VOL. 52 ISSUE 40 OCTOBER 6, 5015 P63
track, we certainly did. With-
out question the CRF250R
has more power across the
board, from off-idle to peak
rpm. Luckily, it still feels like
last year's bike as far as man-
nerisms but with more power
everywhere. Does this mean
it's a Yamaha or Kawasaki
killer now? No, not quite,
but it's definitely a step in
the right direction and is for
sure more competitive in the
horsepower department than
it used to be.
We like the CRF's power-
band, which actually feels
slightly broader than the '15's
powerband, and can still be
altered a bit via the CRF's
engine-mode select button
on the right handlebar, where
you can control the bikes
three pre-set maps. By press-
ing a button, an LED light
blinks indicating which mode
you're in: one blink for stan-
dard, two for soft (or smooth)
and three for aggressive. We
preferred either the stan-
dard or aggressive modes;
between the two, you pretty
much have all of the bases (or
tracks) covered. But in some
extreme cases, we could see
how the soft setting could be
useful. It's worth noting that
it remains in whatever mode
you left it when restarting the
bike; this isn't always the case
with street bikes (and we ride
those, too).
Honda also updated the
suspension. Last year, the
CRF250R got its first air fork,
Showa's Separate Function
Fork (SFF) with Triple Air
Chamber (TAC), but it's been
updated for 2016. Like last
year, the three air chambers
(inner, outer and balance
chambers) are located in the
left leg, while the right leg
is responsible for all damp-
(Above) It
might not look
much different
than the 2015
model, but the
new CRF250R
is changed
and all for the
better.
(Left) Some
things haven't
changed,
like the
CRF250R's
agile feeling
and great
cornering
prowess.
