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Hyosung TE450 MX ATV
Korea Steps
Into The 450 Ring
Continued from
page 1...
Handling
If there were one area
where the TE450 begins to falter, it would most
certainly be in the handling department.
Our test riders spent a solid two days fiddling
with the fully adjustable suspension and never
came away satisfied (or fully aware of the exact
trouble of the design for that matter). At
slow speeds a rider could almost be convinced
that the quad is stable and firmly planted.
This all changes the moment the first terrain
imperfection enters the equation. Once any
of the wheels encounter a bump, dip, or even a
square-edge rock or root, the TE450 can get
pretty violent. The back wheels seem to be
just looking for an excuse to lose traction and
the bars (thanks to strange steering geometry)
wants to yank themselves free of even the
strongest rider’s grip. Our initial
suspicion was that by tweaking the suspension,
we could eliminate the handling woes (or lessen
them at the very least). Unfortunately the
springy nature of the suspension could not be
cured even when we turned the rebound adjustment
all the way out. In fact it appears as
though despite a whole host of levers and
clicker adjustments, the actual range at which
the unlabeled suspension can be tuned is
extremely limited.
However, we should
clarify that we suspect a decent set of
aftermarket shocks may cure the handling bugs
permanently. At the very least, a steering
damper alone may be enough to keep the front end
from skipping around.
On the Track
A majority of our testing was performed on an
outdoor MX track as we suspect this to be the
environment many potential customers would pilot
the TE450. The motor is strong enough and
boasts a wide enough range to be competitive out
of the box. We blasted berms with the best
of them and even powered through sandy whoops
and off-cambers without a hint of complaint from
the engine. The shocks, however, force
even the smoothest racer into carefully
considering his lines and watching out for any
braking or stutter bumps as the risk of loosing
control or spinning out is always present.
On the Trail
As it stands, a bone stock
TE450 is best suited to wide sweeping trails
that allow for third-gear and under exploration.
As with the track test, power was never an issue
so much as the shortcomings of the chassis
itself. The lower reaches of each gear are
punchy enough to induce smiles on hard pack and
an occasional wheelie was mandatory by every
rider in attendance. However, once the
going gets rough or the speeds start increasing,
that feeling of riding on the razor’s edge
starts creeping up in the mind of the TE450
pilot. Flat corners make the quad want to
simply slide into an all out doughnut and the
rear wheels tend to start creeping up alongside
at about the middle of third gear and onward.
Throttle control is key and certainly
counterproductive when one finds himself in a
dead-locked drag race to the next corner.
Conclusion
After spending two days in
the saddle of a brand new Hyosung TE450, the
verdict was fairly unanimous from all of our
test riders. The quality, fit and finish
of the TE450 is surprisingly good. The
brakes are powerful and linear, the seat
comfortable, the bar-bend perfect, and the
controls spot on. The motor sounds great,
revs hard, and gave us no instances to question
its reliability. Keep in mind that Hyosung
has been in the cycle business for many years
and that expertise (not to mention parts bin)
clearly played a role in the development of the
TE450.
The biggest fly in this machine’s
proverbial ointment comes in the form of the
chassis/ suspension package. Normally we
could simply dismiss a quad as a dune-machine or
field blaster in this situation except that
doing so downplays the potential of this quad’s
motor. Hyosung could have a legitimate
contender here by simply swapping out the
generic shocks for some aftermarket units (ala
KTM or Polaris). Sure the MSRP of the quad
may take a slight bump in the process but riders
would be far more willing to shell out the cash
in knowing that their machine is competitive out
of the box.
Additionally, if Hyosung
wants to be taken seriously in the US market,
they may want to consider ditching all of the
road gear before sending the quads across the
pond. Reflectors and horns send mixed
signals to potential buyers, especially the
race-set who view even headlights as OEM
overkill.
Finally, one test rider
managed to summarize the TE450 experience best
when he said that the machine felt like someone
took his 2008 YFZ450 motor and shoved it into
the frame of an old Yamaha Warrior. In
other words, it doesn’t take long for the engine
to begin outperforming the chassis.
Hopefully Hyosung will seriously entertain the
prospect of making a few changes to the spec
sheet in models to come. With a bit of
fine-tuning, 450 shootouts in the future will be
forced to include one more legitimate contender.
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