the first time in three years, Yamaha Motor Corporation has announced that it will not be releasing an all-new motocross or off-road motorcycle in its comprehensive dirtbike lineup.

Ostensibly, this is a review of the 2004 Kawasaki KX250F. But read a little more into the story and you start to see this is just the old-school MO crew having fun on a new dirtbike, getting themselves wholly out of their comfort zone and being genuine MOrons the entire time. This was MO‘s humble beginnings, folks – Ride bikes, make mistakes and bad decisions, then write about it in a fun and irreverent manner. I mean, check out that lead image above. I didn’t add those effects. That’s just the goofy MOron crew at work. Anyway, enjoy the “review” and see the rest of the pics in the photo gallery.

Eight years ago we were the first to get a ride on a Zero electric motorcycle, the 2008 Zero X. Back then Zero was a very different company than it is today – Neal Saiki is gone, the machines are immensely more evolved, and they now look like motorcycles rather than converted mountain bikes – but reading Mark Gardiner’s and Micky Dymond’s positive thoughts about the 2008 Zero X confirms the impressive performance of electrics. Even crude ones. By today’s electric motorcycle standards the X is hardly worth mentioning, but for historical value – and as a measuring stick for progress – the X is hugely important. In only eight years Zero Motorcycles has greatly increased power and range, while lowering prices at the same time (government incentives also help). Zero’s make reasonable commuters or trail bikes for some people, and it started with the Zero X. Read about it below, and be sure to check out the photo gallery for more shots. 

Twenty four hours on a motorcycle is a true test of both man and machine, and doing it on a dirtbike around Glen Helen is one way to separate the men from the boys. Here, our own J. Burns gets his friend Jim Hatch and his cousin Craig a ride aboard Yamaha’s finest off-road machine for the fabled Dirt Rider 24-hour at Glen Helen. The year was 2003, the bike was the YZ-450F, and the trio’s tale of mixing it up with some of the biggest names in motorsports is below. For more pictures of this adventure, be sure to visit the photo gallery.  

If wealth were measured in career accomplishment, AMA Hall of Famer Preston Petty would be one of the richest men on the planet. If value were determined by the character of a man, he should be considered a national treasure by anyone who has ever swung a leg over a dirtbike.

If you read my piece about getting Behind the Scenes at KTM, you might recall how the Austrian manufacturer has really exploded in recent years. So much so that it’s goal is to capture the on-road market like it has the off-road scene. Well, by 2001, KTM was well established in the off-road world, and Mark Kariya’s piece about the 2001 KTM Roll Out highlights everything from the 125SX at the bottom of the range, up to the 520 SX at the top. As impressive as KTM’s lineup was, it would be another 14 years until Team Orange would capture it’s most elusive prize, the 2015 AMA Supercross championship – the crowning jewel on the company trophy shelf. 

For this week’s Church feature, we’re continuing the Suzuki two-stroke dirtbike theme. Last week we featured the 2001 Suzuki RM250. This week, it’s Mark Kariya’s review of the 250’s little brother, the 2001 Suzuki RM125. Incorporating many of the improvements seen on the RM250, here, Kariya tries his best to impersonate Travis Pastrana. In case you’re of the generation who only knows Pastrana for his backflips and four-wheel rally exploits, Travis also has a 125cc championship to his name as well. And he did it aboard a Suzuki RM125. Read on to see Kariya’s impressions of the bike. 

In racing lightness is everything, and that was the main objective when designing the 2001 Suzuki RM250 motocrosser, the subject of this week’s Church feature, the first one of 2016. Yep, we’re going back 15 years and checking out what MX’ers were looking as the hot ticket. Every facet of the RM250 was approached with optimum racing performance in mind, and according to author Mark Kariya, the Suzuki two-stroke didn’t disappoint. Read on to see what the RM250 was all about. 

We’re approaching the end of the year which means it’s time to look back at some of the top news stories in motorcycledom from 2015. The last 12 months saw a lot of ups and downs, and here’s to hoping there will be more of the former in 2016.

With Kawasaki’s KX450F undergoing a complete redesign for 2016, apparently it wasn’t the KX250F’s turn to receive any love, as it is the only Japanese 250cc motocrosser not to receive any noteworthy upgrades for next racing season.

You would think that a company willing to go to the lengths that Suzuki did to improve its RM-Z250 would at least make some effort to alter its looks and make it visually obvious that the 2016 version is a much different motorcycle than the 2015. After all, Suzuki made more than 80 changes to the new RM-Z’s engine alone.

Whereas the engine discussion in the 450cc motocross class typically revolves around how to manage the mega dose of power that the big thumpers produce, the dialogue in the 250cc class has more to do with how to strain every last pony out of each manufacturer’s engine design. With the high level of chassis refinement exhibited by practically all of the current 250s, any machine that comes up short in the motor department is going to be handicapped in comparison with its rivals.