2015 HONDA CRF250R
FIRST RIDE
P46
torque performance. The CR
is also fitted with Dunlop's new
Geomax MX52 tires.
As mentioned, a few things
stood out right away when riding
the new Honda for the first time:
the new front brake is, as we had
hoped, a big improvement, the
new fork is awesome, and the
motor is livelier (but not neces-
sarily faster).
On the track you feel, right
away, the difference from the old
spring fork to the air fork. The
air fork has a better overall ac-
tion throughout the entire stroke.
It's super plush initially, holds up
well, has a good feel and stability
in the midstroke, and also per-
forms nicely well into the stroke—
once you get 'er all dialed in.
Leaving the clickers in the
stock position we tried a few dif-
ferent air pressure settings in the
main chamber to get a feel for
what the fork can do. Our lighter
test rider was quite happy with
the stock pressure, while our
heavier tester found that increas-
ing pressure five pounds was
the hot ticket for him. It gave the
bike, he said, better feel through
the bars and improved cornering
performance.
Even though performance of
the air fork is outstanding, you do
lose a bit of "feel" in the corners
compared to the spring fork. It's
not dramatic but we're assuming
it's just a matter of getting used
to the feel of air forks—there is a
difference.
While keeping the rear sag
at 105mm, we made only minor
adjustments to the shock's re-
bound setting, slowing it down
Small changes
to the Honda's
motor livens
things up a bit.
