Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

SHOOTOUT 1 998250ccMX Shootout By the Cycle News staff Photos by Kinn ey Jones his one is easv , It's been a "long time since the editors here at Cycle Neuis and ou r fleet of "rented" test rid ers haven't argu ed , s o metimes vehem en tly, about choosing the overall winner of a 2.5Occ shootout, but this year, things were different. There were hardly su ch arguments after many hours of testing (on a variety of tracks, we might add), th rashing, trail riding a nd racin g eac h and every machin e. That's bemuse all - well, almost all- of our nine testers (two pros, two intermedia tes, on e vet intermediate , a n d fo u r novices) agreed that the Kawasaki KX2SO is, hands down, the best machine out of the crop of 1998 250cc MXers, which, in th is comparison, inclu d es th e H on d a CR250R, the Yama ha YZ250, the Suzuki RM250, the KTM 250SX, th e Italian-bred 1M 250MC, and , of course, the Kawasaki. Last year, some liked the new alum inum framed CR250, others the KX, and a few even had arguments for the Yamaha YZ250, but when all th e vot es were tallied , th e Honda wo n ou t - barely - th e clincher bein g the CR's superior motor. Sometimes shee r ho rsepower is just too hard to ove rlook. But the KX w as a close second last year and had it not been for being just a tad (and we mean a tad ) down on ove rall p o wer to the CR , th e KX m ost lik el y wo u ld have wo n our co mpa riso n ou tright. 8 (Right) Ready for action: The TM, Kawasaki, Honda, KTM, Suzuki and Yamaha glisten In the sun at Perris Raceway. (Below) The Suzuki RM250 Is the most-improved of the group but could still use a little more power. MOTORS For 1998, Kawasa ki add re ssed this area by go ing to a lar ger KIPS powervalve sys tem (bigge r po rts and valves), changi ng exha us t port specs, increasing the length of the reed petals and adding a pow er-jet sys te m to it s Keihi n PWK 38mm carburetor. Ta-da! The end result is a su perpow erfu l ye t ultra m a nageab le powerp lant that even the Honda's motor - which is u ncha nge d from ' 97 - can't touch, at least when it comes to usabilit y. Yes, the CR might still pull a little harder on to p th an the KX, but th e Kawasaki shines evervwhere else. The bottom line is that Kawasaki managed to im prove on th e '97 m otor' s wea k p oints (w hi ch w er en't m any ) and leave the al read y s tro ng a reas alo ne, making this motor about as perfect as you can get. One of our pro testers said of the KX's motor: "It has a grea t hit that launches you ou t of com ers and is still very usable - a very exciting motor." "It has power whenever you need it," said one of our intermediate riders. And th e KX's motor was o ne of th e three bikes ou t of the six to wh ich we did not make any jetting changes . The Honda motor sti ll ri ps, but th e majority of our testers felt that it lacked a little too much grunt off the bottom - an area w here the KX's motor really stands out - resulting in an abrupt transition from bottom to mid. The result? Ti red arms. Our less-experienced riders struggled with the CR's explosive motor, even thou g h they were im p ressed wi th th e bike's ou t-and-out power. But the Honda just flat wore th em out. They admitted tha t they just had a harder time mana gin g the CR's power. The faster riders, however, said they could "live" with the hardhitting motor and wen t on to praise how the CR just keeps pulling on top; however, even the "fast guys" confessed tha t the Honda requ ires a lot of strength and stamina to ride. That's their way of saying that the CR wore them out, too. "I had a hard tim e trying to get this bike to work for me ," sa id a pro rider. "It's ha rd to ge t that kind of power to work for you lap after lap . Combine that with a harsh suspension and rigid chassis - the Honda seemed too brutal for me." As far as jetting on the Honda is concerned, we made a few minor cha nges to lean things out a bit to improve throttle response and smooth ou t the low- to-mid transition. (See spec box.) Also, Ho nda technician Eric Crippa suggested we try p uttin g a spacer between the exhaust pipe and the manifold, effec tively len gthen in g the headpipe. He said this would be a qu ick and eas y (no t to mention chea p) met hod of improving bottom end. Crippa wa s true to his word , but the space r also mad e the mo tor even more explos ive. It did n't need that so, for the sake of our forea rms, we preferred the bike wi thou t the space r. Believe it or not, the CR isn' t necessarily the fastest bike of the six we tested , as the 1M riva ls it w he n it comes to abso lute brute power and top speed. The TM fla t o u t hauls. Most of the

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