Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ric h sid e, but a slig ht rep osit ion in g of the needle cured that right u p. The H onda ' s moto r, h ow ever, ha s never really been qu esti oned in recen t yea rs . What w a s qu est ion ed was th e bike's qu irky handling traits - tra its that can be blam ed for the CR's recent slump in popu la rity . Wh ether or not the al u m inum-constructed fra me is to blam e (so me say it is, so me say it's not ), th e recent CR250Rs flat ou t beats you up and wears you out on the track. With a motor like the Honda's : the last thing you want is a n ill-ha nd lin g ch assi s - suc h as the Ho nda' s. The word "plush" has not been in the Honda's vocabulary as of late. Honda, however, is trying very hard to cha nge th is a nd , as a result, mad e many refinements to th e ' 99 CR250' s chassis to hel p stabilize th in gs on th e track and to provide a less punishing rid e. Up fron t, th e 250' s 47mm Showa cartridge fork (the CRI25 R uses Kayaba forks ) fea tu res new spring rat es, goi ng to s tiffer .42 coils w ith new, lighter d amping se ttings . In a ddi tion, th er e' s ·less stiction thanks to a new low-friction oil-seal lip and a mor e rigid stanchion tu be w ith an internal shape cha nge to red uce side- load friction . Changes to the top sp ring rat e a nd air-p ress u re ratio, alo ng w it h a n ew , tw o-p iece pi s ton bu shin g, co m bine efforts to resist bot toming. In the ba ck , a new Showa sh ock is 1m m s horte r, res u lti ng in a 0.6 -inc hlower seat height, a more rela xed caster a ng le a nd increased trail (plus 4mm to 113.4). Like the fork, the shoc k featu res new spring and d am ping rates. The linkage rati o has also been altered slightly. Alt hough we a re still in th e ea rly stages of testing, we feel that it's safe to say th e C R250 is a b e t te r -h andli n g machine. Th e bike feels less twi tchy and nervo us than befor e, the back end tra cks s tra ig h t over the acc ele ra tion bumps, and the fork do es have a more plush feel - at least on tracks with semi-loamy dirt, ro lling -ty pe who op s, and large ju m ps . We have yet to rid e the CRs on a hardpacked track with a lot of squa re-edged holes, which, in the past, have given the CR250 an d its rid ers a lot of trouble. We d id however, ex perience, so me confi- d ence-r a ttlin g head sha ke o ve r sharp braking b u mps at s peed , so we' re not entirely su re the CR250 is com p lete ly ou t of the woods w he n it co mes to its past handling woes. We found that small da m ping ad justmen ts make big di fferences with the CR's suspension. Those who have ridden our C R250 h a v e h ad to ma ke on ly s mall adjus tments to meet their initial needs. Over the next few weeks, we'll visit more tracks on the CRZSO, but for now , we're happy wi th w hat Honda has d one to the '99 CR2S0's chassis, and espec ially the mot or . Every thin g else about the '99 CR2S0R is typ ical Ho nda : The bra kes are awesome, the transmission works beautifully, the seat is comfor table (and now a little softer), the controls need little effort to operate, and there's less vibr ation thanks to the new rubber-mounted ha nd lebars. The CR1 25R received ma ny of the sa me ty pe of chassis upg rades as th e 250, bu t the 125 was al rea dy a betterhandling machine, which no d oubt had a lot to do with the fact that it is inheren tly lighter, has softer suspensio n settings and less horsepo wer than the 250. Su spens ion and handling wer en't a big co m pla in t with th e ' 98 CR125R bu t a lack of top end wa s, so we were a little su r p rised w h en w e fi rs t h eard that Honda d id n' t really d o a w ho le lot to th e mot or. Some people w er e ho p ing th a t H ond a wo u ld si m ply stuff t he much-liked '97 motor back into the aluminum fram e; ins tead Honda stuck with last year's five-speed motor but mad e a few chan ges to it, like going to the carbon reed valves an d the new dual-taper needle in the 36mm Keihin carburetor. The 125 now has the sa me 16-bit, 3-D map-type igniti on as the 250. This p retty m uc h sums u p a ll th e ch anges to the CRI 25R's motor . Like the 250, we have onl y had a few rid es on the ' 99 CRUS, a nd th e bik e mad e a good first impression on us. We like the way the engi ne res po nds to the throttle - qu ickly and clea nly - but we are - so fa r - hard-pressed to feel a ny real great horsepow er gain anywhere in the powerband. Ov erall, it's not the kind of mot or that wows you but is ins tead kind of bu sin esslike: It jus t ge ts the job d one - no thing mor e, not hing less. We have no ma jor co m p lai n ts wi th the 125's chassis or suspens ion, just like last year. Similar to the 250, the new 125 feels pe rha ps a little more stable d own the straights a nd through the whoops, and in spite of the nice, plush ride, we ha ve ye t to bottom the sus pension at eit her end - at least we never felt it if we did. (The Sho wa fork has a new , high erd ensity elas tome r bo tto ming sto p.) In all, we feel that bot h the new CRs are im proved motorcycles, but we won' t kn ow for su re just llOW im proved until we put more time on the bikes and start comparing them to the other new models - back to back. But, for now , we ca n say with co n fiden ce th a t H ond a h a s d o ne its ho m ew o rk , but w ill th at be enough to overtake Kawasaki's KX250 or Yama ha YZ I25? 0 We'll soon find ou t. Honda CR250 &CR125 Specnicalions CR250 CR125 Engine Liquid-cooled single·cylinder two- stroke ..Liquid-cooled single-cylinder tw o-st roke wI power-po rt system wI power-port system Displacement 249cc 124cc Bore x stroke 66 .4 x 72mm 54 x 54 .5mm Compression ratio 8.7:1 _ 8.8:1 Induction Six-petal crankcase reed -valve Crankcase reed -valve Carburetion 38 mm flat -slide ._ __ . . .. 36mm flat-slide Ignition ._Solid-state 3-D map-type digital 3-D map-type digital wI electronic advance Solid-state wI elect ronic advance Transmis sion Final drive S uspension Front Re ar Close-ratio 5-spee d C lo se -ratio 5·spe ed 1/ 20 chain: 13T/5 0T 5 1/520 chain: 13T/ 51T 47mm inverted Showa cartrid ge fork with 16-position rebound and 16-position compression -damping adjustment; 12.4 in. travel .......46mm inverted Kayaba cartridge fork wI 18·position rebou nd and 20 position co mpression -damping adjustment : 12.1 in. trave l .. Pro-Link Showa single shock wI spring preload. 17-pos ition rebo und-

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