1997 250 Motocross Shootout

[@CarsAndMotorcycles]

The bikes from the 90s looks so much better then the modern bikes!!! Great video. Please do the rest of the 90s 250cc shootouts as well.

[@jeffa.8976]

I love these video's, thanks Jay, I'm 41 now and health issues keep me from being able to afford a bike or toys now but these videos bring me back to the best time of my life when I was riding and racing once and a while, I read all these magazines back in the day

[@TheMotocrossVault]

Thank you

[@localenterprisebroadcastin5971]

Had a 97 yz 250...loved it

[@generalgreen77]

Love my 97 kx250! $200 Found it run down and ready for the scrap yard, cleaned her up spent over $4000 and rebuild from the ground up... was well worth it and I’ll never let it go or leave it too long it the shed ✊🏽 Braaap!!!

[@jeffreyenglish2413]

Another great video I love the vintage 2 strokes they made you a better rider just look at James Stewart the best rider on a 2 stroke the sounds the pre mixed and smell you can’t beat it keep the vintage bikes coming be safe you and your family buddy

[@pauld6102]

I bought a 250 KX from Pro Circuit at the end of the 97 season... Absolutely amazing motorcycle, still have it to this day... Perfect power, excellent suspension, utterly reliable...

[@EarthSurferUSA]

Heavy, mine was stock. But I never went as fast in my favorite Michigan whooped out single track as I did on that bike. Pretty sure, not too many people would stay with me and a bud of mine there. I am 57 now,---and i know I can do that again with patients and riding time. Got a YZ to do it with too. :)

[@johncoleman2495]

Still hoping for the 99 shootout! I remember it being one of the most competitive years across the board. Every manufacturer was on their game in 99. Seem to remember it being a year with no clear cut winner/loser.

[@paddyoconnor5362]

Great video as always. I have a request please. Im from the uk but i always bought American magazines especially dirt bike. I remember an article on big bore enduro bike shoot out, 96 or 97 i believe. Husqvarna has always been my favourite brand. If you ever get a chance to do this i would love it . Keep up the good work. Love all the 90's stuff you do 👍

[@TheMotocrossVault]

I'll see if I can find it.

[@angryman3317]

What brilliant timing I'm currently rebuilding my 1997 KX 250 and I'm starting to get a real appreciation for the older bikes they have their quirks but they really don't make things like they used to

[@danielroberts4132]

Absolutely love these reviews Thank you tony great work

[@TheMotocrossVault]

Thanks for watching!

[@marthamryglod291]

I have the 97. It revs to the moon. I've added a boyesen rad valve and fmf exhaust

[@M.V.1]

🇮🇹 I thank you! Very goog channel. Negli anni "80 vedevo i vostri campioni U.S.A. 🇺🇲 al Motor-Show di Bologna in Italia 🇮🇹. Grazie, ottimo lavoro. Thank you, good job!

[@kasticmillett3247]

I have a 97 Rm 250 love the bike just as good as my 94 kx 250 both great bikes each have there pros and cons.

[@steve2239]

I have a 1997 YZ250 and love it. Has many updates like: 285cc Big Bore kit, all yellow plastic with 2019 front fender and number plate, Factory Effex retro graphics, Magura hydraulic clutch, Smartcarb, V-Force intake, gold Excel rims, FMF full exhaust. She rips ! Love your videos 👍

[@TheMotocrossVault]

Thanks for sharing

[@jeffa.8976]

I had a 98 KX 250, man it was amazing, great engine with easy to access power right off the bottom. The chassis was stable and really excelled on high speed outdoor style tracks. I later had a 2001 CR 250, it was a faster bike than the 98 KX but I was probably faster on the 98 due to the engines low end easer to ride powerband. I had really bad arm pump on the CR but it was likely mostly due to the body building style work outs I was doing. Arm pump ruined my racing dreams, I was very fast in 01 but couldn't pull the clutch in after 2 laps. I had a 97 RM 125 and the forks were amazing, way better than anything else in that era.

[@tincuppassracing]

I had the CR brand new that year it was decent

[@stevestiffler9120]

Same here. I liked the bike however it vibrated a lot and didn’t turn for shit

[@kylelangworthy9641]

I've got a 98 KX250 I'm restoring she is a beast hardest hitting powerband of any bike I've ever rode

[@timconnell5878]

Great to see the reviews 👍

[@TheMotocrossVault]

Thanks 👍

[@EarthSurferUSA]

Tony man: Has anybody ever told you that you do pretty darn good work? I have been into this sport from 78-2007, (after RC retied), and just bought a bike again. Your historical knowledge is very good IMO, and that is rare. :(

[@jackm7681]

Love your KZbin channel Tony keep up the great work 👍

[@TheMotocrossVault]

Thanks

[@EarthSurferUSA]

@@TheMotocrossVault Yea, you are really good looking too. Just to add another compliment. You have not "hearted" me in a while. lol

[@davewyatt1468]

I was always disappointed in Suzuki’s performance in 97 as 96 it was such a winner.

[@jimmadonna1436]

The 96 motor was great. So was the 49mm Conventional forks. Rodger DeCoster rejoined with Suzuki that year.

[@jessesdomain444]

Mike larocco hated the 96

[@ericmiles1852]

Looking at the testriders in the photos. I cant believe that alpinestars went from the baddest looking boots you could buy to how ugly that new design was with the backwards buckles and the big A on them. Those mid 90s Astars was the bomb. Best looking boots to me ever.

[@danielc5205]

This is neither here nor there, but my brother bought a '97 YZ 250 new, back in the day.

[@mymotheris4sale]

awsome tony ..love the history, thank u

[@tiktokcomedy767]

First time I ever heard anyone call A ktm a “ butter scotch bullet” lmfao

[@mxthunder2]

could have made this video 3 times as long and it still would have been interesting.

[@EarthSurferUSA]

Wow, I forgot Suzuki kept, (or went back to?) the traditional forks, here, 8 years after Honda put them in production on the 89 bike. If I remember correctly, they were really good forks. I also forgot a 1996 RMX250 I owned, (the bike I keep forgetting about), had traditional forks and were very smooth in the woods. I bet if a well designed pair were introduced again today, many riders would like them better still.

[@paulmryglod4802]

For everyone except the top pros, the Suzuki conventional forks were better in every situation. I had Hondas at the time with revalved suspension and the stock Suzuki suspension was better stock.

[@LBrawn]

i was lucky to test the CR,YZ. and KX the 1997 year, the KX was best by a mile, the YZ would of been good but it was too slow, and the CR ...... great fit / finish, quality in materials / workmanship and peak power ( all top end) solid clutch/ shifting but..... well you know the rest.

[@jacobhendrickson8935]

We all had 94s then 98s all 4 brands between 6 of us and I had the YZ and was the heaviest of us and never did either bike feel at all underpowered. If anything the others felt underpowered to me. The 94 Yz just keep shifting and it did fine. The 98 was a bit better overall.

[@EarthSurferUSA]

This was a time when nobody could imagine KTM sitting on top of the MX bike performance mountain. We should have known. Great bikes, (and great riders), follow Roger DeCoster where ever he goes. I wish we would deport the FIM, (sever ties with the AMA, which has not been done), and get Roger to run the MX/SX division of the AMA, and in full charge of it, and younger Grant Langston for his VP. Those guys are sharp enough to give this sport a big boost in the USA IMO, while the all knowing and self gloried FIM with the world GP's gain more vacancy's on their starting line.

[@Thatonepersonz]

I would love to see a late 80s early 90s YZ in a Mitsubishi Mighty Max. Probably a strange request but I would definitely take one :)

[@EarthSurferUSA]

How about a 1988 Honda CR250 in the back of a red 1997 Mitsubishi Dodge Ram 50 mini truck? That is a print some of my old neighbors would remember. :) Tony? Custom shirts for $50.00? I would do it for nostalgic reason. :)

[@TheMotocrossVault]

I have done a few custom ones

[@dirtdonkey824]

review the 98 kx 250 please

[@clydenunya577]

Hey blaze! Can u do a vid on the 2004 Honda crf450R or maybe cover the crf line from birth to current just a thought great vid I have a 97 ktm 250 exc love it best bike for me

[@TheMotocrossVault]

Yes I plan on doing the CRF in the future for sure

[@mw3ismadeforme]

Can you do Yamahas 96-01 yz250 reviews

[@EarthSurferUSA]

I had the 97 KX.

[@Luke-pt3ew]

Love these vids I own a restored 96 yz250 would love to find out what they did back in the day to crank out more ponies on these bikes

[@sethwalk2670]

Look up LED performance, I’m not sure if he will have a cylinder for you but he can point you in the right direction

[@EarthSurferUSA]

As a 2-stroke engine builder myself for a living for the last 18 years, I would say porting and pipe and maybe some head work would get you into the 45hp club. No harm in asking the people who did it back then, like Pro Circuit or FMF. I am sure they still have the specs.

[@generalgreen77]

Swap out the jets and get some Vforce stage 3 reeds and a pro circuit pipe

[@thegriffinbros6651]

Do 2003 next!!!

[@aussieboy424]

Were and are the bike test's carried out the year before so riders could choose a bike and have time to prep for next season. Were these test's in the late 1996 mags

[@TheMotocrossVault]

Yes most of them appear in the fall/winter of 1996

[@loganmatson6089]

97 cr250r is sweet

[@jacobhendrickson8935]

Is this the year the cr had a single larger radiator??

[@TheMotocrossVault]

Yes 1997-1999

[@adolfadolfvich3253]

🎥 👍

[@user-mz4uo2do9f]

💪

[@happyraccoon4791]

The aluminum framed Honda was stiff. And Honda stopped contingency money. For two years Honda was Scarce at the track. They couldn't win and no $$. By 1999 things changed. At least in California . I saw maybe one Honda in 1997. A friend won one from Lil' Oakie, CMC, owner Arron Pipes. He sold it. I just restored a 1998 kx125 which is the same as 1997 Except for the carbs "power Jet valve", aka fuel cut off valve, it is on the carb, a solenoid moves a needle in and out of a jet at rpm... which is too complex for here

[@ronaldtravis970]

Why did Honda kill the CR 250?? If it wasn’t broken don’t fix it . Took years to straighten its problems out . Top it off Honda says they will never make 2strks again ! 👎😪

[@johncoleman2495]

Honda always said they would never make a 2-stroke back in the day. But because it was what people were buying they built them. And they built engines like nobody else! If people stopped buying 4-strokes and clamoured for 2-stokes they'd build them again. So would all the other companies.

[@EarthSurferUSA]

Near the beginning of the test, (a few min in the vid). I don't think "SX was exploding in popularity", in the 90's. Even as it was starting to be shown regularly on cable TV, only people who rode/raced watched it, and they were the same people who went to the local stadium,---when Hannah packed the places. I don't care what other people imagine or perceive. Reality is, SX and MX started losing popularity when the bike prices went up starting in 1986. You don't get into this sport---unless you ride.

[@EarthSurferUSA]

Correction: You don't get into this sport, unless you can afford to ride. And you are not doing that today, unless your parents rode and making a good 6 figure income so they can buy the bike that is out of your reach.

[@benlamb2288]

97 RM250 best bike ever! Shootouts are stupid.

[@johncoleman2495]

I still have one....and it's one bike I'll never part with. Spent a few hundred getting the shock up to par and a wiseco piston pipe and reeds and it's a match for my brother in laws 99 KX in a straight line all day long....and far superior in the woods or the track.

[@theblazierfamily7723]

Hi first

[@TheMotocrossVault]

LOL Hi Bailey!

[@theblazierfamily7723]

@@TheMotocrossVault hi dad

[@EarthSurferUSA]

"But only Dirt Bike, (magazine), was BRAVE enough to declare the CR250 the winner, (of their shoot out). Is that like the BRAVERY to say "I am gay!" to the world, (that could care less), or is it just BRAVE to spout something illogical and wrong? Was it bravery,---or confusion?

[@EarthSurferUSA]

In this era and earlier,---only shootouts from MXA were what I read and followed to buy the next bike. The other guys---were just not as qualified to me. Today's MXA? Just a rotted shell of the excellent information it used to have. Buying a bike today is "pot luck" IMO, because you sure don't learn much about them from the mags anymore.

[@EarthSurferUSA]

Please, somebody make me the rounded plastic from this era. I have the 2019 YZ 250 2-stroke, and can not stand the robotic looking fenders, (like a transformer toy look) and "arrow" points at the end of the fenders. This is "goofy artist" stuff that I can do without. I will pay top dollar for plastic that looks sane like this era, and did not come from cartoon mind.

[@AbcAbc-ox6pg]

Same on me, I have a 2004 YZ250 and a 2019 YZ250 and I like the look of the 2004 so much more.

[@danielc5205]

Find someone with a three d printer.

[@kellybrown6988]

They still sell the old plastics, and just find a 02-14 airbox.

[@EarthSurferUSA]

@@kellybrown6988 I was thinking of that. Was not sure if it used the same bolt holes in the frame.

[@EarthSurferUSA]

@@AbcAbc-ox6pg I went Ronnie mac a bit on the rear fender, and cut that stupid arrow tip off the end of it,---and it looks great. The front fender I am replacing with a 2014 acerbis front fender, (the OEM fenders for that year are very twisted,--junk. I sent 2 of them back). The bolt pattern to mount it on the triple clap is different, (of course), but I have a little CNC mill to cut perfect new holes in it. It can be done by hand if you are good at laying it out and cutting carefully. But I am taking no chances.