New team manager Ryan Sipes helps Enduro21 take a closer Rocky Mountain Red Bear Kawasaki Off-Road Race Team 2025 KX450X and KX250X Pro Bikes ahead of 2025 National Enduro round one, the Sumter, this weekend, February 9.

As we hammered home when the 2025 Rocky Mountain Red Bear Kawasaki Off-Road Race Team was announced, you’ll be hard pushed to find a more impressive and versatile line-up of riders.

The Baylor brothers back together in the same team again with Grant joining Steward Jnr in sticking with the Kawasaki KX450X. Josh Toth hot off a remarkable 2024 season which saw him race just about everything off-road and make GNCC history with the first overall victory from row two in XC2 250 class. Rachel Archer continuing in the team following her successful switch to green last season for her third GNCC WXC title.

Toth is joined in XC2 by Nick DeFoe and the “amateur” team of Caleb Wood, Collier Martinez and Olin Daniels who all race 250A. The Pro team will race the National Enduro series this year which begins this weekend in South Carolina with the Sumter (Feb 9).

Sipes gives the low-down

Ahead of NEPG round one, the new team manager, Ryan Sipes, helps Enduro21 take a closer look at their KX450X and KX250X Pro bikes.

In case you don’t know, essentially the X model is the same as the Kawasaki KX250 and KX450 but has an 18” wheel, a kickstand, and different suspension settings to separate it from the motocross version. 

RMRBK Pro bike parts list:

• Pirelli tires - MX32 mid soft front for most riders, XC mid soft, XC mid hard, or MX soft rear depending on the terrain
• Red Line oil
• Acerbis plastic, hand guards, skid plate, and chain guide/slides
• Yoshimura pipe - they do a special built one for the team to make mid-race pipe changes easier, “hopefully we don’t have any of those this year!” (Says Sipes)
• XC Gear “Mako” bar mounts - added comfort and shock absorption in long, rough races
• ASV “unbreakable” levers
• Odi “McGrath” or “RC4” bars, lock-on grips, and aluminium bar ends
• G2 factory aluminium throttle housing and aluminium throttle tube
• Luxon triple clamps - split clamp design for better front end feel
• Factory Connection suspension
• Dirt Tricks sprockets (“We get around 75 hours on sprockets, even in the sand. These things are amazing.” Says Ryan)
• DID “ERV7” chains
• Bulletproof Designs rear disc guards, radiator guards, chain guide guards, and rear caliper guards
• HBD Graphics
• Ol Red aerosols and shop supplies
• Hinson clutches
• IMS oversize tanks
• Fastway footpegs - fully adjustable with different heights and cleats.  Some riders use the “ankle saver” version and some use a standard style
• SKF bearings and seals
• Twin Air “Power Flow” filter system
• Super B lithium batteries

Rider preferences are interesting naturally the difference between the otherwise pretty similar machines here. “Most riders use 13-51 gearing,” Says Sipes, “but some like 13-52 better because they can use third gear more with the 52 rear.

“Stew likes a really soft suspension setting, like almost too soft for me!  The action is amazing though. It sticks to the ground very well. Josh likes a stiffer setting than you would think, considering how light he is.

“The footpegs mounts are adjustable on the KX’s, and so are the Fastway pegs, so there are quite a few options between the two. The most popular setup with our guys is high mount/low peg, but we have a rider on every combo I think.” Adds the most decorated team manager we can think of.

One other detail for those with keen eyes is the Brembo and/or Nissin brakes. Josh Toth prefers the Brembo caliper and master cylinder on his bike – no doubt due to so many years using that on previous race bikes. So the team swaps out the stock Nissin system for him.  

Photo Credit: Mack Faint