Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

·S O TO T 1996 Middleweight Off-Road Comparison HO U (Above) The opt iona l alum in um tank giv es the TM 250 Enduro that " works" look. (Left ) More aggressive riders will li ke the TM's somewhat plpy motor, but there Is enough bottom-end to get the job done. ed the fron t wheel where he w anted to go . After riding in the rain and mud, the unpainted Messico pipe immediate ly turned ora nge with ru st. so it' s a good idea to keep a large stock of steel wool and WD-40 on hand. Th e TM com es w ithout a spark ar resto r, and getting on e for i t might be a p r oblem . The silencer is qu ite big and lon g, and nearl y sticks ou t past th e rear fender. A bolt -on s ilen cer- tip sp ark arrestor w ould d efi nit ely protrude beyond the fender. And good lu ck trying to find a repl acem ent a fte rm a r ket s ilen cer / spa rk arrestor combo for th e TM . As fa r as get ting basic parts for th e rest of the bike, Pete Vetrano of TM Imports ass ures us th at getting parts for th e TM is not a problem. We a lso like th e TM's no-slip seat cover th at fea tures a built-in tim ecard ho lde r. Some of ou r testers did not care too much for the TM's (or, for th at m at ter, th e CRE's) centersta nd . True, centers tand s req ui re fl att er a nd solid ground, and are more awkward to use compared to the m ore trad itional sid estand asse mblies, b u t ce n terstan ds come in han dy w hen a djus ting the chain or making trail sid e flat-tire repairs. G rade: B YamahaWR250 TM 250 E nduro Positives: Look coo (espeetally with the s l aluminum tank) Centerstand Excellent suspenson Runs strong frommidrnnge onup Non-slip seatcover Negati v es: The motoris onthe pipy side Mediocre bottom end Tall seat height Price · It ain't cheap hard pull, w hile othe rs didn't notice one way or ano ther. The TM feels a littl e on the tall side, an d a cou p le of riders m en tioned that they felt th e aluminum tank was too w ide. Ag ain, o ther riders had no comp lain ts . H owever, th e top o f the kickstarte r lever does rub against the bottom of the tank. . The TM go t a unanimous thumbsup rega rd ing its suspensi on. Both front and rear suspensions feel very linear, as though yo u' re riding on a couple of pillows. Thi s m akes th e TM an ideal choice for rocky terrain. De spite th e "p lu sh ness," the TM's suspension is also capa ble of handlin g th e hard hits at speed . Overall , the bike feels very sta ble an d stu rdy. Desp ite feeling tall, the TM can carve its way through the switchbacks like a hot knife through butter. One rid er sai d he thought the TM turned when he sat nea r the back of the sea t and jus t point- H er e' s another favorite among our testers. Th e WR250 pleased ou r novice and more-experienced off-ro ad testers a like, proving to us that th e Yamaha sho u ld a ppeal to a wide range of rider s. Powerwi se, th e Yam ah a ha s pl enty, both off th e bottom and on top. You can ch ug the WR up one-lined, rocky an d rutted hills, then pin it and blast d own th e more wide-open section s with ease and confidence. The Yamaha does com e on th e pipe pretty hard but no t to th e point where we 'd call it exp losive . It is still very rid able. But yo u can ' t ride it w hen it' s fou lin g plugs, so m eth ing the WR d oe s all too ofte n. Every da y w e rode the bike, th e Yamaha would foul a plug at least o nce, m ore often th an not right a fter starting it. If yo u were lu cky eno u gh to ge t past th e w armup stag e, yo u'd usually get fi v e m ile s o r s o b e fo re th e inevita ble braaaaa, braaa, bra, bro. Aft er ins talling a new plu g , you co uld, st ra ngely enough, usually ride the rest of the d ay without any m ore problems. The next d ay, though, yo u could always count on fou ling ano ther plug. We had th e sa me problem with th i s y e ar's YZ250, as well as previous YZ and WR models. MISCELLANEOUS An< : Husqvama Suzuki TM Y ama h a S i d e stan d Yes Yes No Yes Centerstand No No Yes No Odome ter No'" Yes No No · No Yes Yes Kawasaki Yes Li ft han dlels) Yes Hand guards No Yes O -Ri ng c h a in Yes No KTM No" Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Skid plate No· No No No No S /A W /stock p ipe No· Yes Yes Yes No· EP A -a p p rov e d No No Lighting coil Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Head/ tail lights No Yes Front d isc b r a k e guard No No Rear b rak e g ua r d No . Yes Large tank l 3+ gal.) No 18 -;n . r ea r wheel -Offered as optional -18-inch wheel opt iOnal No· Yes No • Yes No Yes Yes No· No Y amahaWR250 Positives: Powerful butmanageable motor - verssnle Good bottom-end Handles well. very maneuverable Good tumer. lovestheswitchbacks Negatives: Fouls plugs Carburets poorly (hard to jeV No odometer.hand guardsor spari< arrester Does not clea up well. tankloses sh n ine. sc ratcheseasily. Our bike wa s impossible to jet . At first it ran way too rich, then after a few minor adjustments, it was m uch too lean (but s till fou led p lugs). We ju st cou ld not find the per fect se tting with th e oldsty le, round-slide carburetor, so we had to be con tent finding a happy m edi um, ending up a tad o n th e rich si de. The flat-slide YZ carb w ould undoubtedly help. O therwise we li ked th e WR a lo t. Bo th our more- and less- experien ced off-roa d riders felt right at hom e on the Yamaha, giving it high m arks on engine u sabili ty a nd overa ll good hand lin g . Th e bi ke doesn' t feel too ta ll, b u t th e seat is a little soft . The WR d id not clean u p well after a mu dd y day on the trail. The pu rpl e tank lost all of its shine, and the rider's knees left the sides of the tank almost white with scratches. The strateg ically placed decals on the side panel (right where the rider's boots rub against) rubbed off in a hurry. Our once brand-new WR now looks like a 5-year-old thrasher. Ugly! Grade: B+ WHAT'S THE VERDICT? If money were no object, and based on performance alone, it w ould be hard not to chose the CRE as our favorite of the eight bikes in our comparison. The CRE is th e perfect choice for the serious off-roader. Ever yone who rode the bike liked the CRE's tractab le, powerful and clean-running motor. And since the heart of the bike is a H onda, you know that it 's buil t well. Th e CRE ' s Factory Connection-tuned sus pensio n is firstrate for off-ro ad riding, and the bike is just an all-around solid-handling motorcycle. Wh en yo u receive the CRE, it' ll be race-read y unless yo u intend to com pete in enduros; th en yo u will need to sho p a round for an el ectronicall y o pe ra ted odo mete r . A mechan icall y d ri v en odometer ca n 't be u sed o n the CRE since Honda has go ne to larger-diam eter front axles. H ines uses an ICO odo m eter on his National bik e. Next, we'd ch oose the KTM, m ainl y because it possesses an awesome motor, fo llo wed by th e Yam aha, Suzuki, TM, Kawasaki, ATK an d Husqvarna. But since mon ey usu ally is an object, we asked our tes t riders which one of the eight bikes the y w ould bu y, keeping in m ind performance vs. price. Most agreed they 'd visit their local KTM dealer. After all, th e KTM ha s an outstanding motor, good suspension (though the fork needs some fine tuning), and comes out of the crate race- and even end u roready, th anks to its built-in odometer. At $5498 the KTM fits rig ht in the m iddle of the group and is nearly $1000 less th an the C RE. It is abo u t $1000 m ore than the KDX - the leas t-expen sive bike of the eight. In our opinio n, the KTM is th e best va lue for the buck. The WR also starts looking good in this category. For approxima te ly $200 more than the KDX and about $750 less than th e KTM, yo u ge t a serious MXtu rn ed-off-road -bike that' s nearly race-

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