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/127945
Honda Df DDR 1$2f SS} andD2DDB '3248 Our beginner riders complained a lot about the two XRs - mostly that the bikes were hardly available for them to ride because the editors were always racing around on them. It's amazing how much fun you can have with a couple of pucker bushes and two little XRs. The XR100 and 200 are some of the funnest bikes on the planet - for beginner and experienced riders alike. Both XRs are propelled by user-friendly, air-cooled four-stroke motors that pump Ol,lt decent power for their respective displacements, and, just like every motor in the XR family, are extremely reliable - or should we say absolutely bullet-proof. The 100 features a five-speed gearbox, and the 200 a six-speed, and both transmissions operate via manual clutches. The chassis of both bikes are built strong and seem to hold up and perform well for our overweight (for the bikes, of course) editors with heavy wrists. Everything about these motorcycles - frame, suspension, motors, seat, fenders, gas tanks, etc. resemble the big bikes (the XR600 and 400) but on a smaller scale, so Junior will be proud to ride around on one of these bikes that looks just likes Dad's. The XR100 is slightly smaller in size than the 200. In comparison, the 100's seat height is 30.3 inches, and the 200's is 33.5 inches; the 100 has a claimed dry weight of 149.9 pounds, the 200222.7 pounds; and the 100's wheelbase is 49.4 inches, the 200's 53.5 inches. Honda aIso has the ever-popular XR80R. It too has an air-cooled four-stroke motor, with a fivespeed transmission and manually operated clutch. It weighs only a few pounds less than the XR100 at 141.1 pounds, and has a 28.S-inch seat height and a 47.0-inch wheelbase. Since the XR80R and XR100R are so similar, and truck space was so limited, we opted for just the XR100 for our ride. You can pretty much assume ~at what goes for the 100 goes for the 80, as well. "I liked the XR1oo," Mandy said. "It's easy to ride. It's a great beginner bike, because you didn't have to worry about stalling it, and it's small. It's not intimidating at all, and I could start it okay." Mandy, however, was turned away from the XR2oo. '1t's just too tall for me," Mandy said. "I couldn't ride it." For Theresa, though, her 5-foot-4-inch frame did fit the XR200 nicely, and she enjoyed riding both bikes as well. And then there was Brent. By the end of the day, he had graduated from the DSSO to the XR100 and was in full dirt track mode before it was time to load up and go home. Be felt the DS was a great bike for him to learn on, even though it was a little too small for JUs 5-foot-3-inch frame. Once he had built up his confidence riding the DS, the XR100 was the perfect next-step bike for him. The XR200, he said, was a little too tall for him. But that was a few weeks ago. You have to hand it to Honda, because they offer - by far - the most well-round-ยท ed line of entry-level motorcycles, with their 250, XR70, 80, 100 and 200 models. And then, as you grow and your skills improve, you can graduate to th~ XR400 and XR600. Think about it: You could learn on the Z50 and end up racing the Baja 1000 an the XR600 without ever leaving the Honda family. Obviously, Honda knows the importance of getting the whole family involved in motorcycling. .. Brent also enjoyed the Honda XRl 00, but then again, who didn't? The XR200 fit the bill for the more experienced riders. Some of the editors couldn't keep their fingers off the XR200, or the XR100 for that matter. - Yamaha RTf SO '24S8 Yamaha offers two entry-level RT models - the 100 and 180. Both bikes are powered by aircooled, two-stroke, kickstart motors; the 100 with. a five-speed transmission and the 180 a sixspeed. Both motors are nestled inside relatively small frames but have different "Personalities when it comes to suspension. The smaller 100 features a standard dual-shock rear-suspension system, while the 180 boasts a more modern monoshock rear-suspension system; both bikes use telescopic forks up front, but the 180's forks are beefier. Planting both feet on the ground shouldn't be a big problem for most people on these bikes, as the 100 has a rather low 28.7-inch seat height, and the 180 has 33.9 inches. Speaking of seats, the lounge chair on the 180 is gigantic, giving the bike a somewhat odd appearance. A big seat like that should be great for those long days in the saddLe, but we'll never know. At least for a while. ~ii;-;;::;;--::-::-----l We Simply did not have any luck with the RTl80 RT180. At Lucerne, we just couldn't get the bike to run longer than a few minutes. The bike would start, then act as though it was fouling a plug and simply die. After trying everything we could think of to keep it running, we finally gave up on the 180 and returned it to Yamaha the next day. They gave us a new one right out of the crate Gust like the previous one) and it acted the same way. Our guess is that a batch of 180s have ignitiontiming problems. We will try to do a follow-up story on the RT180 in the near future.