Motorcycle specifications Mash650 Dirt Track 2020 Other play area

This 650 brings back forgotten moments. Not so much the bike, but its engine. This block, Mash's biggest, brings back slices of a past when we lived great moments with a single cylinder in the cradle. A time when the big single was a star. Today, who is still defending this motorization? KTM with its 690, present in the SMC R and Enduro R... Husqvarna with its Supermoto, Svartpilen and Vitpilen... Apart from that, you'll have to look in very confidential productions. Or....

Visit a Mash dealer. After establishing a solid foothold in the 125 sector, and then introducing retro 400s with endearing machines (Five Hundred, TT40, etc.), the Beaune fiefdom is stepping up a gear to offer something a little crunchier. The 6.5 Dirt has a distinctly dirt-racing character, while showing off the new engine of SIMA-badged products.

The design comes straight from the small 50, 125 and 250 Dirt Track bikes. The terrain looks familiar, but with a little extra strength. With a mug yoked to a number plate where a lenticular headlamp is excavated, the machine confirms a quirky, impatient expression, grumbling at other participants. But the Dirt also knows how to be classic. Since mid-2020, it has been available with 2 headlamp options: the plate or a round optic like a porthole. In our opinion, it's the latter that suits it best.
A double face to satisfy the fashionable and/or the consensual. To assert one's face is also to present one's strength. This 650's dose of watts is greater than the rest of its family. Mash production peaked at 27.6 hp with the 400, but here we're up to 40 hp at 6,000 rpm. Torque is modest in relation to displacement, at 4.6 mkg at 4,500 rpm. This is quite logical when you have to adapt an old-fashioned engine to today's standards. Who is this block anyway? Where does it come from? A great new-age mono? *

the Shineray group, a major supplier to SIMA, manufactures this engine, derived from Honda's 600 XR. With the license in hand, the Chinese manufacturer didn't need to design it, just adapt it. He took the opportunity to increase the engine's displacement from 591 cm3 to 643.7 cm3 thanks to a significant increase in bore (91 mm -> 100 mm) and a minimal increase in stroke (80 mm ? 82 mm). As with other Mash models, fuel injection is supplied by Delphi. The gearbox has 5 speeds. Cooling is old-school, with fins and a small oil cooler. The cylinder head houses a single ACT but 4 valves. With this quadragenarian technology, don't expect the dry, powerful punch of an EXC, but the pronounced effort of an old onguligrade on the comeback trail. Its gruff 40s keep it accessible to A2 license holders, and don't make it a thunderbolt, but it's enough to respond more seriously than the 400 when the handle is called upon.

As its name suggests, the Mash 6.5 wants to believe in Dirt Track. Its equipment makes it possible, with spoked rims fitted with knobby tires, 41 mm inverted forks, large handlebars and a dynamic look. See how the rear end plays up the retro-sport look, and how certain details maintain the culture of American-style oval gliding: the black and orange "Harley XR" color scheme, the race number on the front and side panels, the American flag... and a few welcome styling effects such as the Monza-style fuel filler cap, the offset license plate holder or the minimalist treatment of the front mudguard.

On an oval, braking is a relative matter. The Dirt Track 650 is more cautious, with a 320 mm brake disc clamped by a 4-piston caliper. ABS is present but can be disconnected for those who want to have fun with a certain amount of technique. Just one disc? No, there's another 240 mm disc at the rear. This will be more than sufficient, given the machine's performance and its contained weight of 163 kilos.

Cute and retro, with more displacement and power, this Dirt 6.5 takes Mash to a higher dimension. Always aggressive in its pricing, the manufacturer offers this machine at a rock-bottom price, quite simply the cheapest 600 on the market.

M.B - Manufacturer's photos

* Old-timers will recognize a passage from a Goldorak song.