Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

By t he eN/West staff HondaXL250 Although the first 250cc dual-purpose m achine from Japan, th e 1968 Yamaha DT-I, was a motorcycling milestone, th e spotlight has shied away from th e breed of late. Caught Honda 's XL 250R has the long est bloodline o f th e fo ur d ua lp urpose bikes, tracing its origins back to 1972 a nd the XL250 in a web between the evertightening EPA emission reg u la tions, and the exotic offering in the sp ecia lized motocross an d end uro models, th e dual -purpose 250s a rc still alive, however , a nd there's a lo t to be said a bo u t go in g dirt riding without th e aid o f a truck , van o r trailer. All four Japanese manufacturers offer a 250ec dual -purpose machine. and to retain their street-legality vis a vis hydrocarbons and th e like, they're all four-strokes . With the aid of divine providence and a li ttle help from Ma Bell , we ma naged to o btai n the use o f o ne each H onda XL250, Kawasa ki KL2 50, Suzuki SP250 and Yamah a XT250. Alth ough eac h of th e machin es served i n a co m m u ter ca paci ty at o ne time or another, th e brunt o f th e testing was do n e i n o ne n ever-to-b e-forgotten weekend. We p layed ring around th e metropolis and stru ng together a route of racer road, fir e road, ro ck road, mountain road, mountain trail a nd a touch of freew ay to discov er th e lo ng and short sui ts o f th e machines. 18 We discovered, among o ther thi ngs, that a ll four mach ines wer e gen erally fun, a bso lutely reliable, and th at a 75-m il e d rone on th e free way was n o t unlike deposit ing lighter flu id and a burning match down tile rear o f one's trousers. (just kidding o n th at last onel) Wh il e technol ogy o n product ion mot ocr ossers tak es quantum leaps every model yea r, o n ly two o f o ur four dual -purpose machines - H onda and Suzuki - had rising rate si ngle shock rea r suspension. All o f th e bik es feature so me wha t da ted des ig ns, a ny whe re from one to four years in age and exec u tio n . We'v e heard th at up to 75%of th ese machines so ld in this co u nt rv are never used on th e dirt. That's a sh ame. While we discovered that these four bikes are de finitely not the hot ticket fo r serious tra il wo r k, they were most defin ite ly fu n o u t in the boonies, especially o n fir e roads a nd moderate trails. An o th er finding was how much fu n all four wer e on cu rvi ng m oun tain a nd ca nyon roads . T heir light weight and generous ground clearance combined with surprisin gl y grip py tires to make the business of straighten ing racer roads a genuinel y pleasant ex perience. Now excuse u s a moment while th e members of th e crack e N /West tra il ridin g an d canyon clean- u p crew go their separate ways to ta ke a loo k a t each mach ine i ndividuall y, in alphabetical order. We'll be ba ck a little later to present our conclusions. Motosport . The onl y four-stro ke stree t/ tra il machine availabl e at th e time, th e Motosport a nd its bigger broth er , the XL350 , initiated a reputati on fo r durabi lit y that Honda sin gles enjoy today. In 1978 H onda redesigned th e 250 , g iving th e bike a little more off-road ca p a bi lt iy. A redesigned four-valve engine pumped out more power , a pai r of th en -in-vogue laydown shoc ks gave th e rear sus pe nsio n more trav el , a nd H onda's ill-fated 23-inch wheel g raced th e front end in hopes of added steer ing stability in th e dirt. In 1982 Honda took th e XL to th e drawing boards a gai n . Ou t went the 23-inch fro nt hoop - to n o o ne 's dismay - a nd in went a m o re conventiona I2 1-inc her. The249cc SOHC engine got its sha re of updates, th e mos t im portant being a change to a ligh ter co u nter ba la nci ng system to h elp quel th e single' s inherent vi brations, a nd th e addi tion of a n a u to m atic ca m chai n tensioner, A six th gear was a dded to the tra ns m iss io n to ai d highway cru ising and a llow th e five lower ratios to be sp ace d closer. The frame wa s red esigned to accorn odate a fashionable single-shock, risin g -rate rear su spensi on sys te m , bring ing th e rear-wheel tra vel up to 7.5 inc hes. T he 1983 model XL250 th a t we tested is li tt le cha nged from th e previous year-s-revis io n-Aside from th e addition of a California -on ly gas vap or recovery ca nnis ter, the '82 a nd '83 bi kes are nearly identica l. The cannister , mounted o n th e left side of th e fram e. brings th e bike into co m p liance with Ca lif orni a 's evapora tive em issio n stan da rds , a nd since it co nta ins no gears, be lts or pumps, shou ld n' t adverse ly affect the H onda 's performance. L ooking at th e H onda , it 's hard to m iss th e o ff-road -in flue nced styling. T o begin wi th , the whol e bike is coated w it h th e fam il iar Honda red , just as th e CR rnotocrossers and th e dirt-onl y XR series bikes a re. Th e fla t black en g ine, twin ex ha u st h eaders and large skid pla te also say XR. The metal gas tank has a certa in motocross flair to it and even the side panels haven ' t m issed o ut o n the " dirt y" styli ng treatment; th e rear port io ns hav in g sma ll , bl ack " n u mberp la tes.", Wh il e raci ng num bers proba bly wo n' t ever be stuck to th e XL's side panels, th e bike ma kes a p re tty good show ing o n th e trails . T o be sure, yo u won ' t be seei ng sq ua d ro nsof XLs fil lin g up the Four-St roke In ten t class a t ISD E Qualifiers, but fo r cas ual pl onking a nd fire-ro ad exploring, the H onda does just fin e. T he H onda was the favorite o f th e P ro- level motocrosser who accompanied us o n o ur wee ke nd ride; h e said it felt m o re like I a gen uine d irt bi ke than th e others. I In th e dirt, as on th e street, th e H onda 's engine feels to be th e stro nges t of th e four test bikes. Aided by the slick-sh ifting , close-ratio gea rbox and its 28mm Kei h in carburetor, th e XL pulls cleanl y to its indi cated top speed of85 miles an h our. Un like th e Yamaha, th e H o nda 's ca rb didn 't seem to have too much of a problem co p in g with high a lt itudes we en co u ntered on th e trip. As with a ll dual -purpose motorcycles, th e main lim itin g factor offroad is th e la ck of tractio n provided by th e u niversa l tires. P u sh ed hard , the H onda 's fro nt Yokahoma wo u ld start to slide. Add to this th e fact that, like o th er bikes in the test, th e X L lacked the power to slide the back end around to co rr ect the fro nt-wheel wash out, a nd yo u have a m ot o rcycle that is a ha nd ful w he n pushed beyond i ts li mits. R idden at sa ner speeds , none o f our test ri ders had any problem s wi th the XL . a l thoug h o ur largest editor felt th e bike was clumsy a t lo w speeds. Once off th e tr ail s an d o n to th e paved byways , th e H onda has a lot to recommend a lso. The torquey engine, while not a road -burner by any means, , did enab le the XL to stay a head o f th e flo w o f traffic in stopll ig ht -to-sto p light driving, The Honda wa s th e only bike in the test to have a six th spe ed and in highwa y jaunts th e lower engine speeds and reduced vibration wer e welcome results of the added cog. Although the Honda , with a claimed weight of 27 1 pounds, wa s th e h eaviest bi ke in the test, it also felt like th e largest physica lly. And wh il e none o f these bi kes would make a good two-u p to u rer, th e H onda' s d ua l per ch was accepta ble for short time duty. Ou r hea viest testers did co m me nt, h ow ever , th at th e sea t felt too so ft, especially after a n h our or so of d ron in g down th e inter state. And a t so meti me during th e tes t, the sea t strap, placed stra teg ica lly under th e rider 's poster ior, was "lost." On a da y-to-day basis, dual -purpose bik es are pe r ha ps th e easiest m otorcycle s to liv e wi th. The H onda is no excep tio n. T ry as we might, we co u ld n 't ge t th e engi ne to g u lp fu el a ny quicker th an 65 m il es a gall o n . With its a u to ma tic ca m-chain tensioner a nd electronic ignition, a tune-up for th e XL co nsi sts o f setting th e screw type val ve-lash adj us ters a nd putting

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