SUZUKI DRZ400E REVISITED
Back in 2009 quite possibly Suzuki found a bunch of DRZ400s sitting unsold at the back of the warehouse. So the old warhorse got another run in the dealers. But was a ten-year-old model at a bargain price really a bargain? TBM took on some west country lanes in winter in the search for the truth…
2019 KTM 690 ENDURO R
The rebirth of KTM’s cool 690 Enduro R is a good thing. We need biggish single-cylinder trail bikes in this adventure bike dominated world – you know, they’re a section of the market, and a type of riding, that deserves more respect…
HONDA CRF450L
This was not intended to be a gentle trail bike. It’s bred from Honda’s apex predator, the CRF450R motocrosser, only made street legal. So it has attitude – that is if you buy anywhere other than in Europe. In Europe, given Euro4 it’s an altogether different animal…
FANTIC ENDURO CASA 250E
Fantic have, like many an Italian manufacturer, been through the motions over recent years. But they’re back again and with some great trail bikes, the 250E is arguably their best WHAT IS IT? It’s a brand new trail bike from Fantic, an Italian manufacturer reborn – not for the first time (see panel). Recently Fantic have […]
HONDA CRF250L
Since introduced in 2012, Honda has sold thousands of CRF250Ls worldwide. The spec reads like a basic trail bike (made in Thailand), but the engine uses up-to-the-minute tech and overall the sum is massively greater than the parts. It’s an international solid gold dual-sport-lite. In 2014, then as TBM, we celebrated the CRF-Ls capability by […]
RALLYMOTO AJP PR5
You might think you’ve seen it all. Then you walk into a race paddock and you’ll see something like this. A full-cream rally bike, only with a modest 27hp… Back in the day there was a giant of a bloke that used to do all the UK rally events. Known affectionately as Big Bri, aside […]
EICMA ’17: NEW BETA ALPS
2018 BETA ALPS EICMA ’17: It’s not all middle class adventure in Milan. Beta have rocked up with their latest creations, the 2018 Racing models, the latest XTrainer and here updated Alps, now fully Euro4 compliant EICMA ’17: Beta are at the show with the latest inclusions to their 2018 range. We’ve highlighted the 2018 […]
WK / MASH 400 TRAIL
2015: For years serious adventure riders had bemoaned the lack of choice for those seeking a light-middleweight adventure machine. Then Chinese manufacturer Shineray created this 400cc air cooled trail-adventure bike. But with Chinese bikes having an historically poor reputation, could we take the WK 400 Trail seriously? I THINK I can define my state of […]
HONDA CRF450X-RL
Honda’s road-ready CRF450X-RL came with a hefty £7300 price tag back in 2013, yet it wasn’t too far removed from the standard model. Was road legality enough to tempt buyers away from the European marques? This thing needs to be good. At £7299 Honda UK’s new trail-ready CRF450X-RL (Road Legal) is priced in-line with the […]
2014 WK 450RX
2014: A 450cc enduro – alloy frame included – for four grand (British Pounds), new. Awesome. The catch – its Chinese made. But this is 2014 and these days we know Chinese manufacturing is a lot more sophisticated than it used to be. So is the 450RX a legitimate bargain? We’ll tell you a good bit […]
OSSA 280 EXPLORER
The Ossa Explorer is a unique trailie and some might argue a conceptual masterpiece, but what’s it like to live with month in, month out? There’s an interesting lane a couple of miles from my house. It’s an ancient section of Watling Street and a thousand years of rural traffic have eroded the surface, leaving […]
GAS GAS 250 CAMI
Gas Gas’ brand new 250cc Cami has been priced to sell. Just over four grand buys you a smart little trailie with electric-start and the off-roading heritage and chassis know-how of this famous little Spanish brand. We wanted to know more… One of the biggest problems with bikes built to sell below any given pricing […]
KTM 365EXC WITH REKLUSE AUTO CLUTCH
The auto-clutch has evolved to the point where it’s now very affordable, simple to fit and easy to maintain. So should we all be thinking of fitting them to our dirt bikes? RUST headed to the trails to find out… Let me tell you as a bike journalist of way too many years experience… it […]
2014 KTM 250R FREERIDE 2T
Part trials bike, part extreme play bike, part economical trailie, KTM’s new 250R Freeride is hard to pigeonhole. But it’s not hard to fall in love with, as RUST discovered when we travelled to Italy for the world’s first test… It’s difficult to put a label on the new 250R Freeride. Is it a bike […]
YAMAHA XTZ660 VS BMW SERTAO
Sometimes the old ways are the best. Yamaha’s Tenere and BMW’s Sertao are big trailies in the traditional sense, going big on single cylinder motors and small on electronic fripperies. But which one’s best? Not everyone wants 130bhp and the computing power of Bill Gates’ fridge from their adventure bike. When it comes to travel […]
HUSQVARNA TR650 TERRA
Husqvarna’s Terra 650 is an interestingly-styled, heavyweight, dual sport trailie. Barni broke the ice with the Italian machine… Quite literally. The Husqvarna name has long been synonymous with big-bore four-strokes. Looking back into the end of the last century, in enduro terms that usually meant half-litre monsters piloted by burly Scandinavians who knew how to […]
2011 KTM 690 ENDURO R VS HUSKY TE630
Two big trail bikes, two riders, and a two-day rally deep in the north of England. It’s a dual-sport duel… ‘Don’t tell me… you’ve got a plan’, chortled Alex on the other end of the phone, as I ran through the logistics of our test. His time spent working at with us back in 2007/’08 […]
OFF-ROAD ABS – IS THIS THE FUTURE?
Anti-lock brakes: a fantastic safety feature on tarmac and an absolute liability off-road. Well not any more, as BMW have developed Off-Road ABS. And they fitted it to Husqvarna TE449s for us to try… ‘Dagga dagga dagga…’ Not the sound of the bad guys in Team America but the noise most ABS systems make when […]
2012 HONDA CRF250X
Honda’s CRF250X was not only one of the best 250 thumpers available, it was, at the time, also one of the cheapest. RUST revisits the winter fun… BRAAAAAARRRRRRPPPP….. FFFWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSHHHH! It took precisely four seconds to remind myself exactly why I love the Honda CRF250X. Because four seconds was all it took to accelerate away from […]
CHRISTINI KTM 350XC-F 2-WHEEL-DRIVE
Ian Wall owns the world’s only two-wheel-drive KTM 350, and he offered it to RUST for a day to try it out for ourselves, on a slippery Dorset test track. Oh yeah baby… It was one of those hills that from a distance hadn’t looked TOO bad. Steep, yes, and without any sort of run-up […]
2011 RIEJU MRT200LC MARATHON
The modern, lightweight trailbike makes a welcome return in the form of the 2011 Rieju Marathon 200. RUST took one out on marathon trail ride to find out more… The looks on their faces said it all: What in the hell’s that thing they all wondered as we unloaded the Rieju from the back of […]
2011 SHINERAY XY250GY-2 VS STOMP T4
Is a decent Chinese dirtbike as rare as a promiscuous panda or can the world’s largest population finally bring us a great green laner? RUST investigates with a two-bike trail test… China means different things to different people. Ask a Guardian reader about the country and you’ll doubtless hear about their human rights record, whereas […]
2011 BMW G650GS
Rising from the ashes of BMW’s single cylinder F650GS comes this – the new G650GS. A worthy successor to the popular dual sporter? We found out on the trails of northern Portugal… Jack of all trades, master of none: an oft-used phrase that pretty much sums up the dual sport market. We want a bike […]
2011 GAS GAS RANDONNE 125
Gas Gas’s Randonne 125 is the latest crossover-bike from the Spanish manufacturer. Hard to classify, but a hell of a lot of fun… Sometimes a new bike comes along that is hard to classify in conventional terms because it simply doesn’t fit the mould of a stereotypical dirt bike. One such machine is the new […]
AJP PR5
This European-built, liquid-cooled, fuel-injected 250cc thumper cost less than four grand brand new! AJP seriously raised their game for 2013… After 25 years of building small-bore dirt bikes, Portuguese manufacturer AJP has introduced a water-cooled 250cc lump to their range-topping PR5. Having tested the old air-cooled version (of the PR5) back in summer, we were […]
APRILIA RXV450 – HEART AND SOUL
If ever there were a dirtbike to really stir the soul it is the Aprilia RXV450. But is that reason enough to buy one second-hand? Barni took to the trails to find out… Aprilia’s RXV450 is one deeply sexy motorcycle. From that stunning part trellis/part beam frame clad in dramatically angled bodywork to the beautifully […]
EASY RIDERS – (2010) 400/450 SHOOTOUT
Fancy making your trailriding a little easier? RUST gathers together a bunch of middleweight Easy Riders and heads up the trail to easy street… You know how it is when you reach that certain stage in life? You know the one where you begin to think that slippers might be a good idea in winter […]
2006 APRILIA RXV450/550
The year was 2006, and Aprilia’s gorgeous and ground-breaking RXV450/550 V-twin enduro bikes were finally revealed to the press in Sicily. Naturally enough Rust was there to try them out…
TRAIL TEST – AJP PR5 VS HONDA CRF250-L
With the choice of trail bikes once again on the rise, Rust took to the lanes with two of our old favourites… The trail bike is back. For years we’ve seen manufacturers – especially the Big Four, who back in the ’80s and ’90s churned out robust little green laners – disregard this sector or […]
