Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

2006 250cc Four-Stroke Motocross Shootout (:RF2501~ liONDA Notables Aluminum frame Aluminum RenthaJ handlebars Five-speed transmission Dual mufflers Gripper seat Suspension - Showa Tires - Dunlop JETTING SPECS What We Lil'ed Stoel' Settings Pilot Screw 13/4 tums Pilot Jet 48 I 1/1 tums 40 Jet Needle NHGT NHFS Needle Clip Position 4 3 Main Jet 172 102-IOSmm Recommended Ride Height When it comes to the Honda - our shootout winner last year - the big news here, of course, is the dual-mufl1er exhaust system. Honda claims that it went to twin mufllers to improve handling, not so much to increase power or to decrease decibels, as one might first think. Whatever the case, we found the new CRF2s0R to be improved in both areas - in the horsepower and handling departments. Honda did make some changes to the motor besides the exhaust pipes: It got a bigger carburetor, a new piston, a pumped-up compression ratio, and a "hotter" camshaft. The result? More power across the board; at least that's how it felt on the track. And the dyno felt so, too. The Honda actually out-torqued the KTM a little bit and pretty much ran dead even in the horsepower department with the KTM until around the IO,SOD-11 ,000 mar1<, where the KTM kept making power and the Honda tapered off a bit. h far as peak horsepower goes, the Honda put up good numbers, topping out at 34. I horsepower at I I ,000 rpm. White Brothers Engine Development 225 _ - - - - - - - - , . ; " , - . . . . ; ; : ; ; . , - , , ; . , , - - - - - -.. KTM 250 SX-F HONDA CRF250R 35 30 ~ o a. ., 25 ~ o KAWASAKI KX250F YAMAHA YZ250F SUZUKI RM·Z250 .,i ••••••••••••••••• ,i •••••••• ,i ••••• i.. i i . ~ 20 I--~-----'T"'.'".;... ......ai::········ i,,········ j" "i" ·······r········!···· 1 15 1 .......,....... . ~ 6 . r····T·····"\ 220 ~ ! i········i········ r···· ; l 1 1 "1"" i····..·'1'" 7 "]" ·-1-······ r·····.(.. ....:.'_......t ......_ _...._ _.... 8 9 12 Never before have we had so much discrepancy among our test riders when it came to a shootout. Usually, there's a c1earcut winner, or at least everyone's opinions are in the same ballpark, but not this time. Basically, this tells us that all of the bikes in this shootout are good and that everything here pretty much boils down to personal preference: To some, outright power is more important than anything else; to others, it's handling, or suspension, or power characteristics. But what we did discover was that the Honda was at, or at least near, NOVEMBER 16,2005 • 210 HONDA KAWAKAKI CRF2S0R KX2S0F SUZUKI RM-Z2S0 KTM YAMAHA 2S0 5X-F YZ2S0F i.._ _ 10 11 13 RPM (x1000) 28 215 1 l········~········l········t········r········l········t····· 1 ~ 1 j j 1 1 10 'L-_ _...._ _....._ _......_ _ 5 .~~ .. , ., I UJ On the track, the Honda has the smoothest powerband of the group, and it just plain runs good. All of our testers said that the Honda ran "very strong" from bottom to top and was probably the easiest to control overall. Of the four bikes, however, the Honda, like the Suzuki, reqUired significant jetting changes; a signifICantly leaner pilot jet and a different needle jet were reqUired for prinno operation. And to top things off, the clutch has good feel and a light pull, the fIVe-Speed transmission performs well, and our bike had little vibration. It didn't matter which track we were on, our testers loved the way the Honda's motor worked. Wide open or tight, the Honda didn't care. The Honda, the lightest bike of the frve, flat-out handles. Besides the dual exhaust, Honda did make a few other changes to the chassis, such as lowering the radiators Smm, giving it a lighter front hub and revalving the suspension, but, for whichever reason, the new Honda simply handles bet- DRY WEIGB,. (no gas) RPM - 3.59 40 172 (170 Honey Uke) the top of everyone's list, and it's for that reason that we put the CRF2s0R on the top step of our 2006 2sOcc four-stroke podium. Had we chosen one of the other bikes, we certainly would have heard some serious moaning and groaning from at least one or two of our test riders, but not with the Honda. With the CR, everyone was able to accept it's being crowned king without much grumbling. Why? Because the Honda just does everything well, and it doesn't matter which track it's on. It has the power and over-rev to conquer Honey Lake's massive uphill and wide-open straights, and the handling and CYCLE NEWS To keep all of the bikes on equal footing, they were fitted with Dunlap D756 intermediate tires. suspension to keep everything in check at speed. And when it's time to change gears, the Honda has the bottom-end and torque and qUick handling agility to withstand the tighter confines of Starwest. Plus, the Honda is just plain comfortable, light and easy to ride. This bike will appeal to a wide range of riders - from the pros to the vets. h for second place, if we could, we'd just as soon declare a tie between the Kawasaki, KTM and Yamaha and run with it. But ties suck, so we're going with the KTM as the runner-up. Actually, early in the test, we were already beginning to entertain thoughts about the KTM quite possibly knocking the Honda off its throne, but some of our testers, as it turned out, had minor handling issues with the SXF (more so at Honey Lake than at Starwest), but even they admitted that they liked the motor so much that they could probably overlook its (to them) handling qUirks and live quite happily with the KTM. But when it came to hopping on and off the bikes, one right after another, they just felt more comfortable on the Honda. But if outright power is your thing, and

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