W
eekdays are
so much
better when
you get to
ride a
dirtbike,
especially
when it’s a freshy. It’s better again
when there are five brand-new
Shercos to choose from, and at the
end of the day you get to choose
which one to keep! That was the
purpose of this glorious day off; the
good people at Sherco Australia were
giving me the chance to pick my new
long-termer from their impressive
2018 range.
Available to test on the day were
the 250 and 300SE-R two-strokes, the
300 and 450SEF-R four-strokes and
the all-new, highly anticipated
125SE-R. Also lurking in the
background was the brains behind
the DSR Motul Pirelli Sherco Off-
Road Team, Dave Suter, and he is a
diehard, blue-blooded Sherco fan. So
much so, I reckon the man wears
Sherco undies 24/7. I really admire
his passion for not only the Sherco
brand, but also his desire to build a
team and provide a platform for
young Aussie riders wanting to get a
leg-up among the best AORC riders in
Australia.
The plan for the day was to pound
out some laps on each of the bikes
and really get myself in check with
the new machines. I’m familiar with
the 2016 and 2017 Sherco enduros but
I really needed some track time on
the 2018 models before committing to
a long-term relationship with one of
them. We decided to go all out and
use one of my roughest test tracks; I
figured if I could get comfortable on a
stock bike around a brutal track, then
imagine what I could do with it after
a few months of long-termer tuning
and modifications.
Before even throwing a leg over, the
first thing I noticed was how different
the bikes felt to push around and lift
onto a stand. It may sound a bit
obvious but how many of you out
there actually would lift a 125 onto a
stand, then a 250, 300, 300 4T and
then finally a 450, all within a fewhttp://www.adbmag.com.au JANUARY 2018 | 99The blue rims are a nice touchThe 125 French princess is a crowd pleaser
The FMF pipe looks, and sounds, awesomeThe tiny 125 engine leaves room for activities