Honda CRF2S0R
MSRP:
ENGINE:
ter than ever. It feels light and responsive and extremely well
balanced, and it takes some pretty gnarly bumps to get the CR
knocked off its course.
Plus, the Honda requires little persuading to get it through
the corners quickly, berms or no berms. It rates right up there
with the Kawasaki and KfM as far as turning prowess is concerned.
As always, the Honda has excellent brakes, in terms of
both feel and stopping power.
As far as comfort goes, there's none better than the
Honda, though the Kawasaki is getting a lot closer now, and
so is the Yamaha
The only kink in the Honda's chain came right at the
end of our testing, when the CR suddenly made bloodcurdling noises from the gearbox. Turns out the counterbalancer casting was not properly deburred at the factory,
and a piece of metal broke off and started vandalizing the
tranny. Honda admitted that in its rush to get the new '06
bikes out to the magazines, sometimes the early-model
test bikes, like ours, aren't as closely inspected at the factory as they should be. Honda reps said they don't expect
this to be an ongoing problem.
$6299
Liquid-cooled, SOHC,
4-valve, single
BORE & STROKE:
78 x 52.2mm
COMPRESSION RATIO:
12.9:1
CARBURETOR:
Keihin 40mm
flat-slide wffPS
IGNITION:
CD w/eleetronic advance
CLUTCH: ....Wet multi-disc, cable operated
TRANSMISSION:
5.speed
FINAL DRIVE:
#520 chain
FRAME:
A1uminum, twin-spar
FRONT SUSPENSION: ..Showa, 47mm
cartridge-type wI 16 compression &
rebound damping settings
REAR SUSPENSION:.... Showa, Pro-Unk.
w/17
~
u.J
14
-0:
VI
HONDA CRF250R
KAWASAKI KX250F
YAMAHA YZ250F
SUZUKI RM-Z250
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RPM (xlOOO)
Supercross is your game, then the KTM
might be the bike for you. It pretty much
was for us when it came to putting in laps at
Starwest.
Third place pretty much came down to a
coin toss between the Kawasaki and
Yamaha. Both bikes are outstanding - good
handlers and excellent in the motor departments. But when it came time to drop the
hammer, we chose the Kawasaki, mainly
because the bike pulls a little longer on top
and turns a little better. Plus, the Kawasaki
reqUired almost zero suspension changes to
suit our wide range of test riders, while the
Yamaha, on the other hand. required a
bit more fine tuning to get each of our
testers smiling - though some never
did, really.
As mentioned, the Kawasaki is by far
the most improved machine here, going
from a tail-ender the past couple of years
to a definite winning contender in '06. A
bit more power and things could very
well have turned out differently.
As for the Yamaha, our test riders
were split down the middle here. They
either liked it a lot or were at best "okay"
with it. Handling seemed to be the
biggest stumbling block, some saying that
the YZ never inspired confidence on the
rough Honey Lake track, while others
had no such issues. However, as we said,
handling qUirks pretty much vanished at
Starwest, making us conclude that the
YZ is better suited indoors. And Bret
Metcalfe might have proved that when
he won the Lites class on the '06
YZ250F's first major race at the U.S.
Open last month.
For the most part, our testers liked
the Yamaha's motor, though some said
that it revved out too qUickly. Otherwise,
no real complaints here.
The Suzuki is proof positive that you
can't sleep in this class. By not making any
real changes to the '06 RM-Z2S0, the
Suzuki can't really hang with the rest anymore. It does, however, have the chassis
and suspension to keep it in the hunt, but
with the other bikes finding more power
out of their motors, the Suzuki suffers. It
Simply runs out of steam while the others
keep pulling and pulling. No doubt, the
motto for '06 Suzuki RM·Z250 owners is
going to be: The rougher the track, the
better. That's their only chance.
eN
CYCLE NEWS • NOVEMBER 16,2005
29
