Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

2001 Honda CR250R By STEVE C O X PH OT OS BY C O X AND N EIL C A N NO N E c:;-;::J he Un it ed Stat es is the strongest motorc y cl e m arke t in the world today , and until th e recent intr oduc t ion of t h e Cannond ale , we have lack ed a ser ious Am e rican -made m o t o c r o ss machine. But , with th e possib le exception of Austrian ma nufacture r KTM , the top motorcycle m an ufacturers in terms of both sales and t ech no lo g y ad v anc em en t for a l o n g t ime now have been Honda , Kawasaki , Suzuki and Yamaha . A lth ough the Japanese are making better-handling , quicker, lighter and faster motorcycles today than ever b efo r e , there ar e some domestic compan i es using o ld -fash ioned American ingenu it y and engineering to come up w ith some u n i q u e adjustability options, as well as fixes for some of t he re c urrin g upgrade o pportunities that the Big Four manufacturers ha ve ye t to rea lize . Our 200 1 Honda- CR250R spent a while in our garage between Michael By rn e's impressive ride aboa rd it at the U .S . Open in L as Vegas last October and Chris Sprenkel 's' recent co m mandeering of the m ac h in e to figh t it out at the first few outdoor Natio nals of th e yea r. In lat e Decem ber, m an ag in g editor Ch ris Jonnum asked me to throw a few bolt-on parts th at we had re ceived onto t he re d mach ine . I d id so happi ly - I'd do almost anything t o get out of my office , a n d I l ov e w ork ing on d irt b ikes an ywa y . I i n st a ll ed a set of Fastwa y St ain l ess Steel Evo lu t io n pegs , an Eddie Sanders Raci ng (ESR) 3 -N - 1 adj ust able exhaust pi pe (which us es different -s ized exhaust " head ers " to allow you to adjust the power of the motorcycl e) , a Cycra Lite front fender, and an Oberg Sports stee rin g assembiy , T w ist er frictionless b ill et aluminum throttl e tube and handlebar v ibration -da mp ening system . Then the bike sat some more. In m id -April , Jonnum asked me to t ake t he Honda ou t a few tim es to te st it . It seems every one else was a U little too bu sy ith other assignments to do it. "No pro blem by me," I said . After all , o ne of the only things better tha n wo rk in g a motorcy cl es is riding them . The an g e was "T he Ultimate Adjustabl e CR2 0 ," but it turned into m ore of a mass ro duct eva luation. I decided to do most of m y testing at Lake Elsinor MX Par k in South ern Ca li forn ia . The reason was that th ey hav e a fa irly fa st , jump -filled " p ro" p ly pu ts more track th at would probably work emphasis on to p -end erforma nc e t han a motocross bike well fo r t esting most of the parts on the bike , an d they also have needs. In m otocr o ss, t here' s always a " vet" track , w icti is tighter and ~ii~liIiilllii another gear if yo u need m ore speed. There is simply not enough roo m requires much ldWer speeds in this column to pra ise the pegs as so that I could tes olJt the ~ t ElIck come up, much as I feel the y deserve. In addi ESR p ipe in its lew-en d>w.onder ing what tion to be ing extremel y w ide pla t setting. kind of triple forms ( 2 1/4 inches l ) . the Fastwa y O ne o f th t h ings about the b ike , da.mps I had on Evolut ion pegs are a lmost too other than the f act that it the Honda (and lidjustable. I set the camber to po int still sp o rted By e' s number not a single one just slightly higher than dead flat, 990 , is tha t even' single co ntrol asked m e if I was which helped force my knees into the Michael Byrne - I've got bike. but I left the adjustable teet su r f ac e on i t is comp let el y adju stable. On ad is adiusta.. - t _w.wor 0 rn us alia acc ")'_ _i -fIa , because ha " ha 'm u d bi lity m a k es for a true all - a round The ESR 3 -N -1 ex h a ust p ipe i s to . These pegs make your feet lo ve motorcycle. This CR can be adjusted adj usted v ia three d ifferent -sized bil you when encountering heavy land t o any rid er, track condition or track let-al uminum " headers," whi ch place ings, but th ey aren 't g rabb y at all _ em phasis on a certain power range you can get your feet off the pegs t ype . I'm used to st iffening susp ensian a couple of clicks for supercross shorter header for top-end, longer for without a sec ond thought when perapplications, going up a tooth o r two lo w -en d . When used on th e middle form ing aerial anti c s or c o rn e ring . setting , the p ipe works w ell enough They justfeel secure _ simple as that. on th e rear sprocket and c han ging tires for a doughnut most compatible for any tra ck at wh ich I ride . It pro The Ober g Sports Twister throttle with th e co nd it io ns, b ut the Ob erg vides plenty of low -end power and tu be is designed with bearings inside Sports ste ering assembl y a n d t he doesn 't fall on its face t oo hard u p to a llow for e asy twisting , a nd ESR ad justable exhaust p ipe allow top . When sw itched to the longest although it felt remarkably easy, I'm y o u to adjust the actua l f e el and . head er, it motors ou t of the c orn ers not sure it was much easier to twist power output of the m oto rc ycl e. with a notic eable inc rease in low- end than the stocke r is. The k nurled exteI fo und th at the steerin g assem bly p o p , wh i ch w ork s well for tight , rior of th e tube d id kee p the grip rea l work s best for m e in th e middle (third . su p erc ro ss- st y l e trac k s, b ut no t so Iy secur e , th ough . How ev e r , th e of five ) position, b ut I also found it well on any track where you spen d Oberg handleb ar vib rat io n -da m penbeneficia l to move the bar fo rw ard more than 30 seconds pe r lap in thi rd ing rods made a reall y notic eab le d if ferenc e. After ri ding th e first day o n on e po sit ion when fac ed wit h a tig h t , gear or hi h er. Th e short header sirn Ig supercross-style track - it allows m e to stay over the front of th e bik e a litt l e ea sier. My onl y qualm w ith th e stee ring assembly was that you actu ally have to remove th e triple clamp comp letely in orde r to m ove the ba r there simpl y is n' t en ou gh ro om to l oo se n th e b a r cl amps w h ile the ste ering assem bly is at t ached, But it looks reall y cool. I had mo re th an o n e .g u y at th e- ESR's 3-N-1 adjustable e xhaust allows you c hange the bike's power outpu1 via three different-sized "head~rs..,·.....~_ Fastway's super-wide, a dj ustab le Evolution pegs. Oberg Sports Handl~bar Vibration-Dampening System Oberg Sports Competition Steering Assembly $49 $!69 : Cycra Lite High-Performance Works Fender $34.95 Fastway Evolution Series F3 Steel Footpegs $169 Fastway Universal CR Mount (required for CR mounting) $49 Oberg Sports Twister Frictionless Billet-Al uminum Throttle Tube Eddie Sanders Racing (ESR) 3·N·! Adjustable MX Pipe 22 J UN E 13,200 1 • cue I EO n e Vll s $61-69 $169 ($184 nickel-plated)

• Cover