If you’ve never ridden at Racetown 395, then you’re in for quite a treat. On a typical morning, the track is as smooth as glass. But for us, in the name of testing, we ordered Racetown 395 extra-rough-style, and they delivered.
And so does this year’s 2009 RM-Z450. The Suzuki feels just as good as it did last year and is still on par against its rejuvenated competition.

Deep ruts and sharp corners are just one of the many features of Racetown’s main track and this is one area where the RM-Z impresses. Like last year, the bike is remarkably sharp when changing direction. While not as neutral feeling as the Honda, its front Bridgestone M403 tire aggressively dives into turns, which provided mixed results amongst our testers.

“The Suzuki turns really well,” stated Brazilian Supercross rider and MotoUSA tester, Scott Simon. “The front tire bites into corners and it makes it easy to get into a corner quickly.”

No doubt, it’s sharp handling attributes are by design as the Suzuki’s 25-degrees of steering rake is the most aggressive of all four bikes, including the reworked nose-low, tail-high Honda (26-degrees). Yet other testers weren’t that impressed by the Suzuki’s handling.

“It just seemed a bit heavy in the front,” said pro level rider and Racetown ace, Jared Minor. “It just didn’t feel as planted compared to the other bikes.”

“Overall I liked the way the Suzuki handled, especially in the fast stuff as it was really stable. But its downfall, for me, was that it wanted to stand up in tight inside ruts,” explained MotoUSA’s regular test rider, Matt Armstrong.

Although our testers had mixed feelings about the RM-Z’s handing, all praised the quality Showa suspension components. While both the fork and the shock aren’t the plushest in this moto quartet, action and response are amongst the best.

“It soaked up braking bumps at corner entry and exit really well,” said Simon, who weighs 180 pounds. “Both the fork and shock were a little soft for me but we went in a couple clicks on the compression, front and rear, and that really helped out.”

Even though the stock suspension settings were stiff for Armstrong’s 30-pound lighter body, the Suzuki’s suspension offers enough range of adjustment for lighter riders, like him, to get comfortable.

“Out of the box the suspension was a little on the stiff side,” said Armstrong. “But at the same time it was progressive feeling and had excellent action—especially on big impacts. Initially the bike wanted to jump around on the small bumps, but as soon as I softened the compression on both ends it was noticeably better.”

On the ground the Suzuki masks its 250-lb mass well, but when you’re trying to hang it out in the air, you can definitely feel the extra weight.

“The biggest complaint I have on the Suzuki is how heavy it felt in the air as compared to the other bikes. It isn’t bad in the corner, it actually feels pretty compact, but, coming off jumps especially, it just felt heavy like when I was scrubbing or whipping it,” said Simon.

Not only do the Suzuki’s extra few pounds of mass make it less agile in the sky, it also seemed to affect its ability to shed excess speed. All but one of our testers ranked the Suzuki’s brake setup the lowest.

Last year, Suzuki’s fuel-injected 449cc DOHC Single impressed us with its rider-friendly powerband and its impeccable throttle response. And once again all of our testers agreed that its power delivery is perhaps the easiest to access out of the three fuel-injected bikes.

“The motor ran great,” stated Simon. “But it didn’t quite feel as fast as the Kawasaki. Still, it actually made it a lot easier to ride though, because, you could ride it closer to its potential and it’s more fun that way anyway.”

Armstrong comment’s echo Simon’s impression: “The powerband on the RM-Z is really smooth. Plus the bottom-end power felt snappy. It just makes the bike really easy to ride.”

Looking at the dyno chart confirms Armstrong’s assessment. Although all three FI bikes are on par with each other, the Suzuki has the most grunt off idle, which can be especially helpful when you’re gathering speed to clear an obstacle out of a tight stop-and-go corner.

While we were all impressed with the Suzuki’s engine performance out on track, in the pits it isn’t the easiest to start. Two kicks minimum. And sometimes three or four kicks are required if you don’t have the piston at TDC. And despite the RM-Z being endowed with EFI, it still employs a carburetor-like fast idle/choke switch on the throttle body as well as a hot start, whereas the Honda and Kawasaki do away with both.

Problems with Suzuki’s drivetrain were few and far between. Although Minor claimed that the bike popped out of out gear once or twice, other test riders never encountered such a problem and we’re more than pleased with its versatile gearing and light and progressive-feeling clutch.

Another plus was the RM-Z’s narrow seat, Pro Taper handlebars, and extra-wide footpegs, combining for a very intuitive riding position. Controls and levers are placed at a natural distance for all of our vastly different sized riders and help promote confidence allowing the rider to extract full performance out of its sharp chassis.

Just like last year, the RM-Z remains an exceptionally versatile bike, yet nothing it really does stands out as being the best, making it feel a bit lackluster when ridden back-to-back with the other three offerings.