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/127599
eRIDING IMPRESSION 1994SuzukiRM250R ~ By Kit Palmer Photos by Kinney Jo n es and Donn M aed a ,,;;...a viden tly, there are two prereqI . u isites when applying for an p;,II engineering position at Suzuki. 1_ Not only must one be a techni---I cal whiz, but an accomplished 10 ma g icia n as well. What else cou ld explain how a motorcycle such as the '94 Suzuki RM250R can take on so many changes and perform so differently than it s predecessor, yet still look nearly identical? Somehow, the folks at Suzuki managed to do jus t tha t. It takes a well-trained eye to d istingu ish the difference between the '93 and '94 models. Without resorting to the use of a magnifying glass, there ar e two wa ys: First, the unsightly "250" decals that used to be glued to the side panels are now attached to the swingarm, and the front disc brake guard is now yellow instead of white. Also, the "RM" stickers which adorn the radiator shrouds ar e now a slightly dif ferent color. But the important changes are hidden within. Suzuki alread y ha d a good th in g going with its '93 RM250; it was fast, the power hit extremel y hard and it was graced by good suspen sion and quick handling qualities. F or th ese reason s . alone, it was a hit with the more experienced riders, but for '94, Suzuki decided to tam e d own th e RM ju st a littl e bit, " ...so 250 riders of all skill leve ls can feel co nfi den t on th e bike," to q uo te Suzuki. In order to ma ke the RM250 more "userfriendly ," Suzuki made many small-but-effective performance and reliability changes to the 249cc, liquid-cooled, case-reed induction engine. On e o f these chang es in cluded redesigning the intake tract, making it straighter to provide a smoother path for the fuel mixture to the combustion cha mber. Suzuki also made the intake tract sho rter to reduce the distance the fuel mixture must travel. These changes are claimed to provide a smoother - yet still q u ick - throttle r esponse. Th e changes also requir ed th at th e clutch and magneto covers be mad e larger and the shift lever reshaped. Cylinder porting changes have also been made to enhance mid-range and top-end performa nce, while an all-new exhaust pipe has been designed to bring ou t more bo ttom-end pow er. , To increase d urability, a second ring has been incorp ora ted into the piston and the crankshaft bear ings have been enlarged . Acco r di ng to Su zuki, the clu tch hou sing has been beefed up, though the clutch itself uses one less drive and driven plate to help improve feel. Suspension-wise, the biggest news is the new Showa fork, which features what Suzuki calls the Twin Chamber sys tem. The term, "Tw in Chamber" describes how fork oil is separated into two areas of the fork. Previously, the cartridge and the rest of the fork shared the sam e oil supply. Now the oil in the cartrid ge is completely sealed off from the rest of the system. This prevents air con ta m ina tion of oil in the cartridge, which can hinder performance. One unique design of the new fork is that all the internal parts have be en inverted - th e co mp ressio n damping adjuster (18-way) is no w a t the top in the fork cap and the rebound adj us ter (l8-way) is at the bottom of the fork . And the lighter-rate spring is located in the bottom half o f the fo rk . Th is rearrangement of controls was primarily to relocate and enla rge the oil lock system, which pr even ts harsh bottoming at the end of the stroke. In order to improve the RM's tracking