Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

compared to the horsepower king - the Honda CR250R. They said they needed to "clu tch" the bike, w hereas with the CR, they d idn' t. Fur therm ore, so me of the faster testers also felt the RM could use more power on top, but even though they claimed th e RM wa s a little "fla t" on power in ce rtain areas, none of them really thought this was a major problem. They felt that what the RM may lack in pure horsepow er is m ad e up for in usability. Whil e all of our testers sa id the Ho n da h a s more power overall, most of them agreed that the CR isn't as easy to contro l as the RM, which is certainly somet hing you' ll come to appreciate late in a long moto. The RM's motor is very forgiving and less tiring to rid e. So , w hen race d ay ca me, most of ou r testers foug ht over the RM, not the CR, claiming they could rid e the RM just as fast as the CR an d for a longer period of tim e before getting tired out. A comp laint we - and many other pe0ple - have had with the RM250 in recent years is excessive engine noise, a proble m Suzuki certainly addressed this year. The last th in gs you want to h ear while revving up the bike on the starting line are strange noises resonating up from the engine. With the RM, these noises were actua lly normal and of no real concern , but w ere a n noying nonetheless . The ch an ges Su zuki made to su p p ress this problem seemed to work. There is far less n o ise com in g fro m d eep w ith in the engine cases, which perhaps helps give the rider better peace of mind and more confidence. It's kind of a mental thing. Som e th ings abou t th e RM's engine h aven't cha nged, s uc h as t he w ay it shifts - reall y well. However, one rider com p lai ned abou t "hittin g neutral" a lot, but that wa s when the bike was fairly new. This problem went awa y as the transmission becam e more b roken-in and had a few good rides under its belt. Throttle response was spot on and, overall, the RM' s motor jus t plain felt good . Chass iswise, Suzuki made a few significant changes, as we ll. First of all, certain areas of the fram e have been beefed up with additional gu sseting and bracing, and both the front and rear suspensions took on some retuning . Up fr ont, effort was mad e to bo th improve th e fork' s performance a nd reduce weight. Intern ally, changes to the 49mm Sho wa-made conventiona l forks include the use of a new dam per-p iston ring with reduced frictio n, longer slide bushings and revised damping rates. To reduce we ight, the compression-damper s haft has been cha nged from steel to a lu mi nu m; th e sp ring collar ha s been cha nged fro m alumi num to plastic; the gu ide bush ing is thinner-wa lled; the oillock collar has been cha nged from steel to alu minum; and the rod d iameter has been reduced from 12 to lOmm. Out back, the rear-susp en sion linkage has been cha nged to a different ratio (ve ry s im ilar to tha t of the Kaw a sa ki KX250), and the shock featu res a 4mmlarger damper asse mbly, a new damperpis ton ring, and new damping rates. On the track, we feel that the biggest d ifference betw een the ' 97 RM250 and the '98 RM is in the suspensio n departm ent, which is grea tly improved. For one , the new rear linkages raise the back of the bike to give the RM a mu ch mor e bala nced feeling . Over the years , the RM250' s rear suspensio n has become known for its twi tchy and unp red ictab le manner, and Suz uki felt the reason for th is w as becau se th e b ike just w as n ' t balanced correctly. "You can ha ve th e bes t sus pe nsion stuck" through the turns, meaning the back end didn't bounce around over the acceleration bumps. The RM' s r ear s us p e n s io n easily soaks up not only th e smaller bu mps, but landings off large jumps as well. The back end is complimented by the excellent forks. They, too, work ex tremely well. Perhaps now that th e back end is working correctly, the front end feels even better because it d oesn't ha ve to work twice as ha rd , doing its own job as well as spe nding much of its time bailing the back end ou t of trouble. Basically, the fron t and rear sus pension work in harmony better than they have in a long, long time. While previous RMs have had their quirks, they have had man y good traits as w ell, which ha ve not been lost. The '98 RM still slices through the turns with ease and ha s awesome brakes. It's also a great jumper. Overall, we fee l th e '98 RM250 is a much- improved motorcycle, mostl y in the suspension and handling d epar tments. Some intermediate- and expe rtlevel riders will still want mor e power across the boa rd , but everyone else will probably be quite pleased wit h the RM's com pliant yet still powerful-enoug h-toget-the-job-done powerplant. So, wa s th e new RM250 worth the wait? l~ We think so. 1998 Suzuki RM250W Specifications Price $5649 ENGINE Type (Above) J umpi ng can be a lo t of fun on the RM250. Excellent ergonomics Inspi res confidence. (Left ) Changes to th e eng ine make it more user-friendly than eve r, wh ich most people will like, but Experts might want an other horsepower or tw o. (Below ) Suzuki ch anged th e 25O's exhaust power-valv e f ro m a twostage des ign t o a single-stag e system, resuttin q in a more linear sp read of powe r. components and d esign, but if the bike isn' t balanced, it's all for naught," said a Suz uki spokesman. Th e RM has go ne fro m a s kit tis h- and so me times even scaryhandling machine to a mu ch more solid and predi ctab le anima l. No lon ger w ill you hear the word "swap" used w hen d escribing the way the RM250 rear suspension takes the squa re edges or lips of ju mps; in st ead , m ore o fte n th an not you' ll hea r the w ord s "plus h" or "s table" used to describe the RM' s back end . Even w he n h ard on th e gas w hile exitin g rutted comers, the rear tire stays close to the ground, d igging for traction. We heard one tester say the RM "really Liquid-cooled. piston-reed. two -stroke Bore x stroke 66.4mm x 72.0mm Displacement 249.0cc Compression ratio 9.0/1 0.9:1 Carburetion Keihin PWK38 Air cleaner Foam element Starting system ' Primary kick Lubrication system Premix 32:1 TRANSMISSION Clutch Wet. multiplate type Gearbox Five-speed constant mesh Final ra tio 3.846 (50/13) Drive chain 525 chain. 114 links CHASSIS Suspension Front . . .. .Twin Chamber conventional. 18·way compression/ 14-way rebound damping Rear ....Link-type. adj. preload. 20-way compression/21 -way rebound damping Wheel travel Front 11.4 in, Rear 12.6 in. Rake 27" T rail .4.37 in. Brak es Front Disc Rear Disc Tire Front 80/100-21 51M Rea r 110/90-19 62M CDI Electr ica l Spark plug _ NGK R6918B-7 D IM EN SI O N S AND DRY MASS 0 / A leng t h , 86.0 in. 32.1 in. O /A w idth 0 / A heigh t .49.0 in, , .. ,58.3 in. Wheel b ase 13.8 in. Grou n d clearanc e ,. ' 37.4 in. S eat height Claimed dry weight 213Ibs. Capacities Fuel 2.2 gal. T ra n sm i ssio n -oil 0.9 qt. Coolant 1.2 pt. 49

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