MXA got its hands on the rarest of all motocross bikes...

VIA Instagram @motocrossactionmag

The 1999 V495 . In 1999, MXA got its hands on the rarest of all motocross bikes—the fabled Vertemati four-stroke. Because of their rarity, these GP bikes had a reputation for being the best bikes ever built. Since only a handful were ever made, and no one outside of the honored few ever got to ride them, they were the holy grail of motocross bikes. In truth, the fabled Vertemati and its VOR V495 brother were ill-handling boomerangs that oozed trickness as long as they were sitting still. Once in motion, they were a handful. The front end understeered like a snowplow, the rear suspension was more jackhammer than shock absorber, and the vaunted, hand-built, four-stroke, V495 engine was equipped with a three-speed tranny (that had neutral on the bottom). You had to pretend that you were Clint Eastwood when you raced the bike to avoid hitting neutral in the middle of a race. “You have to ask yourself, did I downshift once or did I downshift twice. Well, did I, punk?” If you guessed wrong, you got pitched over the bars.

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