Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Suspension-wise, Pro Circu it s uspension technician Jim "Bo nes" Bacon immediately re m o ved our o ptional, s ti ffe r fork and shock springs, ' a nd replaced them with the s tock sp rings. "The s tiffer springs are a quick fix, bu t th e y a ren 't necc essary w hen you change the va lving," sai d Bones. (In bone stock condition, we felt th at the .40 fork springs were too soft, as the fr ont en d tended to d ive excessi vely u n d e r he av y b r ak ing . Stiffer .42 springs s ee med to so lve that problem.) Bones cla imed tha t th e sto ck forks were too soft and divey, d elivering a harsh ride, because they rode in the bottom half of the suspension stroke. "We revalve the for ks to ride higher in th e stroke, res ulting in a plusher ride," said Bones. "The new valv ing is more progressive." O ut back, Bones seemed appalled that we h ad a n optiona l 5.8 s p ri n g installed - two full steps stiffer tha n the stock 5.4. "The stock rear spring is just fine for most riders ," he said . "The stock shock feels a bit twitchy, bu t a large part of tha t is becau se the front end rides SO low. Fixing the forks puts a greater load on the rear end , and helps the bike work better all around." Bones fitted our shock with the OEM 5.4 spring, and revalved the internals to have a "looser" feel. "The shock isn't bad in stock cond ition , it's just the forks that make th e shock feel harsh," said Bones . " We re valve the s h oc k to b e more complian t, w hich helps get rid of the twitchiness." To h elp provide a better fee l up fron t, we installed a se t of Answer's Pro -T a per Handl ebars . Because the CR250 ha s so lid-mounted handlebars, the entire upper triple clamp had to be rep la ce d with Answe r ' s clamp kit. Thou gh qui te p ricey, th e billet aluminum upper clamp fits perfectly and is an absolu te work of art. Honda H igh Bend Pro Tapers are our favorite, with 1/2" cu t off each side . The stock Honda gri ps were carefully removed from the stock handleba rs and reinstalled on the Pro Tape rs. As if the Honda CR250 didn't already stop well enough, a complete Over size Front Brake Kit from Braking Brake Sys tems was fitted to the front end. The kit, which consists of a largerdiameter rotor, a machined caliper bracket and a se t of semi-metallic carI:on-fiber brake pads, was easy to ins tall and fit per fectly. Similar to the vorks ro tor used by Jeremy McGrath, an d identical to the rotors used b y Tea m Kawasak i, 'the speci al rot or is mad e of a unique high -carbon content stai n less steel, which Braking claims v ill provide a much higher coefficient .> friction. The rotor is 20mm la rger f :ha n the stock unit, and is laser-cut rath er than stamped - to ensure that it :s p erfectly flat. To ac co mod ate the larger rotor, a trick, machined b ill et alu minu m bracket relocates the caliper, and like the rotor, th e pads ar~ larger than stock as well . Adding to the "tr ickness fact or" of our machine w as a washer kit fr om Lightweight Products . Specializing in lightweight aluminum, magnesium and titanium parts, Lightweight Products supplied a kit that contained d rilledout aluminum washers for just about every application possible. Did they make us go faster? No, but they su re looked cool! Also adding to the bike's works look was an aluminum rear axle nut. Completing the bike's transformation was a complete set of white plastic, su pplied by Acerbis USA, and a complete (Above left ) The Pro Circuit pipe fit perfectly, as did the N-Style Impact Graphics. The fue l tank sticker is perforated to allow gas fumes to escape wi thout bubbling th e gra phics. (Above right) The Braking Brake Systems Oversize Kit wa s awesome. It too, was easy to install. (Below) The Pro Taper machined aluminum triple clamps are a wo rk of art. The Pro Taper bars do a good job of absorbing vibration. and are qui te resistant to crash-related bending. (Left) Pro Circuit 's wide footpeg s provide a wid e platform that spreads out th e Impact fro m hard land ings. graphics kit fro m N-Styl e. All of th e Acerbis body parts are mad e to stock configura tions and bolt on very neatly. Perhaps the m ost noticeable ch a nge . made to the motorcycle was the add ition of N-Style's all-ne w Impact Graphics kit for the tank and rad iator shrouds. The fuel tank panels are perforat ed to allow gasoline fum es to escape withou t bubbling the vinyl, and as far as we can tell, the durability of the kit is excellent. N-Style also supplied pr e-cut numberplate backgrounds, a set of Pro s numbers, and decal kits for the rear fender and swingarm. Oka y, so the bike looks bitchin', but ho w does it wo rk? Our fir s t ri de a bo a r d th e white Honda ca me a t the high-s peed Gra nd Prix MX co u rse a t Glen Helen OHV Park, and we must ad mit tha t the bike fell sh ort o f our expectations...at first. Known as a track th at can cause any bike to shake its head, the Glen Helen course kept us on our toes for the first few laps. Initially, we felt tha t th e Pro Circuit-modified suspension delivered a harsh ride in comparison to the s tock settings, bu t as the day wo re on all of the testers learned to adapt. Though the springs we re softer, we found th at we could charge ha rd er in to com ers a nd and harder off of ju mps w ithout the front or rear end s bottoming. Over th e high-speed sq ua re -ed ge d bumps that abound at Glen Helen, however, we felt that the CR was not as compliant as the stock bike. It was at a rough, whooped ou t sand track tha t the bike's modified su spensi o n began to s hine . In d eep-roll in g whoops, the fron t and rear ends allowed us to pick our technique - slam the faces of each whoop, or do uble through them. Either method of a tt ack was handled with ease. In comparison to the stock shock, which seemed to pack up after a few large hits , the Pro Circuit-modified shock bounced back with just the right amount of rebound - not too fast, not too slow. The forks bottomed a few tim es under heavy hits, bu t a few clicks on the compression adjuster solved that problem. Lake Castaic MX Park, a supercrossstyle cou rse that features a mu ltitude of single, double and tripl e jum ps, brought ou t yet another si de of the CR's new personality. Without touching the compress ion adjus ters, we found that the suspension handled most of the hard land ings with ease. Tightening up the comp ressi on a couple clicks bo th front and rear, however, instilled even greater confi dence, and bottoming was not a problem. The wider footpegs felt great, especially at Castaic. The wi der-th anstock pl a tforms were m uch easier on our feet, and one look at them leaves no 35

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