2018 HONDA CRF250L RALLY
FULL TEST
P104
inches. So, as you can see, the Rally is
a slightly larger motorcycle overall than
the L.
Get Out There
Just as Honda promised, the CRF250L
Rally is fun and easy to ride, which I did
a lot of with this bike. I didn't just ride
two or three times and formed a quick
opinion but I lived with it for nearly half a year.
While larger and more traditional ADV bikes can be
intimidating and sometimes a bit of a handful on
the dirt, the CRF250L is none of these. Instead,
the Rally is easy to control and maneuver on any
kind of terrain, but it's most happy on hard-packed
flat trails or wide-open fire roads. It can conquer
both just fine at whatever pace you chose.
I found, however, that the real key to having
good time on the Rally is to not be in a hurry,
because, unless you really work at it, its 249.6cc,
liquid-cooled, single-cylinder, four-stroke engine
won't get you anywhere quickly. After all, it's a
249.6cc, liquid-cooled, single-cylinder,
four-stroke engine and can offer only so
much. It barely makes 25 horsepower.
Simply put, the CRF250L Rally's en-
gine is not powerful by any means, but
that's not a surprise.
Yet that doesn't mean I couldn't have
fun on the Rally; I did, because it is
often times a blast just trying to make it
go fast. Even if you're a novice, you'll find yourself
with the throttle constantly pegged, squeezing
every bit of horsepower out of it, on more open
dirt and paved roads. In the right frame of mind
this can be great fun—makes you feel like you're
Ricky Brabec in a special test somewhere in
Peru. However, this motorcycle would benefit
greatly with a handful more cc's. Wouldn't a
450cc version of this bike be amazing! Perhaps a
CRF450RX Rally? (Okay, calm down.)
The Rally's suspension wasn't designed for ag-
gressive off-road riding, that is for sure—it's soft,
springy and under-damped, and unfortunately,
The core of the Rally is
the standard CRF250L
dual sport (pictured
here). For more
technical off-road
riding, the L might be
a better choice over
the taller and heavier
plastic-wrapped Rally.
