Whew, $10K for a dirt bike. I guess its about the same as a 500AF. It would be great to see a test on the 700, or any of them for that matter. You know MXA won't do one, since they're the most 4-stroke friendly mag out there. At any rate, the bikes are simply bad--s.
Burn1986 - I disagree about MXA in a couple of ways... first I believe that they will test the bike when they are here in the states.
Second out of all the magazines, they are the most vocal about two-strokes being better than the four-stroke. Sure most of the machines tested in their magazine are four-strokes, but every time they test a two-stroke they are fair and sometimes effusive. You can not say that about any of the other magazines.
Over the past six months or so they have had editorials stating that the two-stroke is a better machine.... so I personally like MXA.
As for the cost of the machines, to be fair you need to compare apples to apples... look at what you get with a Maico or a TM... high end components that do not come stock on the less expensive Japanese bikes. Many mx racers invest far more into their machines than 10K.
As an example, most everyone changes the pipe and silencer on there machines, modifies their suspension, ports the engine, instalsl V-Force or Rad valves and the list goes on and on. When you buy one of the "expensive" machines all these things come stock. If you were to add up how much it cost to buy a Japanese bike plus the modifications verus buying one of the so-called "expensive" bikes you may find that you are getting a bargain.
Just saying... make sure that you compare properly....
