Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

URIDING IMPRESSION 1991Hondacm ~ Closing • In on perfection. So me thin gs a re better left u nchanged. That's prett y much Honda's p h ilosophy beh ind the 1991 Honda CR250R , which features m inor cosmetic ch anges and suspension mods. The rest of the bike is basically th e same as las t year's model; By Kit Palmer Photos by N ate Ra u ba and Tom Treffner aving a reputation fo r being the be st h as i ts di sadvantages, a lt hough few. Perhaps th e worst is having to live up to that rep uta tio n tim c aft cr tim e again. T ak e Honda 's CR250 for example. It 's been known as a class front-runner (most of the tim es th e undisputed cla ss lead er) since th e early 1980s and because of thi s, people have co me to expec t a lo t out o f th e CR250. O ver the yea rs Honda has mad e rela tivel y minor cha nge s to th e CR250, kn ow ing th at you don 't mess with a good thing. After rid in g th e 1991 Honda CR250, it's obvio us th at H onda stu ck by its don ' t-m esswith-a-good -thing policy. O ther than some obvio us cosme tic cha nges (white radiator sh ro uds , new graph ics a nd seat co ver), th e 1991 Honda C R250 isn 't significantly modified from last year 's model, excep t in one area - suspensio n. T he CR250 might have man y strong po ints , rep u ta tion -wise, b ut one o f them wasn 't in th e suspension dep artment. Bu t Ho nda has ma de a big effort to cha nge th a t for 1991. For many years, Honda has relied so lely o n Showa suspension co mponents on the CR250, b ut for this year 's mod el, th ey've switched to a Kayab a shock, while, stra nge ly enough, reta ining a Showa fork. T he new shock feat ures 22-position compression, 20position rebound and pl enty of sp ri ngp reload adjus tahi lity, a nd th e shock linkages now use Teflo n-coa ted bu sh ings, shock mounts and linkage thrust washers to red uce fricti on. Althou gh th e 45m m ' inve rted cartrid ge fork is still a Showa un it , it has been completly redesig ned. The most sig n ificant cha nge in vo lved movin g th e fork sp ri ng above th e ca rtridge housin g so that the spring no longer rubs agains t it. In past mod els, th e rubbing ac tio n crea ted meta l flak es th a t would co ntam inate th e o il. H So how does the suspension work now? Bett er. T hat's abou t it. Most of th e improvement is in the rear wit h th e new Kayab a shock . It has a mo re progressive feel co m pa red to last year 's Showa unit, but th e back end still has the tenden cy to bounce arou nd, especia lly o ver sma ll, sq ua re-edged bumps. . O ver th e ro lle rs, o r more ro u nded wh oops, th e back end does its job well , but for th e more aggressive ri der , the back end co u ld use som e tu ni ng. . T he front end still feels a litt le o n th e harsh side, but th e overa ll feel is good. U nfortunately, the harder th e front end is pushed, th e m ore ap parent th e harshn ess becomes, a n d then th ere's head shak e. Yep , it's st ill the re. It's no t as obvio us as before, but wh en yo u ge t on those rela tive ly flat su rfaces, wide open in fifth gea r, th ose litt le b rakin g bump s a t th e end o f th e stra ig ht wi ll ' m ak e yo ur fo rearm s pump up in a h u rry . Don't ge t us wrong, though , the new Show a fork is mu ch improved over last year's uni t, but th ere's still room for even m ore improvement. . As a wh ole th e CR 's suspens io n ge ts the job done a nd sho u ld satisfy most riders, but fast intermed iat e- a nd prolevel rid er s w i ll be lo o ki ng i n to afterma rket suspension mod ifica tions in search of more stab ility for th e straig h ts. Despi te the CR 's so-so suspens io n packa ge, th e CR handles extreme ly well. It rai ls thro ugh th e turns a lmos t effortless ly a nd can be flicked over th e j u m ps a nd ledges wi th great ease. T he CR is well -bal anced which helps give it an overall ligh t feel. A lo t of th is also has to do with excelle nt ergonomics. T he seat is narrow (alt hough not too na rr o w) a nd firm , a nd blends ni cely wi th th e smallis h 2-ga llo n gas ta n k. T he ta n k is well within reach of th e rider 's kn ees, allowing good grip w he n the go ing gets ro ug h. It goes withou t saying th at th e CR2 50 still has th e best gr ips; levers and handlebars in th e busin ess. We have yet to co me acro ss a nother bike with bett er contro ls th an th e H onda. Excep t for so me mi nor cha nges to th e 38m m Keihin car b uretor, th e CR 's 249 cc, li quid -cool ed mo tor is "

• Cover