Australasian Dirt Bike – May 2019

Afterundergoingsomesubstantial

upgradeslastyear,especiallyinthe

motordepartment,itcameaslittle

surprisethatthelatestmodeljustgot

somefinetuning.The$13,395RR480

hasanewthrottledesignedby

DominospecificallyforBetawhich,

combinedwithupdatedECU

mapping,offersridersasmootherand

moreaccuratethrottleresponseplus

improvedfueleconomy.

Ifyouareintoridingtightand

technicaltrails,thenyou’llenjoythe

bottomandmid-rangepowerthatthe

Betaproduces.Beinga480,itisa

littlesofteroffthebottomthanthe

full500sfromKatoandHuskyand,of

course,doesn’thavethesametop-end

powerbutthemotorisverysmooth

anduseableand I feel like you could

rideitallday with ease. It does,

however,revup fairly quickly when

youneeditto and that would be due

tothesmaller mass of the 477.5cc

piston.Youalso have the dry/mud

mapswitchon the handlebar, which

isanicetouch and makes a noticeable

difference.All of the riders on our

testpreferred the more aggressive

drymap.

Thebignews for this year’s RR480

istheintroduction of more up-spec

ZFSachssuspension. The fork is a

48mmunitwith compression on the

rightandrebound on the left leg. The

compsidealso carries the adjustable

preload,which you don’t need tools

for, canbeadjusted on a pitstand and

2019 SHOOTOUT #4 | 500cc ENDURO

Grabbo noticed the Beta was down on cubes Grabbofeltthesuspension could be improved

BETA RR480

50 | MAY 2019 http://www.adbmag.com.au