Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Engine type Liquid-cooled. pis reed valve. 2-stroke. single Bore " stroke 66 .4mm x 72.0mm Displacement 249cc Compression ratio 9 .0/ 10.8 :1 C arburetion Keihin PWK38 w/ Power Jel Transmission . .S-speed constant mesh Final ratio .48/ 13 Drive chain 520 chain Ignition type KHI SUSPENSION Front 46mm inverted, 'cartridge Kayaba fork. fully adj . R_r . .Uni-Trak, Kayaba shock. fully adj. WHEEL TRAVEL Front 12.2 in. ~,: 13 .0 in. Rake 26' li rail : .4.3 in. ES but shifting is a little hea vy . I experienced a few missed shifts between secon d and third gears, too. "The Yamaha is probably my second favorite of the group. It too has an excellent po wer pl an t a nd perha ps th e best p ow er band of them all. Combine these things with a so lid- hand ling chassis and you have a great bike that should please a wide range of riders . Why I chose the KX over the YZ is almost a mystery to me, too, but I guess the Kaw asaki jus t fits my rid ing s tyle a littl e bit be tter than th e Yamah a. That's how close these bikes are. "The Suzuki is right the re, too. I feel the RM has the best all-aro und forks , the best transm issio n, and the best tu rning ability - the tighter the turn, the bette r. "Motorwise, I feel the RM pu lls very hard on top but cou ld use a ta d mor e po wer in the mid dl e of the powerban d . Still, this bike hi ts hard and ru ns hard . "Th e H ond a is a ro cke t s hi p wi th excellent bra kes, cl u tch, sh iftin g and improved suspension, but it has tw itchy h igh-speed ha nd ling . I lo ve the CR' s motor; I th ought the p ow erband w a s right on, too. The loss of the Power Jet d id not phase the Honda one bit - yo u turn the throttle and it delivers. " O ver all, th e H o n d a is v as t ly im proved . The fork is better, the shock is better, but you still have to pay attention to headshake. Of course, ther e are the usual Honda plusses: excellent-feelin g co n tro ls, co mfor tab le ergonomics, . beautiful atten tion to d etail - such as the chai n roller that rides on roller bearings - and nice p la s tic. Although th e alu minum d ust that ru bs off the frame and on to you r boots an d the bike's side panels is very annoying. This rea lly makes the bike look ugly. "T he KTM' s mot or is very trac tab le, tha nks to its supersmooth powerband . It d o e sn 't produ ce a n on loff typ e of power by any stretch of the imagination, . as yo u can feel the KTM's off-road heritage in the SX. It can still get yo u ther e, cl ea r o n the o the r bikes, I magicall y could on the Suzuki, no problem. I felt I co u ld slam into berms ju s t a little bit harder on the Suz uki and could hammer the whoops just a little harder, too. I'm not saying the RM mad e me a hero by any means, but it did make me feel like one. "Last year, I ra ted the RM second to the KX, and I probably wo uld 've rated it high er had it had more power. Well, I got my wis h this year. "Th e 1998 RM250 had man y things go ing for it: excellen t turning capabilities , a pl u sh su spen sion, silky-s mo o th shifting - just to name a few . It sti ll has all these trait s and more, primarily m o re power and bett er for ks. "Bu t no mat ter how muc h I like the Suzuki, I d on' t lik e it that mu ch mor e than either the Kawasaki or Yama ha - or the Honda, for that matt er. I was pre tty mu ch just as happy on any one of these bik es as well. I still like the Kawa saki' s mo tor slightly bett er than the Suzu ki' s beca use of its bro ad er pow erband and bu t n o t th e way t he C R d o es . To m e , t h e KTM works best when th e terra in gets dry a n d s lick , b ecau s e th a t ' s w he n the motor's linear powerband is put to good use, espec ially when I' m ge tting tired. "The KTM's new WP shock is mu ch im proved over last year's shock, an d the conven tiona l fork reall y wo rks w e ll. 'Plu sh ' best d escr ibes th e KTM's su spensio n. . "The bike handles well, too. It has a very stable feel, and headshake is next to non existent. As far as cornering goes, I was able to th read the KTM throu gh the turns - even rutted ones - quick ly and effortless ly. "The only things I reall y d on 't like abou t the KfM is its overly touchy rear bra ke, a nd I d id n't care for the feel of the shift lever, eit her. "As a former KI M owne r, I really wouldn' t have a problem owni ng one again." KzL f.J uLme r VET INTERMEDIATE alk abo ut going back and fort h: I don' t know how m an y ti mes I d e cl a re d u nd er my helmet that the bike I was rid ing at th at momen t was m y u lti mate p ick. A t firs t it was the Kawasaki, then it was the Yamaha, then II T There is n't anything the Kawasaki does n't do well on any kind of tra ck . the Suzu ki, the n back to the Yamaha, an d so on . I'm mean , they're a ll that good . It's a great time to be sho pp in g for a 25 0cc MXe r . You s im p ly can 't go "'l rong. " I fi na lly h ad to ask myself which bike I jus t felt b e st o n , w h ic h b ik e I w ould choose to rid e if there wa s a big race coming up and I really wa nted to do well. My choice, I fi na ll y deci d e d, wo uld be the Suzuki. "I'm not even su re I ca n pinpoint w hy, but the Su zuki just had m y number. For me, th e Su z uki inspired confidence. If there w a s a double jump or a ta b leto p jump on the track tha t I ju st cou ld n ' t q uite 00 0\ 0\ ,- oo~ ,l-; QJ ,n S. QJ :> o Z 7

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