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/141044
• "' N " '" " e, CO> O "l M .ci " u.. Ul 3: w z W ...J U >- U A lloy tank, long we ll -shaped seat, a pote nt motor, t lext -fe n ders , it all adds up to the best set of stock good ies on an out-of- the -crate motocross machi ne. Cabby downhil ls that used to be scary, we ren' t anymore. Yo u could go equally as fast up them . thi s. You go all the .way into a corner, get on th e brak es and turn th e handlebars. Then you gas it an d co me flying o ut of th e turn . T hat pro ved to be the q uic kest way to d o it. T he Ho nda will square off a comer of a moto cro ss course fo r yo u . if yo u give it half a chance. In fact , tha t's about the on ly w ay t o ge t it around a rou gh co urse co mfo rtab ly . It is O K on sweepers but it just d oesn 't feel at h ome . Yo u're su pposed to be m akin g straigh t lin es an d sharp comers in motocros s and the Honda en cou rages y o u to do so. T he fro n t en d is very stab le an d, in all o ur test in g, co m p lete ly twitch- fr ee . T he lon g travel forks are plain excellen t and m ay be come some kind o f a benc h mark am on g production forks ; or even so me very tric k o nes . T he slide rs are mill ed o ut o f so lid bille ts o f alumi n um and look very turned down. Fo rk ac tion is so good it' s unnoticeable , even over th e chopp ies t o f track s. The st eeri.ng h ead is rath er high but H onda h a s a ntici pa te d so me in di vidual prefer en ces by h avin g easily adj us ta b le fo rk heigh t and trai l. T here are five m ar ked positions that lin e up wi th t he tripl e tree so yo u ca n ge t bo th forks adj us ted the same . An d th at 's a good idea . Handlin g in sp ires co n fide nce that gets yo u going fas te r the more yo u rid e it. It really is a bi ke th at can im p rove y our m otocro ss ridin g, no m a tt er wh at level you 're at. Well , maybe it won't help DeC ost er o r R ob ert t o o much ...bu t for us mer e mort als, you can get goi ng very rapidl y and on ly sligh t1 y scared. Be warn ed ! Throttle resp onse is im m ed ia te and amp le. T here is very little flywheel effect and the revs ge t right on up th er e . It is pro ba b ly the only produc tion m oto cr os ser that needs to be d e-tuned fo r th e beginner o r n ovice rider . A hal f-turn throttle and a smalle r ca rb , fo r in stan ce , would help so me w ould-be m o to crossers, A · good su bs titutio n fo r this level o f rid er w ould be the en d uro engi ne an d Honda has Hon da's air cleaner has a furry outside that traps dir t and water befor e it gets to the oiled foam inside. Still air box is adequately sized. « .' p ro bably th o ught of th at. It re ally is a b ike that is ex pe rt- ready with no apparen t co mpromises in perform an ce. As luck an d th e Japanese engineers wo uld have it , wi th all th at pow er on tap th e b rakes are ab le to ge t both bike and ride r slo we d down as a un it . T hey are very good wi th th e front one lackin g in feel e ven while bein g very p rogressi ve right t o lock -up . Th e rear brake is t he o n ly c a b le -ac t ua t e d b rake ever enco unte red th at had any feel an d really d id the job. The cable is ro u te d straigh t back fro m the tu ck ed in brak e lever to the cast alum in um brak e arm with the force di rect and pr ogressive. T here is a nice brake re turn spring that works. The Honda CR 250M enables th e ride r with the skill an d th e will to go very fast over rough gro un d, stop very qu ickly and make very sha rp turns before he resumes go ing very fast . Th at is just abo ut what moto cr oss is all about. T he suspe nsion and handling go t mor e than an ave rage test w or kou t o n A rroyo's lon g, ro ugh MX tr ack wh ich is, in no w ay , a glorified scra mble s co urse. DETA ILS Every word in th is test co u ld have b een devo ted to de scrib in g th e my riad det ails, acc esso ries and const ruction m a teri als used on t he Honda. N oth in g has been sh o rt -cut in co ns truct io n an d th e o nly less than perfec t items we ca n co me do w n on are the kic kstarte r and th e Dunl op rub ber. Th e kickst arter j ust isn ' t t oo hot an ite m . Lu ckily, yo u on ly nee d to jab it o nce wh en ever you wan t th e bike t o ru n. Bu t it smacks in to th e pipe. d oesn 't en gage un til h alfway through its th row, tends to fold under and an average size bo ot slides off it ver y eas ily . . T he hard ru bber co mpound o f th e Japanese Dunl ops d oesn 't p rov ide th e gro u n d -b i t i n g s t ic k -i n - th e-sweeper traction of a lot of o t her brands. T he Barums on th e 25 0 CZ made a lo t o f di ffer en ce in bein g abl e to t ake d iffe ren t line s wh en co rnering . With the Honda, yo u h ad p retty much o ne good lin e per co rne r. Now , on to th e good stuff. Fro m the ground up (afte r the rubber), th e rid er ' s ey e meets those all-time wonderful Honda alloy rims which are held to the aluminum hubs by spokes t ha t are thicke r at th e hub than at th e ni pples. (Is th at tr ick ?) Gri ps lo ok like Doh erty s bu t are mad e of a softer ru bb er th at yo u ca n reall y ge t yo ur h and in to . Levers have rub ber'd irt covers ove r th e -pivo ts. All th e ca bles are th ick, the throttle cab le is n yl on , an d the y are routed an d lo op ed in a very san itary m ann er. Nothing seems to hang up . T he b ar s wh er eupon these good ies cl uster ar e made of chro me m ol ybdenum s tee l an d fit a su rp risingly · wide varie ty o f d ifferent dim en sion ed rid er s ver y well. Whil e o n th e subject o f alloys, etc. one inevitab ly n o tes th e ch ro me mol y fra me th at has very good (f or Japanese) w elds, though they're not up to the hand-welded qualit y o f a Ric km an fra me , for e xample . Wow! A st ock c h r o m e m ol y fr ame on a 250 m oto cros ser. The seat tha t goes on the t op o f the frame is pretty good. ·It co m p ares favorably to most MX seat s but so me riders fo un d it t oo soft up fro nt by th e t an k. Out bac.J< it is super co m fo rta b le; say, for d esert rid er s, T he seat isn' t all oy , of co urse , bu t the gas tan k is. It's a fairl y th ick gau ge alumin um allo y thai holds 1.8 ga l. of premi x. It is beautifull y sha ped and lo oks very d ent-pro o f with d omed comers . We weren't able to ding it, th ou gh t he fini sh will wear o ff. It has a b ig gree n str ipe down th e middl e and is very slim . The expans io n cham be r is mo unt ed o n ru b ber isolato rs and rubb er m oun tin g s a nd guards arc used t hro ughou t fairl y e xt en sivel y. T he silence r o n th e tip is reputedl y lega l for AMA m oto cr oss co m pe titio n a t 8 8 dBA . It's still righ t sharp ill n o te . T his de t ail listing co uld go o n and o n. It was hard to find a good ies or no rm al " repl acem ent " item that Honda h adn 't p aid some atte ntio n t o. We co uld n 't think of any th ing to repl ace o n th e Honda excep t the tir es. Event ua lly, th e fle xi-fen ders might crack b ut th ey lo ok good for qu it e aw h ile. The engi ne burns castor bean o il an d Hi-test gas. so d on't inh ale the fum es. Honda did it right the fir st time , so maybe th e len gth y wa it was w orth it. It is a su perb first moto cros ser. . For a p rice of ab o u t $ 1 15 0, it is going to be a hard bike to b ea t. ~ Note cable-actuat ed rear brak e, finn ed f luid reservoirs on H ond a adjustable shocks, neat alloy rims and AMA ~lega l silencer. 34mm Ke ihin feeds super-scavenging slx po rt engine, Pegs are open -bottom serrate d. Fork tub e ' height is adj ustable to rid er prefer ence. Cable s are heavy d uty and cleanly routed . 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