Sorry ford i gotta jump in Fosters!!!!!!!! definitely wrong island that other one across the tasman full of crocs and kangaroos would love that stuff,but rum oh yes im in.Im a beleiver these days of generally the modern mxers are very similar albeit for little bits here and there that are there to turn you into the next villipoto(or so they claim),I remember back in the 80s when disc breaks were introduced that was a fad and wouldnt take off.For me a lot of it can come down to rider comfort,through the carmichel years i rode suzuki they fitted well but im a short arse anyway.sure theres little differences between brands updated suspension is great but anyone looking at riding hard would look at revalving anyway,as to competitiveness put a pro rider on either bike and i reakon they will turn pretty comparible laptimes ,i raced our nationals a few few few years ago was on the old crf at the time and we had a guy putting in top 20 finishes on his vmx (and before someone says we wereall slow we had 6 guys in the class who had either been a world champ,going to be world champ or finished in the top 5 in mx1 gp)
So what my big rant is sure the new bike looks great,the old bike will still go great ,would be great if they pumped billions into development ,but ride what you like and go buy a TM