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/127857
RIDING IMPRESSION D1RIatR250R people did. How ever , so me people felt the CR cou ld' ve used more bottom end, and said that the moto r was a little too explosive when it did come on the. pipe as yo u approach ed th e middle of the powerband, leav ing their arms feelin g like cooked spa gh etti after a good, hard mota . But ove rall , most agr eed that the CR's mo tor was good, so Hond a left well enoug h alone and made only a few minor changes to the '98's 249cc, liquidcooled powerplant. The 38.3m m Keihin Power Jet Control ca rbu re to r ha s new jetting specs, and, because of a new position for the upper' shock mount. the intake boot is slightly different. Other sma ll cha n ges to th e motor include a new stainless-steel clutch cable and a re d esign ed countershaft for a stronger mounting of the countershaft sprocket. Mos t of the changes to the new CR revo lve around the suspension. Many people w ho rod e the bike complained that the '97 CR sim ply felt too rigid and ha rsh, and its ove ra ll handling so metimes fe lt a little tw itchy, so Honda made so me sus pens io n and frame changes to give the '98 CR a less rigid feeling. In the back, Honda actuall y went to a s tiffer spring; going from a 4.9kg /mm sp ring to a 5.3kg /mm coil, but a new linka ge rati o counteracts the s tiff e r sp ring while prov iding a mor e linear resp onse. It' s the same setup used by World Ch ampion Stefan Everts on his wo r ks HR C H ond a , a nd ca n a lso be found o n the ne w, aluminu m- fra med CR125R. The shock s troke has been increased by 5.8mm, resultin g in a small increase of rear-wheel travel, up from 12.6 inches to 12 .9 inches . In a move to in crease strength , the upper sh ock mount has ยท be moved slightly in the frame. en Some e ffo rt w en t into mak ing th e ac tio n of th e in verted Show a fork as smooth as possible by reducing friction wherever possible . One such method . was to install a new thrust washer at the top of the fork to a llow the sp ring to turn as it compresses. Anoth er method w as to ' co at the in ner s u rface of th e front-fo rk ou ter tubes w ith mol ybdenum, a super-slippery compound . The fork also features a new ca r!ridg e sys tem tha t is d esigned to be easier to disassembl e and maintain . Frontw heel travel ha s been increase d a few millimeters as well. The CR' s fra me geometry ha s been By Kit Palmer Photos by Cameron Coatney ither yuu really liked the Honda or yo u d idn't. That seemed to be the con sen su s on the 1997, alu minu m- frame d , twin-spar CR250R after its first full year of production . Many Pro rid er s liked the CR for i ts rigid chas s is and ar m- w re nchi ng p o w~r, bu t it w as these exa ct s ame things that had many lesser-skilled riders com plaining about the CR. It' s on e of those Catch-22 things. The bottom line is that the '97 Honda is just one uf those bikes tha t needs to be ridd en hard - ve ry hard - before yo u even start coming clos e to reach ing the CR's full potential. Unfortu na tely , no t . very many of us are good eno ug h to do that, so Honda did some fine-tuning to the '98 CR250R in hopes of ma king the b ike more pliab le and u ser -friend ly, thu s more pleasing to a wide r range of rid ers. 10 Irs hard to faul t a motor as powerful as the '97 CR's motor, and not too many The new Honda CR250R doesn't feature any drastic changes for '98, and you won't feel any, either. The mot or stili rips, and the suspens ion is slightly Improved.