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/128611
2000 Honda CR250 Enduro Conversion Some say that racing an enduro is a lot of hurrying and then sitting around and wait ing. It's tru e, som e enduros are laid out with slow speeds and easier terra in . so stayi ng on schedu le (o r getting ahead of schedule) can be easy . but not at a nation al end uro. Th e terrain is so rough and trails are so tight that not even the AA riders stay on tim e th rough o ut th e 100 -mile-pl us affair. On e way to battle little probl ems th at cause you to loo se time. lik e stall ing or getting stuck on a hill . is to ad a flywheel weight to you r m ach ine. I neede d every advantage I co uld get my hands on . so naturall y Steahly Flywh eel Weights were th e only way to go . Steah ly sent me a 10 and a 12 ounce. and aft er trying both out I bolted th e 12 to th e stock flywhee l. T he result was smoother po wer. bett er tra ction and I never once sta lled the bike. even when I was fatigued and in very tight terrain . Had I not used the flywheel weight, I wou ld have gotten tired fast and prob ably spent a lot of time trying to gain tract ion while cli m bing th e slip pery A rizona hill s. It has never seem ed to bother m e. but some peo ple co m p lain th at a heavier flywh eel rob s the snap th at motocro ssers hav e. It is t rue. a heavier flyw heel will smooth out your pow er. wh ich does aw ay with the explosive hit. but in most off -ro ad situa tio ns smoother is bett er th an explosive. St ill . yo u don't want a non -respon sive m otor. wh ic h is why I used an FMF p ipe a nd T urbine Cor e II Sp ark Arrestor on th e CR. Th e spark arr est or w as a forest r y requirem ent t o e ve n co m pete. but it didn 't hurt performan ce at all. Wi t h th e help of t he p ip e. t he FMF sy st e m en ha nced t h e al ready poten t CR250 m ot o r and had I been just a tad better in th e ti ght terr ain. I wo uld have been able to hurry up and wa it in a few sections. Th e Desert Mountain End uro not only served as the second round of the National series. but it al so doub led as the first event in the RMEC series (Rock y Mountain Enduro Circuit) so the re were definitely som e heavy hitters th ere and th ey weren 't necessaril y all AA riders. so riding in the 250cc A class. I definitely had my work cut out fo r m e. Posted as approximately 164 miles on rou te sheets. the actual ground miles add ed up to 1 10 miles. Th e th ree-loop event was a t rue test of man and CR250 machine. From th e start. the first loop was fairly fast and my Honda was working grea t. but less th an ha lfway into the loop the terr ain got ti ghter and extremely rocky . The enti re schedule was ran on a 24 mph average. so going fast in some of the terrain was a challenge for even th e most experienced riders. In some of th ose tighter sections Choya Cactus lined the outsi de of many of th e single -tr ac k trail s. so normally . flat tires wou ld have been a con cern , but I had pr epared for th e cact us and rocks in advance by inserting M ich elin Bib Mou sses in both my Michelin M 12 tires. Th e rubber did me right even in th e nastiest of rock s, the deepest sand and the hard est packed trai ls and th ere was plenty of all of that. After th e first gas . the going got tougher. Even eventual event winner Randy Hawkins dropped some points in the second loop , m an y less than me , obvi ously. but my bike was still wor ki ng great. The suspension. handling and power all worked superbly as the Arizona Trail Riders ran us through sand wash es, down waterfalls. up hills and around tr eacherous desert cliffs. In one specific long speci al test in t he second loop I started getting really ti red. but after it was all ove r and I pull ed into th e reset that lay j ust a few miles afte r t he chec k. I realiz ed from looking at top riders score cards. I obviously hadn't gotten that t ired . My times were not m uch worse than theirs. Tha t meant I was go ing faster tha n I th ough t. . wh ich speaks volumes about the ma chine. Th e th ird loop was a real butt-kick er. but my Honda was totally up for it. Th e loop was for AA. A and B riders on ly . but a trail split halfw ay through sent th e B ride rs on an easier route . Wh en I got to th e tr ail spli t I aime d my CR250 in the directi on of th e AA -A 20- m ile route to the fini sh and th ought to myself , "Th is is what separates th e m en from th e boys." Hidden above the Works Enduro Rider enduro skidp late and behi nd the magneto cover is the Steahly 12-ounce flywheel weight. It's definitely worth it 's weight in gold if tight trails are your game. FMF recenUy signed on as the title sp onso r f or the AMA National Enduro Series, so an FMF exhaust system seemed like the logical c hoi c e for the Honda. That, and they m ake exc ellent exhaust sy st e m s. Both pipe and T urbi n e Core II Spa rk Arresto r ripped. The goods Acerbis Blitz Headlight A cer bi s Rall y Handguard Acerbis Rall y Handguard Spoiler Acerbi s Pro T ape r Handguard mount ing k it BRP triple cla m p and bar mounts Dugas Engineering Watchdog FMF T ur bine Co re II Sp ark A rr estor FMF Pipe FMF Grap hic s IMS 3 .6 gal. Fu el Tank Mi che li n M 12 f ro nt t ire Michelin front Bi b Mou sse Mi chelin M 12 rear tire M ic heli n rear Bib Mousse RK GB520MXZ chain S m ith du al density gr ip s St eahly 12 -ou nce flywheel weight Tag Metals han dleba r Wo rk s Enduro Rider Fo rk Revalve/ Rebuild (incl udes sh ims) Fork Spri ng s Wo rk s Enduro Rider Sh ock Revalve/R ebuild (i ncl udes shims) Work s Endu ro Rider Skidpla te $89 $59 .9 5 $2 1 $28 $ 179 .99 $26 9. 99 $ 139 .99 $ 19 9 .99 $ 59 .95 $ 19 9. 9 5 $6 5.67 $205 $6 5. 86 $ 181 $78.42 $9.9 5 $99 $94 .9 5 $ 19 7 .9 0 $ 79 .95 $ 164 $ 78.9 5 The culprit s Ac erb is BRP Duga s Eng ineering FMF lMS Mi cheli n RK Chain S m it h St eahly Tag Metals A m eri ca Works Endu ro Rider 24 MAY 3 . 200 0 · 800/659 -14 4 0; ww w.acer bi s.com 94 9/ 38 0 - 1160 .508/ 337 -31 3 2 .31 0/ 63 1-43 63 ; www.fmfracin g.com 800/ 237 -9906 ; www .imsproduct s.com 800/42 2 -1682; www .m ich elin .com /m oto 760/732-316 1; ft m biz.com 208 /726-4477 ;www.smith sport.co m 800/ 800 ·2 363 6 19/5 31 - 1170 908/6 37 -6385 c ue • e ne vv s Th e check goi ng into th e hard er rou te was check 10 ou t of 14 total . and I had put the CR250 th rou gh check l Oon time, so goin g into th e tough er section on sche dule m ad e me feel good abo ut m y cha nc es. Rou ghl y th e fi rst 10 m iles consisted of go at t rails . wh ich take a lot of the fight o ut of yo u, especially after yo u' ve already experienced 90 mi les of harsh terrain . Check 11 was