Vor 503 Mx

VOR 503 MX

FIRTS RIDERS 2000

Far-out Thumper

I ARRIVED AT THE TRACK PROMPTLY at 8 a.m. as instructed. Stepping out of my truck, I was greeted by Motoman’s owner, Pete Vetrano. “Hi, Jimmy, I'm Pete and these are the guys from VOR,” and they all stuck out their left hands for a shake!_

Well, I should have known, ’cause if there’s anything a VOR isn’t, it’s normal. Originally crafted by some eccentric Italian brothers and now produced by VOR Motori, the 503 MX goes about everything from a weird direction, and sometimes backwards! One prod on the forward-swinging kickstarter will tell you that—though the VOR has to be the easiest-starting big Thumper ever. Never mind that the non-primary starter requires the transmission be in neutral for it to actually turn the crank...

Even in neutral, the 503 feels powerful, tempting you through the handlebars, snarling with every crack of the throttle—like it has a pumper carb shooting gas directly at the intake valves. But there’s just a run-of-themill 38mm Dell’Orto hanging at the obedience of your right wrist. A pull on the hydraulic clutch says “silky!” The track is waiting to be tom to shreds.

And immediately the 503 requires your full attention to control the absurd amount of power this baby is pumping out. Forget what a YZ400 or even a 426 is packing, because this thing runs better than some of the full-race Husaberg motors I’ve sampled. And it is much more manageable. Not the big blast of a hyper-thump you might expect, but a strong and deliberately driving powerband. And, boy, does she sing! Common sense usually tells a rider not to spin a big Single to redline, but the 503 can be zinged to somewhere in the 11,000-rpm range before its rev limiter kicks in and the sparks start to flutter. Is it the tightness and precision of the gear-driven-cam setup that allow this high-rpm zinging without damaging the big piston? And, no,

11,000 rpm isn’t where the engine was meant to run—it makes plenty of power below that—but it’s nice knowing that shifting isn’t always necessary.

Speaking of which, the five-speed gearbox is only there to give your left foot something to do—second, third, fourth, pick a gear, it doesn’t really matter. Flexibility is the word.

Over the past three years, we’ve sampled different versions of the VOR—formerly known as Vertematis—and progress in the handling department has been steady. The original bikes were so raked-out that they took twice the radius of any other bike to get around a turn—being a tall, European-bred Thumper and knifing the inside line have never been synonymous. Well, the Y2K VOR isn’t a Supercross weapon, but it is in the ballpark, if barely. The 503 still likes the outside line and it prefers to be steered with the rear wheel. If you ask me, the bolted, clasped and welded headtube design makes for a flexy front end, though engineers say the chassis is stiffer than a Honda CR250’s. Maybe in a straight line, but it doesn’t work when you’re laid over in a turn trying to ride the front wheel. Anyway, sliding it through comers, on the gas, keeping the front wheel in the air, is simple with all the power on tap. Impresses the spectators, too.

The bolted-together frame is another

of VOR’s abnormal approaches to MX.

So is the trick, three-piece billet swingarm. New for 2000 is a more progressive linkage for the Öhlins shock.

A Paioli fork replaces last year’s Marzocchi front end, and whatever they did inside works pretty well. The suspension is plush and supple and resists bottoming better than previous tries.

Also unique—and believable—is the claimed dry weight of 240 pounds. The VOR doesn’t feel like a featherweight, but there are very few bikes with this much power and this little weight, two-stroke or four. You might think that a finely crafted, hand-built bike

like this would cost $10,000, which would be fair considering the engine’s performance alone. Well, Motoman (909/608-0082) has priced the 503 MX at $7500—still a lot, sure, but a bargain depending on how you look at it. And if you’re looking at a VOR, you should be looking at things a bit differently, anyway. —Jimmy Lewis