The F5 Bivouac (rallye raid news) and W2RC - World cross country rally championship

some are 6 speeds, some are 5. The two that finished Dakar 2009 and 2010 were 6 speed TE's.

IMHO the Husky engine is a much better platform to turn into a rallye bike than the KTM RFS engine. I suspect BMW is well aware of this.

I was surprised there were no Gas Gas in this years Dakar. Heck they even made a sweet factory rally bike!

If BMW focuses on Husky as their Rally bike, they will have a strong contender.

Claudio "Burro" Rodríguez did pretty well on his 450 this year!








This is a pretty sweet looking bike.

I agree - it's a sweet looking bike! The only problem is it's limited tank capacity (17 litres I understand) - but nothing a pair of rear tanks couldn't sort out...

I'm sure we'll see a handful of these on next year's Dakar - it was/is so new, perhaps noone was prepared to invest (the time prepping) in one of these for 2010?

J x

I found these pictures here. Amazing stuff!

I think you're right about that but you're also playing long odds riding a Gas Gas, Husky, BMW, Kawasaki, etc. You aren't going to go over to the KTM rallye services support truck, plop down the credit card, and have them hand you some Gas Gas parts.

A privateer has to be a dreamer, very brave, or well supported to ride anything but a KTM (or Yamaha and that's my assuming Yamaha France or someone has parts for sale every night in the bivouac). It would really suck to be out of the rallye if you can't get something like a new clutch master cylinder or ECU because you didn't pack one in your Elf box.

The odds are already long that you'll finish the most difficult rallye on the planet; why compound them by riding something besides a KTM?

As for me, I hope BMW and Husky really make something supported so that when I convince my wife that one son will be just fine with horribly crooked teeth and that hyena like under bite on the other isactually cute, I can ride a Husqvarna in the Taureg in a few years. Smiling is very overrated anyway.

You may get away with it if you've got a Beta ??

A few points on the discussion;

Gas Gas, dont think the rally is ready yet, spring delivery expected, special order only. Thus none in this years rally.

KTM service truck. In order to use this service you have to register and buy a service contract, not cheap. Plus it just gives you the privilege of buying parts from them. Also they only carry parts to support there current racing platform, so if you are racing a EXC, you are SOL.

As far as the Coma/Depres thing goes, it makes sense that it will be Depres leaving the team, why else would you rat out some one that works for the same company that you do? The tire fiasco looks bad on Coma, but it also looks bad on the team and KTM in general. So if Depres knew that he was leaving anyways, he had no worry's of getting his pee pee slapped for making the KTM teams look bad.

Earl

Im goin out on a limb and say RG is gonna be in a truck next yr
www.highrevphoto.com


a few days after racing the dakar he's at it again in Laughlin.. one handed

either a truck or... maybe something more in the lines of the torags...

I can see you rationale there DC, but isn't that the point of the new rules- to stop the Dakar being essentially a one-make series (certainly at the top end)?

At the moment I'd say there are enough Yamaha's already in the bivouac to give you a good chance of finishing well, and I'd say most competitors fielding a WR will have brought the essentials with them (not least a spare engine/loom seems to be the way to ensure you have every spare with you!) From what I understand, quite a number of people finished this year's event on one engine using the Yamaha...

I agree though that all these new bikes, are essentially 'converted' enduros, which in turn have been derived from MX bikes - particularly the engines, which I think are the weakest link in the whole 450cc equation?

Hell, I baulk and the price of tyres and mousses (and oil and fuel), I don't want to have to start considering a whole damn engine as a consumable too!

xxx

Continuing positive news on Luca Manca (first hand, even!)

Judith has an awsome book on the dakar from a few years back and a great blog...

http://lumachetassellate.jimdo.com/2009/11/14/novit%C3%A0-suzuki-rmx-450/

Now that is very interesting Troy!

Not particularly pretty mind you, but could prove to be a hot ticket for the budget privateer?

xxx

40 riders went down on this slippery floodway just after the refuel on Day 2, then the local police finally wised up and indicated to riders to back off

we have lots of those up here in the sierra .. always cross with caution.. it is either slimey or similar to polished granite ...seems grippy until wet then its like ice...

Was it just me, or out of the six BMW's that started and two that finished, only one had engine troubles? the other three DNF's were rider's down?
Thats not a horrible sign of ultimate fragility (depsite the thrashing that Verhoeven was handing out to it.)

Nonetheless its hard to see it as a long term rally bike. Certainly has power and light weight going for it, but it might have lightened itself out of a job. Not to mention the possibility of BMW's sacking it anyway. I wont buy one, but I wish they would do well.

Good Stuff! Especially when you consider what the folks on the Euro side of the Atlantic are thinking when us on the other side haven't even seen that machine yet!!!

Kawi did well in the Baja 1000 with a KX, have you folks over there got a KLX450 RR to go with the Susie????

Where were the GS's in the Dakar? I'm a relative noob, but thought there would be more representation.?

Yes, the KLX450R is available in the UK (and Europe) - the bike that David Knight purportedly bought with his own money and raced in the latter half of last year, and won a WEC round on no less!

However, in the UK at least, Kawasaki have played this bike down (or rather not promoted it successfully at least), and not many riders here choose a Kawasaki as an MX or enduro machine...

I'm surprised Suzuki haven't released the RMX450Z in the States yet? - I thought you guys got all the good dirt bikes way ahead of Europe!

xxx