1994 Honda CR500 v 2018 Factory KTM 450 Dakar racer 

I would still say its a win from the CR500. A bike from the 1990s geared for short sprint and it still keeps up with a modern bike geared for top end!

All this shows is a comparison of gearbox ratios and final drive gearing, which will be quite different because the Cr is a Motocross bike and the KTM is a dessert spec bike! Also the Cr 500 can go over 100mph with the right gearing! The CR 500 engine makes more power!

So, KTM is just finally where Honda was 22 years ago. Cool.

Apply 25 years of engineering to the cr500 and I think we have found a winner, could you imagine if honda continued to work on the 500, injection, modern materials, any 2 stroke upgrades since then

I like the CR 500 better

Gear that cr500 with some taller gearing and it would cut the head off that Ktm

Moto gearing vs. desert gearing....

1:15 to 1:20 that harmonisation is beautiful

Mixing gas and hauling ass !! 2 strokes will always rule !! Dam you EPA......

Still cool to see an old CR sort of hang with a modern factory Build. I bet both are stupid fast

Our test of the beast here : ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-qdq_QRMpVhc.html

I can still remember the first time I rode my 1985 CR500 and how insanely fast it was. I to this day don`t know why I ended up getting to busy at work and giving it to my kid....Cheers in WA ST

4stroke motors have done nothing but increase the price ofbikes that is why motox is in decline 10k for a new bike. Thats crazy

500 CR is the best ✔️🔥🔥🔥🔥

I bought my CR 500 in 1996. what a machine!! Lived in Grande Cache, Alberta, Canada at the time. It's right in the middle of the rocky mountains, and its dirt bike heaven!!

Wide ratio 6 speed gearing Vs Close ratio 5 speed motocross gearing

I miss my 500’s. All these years later and their still valid.

Amazing! I didn't think it was possible to get more horsepower out of an engine that fires once every two revolutions. The Honda is water cooled, too. I couldn't tell whether the KTM was or not. Hmm...So the four stroker, with all its extra cams, valve springs, valves and followers can be made to put out as much power thanks to incredible metallurgy. But I'm still thinking it's an insane number of extra parts!

I had an 89 CR500 with a wide ration HRC transmission kit. The kit replaced 3rd, 4th and 5th gears - the top of 4th was equivalent to the top of the stock 5th gear. That bike probably would have left the 450 behind.

That 500 is looking sweet!

****This isnt a hate comment or bashing on either brand/rider/machine**** Both awesome bikes but the purpose built motocross bike with shorter gearing lost on a long legged drag race..... what does that really tell us? Put the KTM Dakar bike on the motocross track and the Cr500 most likely will win, while the suspension settings, extra weight and gearing ratio limit the KTM. Apples to oranges comparison in my opinion. Each is built for a purpose and each serves their respective individual purpose well! 👊✊ Ride on!

It's all in the gearing.

People can say what they want, but my opinion is you just can’t make a better looking bike than ktm. Everything about it looks like an artist was commissioned to make it. Gorgeous work and I shall have one soon!

Great video !!!! Lots of comments from both sides - blue smoke and 4 stroke. Winners and losers. Each defending their own. I came for the bikes. Both are awesome machines.awesome. I, too, thought the 500 would top out north of 100mph. I've ridden both blue smokes and 4 strokes. Both street and dirt. Always had fun on both.. Thanks for posting.

Different sprockets can play a big part in this.

So cool how this video showed absolutely nothing at all. Glad I wasted my time!

2 hear both of these bikes wide open and the different sound is amazing ❤

No matter who wins the 2 stroke sound is euphoric 🤘

Two stroke !

2 stroke: braaaaaapp! 4 stroke: poo-oooop lol

stupid fun, only one way to find out, didnt know jonny was doing the dakar this year. :) a 2011 ktm 450 rr Rallye passed me , while i (ktm 2012 500) was pinned in sixth ,geared to the max doing 160ks and the rallye kept pulling. Amazing bikes

That's Weston super mare. I lived there and always loved seeing the beach races.

to those saying the ktm has newer technology, it's also 50cc less and has half the power strokes of a 500cc 2 stroke. so the honda had a serious advantage. i'm fairly impressed that it won.

“I LOVE the smell of two -stroke smoke in the morning “

The sheer violence of the CR500 is what made it so much fun!

Why all the hating about gear ratios and so forth?? I love both of the bikes and think they sound amazing flying down the beach together on song! One is a classic and one is obviously newer and more refined.. who cares they are both beautiful bikes

Nice outcome. I grew up in the 80s so 2 strokes will always be my thing. Ktm aint no slouch but cmon. Honda rules. Where's my R 3 wheeler, im ready to rip.

I own 2 well-built kx500's, (one in an aluminum frame), a well built crf450 and a well built rmz 450. The Kawis destroy the 4 strokes in any straight line race, especially up a steep quarter mile sand hill (we've raced many times). The 4 strokes are faster on a track (we've raced many times). Who still doesn't know this?

Nice harmony sound, 2 stroke and 4 stroke together.

Apparently these dudes that say no “MX or Enduro riders ride a two stroke for a reason” has never heard of Graham Jarvis. 😅

I'd like to see this on a track ? Cr500 is a beast

The CR is faster , has stock gearing and sprockets . The KTM is set up for racing has taller gears

Cr 500 ❤🤘🏻❤ Ride this bike , 21 years and i love it!!! The best powerfull 2 Strokes bike! Ride hard ....

WOW a 22 year old bike VS state of art modern bike. Sad that the old Honda was even in the race.

Bad videoing doesn't show a true side by side race.

COOL!! This video has proven decisively via careful planning, use of awesome drone video footage and two skilled riders that I wouldn’t piss on a KTM450 if it was on fire, awful

Did this race on a rail bed in 2007 with a 525 exc...other buddy on a 95 cr500. I was on a WR400 fully ported, polished, high compression piston, gray wire cut...revved to the moon. The CR out accelerated us the first few hundred feet, then we started to catch up and eventually overtake him. We all got up to top gear, fullthrottle...my bud on the 525 thought he had it but my bike could rev higher than his, so I crept up and overtook him. This was about gearing and, ability to over rev. I'm sure with proper gears the CR would have taken us. I didn't mention though, the XR650R that was geared for highway use totally kill all of us. He started out back but blew by all of us with ease....

Hi ! thanks a lot for the very beautiful video. I love the sound of the old two strokes engines immensely, maybe also because it reminds me of my youth when i used to go to motocross events. Anyway ... i read that the two strokes engine but with a more moder fuel injection system could deliver an insane power, much more than the four strokes types. Is it true ? is there anyone doing this today ?

Gear the cr 15 / 42

One of these bikes will be in the shop getting worked on a lot!.....it ain’t the Honda!!!

Early 90's, all my buddies were rocking BA yz250 smokers, I was on a 82 RM465 smoker(I was the new guy), I loved the torque on Single track, but those guys were better riders, and they smoked me on the track, lol. I dusted them in the sand, I then got a CR500 that ran on avgas, HOLY powerband, what a bike, sometimes it scared me, I only dared us it at the dunes. I'd love a modern 500 smoker with a great powervalve, frame, suspension and brakes. Changing a top end on a smoker is SO easy, cranks change easy enough too. Current 450s, like a YZ450 OR ktm SX OR xc, THEY ARE FANTASTIC, times are GREAT!

To comment on most people's comment.... it isn't just a gear ratio there is real power needed to pull that gear too. Size of rider and air displaced is a huge one. I have an older Superkart motor. Pole position at Laguna Secain single cylinder 250cc class. World Superkart Challenge. Karl Reth's engine. I was untouchable in the desert running that motor! Ran it for years. four strokes get out on me by a few bikes and my HP overcomes them usually around 60 mph or so. Most guys run motor cross gearing and think they are fast. Man you have a lot to learn. BTW from other comments on other threads . Yes you cut a specific chain for specific gear ratio for specific wheel base length.. no steeering stabilizer and over 100 mph my 2001 cr250 is rock steady. Big guy, 10paddle, 250cc. Spanking yo ass. Oldsmobile, competition, sand highway at over 100mph through the whoops. Then slap more gear on for more mph at Ocotillo Wells.

Also did you notice all the starts were rolling starts which gave the 4 stroke an advantage. 2 strokes wake up IMMEDIATELY and off a proper mx start would've pulled ahead by a bike length out two and kept it on an track.

I'm very surprised. I expected the desert racer to have a higher top speed due to gearing, but while it's hard to tell from the video angle it looks like the KTM actually beats the 500 everywhere. From the rolling start, the KTM jumps ahead. Give the CR500 a head start, and in a very short time the KTM overhauls it. That's what I thought I was seeing (hard to tell), and then they confirmed it in the interviews at the end. A 2 stroke engine with a narrow power band needs a 10 speed box to keep it on the pipe. Yes, the 500 is so big it has "enough" power anywhere in the rev range.... but not enough to beat the 450. For that it needs to be on the pipe all the time, more gears needed... and then I think it should win. But this is the same reason electric will beat 4T and 2T. It's even more extreme than the 450 in that it only needs ONE gear. CR500 needs 10 gears, 450 KTM needs 6 gears, electric only needs 1 gear to do roughly the same thing.

Hardly fair with the 2 different gearboxes Gear up the CR500 to Dakar Spec like we used for the Finke Desrt Race, then compare the two. CR500's here were doing 170kph - 185kph in Finke spec (GPS calculated)

The two bikes make a music chord at 1:19! Its an A#sus4 as far as I can tell. You can hear the two bikes glide into and then later out of that chord. its quite cool!

Looks to me aside the gearing difference they were pretty much dead even the old 2 smoker 500 still king

Make the final gearing the same on each bike then repeat. Otherwise it's a void test. Weighing them as well would have been nice.

I mean in 1986 the CR500 produced 65 horsepower, 47 lb/ft of torque, and weighed 225lbs Up until recently 450 four strokes made around 50-55hp and 35-37 lb/ft, weighing 240lbs The bikes have just recently hit the 60hp rating

Wow what a performance! In race a 22 years with the new bike technology! Honda it was great!

Sounds like a xr650 would have beat both if top speed is all that matters. Or a sportster

Put the cr500 up against a normal ktm450sx. Not the Dakar version. The cr500 is built for motocross, so put it up against a bike made for motocross. Not a bike made to get across the desert as fast as possible

Acceleration test would be a better comparison. Would be nice to see a 1991 KTM 500 DXC out there as well

I made a short comedy sketch against that wall at the end

How about adding a tooth to the front sprocket on the CR? Looks like its already geared up, not sure how much more you can get out of it on top speed... they are great on steep hills.

nothing will ever compare to the big 2 stroker's either you know how to ride them or don't 4 stroker's are for the lazy don't get me wrong their awesome but I grew up on old yz's hodakas and stuff though

Sound😍

One of the old motocross mags. set a record at the salt flats on a old air cooled KTM 500 motocross two stroke at over 120 mph. In the eighties.

1985 through 87 were the beastly cr500s. After that they were de tuned. An 85 would have beat the ktm

So your telling me there is a 20yr difference ?

The sound of a cr500 is fucking amazing

I had a 15-39 sprockets and a CR-250 cdi and went 115 on a road race track on my CR-500

Sounds like an aero plane

Who cares what the top speed of MX bikes are?

both bikes are great!!! I chose the CR. I find the new style of 4 strokes are amazing and the power is predictable and in troubled situations I find it pretty handy to have the knowledge, I guess with the 500 with lots of seat time a person would get to know the beast and be able to manage and know when its a holy shit moment or a HOLY F@$K moment please keep in mind I ride around the Rocky Mountains, now the area of both bikes that makes me chose the cr500 is the maintenance...… I am no mechanic its just the simplicity of the two stroke engine and the costs of keeping it in good order is simple for me, I did have a 2013 crf450r and what a great bike!! very easy to handle. power through out anywhere and anytime I needed it, now I don't trust myself enough to spruce up the top end so I took it in...…. when I seen the bill from the dealer I kind felt ripped off but hey it was understandable with what the mechanic had to do and the special knowledge and tools he had to get it right, with the 500 I do the top end myself anyhow im gonna look for another video that has better number...

I have seen both the CR500 and the KTM500EXC raced in the Finke Desert Race....in fact I raced the 1989 and 2015 FDRs

Simple answer: KTM has way taller, top speed gearing, and the CR has motocross gearing

But the cr would absolutely smash that ktm around a motocross track!!

Question, was that CR 500 motor ever used for shifter cart racing?

What were the sprocket sizes of both bikes?? That makes a huge difference

I love Honda!

Love to see them run the same gearing an throw a kx500 in for good measure

I just love the Honda but hey id take either... great clip

Nice to have a 6 speed

Honda ❤ ❤ 💪

Would take any of the old school 500's from the late 80's early to mid 90's. Love their style. KX500 being the ultimate IMO.

Bit of an "apples vs oranges" competition... Innit. But a fun day on the beach and a reason to wring a bikes neck all out. Cool.

Weston beach front .would have been nice to see the bikes face off with the same gearing . Its all down to gearing here .i had a yamaha 125 dtr which would push over 100 (just).the honda 2 stroke is a beast !!!but modern 4 stokes are too

Waste of time

Bullshit vid.

Who won

Amazing thick beast forks on ktm 😮

i could not understand a fucken word they said. i only speak English.

neither match the speed of an old KTM495

Naw put a smaller sprocket on the 500, like put the power band at the higher gears

"For our next video, Iphone 11 plus vs 1972 Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk attack helicopter"

People think 500 2ts are unbeatable. Clearly they havnt owned a decent 450.

Classic on the lead😊

Love how everyone is defending the 500 like it matters. They both are badass stupid fast bikes.

What was the gearing and sprocket ratios. I can make a 125 go faster.