Shootout season is always a crazy busy time for most media outlets. A lot of testing, a ton of typing, an insurmountable amount of time speaking into a microphone, and nowadays a crap ton of video editing has to be done before it gets digested to the reader/viewer. What some of you may not know is that every media outlet looks/reads/watches every other media outlet’s shootout results and how it was done. When I was at Dirt Rider Magazine we used to have meetings about how our competition performed and even rated their shootout. Even though “shootouts” are somewhat losing traction with potential buyers it’s still very impactful to the manufacturers and their future R&D practices. The results from each media shootout gets directly sent back to Japan or Austria, in order to be digested and discussed internally with each manufacturer. “Why did we do so bad”? “Why do we need to change our gearing”? “How can we improve”? I have been in some of those meetings where those exact questions were asked by the higher ups and let me tell you, it can get awkward at times. Believe it or not, Jody does have some pull when it comes to getting some manufacturers to change certain parts to their machines on next year’s model. It has happened! Every comment that each media outlet has doesn’t go unnoticed by the manufacturers.
So with all that being said I thought it would be cool to go over the results of each motocross media outlet shootout and tally up the scores for each brand, in order to give you “national numbers”, so to speak. I also will give some brief insight on each media outlet, some background on who is running the shootout, as well as how they performed their shootout/test, to the best of my knowledge. This is what each manufacturer does every year, so let’s all sit down and have our own company meeting right here on pulpmx.com. At the time of this article however MXA and Dirt Bike have refused to give the people the complete results of their shootout, so their scores are left out for the sake of accuracy. Look, I don’t know people, I waited long enough to do this article, I can’t wait any longer! I am just like you! I am a fan of dirt bikes and I want to know who won as well! After watching MXA’s shootout video (that is available now), it seems like the KTM 450 SX-F won and the Yamaha YZ450F got second, but we have to get the January magazine to see the rest of the rankings. I will say that MXA rides their bikes a ton and I respect the hell out of that! I am a big believer of riding each bike a lot in order to learn the ins and out of each, but can the people that don’t subscribe to your magazine still get the complete results!
Without further adieu here are the results from each media’s shootout along with some thoughts on each:
Keefer Inc.Testing
I wanted to try something different this year for the sake of trying something different. I feel like the criteria of shootouts are getting stale so we went with a NCAA bracket style shootout where I ranked each machine in the order I think they should be in and had three test riders test each bracket as the bikes went head to head. 1Vs.6. 2 Vs.5. 3 Vs.4 and the winner moves on to the next round. I left my opinion and scores out once the bracket testing started. This way of testing also kept the test riders fresher because they only have two bikes to test each day. Let’s face it, not every tester is in shape to go hard all day at Glen Helen, so why beat the shit out of them and get skewed results. From the responses that we got from this style of test, it seemed to go over really good. www.keeferinctesting.com
Overall Score:
- Yamaha YZ450F
- Kawasaki KX450
- KTM 450 SX-F
- Honda CRF450R
- Husqvarna FC450
- Suzuki RM-Z450
ML Testing
Michael Lindsay left Vital MX and started his own Youtube channel where he tests bikes/products through a video format. He also went a different direction with his shootout and picked up his bikes directly from a dealer and went testing. This is something that has been talked about for years within our industry and Michael went and did it. I am all for trying new stuff and it’s commendable that he put himself out there to do this. I don’t know what the manufacturers thought of it all, but in the end, this was a dealer floor to track shootout that was new and exciting for the viewer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=3uvjAqQ2LRI&feature=emb_logo
Overall Score:
- Yamaha YZ450F
- Honda CRF450R
- Husqvarna FC450
- Kawasaki KX450
- KTM 450 SX-F
- Suzuki RM-Z450
Cycle News
I don’t know too much about Cycle News and their testing background, but I am familiar with Jesse Ziegler as I used to work with him at Dirt Rider. Jesse comes from the Jimmy Lewis Dirt Rider Magazine era, so I know he is familiar with how to run a proper test. I did notice that they didn’t have a wide variety of test riders like some of the other media outlets, but nonetheless they give you some quality information that is worth your time. It is strange to me that the Kawasaki is so far down on the list at fourth, but to me this shows how close these machines are. I do miss my Cycle News in my mailbox every Tuesday though. Can we just go back to simpler times please? I’m old, I know. www.cyclenews.com
Overall Score:
- Yamaha YZ450F
- Husqvarna FC450
- KTM 450 SX-F
- Kawasaki KX450
- Honda CRF450R
- Suzuki RM-Z450
Swap Moto Live
Donn got completely got screwed from Transworld, but landed on his feet and started his own website. Coming from a guy who started his own website and podcast, I know the rewarding feeling he must have, but also know how much of a headache it is as well. I think it’s bad ass that Donn didn’t give up and took a couple of his key employees with him and continued to do what they love to do. The motocross enthusiast needs more dirt bike content/information and having Donn and the guys stick around is a great thing. Swap’s shootout included a bigger dude, which I love because not every Moto guy is a dick and ribs type of rider. There are dudes out there like Matthes and Dommer (Swap’s test rider) that purchase new bikes and even though the suspension is soft for them, it’s nice to know how everything else on the machine reacts to a bigger rider. www.swapmotolive.com
Overall Score:
- Yamaha YZ450F
- Kawasaki KX450
- Honda CRF450R
- KTM 450 SX-F
- Husqvarna FC450
- Suzuki RM-Z450
Vital MX
Another ex Dirt Rider Magazine employee that migrated over to another motocross media outlet is Sean Klinger. Klinger was thrown into the deep end and headed up Vital’s shootout after Michael Lindsey left. Klinger has come a long way with his riding ability since the Dirt Rider days, but is a great person and is no bullshit. That was the reason why we liked him so much at Dirt Rider. Vital should be stoked they have Klinger, but he doesn’t come from a true dirt bike R&D background, so he took what he learned at Dirt Rider and put it to use with Vital’s shootout. I wish Klinger and the guy’s could have used a wider variety of test riders, but in the end the results show consistency with the other media outlets results. www.vitalmx.com
- Yamaha YZ450F
- KTM 450 SX-F
- Kawasaki KX450
- Honda CRF450R
- Husqvarna FC450
- Suzuki RM-Z450
Dirt Rider
Dirt Rider was one of the first outlets to get their shootout started/completed, but was one of the last to post it up to their site (besides Hi Torque obviously). Since I left Dirt Rider, I admittedly don’t follow much of their work, but I know Allan Brown is one of their test riders and he has been in the industry for a long time. What was odd to me is that the Dirt Rider dyno numbers on the Yamaha seem to be really far off. If you look at the curve compared to the other machines it’s just not right and that simply doesn’t make sense. I have seen other dyno charts with all the bikes from a few other aftermarket companies and the Yamaha was never down that much on overall horsepower. The overall rankings are not far off from the other media outlets, so thankfully Dirt Rider wasn’t a dyno heavy influenced shootout. I can understand how the Kawasaki could win as the overall chassis comfort of the KX450 is excellent. www.dirtrider.com
Overall Results:
- Kawasaki KX450
- Yamaha YZ450
- KTM 450 SX-F
- Husqvarna FC450
- Honda CRF450R
- Suzuki RM-Z450
With six media outlets results in and the scores tallied up, here is how they rank in a “Grand Champion” type format. The national numbers for 2020 are as follows:
2020 450 Shootout Grand National Media Championship Points:
- Yamaha YZ450F (7 points)
- Kawasaki KX450 (16 points)
- KTM 450SX-F (20 points)
- Honda CRF450R (23 points)
- Husqvarna FC450 (24 points)
- Suzuki RM-Z450 (36 points)
The Yamaha takes the number one plate and from the looks of it, had a huge lead at the checkers. Second through fifth place was really close and that tells me that each bike has its strengths and weaknesses at different tracks, where the Yamaha seems to have stayed consistent for each media outlet, on each track they tested at. We talk a lot about “track toughness” on my podcast and it shows just how much of that “TT” the Yamaha has (by taking a nine point lead at the finish). Suzuki has some work to do in order to climb up the shootout ladder, but the Suzuki should still be a viable option for any consumer that simply isn’t in a position to spend 10K on a new bike. Whatever media outlet you choose or think has the most information out there, just know that it’s great that we have so much content to choose from. We need our sport to grow and it will not grow without more quality content from all these media outlets.
If you have any questions about new bikes, old bikes, parts/accessories, thoughts about this article, or maybe you just want to throw an after dark question in, please feel free to email me at kris@keeferinctesting.com.
