THE VERDICT
The four-strokes are where Beta would really
like to pick up more market share. And they
deserve it, these are great bikes that really
suit the majority of the off-road world’s
riders. We either need to be more honest as
to what we need, or be more open minded
about what brand we ride, but Beta’s rider-
friendly bias on set-up and tune really does
make sense. The new chassis are good too,
they turn sharp, they go straight, they’re
52 KIWI RIDER
possibly percentage points better handling
than the competition now, although you’d
need a proper comparative test to establish
this. But importantly they feel light, sharp
and predictable without ever really being a
handful. Perhaps the faster-riding suspension
settings we ended the test with should be the
true stock settings, leaving more options on
going firmer or softer on the damping, but
at least these units are now plush and for so
many riders probably just right.