FMF Suzuki RM250
STOR Y AN D PHOTOS BY
M A TT F REE M AN
a c k in No vembe r of 2000 , the
Cycle New s staff underwent the
rigorous ordea l of a 2001 250 cc
Motocross Shootout. The intent was to
ch oose the best overall 250 cc
motocrosser - one worthy of standing
atop the Cycl e News Shootout Podi um . As ev en ly match ed as all five
bikes tested were , the Yamaha YZ250
was labeled th e " ch oi c e cut : wh ile
th e Kawasaki and Honda tied fo r sec ond , filling o ut the pod ium. Ne xt
ca me th e red esigned Suzu ki RM250 ,
whic h coinciden ta lly tied w i t h t he
K T M 25 0SX (also a p r odu c t o f a
ma jor '01 face-lift ). T he YZ, KX and
C R had all undergone t he fewest
changes for '01 , so it was co ncluded
that the Suzuk i and KTM needed a littl e polish wo rk. Enter FMF an d Pro
A cti on .
A lth ough the 250S X a n d t he
RM 2 5 0 were both wo rthy '01
redesigns, the Suzuki had spent more
time on the factory operating table .
Nearly every piece of t h e RM was
new from t h e insi de out for 200 1,
B
34
J ULv 1 1 , 200 1 •
cue
I
e
and although th e bike still c am e up
lacking , w e were sure it had great
potential. So when roommates FMF
a nd Pro Action offered t o d o so me
qu ick afte rmarket probing o n th e
RM250, we eagerly accepted, hop ing
to get, in return , a more p olished
package.
We 're pleased to rep ort that
extens ive work w as not n ec essary ,
and the Suzuki was quickly delivered
back to us w ith affordab le and mini mal changes that are availa b le to
J o e Publi c through the FMF ca ta lo g.
The mods that Pro Action m ad e to
the Ka yaba fork and shock are also a
setup tha t yo u too can purchase for
the legs on yo ur '01 RM250. Howev er, aside from t he coo l aft er m ar k et
parts that FMF bolted on , such as a
909 handlebar, grips and adjust-on the-fly cl utch perch , the question still
rem ain s: did th e meat of the project
resu l t in an y sig nifica nt i m p rove ments in the ove rall perform ance of
the RM250? We think so .
THUM B IN' IT
Motor, Suspension, Handling and
Miscellaneous were the four bas ic
n
e
_
so
categori es used during the judg ing
o f th e 250 cc Motocross Shootout.
You ma y recall that eac h c ategory
was g i ven i t s own box and each
machine ' w as given th um bs -up and down mar k s for its performan ce
and/or des ign. Really , the best way
to measure FMF and Pro Action's
improvements is to rat e them
aga inst the conc erns or comp laints
that w e had with the Suzuki (the
thumbs -down points, in other
words) in each of the four shootout
c at ego rie s.
