Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~ 00 .- Kicksterting lest yee r 's eir-cooled CR600R wes e mejortesk; this yeer's is slightly eesier but isn 't eesy enough. The front disc bre ke is super strong end hes smooth ection. Test: 1985 Honda CR500R It's water-cooled but hotter than ever! By Kit Palmer There 's no secret tha t last year' s air-cooled CR500 Honda left p lenty of room for improvemen t. The CR h ad some strong p oints, su ch as su sp ension a n d h andling characteristics, but problems with jetting, detonation and starting bugs far outweighed the good. Honda did its homework for 16 1985 by focu sing its attention on these problems and improving the CR 's a lread y outstanding featu res. Obviousl y the biggest change from the 1984 model is th e addition of water-cool in g , which so me manufacturers , suc h as Yamaha (its YZ490 is -th e o n ly J apanese air-cooled bigbor e). feel isn ' t needed on Open-class rnot ocrossers. But Honda thinks it's necessary . so th e '85 C R has two large rad iators in front of and slightl y below the fuel tank; th ey coo l the 49 Icc, sin g le cylinder, two -stroke engine. T he 89x79m m bore and stro ke remains th e sa me, but th e co m p ression ratio has been b umped up co nsidera bly fro m 6.7:1 to 7.4:1. T he 38m m fla t-slide Keih in carbureto r replaces 1984's rou nd-slide Keih in , and the ru bber boot from the ca rb to the a irbox is slig h tly lar ger to improve brea th in g. The ca rb still feed s the cylinder through a fu ll reed- valve induction chamber. Claimed horsepower is 60 bhp @ 6500 rpm, compared to last yea r's 58 bhp@ 6500 rpm. To improve engi ne reliability, th e main cra n k bearing reta in er is now steel ins tea d of plast ic; th e exha ust port is now bridged a nd th e transmissio n's shifting fork s ar e larger - this is also designed to improve sh ifti ng response when under a load. Transmission is still a five-speed with the same ratios as before, and th e clutch is un changed. However, the kickstarting gear ratio is new to improve start ing, and the lever itself is stro nger. The exhaust pipe is all new and makes a few radi cal ben ds arou nd the right radi ator. At th e end of th e pi pe is a new a luminum silence r with a su b-cha m ber to im p rove silenci n g; it mounts to th e fra me by o ne bo lt, in stead o f two , a nd has a sp ringloaded, slip-o n fit to the pi pe. (Last year' s CR wasn 't spring- loaded ). Mo tor moun ts h ave been beefedup and because of thi s, the CR uses o n ly three mounts (p lus a head sta y) ins tead o f four. The CR's suspension and frame a re slightl y changed. The most significant change made to the frame is the distance between th e footpeg and steering head - it's slightl y longer to improve rider comfort. The diameter o f the tubing is smaller, too , but th e wall th ickness has been in creased. Both front and rear axl es are new: The front ax le is 2.0mm larger in di ameter, whi le the rear is 6.0mm longer. The front dis c brake is the sa me, but the rear drum has an a lumin u m backing plate instead of magnesium and has been modified to im p rove sealing; shoe material is also different. Rear suspension was slightl y refin ed - the Showa 's shock length a nd piston diameter are considerably lengthened and increased , and an auto ma tic temperature compensation valve is added to reduce fading. It has 18 co m p res sio n and 21 rebound damping adj ustrnents with 12.6inch es of travel. The aluminum swingarm is now tapered. Th e 43mm Showa forks have 12.0 in ch es of trav el as well as 12co m p ressio n a nd damping adjustme n ts an d bl ue fork boots. Other changes include a redesigned sea t; a resh aped fu el tank that has slig h tly less capacity; M-37 and M-36 Bridgestone tires and rubber-mounted handlebars. The CR wei ghs 223.8 pounds dr y, 1.1 pounds less th an la st year's. Riding the CR Kickstarring last yea r' s 500 was a pure pain in the ... a n kle. Not on ly did it not want to sta rt , but the kicksta rter was poorl y designed and left nasty bruises in th e rid er' s sh ins a nd ankl es' wh en smas hed aga inst the foo tpeg a t the bottom of th e stro ke. T he new CR is beuer . bu t we're not impressed by the improvem en t. At leas t the bruises are n' t as big, because it 's slig h tly eas ier to nail a clea n kick . Sometimes the CR would fire up o n the first kick hot or cold. sometimes it wou ldn 't . If it di dn' t start on the first swipe, about five more wou ld usually do the trick. Unlike last year 's CR, we were very p leased to find the '85 CR jetted right-on-the-money. There wasn't a hint of blubbering or hesitation anywhere in th e powerband, just superclean throttle response from down low all the way through the powerband, and it never pinged. We are impressed. The CR has one of th e strongest and smoothest powerbands we've ever felt o n a big-bore two-stroke. It 's got more than enough power for any rider, and the neat thing is, the powerband is so smooth the motor doesn 't rea lly [eel all that powerful. But ride it carelessly, just wick th e throttle wide open, and it'll open a rider's eyeball s in a hurry - eithe r the front end will climb for th e sky, or the back end will slide to one side and try to spit the rider off. But wh en ridden correctly and with respect, the right kind of power is always there. Compared to Kawasaki 's KX5oo. the Honda's power delivery is much smoother and easier to manage, and there's less vibration. The KX mig ht have more top-end horsepower, but it comes o n the pipe later and is more explosive than the Honda, ma king the KX a rea l handfu l to ride. Getting th e CR off the starting line quickly is no problem - just drop it into second gear, slip the clutch slightly, th en gas it. Shifting under a load do esn 't faze the transmission, and the clutch has a super-smooth feel , making the Honda easy to control. One of our biggest gripes with th e Kawasaki was that it cou ldn 't get off the line quickl y because it lacked low end; th en wh en th e power did co me on, th e bike would wheelie erratica lly - th e Honda doesn't have this problem. Shifting th e CR is a ci nc h . We never had an y problems with missed sh ifts with or without th e clutch; a light tap on th e lever is all tha t' s needed to find th e next gear. The H onda has su spen sion that ca n keep up with the motor - but barel y. The Pro-Link rear suspensio n is sligh tly better than last year's but th ere is still room for improvement. It handl es th e big roll ing whoops o kay, but th e back end kicks too harshly over th e sma lle r, sq ua red off bumps, It a bsorbs hard impacts such as landin g o rr hu ge jumps a nd dro p-off's - comfortabl y a nd with o u t bottom in g. The front forks do a decent job o f soa ki ng u p th e bumps, even o n the gna rlies t tracks, but th e front end sha kes wh en slo wing down from high speeds . Someti mes it ge ts prettv bad ,

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