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/127960
RIDING 1999 Honda CR250R and CR125R IMPRESSION !"'------'-~ By Kit Palmer Photos by Kinney Jones _ _.. o nda is ge tt ing ve ry s er io us about wa nting to get back on top of the motocross scene. Over the last couple of years, Big Red's race results haven't been wha t the y used to be and, as a result, neither have its sa les num bers . And Honda does not like either situation. . On the racin g fro nt, Hon da appea rs to be stacking the deck with a four-mart rotation for next year's ou tdoor Na tional and Supercross series, and if that rotation does in fact come toget her, the red fighting sq uad ro n - which could quite poss ibly b e m ade up o f Ez ra Lu sk, Kevin Wind ham, Sebastien Tort elli and Mickael Pich on - will be incred ib ly toug h to shoot down. . But what abo u t the bikes the y will be ridi ng? Will they be just as tou gh ? Obviously, the CRs they rid e ar e highl y modified racin g machines tha t are litter ed with works parts and are ma in ta in ed a n d prep pe d b y so me of th e bes t mechanics an d technicians in the world. But sometimes eve n the best tu ners and a dump truck full of wo rks parts can' t win ch a m p io n s h ip s wit hout a solid fou nd atio n on which to bu ild . Having experienced this as of late, Honda went to work on the '99 production CRs and mad e ma nv re fi n em ents to bo th th e CR250 and 125 (but mostly to the 250). Even though Honda is hungry for a title, they d idn' t forge t abo ut the loca l weekend racer. Honda representatives sai d they wanted to find that fine line 48 _'.. between building a firm base for its race team and keeping the CRs tame enough for us m er e mortal s to rid e, which is so mething the engi neers tried especially ha rd to d o th is ye ar. Recentl y, we got the chance to spin a few laps on bo th the '99 CR250 a nd the 125, and ou r init ial impression is that Honda has come very close to acco mplis hing its goa ls. Startin g with the 250, it' s no sec re t that the CR's motor simp ly rips , and has for man y years now - only the Kawasaki 1O<250's pow erplant riva ls the Honda's powerful mot or . But Honda felt th ere wa s still roo m for improv em ent, mainl y in th e bott o m -e nd d e p artm ent. Th e answe r wa s to go to mor e-sensitive, sixp etal ca rbon reed va lves, fid d le wit h cylind er p ortin g, tw eak th e cy li nder head , reprogr am th e ig n ition, bu ild a new exha us t pipe, and, in a surprising mo ve , eli m ina te th e Power Je t on th e new 38mm, flat-slide Keihin carburetor, which now features a dual-taper needl e and a reshaped slow-je t circui t. Ho nda claims that it simp ly cou ld not ge t the kind of bottom end they were loo king for wit h the Power Jet sys tem. Even thou gh we haven 't pu t mu ch time on the bike, we feel this could be the best CR250 motor yet. Picture last year's hard-hitting, high-revvin g motor but with more pull off the bottom and you 'll have a good idea what th e ' 99 CR250R is all abou t. This bike is plenty fast and powe rful (what else is new? ) but it now hooks up better and is more tractable than ever before. The motor is awesome. Period. Our bike came jetted a little on the