Contin u in g with th e " te am theme" is t he o ptional 20- ir]ch fr ont w h eel o n
both bik es ( T e a m Honda a n d M i k e LaRocc o ha v e b een us in g such a
hoop). T his expl ai ns the 7mm - long er fork t ubes, as the new wheel's t ire is
7 m m sma lle r. (If you o pt for t h e 21inch fro nt w heel , y o ur fo rks should
be s li d up i n th e t rip l e c lamps.)
S p e a k i n g o f tires, the H o n d a s
come w ith Dun lop 490/695 meats .
Dun l o p has b e en phasi ng these
m odel s o ut, bu t Ho n d a is fond of
them a nd in sisted o n th em for its
MXers . A s for 20-in ch tire avail a b il i t y , Dunl op a n d Br idg e st on e
a re both off ering the sma ll er ( b ut
fa tter ) tires th ro ugh Ho nd a d ea lers .
Ho nda bumped u p
the ra tes o f t h e fo r k
s pri ngs
on
bo th
b ik es, a nd that of th e
sho c k sp ri n g o n the
250 . It th en b a c k ed
off o n th e dam p i n g
rates . Th e 12 5 g ot
li nkage wi t h a m ore
progr e s s iv e c u rve,
but t h e ext ra p o w e r
o f the 250 ca used it
to sq u at w ith th e new
l i n k s , s o t h e 2000
parts we re r etain ed .
The 12 5 is also fi tted with a 1mm-sh orter shock, which is sa id
to red u ce kicking over j ump s.
This y ear 's si x p eta l fi b er r eed s
(top) o n t he C R I 2 5
h av e been rep laced
with four-peta l car bon units , and the
re ed stops o n both
bikes are less arced.
With 2 000 not even yet half over,
Hon da h as al rea dy rele ased
infonnation on its 200 1 CR250R ll eft)
an d CR125R.
A li ttle ( 2 . 5 m m, to b e
pr e ci s e ) ho l e h as b e en
added to the 125's exhaust
va lve (to p ) to boost thro ttl e
resp o n se.
• For the first time in years. Honda
is cha nging the handg rips on its CRs.
Since riders of other bra nds routinely
buy Honda gri ps and then cut off half
the warne ridges, the new grips feature
a half-warne patt ern.
I recently met Honda at Glen Helen
Raceway's R.E.M. tra ck to snap off a
few photo s of Honda 's Drey Dirks in
act ion on the 2001 CR250R, and I convinced Eri c Crippa to let me' spin a few
lap s on th e bike. Since m y ti me was
limited to only about 10 minutes, and
the tra ck was un -gr oomed and bone
