Beta proved something to the world last year. The tiny Italian company took on the giants of Supercross. They built a motocross bike, assembled a pro racing team and scored points with a budget that was a fraction of what anyone else spends. They haven’t yet sacked the city, but they’re at the front gate making noise and causing a commotion.
The Beta Liqui Moly Pro Supercross team is still making progress, but the company is careful not to forget the riders who got them to this point. Beta’s base is in the off-road world—enduro, trials, trail riding and cross-country racing. Accordingly, the company has added a new bike to the lineup for 2025. The 450RC falls into the closed-course cross-country category, which includes bikes like the KTM 450XC-F, the Honda CRF450RX, the Yamaha YZ450FX and the Kawasaki KX450X. Each manufacturer changes the formula slightly, but all are closely related to motocross bikes from the same maker. The idea is to serve off-road racers who might otherwise be forced into a full-blooded motocross bike in events like WORCS and the National Grand Prix Championship.
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The core of the 450RC is the new Beta 450RX MX bike. Of all the manufacturers offering these hybrid MX/off-road bikes, Beta makes the fewest changes between moto and off-road. That makes sense when you consider that the company already has off-road four-strokes coming out of its ears. The 480RR and 430RR Race Editions are very off-road-oriented, so the RC offers some true separation. It’s easy to be overwhelmed with the array of similar bikes offered by Beta.
There are only a few significant differences between the motocross model and the new RC. The fuel capacity is greater; the new bike uses the 2.4-gallon tank from the RR line instead of the 1.8-gallon MX tank. It also has an 18-inch rear wheel with a 140/80-17 Maxxis MaxxEnduro tire. Hand guards come as standard equipment and that’s about all. The engine mapping and suspension valving are straight out of the motocross bike, which has been updated for 2025. So is the five-speed gearbox. There’s no kickstand, and the price is exactly the same as that of the MX bike—$10,999. Zane Roberts is the current National Hare & Hound champion and he rides a Beta. As of right now, he’s riding a modified 480RR, but that’s mostly because race teams are reluctant to change when something works. His bike is already something of an RR/RC hybrid.
When the motocross 450 arrived last year, it was mostly a new bike. The 480RR off-road bike was clearly a starting point, but it had more compact engine cases and a beefier frame. Now, all of Beta’s four-strokes have the new engine cases and many of the other features that we first saw on the MX bike. Still, the RX and now the RC are in a much spicier state of tune than any of the off-road bikes. The exhaust is louder, the compression ratio is higher, the valves are larger and the throttle body is 46mm instead of 42mm. For 2025, both the RX and the RC have larger rear axles, lower f