Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Honda kept everyone waiting for its new CR2S0R, and when it finally arrived in December, we saw why: A bunch of changes were made - none too jaw-dropping dramatic, but it did get many, many refinements. / A lot of attention was focused on the motor, with the goal of giving it more meat off the bottom and in the middle, and when Honda got done with it, the CR essentially ended up with an all-new motor. The power-varve is now a one-piece design and is housed in a removable case, both the cylinder and cylinder head have been modified extensively, the piston now carries just one ring, and everything that has anything to do with airflow has been breathed on, including the reed-cage and the exhaust pipe. The 3Bmm flat-slide TMX carburetor now has a throttle-position sensor that calibrates timing with the exhaust valve for improved power delivery. The chassis wasn't completely forgotten, either. Honda did give the CR a new lighter and stronger swingarm and rear hub, and the rear shock also got revised settings. After getting a major overhaul last year, the frame remains pretty much unchanged. TRACK TESTED / The CR2S0R has never been accused of lacking in the horsepower department, but getting all that power contained and put to good use has been another thing, and that's why Honda went after more bottom-end and midrange this year: to make the CR more userfriendly and more appealing to a wider group of people. Did Honda succeed? Ves, but only to a pOint. The CR is still brutally fast and powerful, and yes, it does have more bottom-end and torque than before, but probably still not enough for the average rider. Our fast testers loved the Honda's motor, the way it pulled hard from midrange on up and rewed to the moon, but even they missed the bottom-end of the other bikes when they were aboard the CR. Don't get us wrong: The Honda isn't particularly hard to control or anything like that, it's just that the other bikes deliver the same kind of outright power as the Honda but with more bottom-end and torque. If you're the type of rider, however, that's a bit more aggressive than the average Joe and likes everything up top, then you'll dig the Honda's motor. / We didn't have any real jetting issues with this year's CR. like the Vamaha, the Honda is a bit of a vibrator. Is it a coincidence that the only two bikes that brought up the topic of vibration were the ones with aluminum frames? Speaking of frames, Honda seems to have things worked out when it comes to the CR2S0's handling. The latest-generation frame and suspension are by far the best yet from Honda, at least where the CR2S0R is concerned. In fact, one tester went as far as to say that the CR was the best-handling bike of the five. He might've been in the minority here, but we all did agree that the CR is a good, solid-handling machine. There was a time when the CR2S0 handled like a rocking horse down the rough straights, but now the CR is quite stable and far more confidence-inspiring. The suspension seems to come setup out of the crate a little better than before. Over the course of our testing, we didn't have to fiddle with the clickers all that much with the CR - at least far less than in the past. Both the back and front ends felt very good, and we'll say right now that the Honda has the best fork of the group. The bike corners well - it rates right up there with the Kawasaki and Vamaha - but the Suzuki still shines in this department. A couple of riders complained of a "wide" feeling on the CR, but other testers argued that the seemingly wider stance makes the bike easier to grip with your legs. As usual, the CR has outstanding brakes - again, probably the best of the five. /26 FEBRUARY 16, 2005 -/ YCLE NEWS / '05 HIGHLIGHTS / If Suzuki had simply taken the 2004 RM2S0, slapped on new graphics and called it an 'OS, we would have been okay with that. After all, the '04 RM was really, really good. But instead of just resting on its laurels, Suzuki actually made quite a few modifications to the winner of our 2004 2S0cc MX shootout. Perhaps the most welcomed one was getting rid of those flimsy steal handlebars and replacing them with lighter and stronger aluminum bars. And going to titanium footpegs was a nice touch, too. Internaily, Suzuki felt that the already outstanding motor could be made even better, so it tweaked on the cylinder a bit and revised the exhaust powervalve to try to get even more bottom-to-mid power. And to make sure all that new power got to the ground more eflkiently (i.e. more traction), the crankshaft inertia was increased 3 percent. In the transmission department, the clutch was updated to improve feel and lighten dutch-lever pull. Plus, the kickstarter gears were readjusted for easier starting. Suzuki didn't mess with the RM's chrome-moly steel frame, but it did go through the Showa fork and shock with a fine-toothed comb. The Showa twin

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