Cycle News

VOL. 52 ISSUE 40 OCTOBER 6, 5015 P65 ing duties, but unlike last year, all three chambers are adjustable instead of just the inner—which acts as the primary "spring"— and bal- ance chambers. They've added a new Schrader valve so you can now adjust the air in the outer chamber, which controls bottoming. Last year, the outer chamber just had a bleeder to maintain atmo- spheric pressure. The forks still offer 16-way compression and rebound damping adjust- ments. The fork legs are also 5mm longer. Basically, this means you have more range if you want to drop the forks in the triple clamps in order to find that perfect chassis balance or if you're looking for more high-speed stability. In the stock position, the ride height is the same as last year's. On the track, we found the fork to perform a lot like it did last year. It's a very good fork and performs well but only after some fiddling, we learned this last year. The fork is ultra adjustable, even more so now, and it takes a while to get things sorted out, de- pending on your tastes. Once you do, you'll like these forks. Our first outing on the bike had us looking for a plusher and less active feel. We were getting closer to that point by the end of the day but weren't quite there yet; we still have some experimenting to do. We're not worried, though, from past experience, we'll get things dialed and come to enjoy this extremely high-tech fork. Our only real gripe with the fork, but it's not really with the fork itself, is that Honda does not include an air pump with the purchase of the bike. That's a shame since you really do need a specialized pump to do it right and they're not exactly cheap. Basic air S P E C I F I C A T I O N S 2 0 1 6 H O N D A C R F 2 5 0 R ENGINE TYPE:..............................249cc liquid-cooled single-cylinder 4-stroke BORE X STROKE: ................................76.8 x 53.8mm FUEL SYSTEM: Dual-Timing Programmed Fuel Injection (PGM-FI), 46mm throttle body IGNITION: ............... Full transistor with electronic advance COMPRESSION RATIO: .......................................... 13.8:1 VALVE TRAIN: ............. Unicam, 4-valve; 30.5mm intake, titanium; 25mm exhaust, titanium TRANSMISSION: .......................Close-ratio 5-speed FINAL DRIVE: ........................ #520 Chain; 13T/49T FRONT SUSPENSION: ..................... 49mm inverted Showa SFF-Air TAC fork with 16-position rebound and 16-position compression damp- ing adjustability REAR SUSPENSION: ....................... Pro-Link Showa single shock with adjustable spring preload, 17-position rebound damping adjustability, and compression damping adjustment separated into low-speed (13 positions) and high-speed (3.5 turns) FRONT WHEEL TRAVEL: .....................................12.2 in. REAR WHEEL TRAVEL: .........................................12.3 in. FRONT BRAKE: .............Single 260mm disc with twin-piston caliper REAR BRAKE: .............................. Single 240mm disc FRONT TIRE: ..............Dunlop MX52F 80/100-21 REAR TIRE: .................... Dunlop MX52 100/90-19 RAKE: .............................................................................. 27° 23' TRAIL: .............................................118mm (4.6 inches) WHEELBASE: .............................................................. 58.6 in SEAT HEIGHT: .............................................................. 37.4 in CURB WEIGHT (READY TO RIDE): ...............231 lbs. FUEL CAPACITY: .......................................................1.7 gal. GROUND CLEARANCE: .........................................12.7 in. MSRP: ...............................................................................$7599 The CRF250R is a bike for but that mean good experts, just it's good

• Cover