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Honey Lake actually he lped a lot when it came to differen tiating the ha ndling characteristics of each of these machines, as well. It didn't do as much for the han d ling category as it d id for mo tors , but it definitely hel ped. The uphill that we me ntioned befo re d idn' t do m uch to he lp with han dling , but what goes up , must come down , right? Well, the ens uing few hillside off-ca m ber tums an d su persteep downhill did a lot toward hel ping us figure these bikes ' handling out - not to mention bra kes l The Honda didn 't do anything funn y at a ll on the track. Although there weren't many complaints about a ny of the bikes , the Honda didn't seem to have any tha t were nota ble. It trac ks straight, tums like a dream and jumps neutrally. No on e even complained of heads hak e on the fastest pa rts of the track. Rea listica lly, it's ha rd to imagine a mo re neutral-feeling ch a ssis than the Honda 's at Hon ey Lake . And the brak es ? Let' s just say that when it co mes to Honda 's bra kes , we've come to expect a lot - as they've ba sica lly a lways been amo ng the best - and the CRF250R didn 't disappoint, The thing had some se rious sto ppe rs, thou gh the front brak e got a little mushy and had to be bled before our two days were don e. The Ya maha wa s amazingly sta ble, as is cha rac te ristic of the blue bran d, and the new forks jus t can't get enoug h praise as far as we 're concemed. The Yama ha's stability paid off in spades at Honey Lake, where high -speed is the name of the game. It was confi dence-ins piring, to say the least, and it co mered with the best of them. The brakes seemed strong at first, but some ride rs complained of a spongy feeling from the front brake after being out on the track for a while. The Kawasaki/Suzuki chassis was really strong as well, although it seems to attack the track differently than the other two. The green and yellow bikes seemed to have a bit more of a planted feel in the comers, altho ugh some riders did complain of a bit of headshake when cro ssing lines on some of the faster portio ns of Honey Lake . Overall, though, once you adapt to these bikes , they seemed just as easy to go fast on as the other two. The brakes rival the Honda's, which is saying so mething. And it's a lso somewhat expected, as the Kawasak i/Suzuki uses the same sort of routing as the Honda , and it seemed to make a big difference. We figured Glen Helen to be the track that separated the plush from the harsh in this department, as it's known for its square edges and uneven terrain. but ultimately we were just issued a bit more of what we already knew from Honey Lake. The Honda still seemed to soak everyth ing up with aplomb while staying extremely neutral and agile in the comers. Really, once again, the Honda did everyth ing, and it did it all really well. The Yamaha was a pleasant surprise at Glen Helen, not because it ha ndled the square edges well (which it did), but because it really seemed to co me into its own overall. It could tum , tra ck and jump with the best of them. After retu ming from the rough Nationa l track on the Yamaha, testers were often seen smiling . That may not sound big unless you 've ridden at Glen Helen. Glen Helen is bruta l, and it's great for training, but g rins aren't common on the puss of a rider just then returning from the track. It meant so mething. The Kawasaki/Suzuki did well also. So me of the bikes' comering prowess was starting to become apparent at Glen Helen. If you want to stab a n inside line when everyone else is railing the berm, it's easy to do on these bikes - just lean it over and pin it. It's really a good-turning machine. They didn't em barrass themselves over the bumps, e ither, although some testers thought they were a bit on the harsh or stiff side . The tight environs of the Starwest track act ually evened the play ing field a lot among the a lread y evenly mat ch ed 250 Fs . But it also event ually mad e perfectly clear which would be the winner of the sh ootout. The Honda continue d its strong performance through the tight turn s a nd over the jumps , and agai n the brakes stood out as we spe nt a lot of time hard on the binders stopping for ha irpins after cle aring a good -size jum p, The Honda tumed great, jumped neutrally and sto pped quickly - really, no co m pla ints again. The Yamaha was aga in a bit surprising to some of the testers . Even though the spongy front brake was still an issue, it really ne ver caused a teste r to miss a line in a co mer. But with the stability of the machine, man y of the teste rs assumed it wou ld s uffer in the tighter comers. It d idn't. The YZ250 F tume d almost as well as the Honda , and it de finitely co rnered easily enoug h to be able to fly a round a tight track like Starwest with ease. The Kaw asa ki/Suzuki machines really sh ined at Starwest. They both comered like maniacs , and they jump neutrally as well. The brak es were probab ly just second to the establish ed Ho nda's, but the co rnering is ou tstanding . On be rm s, the green/yellow ma chin es were awesome, and they pe rformed well on inside ruts as well. Act ually, one tester was tum ing so well on an inside line on the Kawasa ki that he fell - he was lean ed over too far in the rut, and his clutch lever hit a mound of dirt off the inside of the track, causing him to falll Altho ugh they all feel different (once again, excl uding the Kawasaki and Suzuki, which fee l the sa me), none of the bikes handle poorly, so it seemed the de termining factor would end up being the motor. The Suzuki RM-Z250 has a ton of bottom-end power, but it's the loudest of the bunch. WIthout a balancing shaft in the engine, it vibrates more than the yz and CRF as well. All of the bikes he ld up well throughou t our shootout; not one bike brok e or ga ve us any grief along the way. The closest thing to a mecha nical malf unctio n tha t we expe rienced over four full days of hard riding was havi ng to bleed the Honda 's front brak e. Otherwise , we'd ha ve to give all of the bikes a high rating when it comes to reliability. All of the bikes passed the starting test with flying colors. Every once in a while, however, all of the bikes experienced a little 'cra nkiness ," but noth ing major. Usually that would happen in the moming when the motors were cold . Also, we quickly leamed that a smooth, efficient kick was far more effective than a quick sta b (like you would on a twostroke) to get all of the bikes started. As alwa ys , the Honda he ld up well dur ing o ur testing. The bike still looks brand new, while the Yamaha looks the most hammered of the four. That blue plasti c, which looks gor geous ne w, just doesn 't hide scratche s and scr apes very we ll at all. Plus , Yamah a 's graphi cs , which ha rdly cha nge from yea r to year, are beg inning to look a little stale. As men tioned , our test bikes held up well and req uired very little main tenance , but changing the Hond a 's oil is a little bit more involved than with the other three. It req uires two very se pa rat e types of oil to complete the job, an d it's bad news if you mix or swap the oils. Check you r manua l closely before chang ing the Honda's oil. All of the other usual maintenance stuff is pretty basi c on all four bike s. cue I e nellVs NOVEMBER 12, 2003 27