Transworld Motocross April 2017

I was a little late joining the fourstroke revolution full-time, mostly because I was so in love with the Suzuki RM250. From its broad yet snappy power to its great suspension package and quick-handling character, I always felt completely in control on the yellow two-strokes. I finally made the switch to fourstrokes in 2006 when the secondyear Suzuki RM-Z450 proved to be much improved over the original ’05 model, but I still set out to build up our ’06 RM250 test bike into a highperformance race bike, just in case the RM-Z ended up throwing me on my head like almost every other big thumper did up until that point. In ’06, Rockstar Energy made its debut into pro motocross and signed on as title sponsor of the Bill’s Pipes…

DEAN WILSON As always, the Anaheim I Monster Energy Supercross Series opener was a big day for fans, racers, and everyone involved in the sport in a behind-the-scenes capacity. New bikes, new teams, and new technology were the highlights, but for Dean Wilson the day marked a new beginning as a privateer racer. After signing a two-year contract in 2015 with Red Bull KTM, Wilson suffered a torn ACL that sidelined him for the entire season. Although he made a full recovery and even returned to racing at the final few Nationals of the year, tragedy struck again almost one year to the day later, when he re-injured the same knee during practice at Anaheim II. The Scotsman has since made another full recovery, but two years out of the…

THE GIRL This month, our pinup comes to us all the way from Bordeaux, France. Twenty-six-yearold Morgane Girard works as a 30-secondboard girl in the French motocross and Supercross series, and that’s where she met her boyfriend, Swiss racer Killian Auberson. This year marks the second season that the couple has spent following the Monster Energy Supercross Series, and Auberson is a consistent sight in the 250-class main events. “My boyfriend doesn’t speak a lot of English, so I come with him to help him with everything” Morgane says. “I have always known of TransWorld Motocross from Instagram and the website and the magazine, and the girls in them always look so good. I have wanted to be photographed by you guys, because I knew it would be a good…

MTB MADNESS Justin Brayton The 2017 season will mark the first time in his career that Australian Supercross Champion Justin Brayton will enjoy a Supercross-only contract, and he plans to put his summertime months to good use. “I’ve always been really passionate about training on my mountain bike,” says Brayton, who has for several years maintained sponsorship from Specialized. “I think that it is an incredible tool to build your fitness, while at the same time staying sharp with off-road riding techniques. I’ve also been very interested in mountain bike racing for a while now and compete every chance I get.” While the rest of the nation’s top motocross racers will chase the 11-round Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship across the country, Brayton plans to spend his time racing his…

PRODUCT REPORT Price: $599 What It Is Unless you’ve been living in a cave, you should be aware of the balancebike craze for young children: pedalless bicycles that are designed to get them used to walking and balancing on two wheels so they can transition to a real bicycle, sans training wheels, much sooner. Well, the STACYC 12eDrive Bicycle is a balance bike on steroids! Equipped with a tiny electric motor that’s powered by an industrial-grade lithium-ion battery, the STACYC has three settings—slow, medium, and fast—of electric assist, that can be activated once a child has learned to walk with, balance, and coast on the bike with the motor turned off. A throttle controls the power assist, and a hand brake is used to slow the bike down (just like…

Price: $1,049.99 Application: All four-strokes (tested here on 2017 KTM 450 SX-F) What It Is The Factory 4.1 RCT exhaust system is the top-of-the-line offering from the boys at FMF, and it boasts alltitanium construction, with a carbon fiber muffler end cap. The system is made in the United States and developed in Southern California. We bolted one onto our 2017 KTM 450 SX-F test bike, which boasts a massive hit down low and an arm-jerking punch in the mid-range, before flattening out up top and forcing the rider into an upshift. Hits Installation is a breeze and every part of the FMF system was a pleasure to install—completely opposite of the absurd process required to remove the OEM KTM system. The muffler of the Factory 4.1 system is tucked…