Atomic MM 450 Metal Mulish R/C Dirt Bike – Mini Review
There are days within my week that can be pretty boring and mundane. But some are just so much better than others that those are the days that make it all worth it. The day the Atomic (also known as Venom Group) MM 450 Metal Mulisha Brian Deegan R/C dirt bike came in was one of those days. I was like a kid on Christmas! Read our mini review below where we share our first thoughts and a short video on our maiden voyage.
Get more factory specs and details about pricing to purchase one of these Atomic MM 450 radio control dirt bikes HERE!
Our first thought was “WOW, this bike is HUGE!” It is 1/4 scale and it looked so cool next to our 1/5 scale RC’s at the shop. The size of the motorcycle allows for so much detail, from the lexan body with factory Rock Start and Metal Mulisha stickers to the chain and sprocket driven rear wheel. The handle bars and front end are true to scale as you would expect. Oh and don’t let me forget Mr. Brian Deegan himself was detailed in his full ridding suit and all. He’s made of a VERY durable foam that outlasted our bash session as you will see below.
The bike comes with an included lipo battery pack which is standard size and fits in right into the skid plate upwards toward the handlebars. You have to fish your wires through an area near the gas tank but a needle nose pliers does the job every time. Once you plug in the battery pack and turn on the bike you are immediately surprised by the sound of the gyro running in the rear wheel-so much so they put a warning sticker that explains the noise is ok and is expected. Kinda funny…the other thing you will notice when going through your preliminary check, is that the steering is reversed from what many will expect (myself included). The bike works by leaning, so when you want to go right, the bike turns the steering wheel to the left which makes the bike lean to the right. It’s just like the real deal, but for some silly reason I was thinking it would be different.
We opted to install the side “guide wires” (a sort of training wheels) to ensure we keep him up and running while we learn to drive this motorcycle. We simply tossed it forward and away we went, driving down the street. The issue with driving on the street is that the guide wires catch and drag and make for very wide turning radiuses. It was difficult to get it to turn within a wide two lane road, at least for us newbies. The traction of the street also gave us silly wheeling power, which was cool but we wanted to be in the “dirt” with this dirt bike. So it was time to take it to the dirt in a larger area to get our feet wet with its off-road capabilities.
In a much larger area the MM 450 dirt bike was a BLAST to drive! The thin metal guide wires almost disappear once it leaves your hands and all of the sudden, you’re watching a mini-me of Brian Deegan himself performing right in front of your eyes. The bike turned much sharper in the loose dirt and it handled full speed runs in rough conditions very well. I will let you see for yourself in the video (below) how fun this bike can be.
The only issues I had with the bike is that the front shock started to get stuck due to leaking oil from one side. We have already rebuilt the shock and it’s working well now. We were told by the team at Atomic that it’s important to first compress the front end one time before you drive the bike. It tends to dry out and it needs to be moved in and out once before you start to drive it. We will try that and keep you all posted. We also cracked up the body pretty good but then again we bashed it pretty hard and it’s all still in place, just kinda broken up. Maybe some aftermarket companies can make us all some thicker bodies?
As for upgrades, besides the wheelie bar, which is just a longer extension of rear fenders wired support and the billet chain tensioner pieces, we plan to to keep this bike mostly stock for now. We will try to get some more video and an update on it’s durability and our overall experience in the near future. But for now….enjoy the video and images below!
