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/128180
2002 Suzuki RM250 (Left! Trying to keep cost and modifications to a minimum, we converted the '02 RM250 Into capable off-road racer while maintaining its motocross know-how. (Above) The RM was the perfect mount for the WORCS series, such as the Lake Havasu round in Arizona, where this photo was taken. Anyway, my plan was to take the RM250 and modify it just enough to make it off-road capable without harming its moto prowess and, more importantly, to do so without spending a large sum of cash. The motocross part was easy, since Suzuki already did all the work to what I thought was already a very good stock motocross bike, so all of the modifications I made to the bike involved making it a capable off-road racer. There are a few off-road musts when it comes to setting up a bike for off-road, such as handguards. I chose the small, 909 Roost Guards, simHar to the ones that Travis Pastrana runs (though his are made by Acerbis). For the WORCS series, the Roost Guards are sufficient and don't look out of place on the motocross track. I really didn't want to swap the stock tank for a larger and bulkier off-road tank, and I tried to get by BY KIT PALMER PHOTOS BY MADDOX PHOTOGRAPHY O ur 2002 Suzuki RM250 project bike featured here looks pretty trick, doesn't it? Actually, it's not. At least not as trick as it appears, and that was the whole idea. Let me explain. You see, when we concluded our 250cc motocross shootout last year, the RM250 was my outright favorite of the bunch. No, it didn't win our shootout, but it was my personal favorite bike of the group, and I took the bike under my wing when all was said and done. But I had a bit of a dHemma: I wanted to ride the bike in the 2002 World Off-Road Championship Series (WORCS) - maybe even a local enduro or hare & hound - but I also wanted a bike that I could get my moto fix on during the week, and that bike had to be, of course, the Suzuki. I didn't want to make a full-on off-road bike out of it, nor did I want to make it a full-on, tricked-out MXer, so I compromised, just like I would have had I purchased this bike. After all, I like motocross and offroad riding and, in the real world, there would be no way I could justify buying - well, at least to my wife two bikes to satisfy my riding needs. And I'm sure I'm not the only one out there in the same boat. 54 NOVEMBER 1 3, 2002' cue Fuel Tank Rear Sprocket Flywheel Weight Exhaust System Handguards Graphics Numberplate Backers I e n e _ s with the stocker at a couple of the late WORCS rounds last year, but having to pit to refuel just wasn't worth losing a position or two, so Mike Webb, Suzuki Off-Road's team manager, suggested I try the same tank that Rodney Smith uses on his GNCC RM250 - a 3.3-gallon IMS unit. Webb claimed that it's thin enough that it won't hinder moving around on the bike or change the erg os. As it turned out, his claims were right, plus the tank bolted right up without a glitch. The tank's yellow color, however, didn't quite match the stock Suzuki yellow, but once I installed the Team Suzuki Off-Road-replica graphics from N-Style that, of course, Webb insisted I use, you could hardly tell. With the bigger tank, I never had to worry about stopping in the middle of a one-hour-plus WORCS event ever again. Plus the tank did not hinder me on the motocross track, which was a huge bonus. lJYIS Products Ironman Sprockets Steahly Off ·Road FMF Fatty Pipe 909 Roost Guards N·$tyIe (Team Suzuki Off-Road Replica) Number Technologies $225 $89 $99 $199.99 $27.95 $179.95 $45 As far as the RM's motor is concerned, I wanted to leave it as stock as possible. I already liked the RM's hard-hitting motor off the bottom, but I thought that the FMF Fatty pipe, designed to enhance the RM's power across the board, might be worth a try, figuring it probably wouldn't harm anything. And since I was on the phone with FMF in need of a spark arrester anyway, getting a new exhaust pipe for the RM seemed natural. FMF threw in a "regular" Powercore 2 silencer, as well, which I raced with a couple of times before I installed the Turbinecore 2 spark arrester muffler that FMF supplied me with. To be honest, had it been my money on the line, I probably would've stuck with the stock pipe, only because I didn't feel the FMF pipe made a huge difference one way or the other. Instead, I would've waited until I destroyed the stock exhaust on a rock or something and then I (Riverside, CA, 909/653-7720 www.imsproducts.com) (Minden, NV, 775/783-1750 www.ironmansprockets.com) (Medford, OR, 514/535·4896 www.steahlyoffroad.com) (Rancho Dominguez, CA, 310/631·4363 www.fmfracing.com) (Rancho Dominguez, CA, 310/631-4363 www.fmfracing.com) (Valencia, CA 661·294-118 www.n-style.com) (Minden, NV 775/425-4912 malibut@prodigy.com)