Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127398
eRIDING IMPRESSION 1992HondaCR250 ~ Red devil O"l O"l ....... no more By Donn Maeda Photos by Nate Rauba he 1991 Honda CR250 was ~ scary machine. Wh ile the motor cou ld easily be considered th e best in its class, the bike's suspen sion left mu ch to be desired in stoc k form. T he fork was too stiff and rigid, and the shock wou ld often spi t the bike's rear end from side to side. That, combin ed wit h th e state of the class po wer, mad e the '91 CR250 a handful, to say the least. Even a grown man cou ld be transformed into a wh impering child in a rnatter of laps. Good newsl Take those memories, and throw them out th e door. For 1992, Honda has redesigned the CR250 from the ground up. Despite th e eno rm ous success that last year's model enjoyed in the capabl e hands of J ean-Michel Bayle, wh o won the Camel Supercross and 250cc Nat ional Championships aboard a facto ry-modified CR250, and his teamma te j eff Stanton, Honda' engineers op ted to dear the sla te and T 18 star t from scra tch . Along with th e blinding new flourescent red plastic, . this year's CR250 boasts an all new motor, fram e and suspension. The new motor was redesignedfrom the cases up to be lighter, and more compact. Besides weighin g a full two po unds less that it 's '91 cou n terpa rt, th e new mill boasts a refined power valve system that is made of 50% fewer parts, 35 rather than 76, and is claimed to produce more low and mid-ran ge po wer than its predecessor. When you remo ve the new exha ust system and look at the right side of the cylinder, you will noti ce that there is no external coo la n t hose running from the cylinder head to th e cases. In order to tuck the pipe in better, the coolant now flows through cases to the cylinder. Cylinder co mp ressio n is u p th is year, and a revised port design, a modified reed va lve asse m bly an d diHerent ignition timing grace the new motor . Like the mo tor , the fram e is all new. The stee r i ng ra ke is two degrees steeper, th e tra il is 21.8mm shorter, an d the overa ll wheelbase has shru nk by an inch . The Irarnezis claimed to be lighter yet torsionall y stiffer tha n last year' s mod el. . (Left) The CR250 feels extremely light and flickable in the air, bu t upon hard lan dings, . the new triple-taper design fork (above) will bottom, The new fork is designed to provide more flC;X than past versions, The new motor (right) is smaller and lighter in 1992, and features an all-new power valve that incorporates 50% fewer pa rts tha n last year's design. The motor produces a strong, easy-to-control powerband, but the carburetor comes jelled too richly.