RUST magazine: Rust#2

Enduro
that most 450 riders crave, but without
making you feel like you’re over-biked.
Again it feels slightly smaller than a full-on 450
(weight-wise), and that’s a good thing, yet like the
390 it’s so incredibly mellow and forgiving, that you
can actually ride it damn fast but without having to
work too hard. This is clever stuff from Beta.
As much as I loved the 390 and 430, I actually
didn’t care all that much for the 350 and 480. The
problem is (as I see it) that the 350 tries a bit too
hard, whereas the 480, is a bit too hard.
So the 350RR is good, but it feels sharper, more
focussed and in one-sense less user-friendly than
the more-rounded 390. It also doesn’t feel as
powerful (no surprise there), though it tries to
make up for that slight lack of punch by being much
revvier. It certainly feels quick enough - though not
as powerful as the 350 KTM. It sort of reminds me
of the revviness of the old TE310 Husky, which
always felt like a bike searching for a marketplace.
I can see that the 350RR would appeal to some
riders - I guess those that feel they want a bit
more than a 250F, but not as much as a 450F
but personally I felt like I was faster on the 390,
simply because I didn’t have to try as hard.
So there we have the 2016 Betas. I haven’t talked
about the X-Trainer because I feel it deserves a test
all to itself (which will come in due course). I like the
way Beta is headed, the bikes are improving, the
quality is good and the way they ride is just so
damn easy.
My pick of machinery then would have to be the
250RR two-stroke, which is just a brilliant bike with