Well, John, I guess I should apologize. Didn't mean to come off disrespecting this site, nor the sport of motocross. I love this site and check it daily!!! I really appreciate what you're doing and the sport needs it. I was letting my personal frustrations take over a bit. The fact is, pound for pound, I think the new KTM 250SX is one of the finest machines made, motorwise anyhow. The most powerful stock 250 motor ever made, to my knowledge, and well above all the others. I also think the new 2stroke YZ 250s are just fantastic machines and maybe better overall than the KTM though a bit down on HP. Fact is, 250 motors are far better built than the old 500 motors. Yet, they are still very reliable, and not so stressed out that they break al the time. For several years I've wished they'd make a 500 2stroke motor like the 2stroke MX 250s for off-road use. Anyhow, I don't despise smaller bikes at all. The KTM 300 is probably the best all-around machine ever made. I've just been frustrated for a long time because they're just not building bikes like I preferred to ride any more. First they quit racing open-class in America, then a few years later, they quit building open-class 2stroke machines. They hadn't been improving the engines on them for about a decade before they quit making them anyhow, unlike the 125s and 250s. The tracks they designed in the US, favored smaller displacement bikes often, as well, just as many of them today are designed to favor thumpers. I'd want a track for open classers with longer straights, smaller bumps, at least one nasty uphill that say a 125 would be lucky to climb if at all. Something with long enough straights to where the 2strokes could hook up and catch and pass the thumpers since thumpers usually get so much better traction at the start. Either that or I'd have much wider rear tires with big wide center knobs to help alleviate the problem. Oh well, one can dream, can he not?
I know this is a motocross site and perhaps this was the wrong place to post. Thing is, although I've owned enduros before, like the IT, most of us wanted MX bikes even if they never saw a track, simply because the motors had more power and better performance. At the time I wanted the '85 CR500 but couldn't quite swing it financially, so I got the '82 IT465. This was especially true in the '70s, enduros were mostly junk. They have gotten much better, but in general, are less powerful, being better suited for eastern forests than western deserts. Take the KTM 150SX and the KTM 200 enduro. The 150 is going to be more powerful even though smaller. Just an example. Anyhow, when I think of a motocrosser, I think of an off-road machine, just naturally. I do wish they built more bikes specifically for the wide open deserts of the west, but the buyers are forced to pick either a motocrosser or enduro, and set it up from there. Naturally, we would hope that such bikes will be capable of being set up to do such things without costing an arm and a leg. In the past, a morocross bike usually fits that bill better than any other, due to power. I shouldn't have dissed the MXers here though and I'm sorry. Truth is, I never had the skill to ride well that way even had I wanted. One of my brothers had a 1979 RM250 with the old Fox air shocks on it and of course, he'd blow me away on my IT 465 around the local track at the time. By the time I would have passed him on a straight, it was time to turn and neither me or my bike cared for that very much, and I ate a lot of dirt, lol. Funny thing, my other brother had an RM400, 1978. So did my cousin. My brother got frustrated with it on that track and traded it in for either a .'79 or '80 Kawasaki KX 125. I thought he was totally bonkers for doing that. In it's day, the '78 RM 400 was a nice machine and really nice off-road. Around that track though, he was much faster on the 125 than my cousin was on his RM 400. Even swapping bikes the 125 always won. Simply too tight of a track to take advantage of the bigger bike's power.
That Maico vid you put up was great, I'd sure like to see more of that machine, what a beauty! I didn't get the impression he was really ringing it out much, perhaps he was breaking it in. Even so, made me drool a bit. I'm pretty sure the new Maicos from the 500 up would out-pull a CR or KX 500, just wish somebody would test that and put them on dynos. I know, you can't trust today's magazines, but I'd believe it even if the Maico folks themselves did the test. My gut tells me that the new Maico open classers are probably the best open bikes ever built, power wise, just wish I could see it proven. I had indeed seen the world's fastest bike article, wasn't surprised that it would be the venerable KX. (Let's see any 450 thumper try that, no way!) Think about how cool it would be though, if somebody tried that same setup on the big new Maicos! That, I'd love to see. We never rode that fast, nor wanted to gear the bikes anywhere near that high, but I figured a 100 - 110 mph tops was nice to have available when you needed it. So-Cal riders probably understand this well. Better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it, in the desert anyhow. Wish they'd build 500 2strokes with 6 or 7 speeds. I believe Husqvarna put out a 7 speed desert bike in the '60s, correct me if I'm wrong. Up-gearing is always a compromise, but, oh well, dreaming again I guess, until desert racing gets a lot more popular and lucrative than it currently is. For now, one has got to use a motocrosser and up-gear.
Below is a picture of one of the areas I used to ride before I was disabled. It's a volcanic crater in Donna Ana county New Mexico called Kilbourne Hole, near Mt. Riley and the East Potrillo range, not too far from El Paso, Texas. If you look close you can see some of the roads around it which stretch out fairly straight for miles. Plenty of room to get a bit bored with 85 mph. Speaking of that, I'm sure I've bored you folks long enough. I love your site here John, it's sorely needed. If I offended anyone in my previous post, I'm sorry, we're all on the same side! May 2strokes once again rule enduros, moto and supercross, as well as in the desert!! Hats off to all who choose to ride a 2stroke of any displacement over a thumper, regardless of riding preference.
