I know this isn't really ATV-related, but it's a question I'm sure many of you would be helpful in answering for me. I'm a huge RC fan. As some of you may know, he's switching over from Big Red to Suzuki next supercross season. I'm very sad to see him leave with all the records and great history he has with Honda. Anyway, you've pretty much been living under a rock if you haven't heard all the buzz about the new RMZ450 bike from Suzuki. They're talking about it like it's going to be god's gift to 4-stroke motocross. With all the current success Ricky is having on the Honda CRF450R(completely undefeated), why is he planning on switching back to the 2-stroke RM250 next season? I figured there was no way he would look back from 4-strokes now, especially with all the hype surrounding the new 450 from Suzuki. Any ideas?

 

Factory riders ride for whoever will pay them the most $$$$. So, any time someone switches, I wouldn't read to much into that.

Everybody acts like the 450 dirt bike is here, but just try to go buy one! Maybe Suzuki is having issues with the 450, that are holding it up??? So, what does he have to fall back on, but the 2-stroke?

 

I originally posted this in the Suzuki Forums.

OK, I'll try to shed some light on this subject. I have a friend who is a former factory Suzuki mechanic and a personal friend of Ricky's. He told me that Ricky was beginning to feel serious pressure from within Honda. What Honda was doing was something that they have begun to do to a lot of thier paid riders: try to control their name and likeness. This is exactly why Jeremy McGrath left them. They want to have exclusive rights to a rider's marketability, meaning that Fox (or any other sponsor) cannot use Ricky in advertisements without paying Honda. It's essentially the same thing that Harley started doing about a decade ago. A rider can almost double their income with outside endorsements. They were also going to restrict Ricky's personal activities. No wakeboarding, no mountain biking, no street bikes, etc. Honda has an impeccable reputation with customers, but they are absolutely ruthless with their employees. Originally, Ricky was seeking a two-year contract with Honda, but they only offered him a one-year deal. That told Ricky that they had no long term plans for him. They eventually did offer a two-year deal, but the damage had already been done. Plus, they were going to force him to ride the 450 both indoors and out. He's only riding it right now because he said he would try it for the motocross season. I have lost a lot of respect for Honda over the past few years because of their business dealings.

As far as the Suzuki deal goes, they offered Ricky what he wanted: control of his name, personal freedoms, and the choice of bike to ride. They also offered him a two-year contract, with the possibillity of a third year if he wants it. Ricky is a two-stroke rider, plain and simple. His style and size are much more suitable to the 250. Roger DeCoster can see this, and he is going to give Ricky the support he needs. Ricky could go undefeated on a Bultaco. Look at what he did on the KX. That was a competitive bike, but with Ricky aboard, it was a world beater. He just has everyone's confidence in themselves shattered. They all know he is going to be fast, and they defeat themselves mentally before the gate even drops. With his run-n-gun style, it is much easier for him to recover from a mistake on the the ringer. If he really does want to give the 450 a shot, Suzuki has an ace up their sleeve. The AMA has a one-year exemption that allows factories to race full-works, unobtainable-by-mere-mortals bikes for development purposes in the pro classes. That said, they could build a very special bike for Ricky if he wants it. At this point, he doesn't want to ride the 450, but he could change his mind (unlike at Honda). And to answer the pundits, yes, Suzuki is going to pay him a lot of money. His contract is in the $4 million per year range (double what Honda was paying him). But the money wasn't the deal breaker for Honda. There is something that every man and woman on Earth desires, and that is RESPECT. At Suzuki, Ricky will get all the respect he wants.



I'll try to clarify why the 450 isn't available yet. Suzuki had no intentions of releasing it at the beginning of the 2005 model year. It only seems like the RM-Z has been around for a while because it was tested publicly in southern California, where all of the moto mags are headquartered. There were a few reasons for this, mostly because the majority of sales are in the US, the tracks here are very different from those in Japan, and also to help re-assure possible buyers that this was an all-Suzuki affair. Most factories keep prototypes far from prying eyes until they are ready for release. The KX450F has been in existence almost as long as the RM-Z, but Kawasaki only recently acknowledged it. Every new model is going to have problems. Suzuki just chose to have those problems open to public scrutiny. Just because a bike is yellow does not mean it is automatically a turd. Most of the public's perceptions are based on rumors or old experiences with a manufacturer's products. Suzuki may have made some turds back in the day, but they have vastly improved their quality. Not even Honda is exempt from making a lemon, it's just that people tend to forget about red lemons faster than yellow, green, or blue ones.

 

Is Honda going to pick any talent up to even possibly compete with Ricky or is Big Red just done with it's winning ways in the 250 class for awhile. There is a chance Windham could step up, but it's not looking likely with his current performances.