Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126643
Honda XL250R. Personal preferences aside, all of our testers agreed tha t the Honda 's overall performance was a notch or two above the other contenders. For the bike's intended purposethat bounding over off-road hill and dale, but still being able to legall y transport their owners on aroundtown errands - the Honda seems the best thought out. In the street, its sixspeed transmission literally puts it in a class by itself. And in the dirt, its Pro-Link rear suspension and airadjustable front suspension, wh ile not up to the demands of real highspeed work, perform as well or better than the suspensions on the other bikes. Calling the Honda the winner is a little unfair to the other 250s, however . They're winners too. While the selection of the XL as top dog was easy, ranking the second through fourth spots was not. After a couple of cram sessions, we threw up our hands and called it a three-way tie. The Honda took the gold, but the silver-medal level of the victory rostrum was a little crowded. All four of these street/trail machines are winners in another way as well . They are fun. Those of us in the motojournalism business sometimes get a little jaded. One week we're out pounding the cobblestones on a multicylinder, canyon-carving ultrabike, and the next week we're powdering berms and doing sky shots on the latest mega-motocrossers. With the pressure of deadlines and being buried under mountains of material to be edited, we sometimes lose touch with why we got interested in motorcycling in the first place - it was a fun, " nea to mosquito" thing to do . These bikes reaquainted us with those feelings, and for that we say thanks. In this age of motorcycles that are growing ever-more specialized, the dual-purpose bikes have taken a back seat to new single-focus offerings both in the dirt and on the street. Sales of dual-purpose bikes have dropped off in the last few years , and that's too bad. These motorcycles are too enjoyable to let slip away. They've been called "foo-Ioo" bikes by some and maligned by others because of their "co m p ro mised " nature, but we, based on our 54 years of combined motorcycling experience, prefer to think of them as all-purpose bikes whose sole purpose is to have fun .• XL250 KL250 SP250 XT250 Engi_ Eagi_ E .... Engi. Conclusllon If you've been reading between the lines. it should come as no surprise that the winner of our dual-purpose shootout is the T"" . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .,-stnb ONC ..... DiIpIa._ • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 2e .. Be.. _ 1lrIlt. • • • • • • • • : ••••• 741!i7.... CeIopreai. ,Ilie • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• 9.3:1 .........,~•••••••••••••••••• •• IIA. C ,1liaot • • • • • • • • • • • • • 2.... pistil. nIn. .... Itllitiaol • •• •• ••• • : _ •••""", CD. 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