Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2018 i Transworld Motocross

SCOTT PROSPECT GOGGLE W/ LIGHT SENSITIVE LENS What It Is The Scott Prospect was unveiled a couple years ago as the brand’s solution to the greater roost velocity that today’s modern motocross bikes can deliver. A 450cc motocross bike can shoot dirt and rocks toward a chasing rider’s eyes at a deadly rate. The Prospect protects against penetration and lens displacement by incorporating a thicker and stronger 1mm-thick lens and an all-new oversized frame design that employs a new lens-lock system for a secure mount. However, this new Prospect utilizes a Light Sensitive lens. While this may sound like a simple lens option, it is far greater than that. We didn’t even realize it was a new feature when Scott sent it to us until we lined up on the…

Around the world, KTM and Husqvarna have been climbing the charts when it comes to motocross market share. With their aggressive development schedule, clever homologation and marketing scheme with their Factory Edition machines, and class-leading innovations like electric starters and hydraulic clutch systems, the European manufacturers have gone from being the oddballs of the dirt bike world to two of the most popular choices out there. In contrast, Japanese manufacturers have more or less stuck to the three-year model cycle, debuting all-new machines in year one and mildly refining them in years two and three—though some, like Suzuki, have made the same basic model last up to a decade! This conservative approach has always worked for the Japanese in the past, and it’s not likely the cycle will change anytime…

By and large, Japanese mini bike technology hasn’t changed for decades. In fact, not since the introduction of the revamped Kawasaki KX85 in 2014 has there been any significant attention paid to the scaled-down machines. KTM and Husqvarna, meanwhile, have continued to develop their small-bore bikes and, as a result, have gained a massive market share in all levels of off-road motorcycling. Austrian dominance in the 65 division is widespread especially, as the outdated Kawasaki KX65 was for years the only option aside from the American-made Cobra CX65. It’s been over three decades since Yamaha has produced its YZ60, and to say that the all-new 2018 Yamaha YZ65 was long overdue and highly anticipated would be an understatement. Designed from the ground up as a completely new machine, the YZ65…

Back in the day, the White Brothers Four-Stroke World Championship was the most fun one-off event on the calendar, and racers showed up by the hundreds with wild creations, converted off-road bikes, and even vintage machines to thump around the track for an exclusive day of four-stroke fun. These days the tables have turned and high-performance four-strokes have taken over the sport at the highest levels, while the MTA Distributing Two-Stroke World Championships have become the most unique day of fun in SoCal. This year the event—now in its ninth year—attracted over 300 entries. “Two-strokes are the most affordable way for someone to become involved in motocross riding and racing, and we’ve run this event for nine years now to get people pumped up about two-strokes,” MTA’s Jeff Laird said.…

This season has been an interesting one for me, as I’m competing in my sophomore Monster Energy Supercross season on the West Coast with the H.E.P. Motorsports/FXR/Suzuki team. I’ve learned a lot and had been having a lot of fun, so heading into the break between San Diego and Indianapolis, I wanted to stay busy and keep racing. My buddy Mark Samuels suggested I come out and race the AMA Big 6 GP at Glen Helen. I’ve never competed in an off-road race, let alone ridden much off-road, but I thought to myself, “Why not? I’ll just go out and have some fun and see what it’s all about.” The only bike I had without Supercross suspension was the TransWorld Motocross Suzuki RM-Z250 test bike, and it was bone stock…

Jon Mitcheff is no stranger to the racetrack, but it wasn’t until recently that we’ve begun to see him lining up behind the starting gate himself. With six AMA National and Supercross Championships to his credit with racers Ryan Villopoto and Ivan Tedesco, “Throttle” is one of the most successful mechanics in the sport, and he’s been lining up with the TWMX Race Series on a pretty regular basis lately. “I didn’t start racing until I was older, maybe 19,” Mitcheff said. “My parents never let me ride motorcycles, so I was more about baseball and traditional sports. When I did start riding and racing I became friends with Dan Rambert [now at factory Yamaha], and that’s in a roundabout way how I came to work for Mitch Payton and…

The Giant Trance is a familiar bike for us, as we’ve tested a couple in the past and one of our staffers even owns one. Placed smack-dab in the middle of Giant’s MTB lineup as an aggressive trail bike, it boasts 150mm and 140mm of suspension travel front and rear. Not as stiff and efficient at climbing as a cross-country bike, but not as heavy and aggressive as a long-travel enduro bike, the Trance is just what Goldilocks would have pedaled if she were an avid mountain bike enthusiast. The Trance is available in several different builds, from an affordable $2,350 aluminum version, all the way up to an $8,160 carbon fiber high-end model. We chose to test the $5,100 Advanced 1, which has a carbon fiber frame and a…

As racing enthusiasts, we’re constantly hearing the pros talk about hitting their marks or lines perfectly throughout a race. This is even during their midweek motos as evidenced by the single, perfect line carved into private test tracks. There’s obviously some importance behind hitting your marks consistently. In order to do so, a rider’s undivided attention is needed to complete this task. As we all know, however, it can be a little challenging at times to remain completely focused, especially if you’re starting to feel pressure from the riders behind you. “It’s a cat-and-mouse game, for sure, and you have to be fully aware of who and what is around you while trying to keep your full attention on hitting your marks, which is obviously not a simple thing to…

At races like the MTA Distributing Two-Stroke World Championships, there’s always a lot of bench racing going on in the pits centered around the “What if four-strokes had never taken over” subject. Would the racing be closer? Would more people be able to afford to join in on the fun? Would the severity of today’s injuries be less intense? Just how good could a bike be if new technology was still being developed for two-strokes? Well, we can’t do better than speculate on all but one of the answers to those questions. One has to look no further than the 2018 KTM 250 SX to see just how far two-strokes have come. While Yamaha remains the only Japanese manufacturer to produce full-sized two-strokes, the YZ line has received little more…

For each and every person dedicated to our sport of motocross, there’s a different story about how they initially got bit by the bug. For Brandon Zimmerman of Marshall, Michigan, it all started with his father, who loved all things motorcycle-based. He would give Brandon rides around the property as a very young child, and that naturally progressed into something more. The minute he got his own bike and could ride around the family property on his own, he was hooked. By the age of 12, he was behind the starting gate and competing at a local level. Soon that too progressed, and Zimmerman was competing at a regional amateur level. To top things off, his father had owned and operated a Polaris dealership, where Zimmerman spent time in the…