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/128232
Honda introduce d th e CRF250F at Carlsbad Raceway, giving us a one-day opportunity to ride the bike. We came away very impressed. One th ing we noticed right off the bat wa s tha t the Honda 's rep ackable alum inum m uffler does a dec ent job keeping th e bi k e q uiet, even w ith t he th rottle pi nned. We liked that. A lot! Honda went fro m steel to the twin spar alumi nu m fra me s w ith it s CRs a few years ba ck . Al th ough th ere were many ben efits of t his changeover, o ne o f th e drawb acks was a harsh fee ling that w orked its wa y thro ug h the ultra rig id c h a ss i s a nd i nto th e rider's arms and legs when po unding over squa re -edg e bu m ps and landi ng off of b ig jum ps. Th e wo rd pl ush was not in the CR 's vo c abu la ry , at lea st n o t until the CRF450R c a m e o ut. Suddenl y , th e alum inum fra me f elt right at home c radling t he big fourstroke m ot o r, and m ost of that harsh ness wen t away . Th e same holds true with th e 25 0 four-strok e. The CRF250R offere d a nice, soft and cushy ri de, eve n at Carl sbad. The 4 7mm , t wi n-chamb er c a r t r i d g e Sh owa f ork a n d m ega -ad justab le Sh owa sh o ck so ak ed up every t h ing remarkabl y well , and th e back end staye d e x c ep t i on ally clos e to the ground at all tim es. Even when you get to the top of Carlsbad Freewa y , which is fi ll ed w i t h con crete-h ard bumps, ho les and sq uare edges, and your ar ms are beginning to burn from holding on so tigh tl y for so long , we n ev er f el t th e n eed to back o ff the throttle, knowing th at the back end wasn 't going to st ep o ut o r do anyth ing weird . And when your arms are spag hetti , t h at's the last th in g yo u w ant to happen. No wo rri es o n th e Hond a. Ca rlsbad 's spin e-ti ngling downhill was no match for the Ho nd a, either. runs well no m atter what else is o n t he track . Ov erall , th e Honda 's 249cc li quid - c o oled , U n i cam , f our -valve m otor ( w h ic h Honda claims w eig hs 52.9 p ound s ) has a fai r ly broad powe rband with n o real hard " hi t" an ywhere, but mo st of the power is from midrange on up . The power just feels very linear and constant. It pulls w ell through the gears, and there're p lenty o f revs on to p . T he bik e ce r t a i n l y h ad n o problem pulling u s up th e tra ck 's inf a mo us Carls bad F reeway - it went as fast as we dared to go . As for as c arb ure ti o n, t he 37mm FCR-type flat -slide K iehin , which also featur es a throttl e p os iti on sen sor , seem ed to be j ett ed sp ot on from the factory . eye I e n e _ S • S EPTEM B ER 17 , 2003 37