Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

required in orde r to pu t the lOC's power to the gro und. Nex t came the KTM 250SX follow ed , very closely by the Suzuki RM25O. While we love d the KTM forks, the res t of the bike didn't stir up as mu ch excitement am on gst the tes ter s. Som e felt th at the bi ke still h as th a t odd European feel, while ot he rs thought it felt "normal." The bike's weakest p oin t is its narrow powerb and. Though the midrange pu nch is impressive, the Aust rian-built motor is lacking good low- and top-end power. Thou gh it earned the least amount of poin ts from ou t testers, the Su zuki is in no way, shape or form a loser. The RM consistentl y earned average and above avera ge ratings from the riders, and all of th e tes te rs agreed that th ey co u ld competitively rac e the ' Zook, The RM ha s the bes t motor in recent Suzuki histor y, and th at alone ma kes th e bi ke a winner in ou r opin ion. In the h an ds of the rig h t rid ers, any of th e five machines can be rid den to I~ victory . Wh ile Cycle News believ" the fo regoing test reliable. it is the opinion of the reviewers only and should not be relied upon in determining the perfor mance or safety of the uehiclets) . The reader should make his or her own investigation. H ave yo u ever owned a motorcycle that seemed as thou gh it was des igned strictly for you? The kind of mo torcycl e that yo u immediately fall in love with and would happily lay your hard-earned cash on the table for. For me, the last motorcycle like this was the 1982 Suzuki RM25O. At that time, I felt as thou gh I couldn't lose on that motorcycle. To this da y, I have yet to come across a motocross bike that kept me smiling as much as that RM did. But I have to say the '95 Yamah a YZ250 comes close. The YZ is easily m y favori te of thi s year's crop of 250cc motocrossers. Much of this has to do with the YZ's powerful yet very manageable motor. It might not be the fastest bike of the five - altho ugh it's close - but the yz's , powerplant is the most user-frie ndl y. I must admit that, as a whole, I like the Honda's motor slightl y better, but the two powerplan ts feel very simil ar . It's jus t th at the Honda's mill pumps out a tad more "oom ph" throughout the powerband. How ever , even th ou gh the Honda might have more " ponies" overall, I don 't think its power advantage over the YZ wo uld make a d ifference on the resul ts sheets . Not only do I like the YZ's motor, but its sus pension is great, as well . Even on the not oriou sly rough Carlsbad MX track. a perfect testing ground for sus pension, the Yamaha performed flawlessly. I had no complaints. What didn't I like about the Yamaha? Starting it. The kickstarter is a little awkwa rd to u se, w hic h usuall y Model - - -- _.- - List Price £i s£,a~ e~e~ - - - bu t can use a tad more power off the bo ttom . I absolutely love the fork bu t I'm not overl y excited abou t the rear suspension, or the way it turns. It has a "heavy" feeling in the corners. Overall, though, I think the KTM is extremely easy to ride an d is very sta ble, an d, as a result, I could go fast on it righ t away. It makes an excellent GP bike. I hate to rat e the Suzuki last because this sounds so bad, which isn' t the case at all. Instead, the Suzu ki is a downright good moto rcycle. It has a powerful yet easierto-control motor, good sus pensio n and good h andling qualities, but, to me, these qualities don't shin e unless the bike is ridden aggressively at all times. Althoug h I feel fast on the Suzuk i, I jus t do n' t feel as comfortable on it as I do going the same spee d on the Yamaha. Plus, we spen t an equal amo un t of time on all five bikes, but the Suzu ki see ms to vibr ate more an d feel a bit more "th rashed" than the rest. What I liked best about the Suzuki was the way it corners an d accelera tes out of the turns. It also ha s good bra kes. Realistically, all five of these motorcycles are excellen t motocrossers. It's jus t that each one has their own distinctive personalities, strong points and qu irks. Perhaps the only imp ortant differe nce between these mo torcycles is where you pu rchase them . In other words, which dealershi p treats you best. Maybe it's more approp riate nowada ys to do a "shop shootout" every year? -Kit Palmer Honda _.- _.Kawasaki - Suzuki - - _._._._._.-CR250R _.- - _._.- - KX250 - - - _.-KTM 250SX -- _._.- _ ._ -- - - RM250S - - - - -Yamaha-VZ250 _._-_._._._._.- - _._.- $5099 $5249 - . - - . - - - _ .- _. - . - - ._. ~4~':... _ ._. -. _. _ ~4~c_. _. _. _ _. _ Engine type - - -stroke - - -"- Borex - _._-_._._.- ~o~p~~:!.~~ra _ . ~o resulted in a bruised foot, and I missed a number of lap s of practice changing fouled spark plugs while cold-start ing the bike. My second favorite wa s the Honda. Inmy opinion, it has just two main ad vantag es over the Yam ah a: It ha s mor e overa ll power an d it comers better. Othe r th an th ese two qu alities, I feel that both bikes a re eve nly matched. They both have ex celle nt erg onomics, good jumping characteristics, awesome brakes and both seem well built. However, I'd hav e to put the Honda's suspensio n at the bottom of my list. This is one ar ea that the Yamaha shines over the Honda. Had it no t been for the Honda's harsh and busy sus pe nsion, I would've had to toss a coin to choose between the tw o bikes. The Kawasaki could 've bee n inclu ded in the coin toss if they made three-sided coins. It's an excellent motorcycle as well, and it had one distinct characteristic over the other four bikes - an explosive hit in the early part of the powerb and . Because of this, the bike can be very intimidating. especially at first. You feel as though it' s goin g to loop out every time you roll on the throttle, but once yo u get the hang of it, you can simp ly fly on the lOC wi thout tryin g all that hard. As for the rest of the bike, I liked it a lot. The suspension is good , it handles well and it's fun to ride. It just takes a little ge tting used to. I can go either way with the KTM and Suzuki, but I have to give the KTM the nod . It has an excellent motor Liquid-eooled. s inglecylinder two-stroke - - - - - - - - - - -66.4 x 72mm - -- -- - . !.7~ Carburetion 38mm flat-slide 55048 - - . _2~.~ _. Liquld-eooled. single- - - _.- . - _. - S4999- _ . _. __ . - - - _. _ ~~c _. Liquid-eooled, single- cylinder two-stroke cylinder two-stroke - _.- x-nmm - _ .- - ---67.5 x 69.5mm - - -_ .- - - 66.4 - - - _.- - - - - -- - - - - - ~.~1~8:.!. . _ . _ 38mm Keihln _ ._ . _ . _ _ .~A_ _ _ _ _ _ 39mm Keihin ~n~~ = .= = =:= - - ~~ci-~tale = _ _ ~ - Liquid-eooled, s inglecylinder two-stroke - - - 67 x 70.8mm Liquid-eooled. s ingle- ---- - - - - - - - _ ~4~ 38mm Keihin - - ._._ cylinder - _._-- -two-stroke - - 68 x 68.8mm _ .- - - - - - - - . _. _ ~:~1 ~~~ . _ . 38mm Kelhin _ - - - -"- - -- Ei~iaIcE = = = .= =:=:=D~i§1 = = :!".ra~s ~~o~s~~ - - - . -55149- - - - - - --~~!C~ - - EieCir~nl~ _ _ =. =: =. = :E~ : = - - _ ~ . ~ _ ._ ~ta~i~~s rst~ m ._ ~i~ !I~ _. . _ . _ . _~k_._ _ _ ~c~ . _ . ..!

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