Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~ 00 Only the KX comes stock with a rear disc brake . The arrow shows a cutaway view of the cartridge inside the eR's fork. which keeps air out of the damper unit . to its sl immer gas tank, comfortable handlebars, excellent controls (grips and levers) and good footpeg p lace ment. The Honda feels lighter than the Yamaha and Kawasaki when thrown around in the turns and over rough terrain , while the Yamaha feels the heaviest. The tallest bike of the bunch is th e Kawasak i and it feels that way on the track. All these bikes turn quite well, but the Yamaha turns the best . It goes exactly where it is pointed and doesn't h ave the tendency to rise up too soon like the Kawasaki sometimes does. Another reason why the Yamaha does so well in the turns is because the rider never has to worry about sta llin g the engi ne. No matter how tight the turn is, the rider can leave th e cl utch a lone and idle through a turn if he has to, while the rider on the Ka wasa ki has to use the clutch and coast through . Slowing down lor the turns was easiest on the Honda. A strong front brake and a powerful-but-controllable rear brin gs th e Honda down from speed in a h u rry and smoothly. T he Yam aha h as the strongest fro nt brak e of the three, but the rear was the weakest. The Kawasaki 's dual disc brakes left us with mixed feelings. Although the front disc worked fine, the rear gave us headaches on some tracks, while leaving us pleased on others. The rear brake is very strong, too strong on dry , hard-packed or sandy tracks; combined with a light flyw heel, we h ad constant problems with stalling the Kawa sa ki. O n a sandy track. the rider has to completely forget about using the rear and rely solely on the front ; that's almost the case on dry. hard-packed straight lines and feels very stable over all kinds of terrain. The Honda has the smoothest sus pension of the bunch right out of the crate and is much improved over the '85 C R. After breaking in th e suspension in stock form , we reduced the preload on the shock to 95mm of sag and softened up the compression damping by a couple of clicks. On the forks, we backed the compression damping all the way out, then went back in (which Honda recommends) two clicks - that was it. Overall, this made the Honda smoother over the small bumps compared to the Kawasaki and Yamaha, while maintaining enough dampi ng a nd preload to ab sorb the big stuff with minima l bo ttoming. Compared to last year's C R, the '86 is much more stable and doesn't swap nearly as much. Righ t out of the crate. the suspension on the Kawasaki is race ready for a l70-pound rider. Even for a lighter rider, the KX does the trick. The ride over the small bu m ps is still a litt le rough , similar to the Yamaha's, but th e Kawasaki is the most sta ble over h uge, ro lli ng-type whoops co mpared to the Honda and Yama h a. The for ks were a littl e twitchy and shook over the Iittle bum ps when backing off the throttle. but shined over the rough stuff. The Kawasaki's sus pension works best when pushed to the lim it and the bi ke likes to be ridden ha rd and fast . This bike can't be ridden slowly. Wh en it comes to overa ll ha ndl in g, including rider comfort, tu rning, braking. jumping and ba sic throwing around, the Honda easily takes the cake. The Honda is by far the most comfortable bike to ride, thanks Lap- times: Five single best lapMinutes: averag~ 2:05 Lap- times: Single best lap.. 2:10 2 :15 2 :20 Yamaha Beg/ Nov -~--I!IIIIIII[IIIIII!II---_ :14.54 2 Intermediate _ IIIII"'IIIIIIIi_"_ Honda Beg /Nov _~_ _ Interm ediate _ _. . . 2: 12.28 Beg / N ov - - - - - - - - - - Int erm ediate ---IIIIII!~ 2:20 Minutes: Yamaha Beg/Nov IIIIIi_ _II!II_~" Intermediate _ . Honda Beg/Nov - -• •_ _~I!II_! Intermediate - - _ Kawasaki Kawasaki 16 ground. If there was good traction, the problem disappeared and the whole system worked excellently. Lap times almost always favored the Honda on any kind of track. O f the three bikes, the Honda was always 'the easiest to ride, especia lly on ha rd packed. dry-groun d tracks, beca use the CR has such smooth power delivery and tracks very well. We took la p times on a ha rd, dry course with high-speed straights, many turns and small-but-bone-jarring bu m ps, and the Honda averaged almost two seconds a lap faster than the Kawasaki and just under three seconds over the Yamaha. Movi ng to an extremely technical track that featured lots of sand, berms, tigh t first-gear sections, wide-open parts, hard-packed grou nd, whoops and excellent traction, the Honda and Yamaha were the fastest. O n this type of track, the key to quick lap times was making the fewest mistakes. Here is where our tester and Begin ner/ Novice-level rider both preferred the Honda, and lap times backed up that preference. Even though o ur test pilot felt more comfortable on th e H onda , his best single lap time was on the Yamaha, I:58.12 to I:58.92, while average la p times were nearly identical, 2:00.40 on the Honda and 2:00.38 on the Yamaha; his best time on the Kawasaki was 2:01.85 with a 2:02.27 average. The Begi nner/ Novice rider's best single la p time was 2:09.17 on the Honda with a 2:12.28 average; he was second-fas test on th e Ya ma ha with his best bein g 2: 12.25 and his average being 2:14.54. On the Kawasaki, the Begin ner/ Novice rider ha da miserable time due to the explosive power and touchy rear brake. His best time was 2:17.56, with an average of 2:20.27. Both riders felt the Honda was the easiest to ride and more forgiving than either the Kawasaki and Yamaha. Bo th riders wo u ld be much hap p ier o n the H on da at th e end of a long moto. The Kawasaki is strictly an Intermedia te/Pro-level rnotocrosser, beca use it can't be ridden slowly; the Kawasaki works against a less-skillful rider and is quite a handful. All three of these O p en -class motocrossers from Japan are excellent motorcycles and are capable at winning in any class, bu t the H onda is the most capable and will p lease a wider variety of riders wit h its smooth but powerful m otor, goodsuspe nsion, precise handling and first-ra te craftsma nship. A Novice rider won't have any problems managing the Honda around the race track and will be able to enjoy this motorcycle on the trail. The Intermediate/Expert rider will benefit fro m t~e Honda's potent motor and suspe nsron, T he Kawasaki, on the ot her hand, will please a smaller grou p of riders - mainly the Int ermedi at es a nd Experts. T he Kawasaki works best when it's ridden hard and pushed to its lim it; when it is, the KX is going to be tough to beat. Like the Honda, the Yamaha will please everybody from O pe n Beginner all the way u p to the Open Expertlevel rider. Bu t the Yamaha isn 't as smooth as the Honda in many ways - the suspension is too harsh right o ut of the cra te; jetting isn't as clean; it vibrates more, and the YZ isn't as comfortable. Bu t, the Yamaha is much improved over last year's with its smooth powerband, five-speed transmission, good suspension and excellent turning abi lities. This is how we rate the m: Begi nner: 1. Yamaha; 2. Honda; 3. Kawasaki. No vice: I. Honda; 2. Ya ma ha ; 3. Kawasaki. Intermedia te/Expert: 1. Honda; 2. • Kawasaki; 3. Yamaha. 2 :20.27 -----------IIIIII!I-- Beg/Nov Int erm ediat e --III!!!!~.

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