Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

e SHoor·oDr Honda CR250lKawasaki KX25O/1ITM MX25O/Suzuki RM250lYamaha YZ250 m ' ., The players: (Left to right) KTM MX250, Kawasaki KX25O, Honda CR250, Suzuki R M250 and the Yamaha Yl25O. All are different bu t very much the same. Huh? Photos by Kinney Jones e don't envy anyone who's in the market for a 1991 250cc m otocrosser. H avin g 10 choose the best b ike from th e o fferi ngs fro m H on da , Ka wasak i, KTM. Suzu ki and Ya m ah a is lik e tr yin g to dec i de w he ther 10 spen d your vacation a t Disneyland or Disney World , espe . cia lly if you live in Kansas. But no mailer which 1991 250cc rnotocrosser you choose, you ca n't go wro ng; there's not a so ur grape in the bu nch. H ow ever , th ese five machines do . have the ir own pe rso na lities, a nd th ey a ll have th eir own stro ng poi nts . With a ll of them carry ing a p rice tag near th e 4000 mark, it's a good idea to kn ow exac tly wh at you wa nt a nd don 't wa nt in a mo tocross bik e. H o pefully, wh at we've di scovered by spe nding time o n all th ese bik es will make you r decision j ust a little bit easie r. W Motors There's no doubt th at th e Honda CR250 re igns in th e p ow erplant d ep artment, a lt hough th e Yamaha YZ250 isn 't far o ff th e pace. Even th ough th e H onda pulls stro ngly off th e bottom , its real stro ng point is th e power surge from midrange o n up, which is sligh tly stro nge r than th e Yamaha 's ou tp u t. P lu s th e H onda's powerband is a little bit wid er than th e Yamaha's. The YZ seems to hit a bit harder th an th e Honda wh en th e throttle is first turned on at low rpm, but from th en o n it' s all H onda. The Kawasaki KX250 a lso hits hard o ff th e bottom, but it 's not as exp los ive as last year's KX, so it's easier to ride. Compar ed 10 th e H onda, th ough , th e Ka wasak i seems to come on th e pi pe a Iittl e smoothe r and soo ner, a nd, o The Yamaha boasts one of the most powerful motors of the bunch. perhaps, has a bit more mi drange as wel l. Bu t the Kaw asaki doesn't pull as strong or as lon g a t high rpm; the power seems to level off a long way be fore th e H onda 's d oe s with its ext reme ly broad powerba nd. The KX certainly has a potent motor but yields to th e H onda a nd Yamaha on top of th e rev ra nge . It tak es a littl e bit o f work to utilize the fu ll pot ential of th e Su zuki RM m otor. Its p owerb and is sl ig h tl y narrow er tha n th e rest of th e bik es, a lt hough it packs th e stro ngest punch in the middle. Bottom and top-end power is nothing to ge t overly excited abo u t, but th ere's enough punch at both ends to get the job done. It just tak es a lillie bit m ore th rottle and clutch work to o p tim ize the RM 's excelle nt midrange. There just isn 't much room for error. Once one learns 10 ta ke 'adva n tage o f th e midrange power on tap, Suzuki's powerplant proves itself to be very potent, The KTM MX250 motor is perhaps th e most fun to use. It pulls extremely well off the bottom, hooks up nicely in th e middl e, and produced just eno ug h power on top to keep all of our testers happy. In fact, everyone wh o rode th e bike was pleasantly surprised to find that it was so easy and forgiving to work with, a nd all said th ey'd be more than happy to race it. Horsepower -wi se. th e KTM has just enough pow er to give the Japanese bikes a fight on a hard-packed track, but on a horsepower-robbing sand track, we feel the KTM will work up a sweat in order to keep up. T ra n sm ission All five of the bikes' gearboxes shifted well, but th e H onda had the smoothest work in g clutch a n d tr ansmission co mbi na tio n o f th em a iL The Honda's clutch has a n extreme ly light pull and progres sive feel . a nd missed shifts were non exi sten t. As far as gear ratios, some 'G

• Cover