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/141011
..'" Honda's Got the Ring-Dings on the Run M e, N r- '" . ~ ::< ~ w Z W ..J U >- U . ~ With the breathing level at the saddle, the XL250 can't be easily drowned . Lots of grunt pulls it through deep mud and sand. those half-a-lap-on-a-cylinder machines, fouled a p lug. Being a nice guy, now I wen t to his assistance. T he Honda 's in n eutral , right ? Flip o ut the side stand (a st u rdy, bulky piece of iron) lean her over, and offer an enco uragi ng, "Foule d a plug, huh?" T h e Honda just sat the re, murmuring sw ee t no tes. N eve r mi ssing a b eat t hrough a ll t hat foul verbiage. Startin g o nce again, w e p ro ceeded to p la y in th e water, sp in ning doughnuts, b lastin g full bore in a nd ou t of the mud , across the sa nd and over jumps and jus t playing. Until I found th e q uicksand. Goosh, stopped dead. Sunk ax le-deep frame bottomed out. Hey, you guys hel p! Snicker, snicker. T hey got their revenge. If you plan on riding enduros where mud can stop yo u, better have at leas t two friends alo ng to hlep get you out. After all t h at m ud and water I must po int o ut the pegs and brake lever are bo th firs t-rate. T h e pegs are t he claw , ty pe and are sp ring loade d. T hat brake lever is strong an d yo u'd be hard-pressed to b en d it. T he shift leve r is o n the weak , side and n eed s a large fo ot surface. Ho nd a h as learned a lo t abou t what it takes to go first class in the dirt. After all , they h ave been doing fo r street for q uite a while. High-quality co pies of Magura controls are used and the tach and speedo are qualit y-m ad e and moun ted. Between them is a knob, the choke. No more standing on your head to get going. The lighting appears to be adequate however, we did not-get at use it as Honda didn't supply the bike with a license plate. Not a nut or anything came loose during the test. We dropped it a co uple of times, too. Just to see if anything would come off, of course. The spec sheet calls for turn signals but we didn't get any. This co uld be explained by the fact that we were riding one of 12 pre-production bikes used for these tests and R&D work by American Honda. The first real public showing will take place at Daytona this week. The silver and black paint job set off by the massive single overhead cam engine will be the hit of the show down there. T he rest of us will just have to wait. till April I , when about 4000 hit these shores, still won't be cnough, tho ugh . Meanwhile, her e I am j ust loo king at the bike, waiting for some more enjoyable h o u rs o f riding. Dave, get your camera . Off wc w en t to Lions for a little motocrossing and sliding in the big open areas north of the course. The bike's out of its realm on the course but fun to ride there , anyway. You really don't feel the excess weight but the gearing is way too tall and the power comes on only when really re"."ing. The • It even looks a bit chunky. The pegs are of super b design. Th e k tck sterter fo lds away unnoticeably . The kickstand could get in the way and is heavy . One more note abou t the footpegs : The right one was about an inch farther frow ard of the left. Funny... front end comes up easy enough and the jumps are handled fairly easy. The lack of drive is overcome by the ability to go into corners much further before shutting off. Not very competitive, just fun. Moving to the flats, this is where the lightweight feels best. A good slider. You11 enjoy playing on it all d ay. As the sun sets you'll be still out there just tooling around wishing for some way of riding every day. The suspension in front is great but those rear shocks need help. Ground clearance is good and the pegs are all high enough to allow y o u more leaning then most of us care to do. 1 t i s the most trouble -free dual-purpose 250 around. Not a racer of any type as it sits box stock, but a fun-and-easy-to -ride-anywhere machine. It's a Honda, and like a ll othe r Ho ndas, is often outstanding and n ever less t ha n adequate in all areas it was des igned for. Re m emb er , a Ho nda ride r nam ed J ack McLane is Gra nd Na tio na l Enduro Champion and well se t-up Hondas h ave wo n Baja. Ho n da has announced th at it i n t ends t o campaign an off-road mach in e this year. T his can be the b ike t hat will win so me . ' March ca me in like a lamb this year and by the end of the mo nth they will have the lion's share of the off-road market. One of the hardest th ings to do when rid ing the Honda 250 is to wipe th at grin off your face .