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/128237
2004 250cc Two-Stroke MX Shootout By THE STAFF OF C YCLE N EWS PHOTOS BY BLAKE CONNE R W ith all of the four-st rokes com ing out nowadays, people have b een say ing t h at two -st rokes h ave reac he d the p eak of th eir d ev elop m en t. W ell , th i s ye a r 's 2 50 c c Sh oo t ou t prov ed t hat this simply is not the case. Engines are getti ng bet te r and bett er. while the hand ling of the lighter two-strokes is still much more refi ned than that of the ir larger four-stroke cousins . You can just take a look at how many titles , or even races, four -strokes have won in com parison to two-strokes to see that the p remix protagon i sts st ill have an e d g e on those rapidly developing straight-fuel racers - at least ma yb e until next year. when le aded fuel will be disallowed in AMA competi tion. Although many of our testers started out with preconceptions as to which bik e would land on top of our shootout podium, most of th em were quite surprised with th e result - even though it was nearly un an im o us. As they say, that's why we pl ay the gam e. Th is shootout featured the qua rterliter o ffe ri ngs from the fi ve b iggest MX m anufacturers - Honda, Kawasa k i, KTM, Suzuki and Yamah a - and with th e help of MX Lap T imes (see It's About Ti me ) an d ri ders w i th a 20 OCTOBER 22 . 2003 ' cue I e wide array of styles and sk ill le ve ls , we were able t o come up with a winner: the 20 04 Suzuk i RM250 . It was close, with strong offerin gs fro m last ye ar's shootout winner (the YZ2 50 ) , KTM . wh ich improved its 250 SX sig nifi ca ntl y , th e faster CR250R and the solid KX250 , but in the end , the RM rose to the t op , not only for its power and han d li n g , but its comfort and strong brakes. The rules for the shootout were quite simpl e - we rod e the bik es stock. Stoc k bars , ti res. grips , etc. Th e only th ing we add ed to a coup le of the bikes w as a crossba r pad fo r safety, and we wrung them out. We held our shootout at the tight Piru MX track in Piru , Ca liforn ia , Perris Racewa y in Perr i s, Ca li forn i a, an d Glen Hel en Racewa y i n Sa n Bern ardin o , Ca li fo rn i a , and the lap t imes were recorded j ust from th e first two. Glen Helen w as use d m ostl y as a handling ba rometer, as th e square-edged holes and lipped -out jum p faces helped us ve rify what we felt at the other tracks . So even though yo u 're probab ly pla nn in g on modifyi ng the he c k out of your 250 wh en you buy one , what we offer is inform ation on what yo u'll get as a sta rt ing point. After all , who do esn 't lov e the smell of two -stroke race fuel in the morning? eN _ os n e (Top) Our 2004 250cc twostroke MX shootout inc luded all of the usual players: Honda CR250R, Kawasaki KX2!50, KTM 250 SX , Suzuki RM250 (left) and the Yamaha VZ250.