Honda Cr125r
HONDA CR125R
CYCLE WORLD TEST
ONLY THE PLASTIC IS RED; THE TARGET IS PURE GREEN
FOR MOST MOTOCROSS MAchines, the goal is simple: win races. But the primary mission for Honda's 1985 CR 125R goes far beyond the trophies and grins that accompany individual victories. In fact, winning races is a mere by-product of a much narrower, more sharply defined goal that Honda has set for its 125. This year, the CR's most important objective is straightforward, clear-cut and anything but simple: to beat Kawasaki's KX125.
That's not just based on the usual corporate competitiveness, but rather on Honda's overwhelming commitment to be on top in American moto cross, in racing. in sales and in pres tige. And even the harshest critic would have to admit that the com pany has done an impressive job. In U.S. racing this past year, Honda pocketed the Grand National Moto cross Championship, the Supercross Championship and the 500 Moto cross Championship. And box-stock CRs were acknowledged as the best machines in every full-size class.
Every class, that is, except one. Last year, there was no arguing that the 125 class belonged to Kawasaki. The KX 125 had more power than any other 125 available, enough to make the Honda look feeble by com parison. That's why the new CR has been rethought. reconfigured and reaimed with the KX directly in the crosshai rs.
Inside the new CR engine, the most elaborate example of this re think is the new bore and stroke-di mensions that Honda changes as of ten as some other companies change decals. The `85 engine has a 3.3mm longer stroke and a 1.5mm smaller bore, resulting in a perfectly square 54mm by 54mm configuration. This was aimed at making the powerband broader than that of the oversquare engine used last year. In the process of that change. the CR gained one cubic centimeter of displacementhardly an earth-shaking increase. And in case any potential cheaters out there are considering installing last year's larger piston in this year's CR and making a not-so-legal racebike. forget it. According to Honda, the distance from the wrist pin to the top of the piston was changed. all but eliminating the cheaterbike possibility.
Besides, the stock'CR engine al ready has all the promise, at least me chanically, of being a KX-beater. One of the features that was credited with helping the Kawasaki produce so much power last year was the R bottom slide in its Mikuni carburetor. Honda's answer is a Keihin carb with an oval slide. Even though the ven turi size remains the same as on last year's 34mm carb, the new Keihin is claimed to allow much better airflow. The carb's slide is chrome-plated zinc, and its bottom has smooth con tours. Additionally. there's no idle speed adjuster screw protruding into the venturi. A separate circuit feeds the engine at idle, and idle speed is adjusted by turning the top of the choke knob.
In some other areas, Honda was able to get away with using a surpris ingly large number of parts from last year's bike. The engine's center cases are identical aside from their mate rial, which now is magnesium rather than aluminum. The ratios of the sixspeed gearbox are unchanged, and even the Automatic Torque Ampli fication Chamber (ATAC) is the same as last year. The ATAC system, for those of you who don't already know, alters the effective volume of the exhaust headpipe by using a crank-driven, ball-ramp device to open and close a chamber connected to the exhaust manifold. At low rpm, the chamber is open. which increases head-pipe volume for better low-end power, and at high rpm it's closed, which decreases the volume for opti mum top-end power.
The idea behind ATAC is to broaden the motor's powerband by effectively changing the tuning of the expansion chamber while the engine is running. But last year, the results were no big deal. The RM 125 Suzuki had more top-end. the YZ125 Yamaha had more low-end, and the Kawasaki had more power every where. This year, as far as the Honda's power output is concerned, little has changed. The CR has gained noticeable mid-range power, but the overall output isn't quite a match for even last year's Kawasaki. We got ahold of a well-used but sound `84 KX and, after a day of roll ons, riding and racing, found that the CR is much closer to the KX through the mid-range and on top-end than was last year's Honda, but the Kawa saki still has more power everywhere, power that is spread over a much broader range. And although we haven't yet performed an official test on an `85 KX, it's unlikely that Ka wasaki has lost ground in the 125 class.
There are other contrasts between the `84 KX and `85 CR engines, too. The Honda has a harder-hitting en gine, but its considerable flywheel ef fect makes it slower-revving. Those two factors make for an effective bal ance between the manageablity a Novice rider needs, and the explo sive, instant power a Pro rider can use. The KX accomplishes the same thing in a different way by having a very smooth powerband and little fly wheel effect.
Both bikes share another quality, too, an eagerness to rev. The Honda in particular seems to thrive on being kept singing all day at ultrasonic rpm levels. There's none of the reluctance to rev as with the Yamaha YZ. And when you do fall off the pipe, climb ing back on top takes nothing more than a quick fan of the super-easy pull clutch lever, or maybe an occa sional downshift. That's the exact op posite of machines like the Suzuki RM 125, which always seem to have a hard time finding their own powerband.
But there s one area where the RM, the KX and possibly even last year's CR are way ahead of the new Honda. The CR's rear suspension has under gone yet another year of major change. and the results are question able. The CR's Kayaba shock is longer and has almost 10mm more travel than that of last year's bike, even though the rear-wheel travel is about the same. That means the shock is working under less leverage and, therefore, can have decreased spring and damping rates. And that, in turn, means that if all other things are equal, the shock shouldn't fade as quickly.
But all other things aren't equal. After changing the lever ratio, Honda used the same rate spring as last year's CR, effectively making the rear end stiffer. So now the spring over powers the shock. The rider has to turn the rebound damping to one of its near-maximum settings, the com pression damping to near-minimum, and use less preload than normal. And with a 1 50-pound Pro rider on the bike, we ran about 105mm of sag in the rear end. Even so, the CR's Pro-Link rear suspension transmits a great deal more impact to the rider than does a Kawasaki or Suzuki rear suspension system.
On the other hand, the fork per forms right up there with the best in the business. Like the rear shock, the fork is manufactured by Kayaba in stead of Showa, Honda's suspension vendor for the larger CRs. But unlike the rear end, the fork caused no com plaints from any of our test riders, Amateur or Pro. We ran the stock oil and oil level, and left the adjustable compression-damping blow-off valve in its stock (12 clicks in) position. The fork works nicely as is, without any fiddling.
Likewise' when it comes to han dling, the bike just flat works. The CR is arguably the best-turning produc tion motocross bike made. A few years ago, Honda gave all its MXers radically steep steering-head angles and short trail measurements-at least, that kind of geometry seemed radical for the time. Now, however, other manufacturers have come around to using those same kinds of dimensions. But the CRL25R still turns with a quick precision that few other bikes can approach. and the new CR is even more sure and confi dence-inspiring in the turns than its predecessor. A lot of the credit falls to the Bridgestone M22 rear and M23 front tires, both of which hold well in sand and are absolutely outstanding on hard clay.
There is, however, one sour note in the CR's handling repertoire: If you have your weight too far forward at high speed, the CR's front end gets a case of the jitters. This front-end shake isn't any cause to load up and go home: most Honda riders have grown used to the trait and take it as a fair warning to move rearward on the machine.
In every other way, Honda has put together a handling package that makes the rider feel like he can, and in fact should, push himself to new limits. Any time you go through a turn as fast as you can, the CR subtly goads you into trying still harder. As a result, you start braking later and accelerating sooner on the Honda than you would on just about any other machine.
In almost every repect. the Honda makes pushing the limits feel safe and natural. Even the brakes add to your confidence, simply because both re quire very little effort in the first place. The rear brake is powerful and progressive, and the front is the stan dard of the industry. This year nei ther brake has changed very much: the front disc brake just has a new reservoir with a rearward-facing win dow that's less vulnerable in a crash, and the rear drum setup uses alumi num, rather than magnesium, for the base of its shoes. That change wasn't meant to affect the CR's braking force in any way, but to stop the brak ing squeal that Hondas have become known for-a cure that worked quite effectively on our 125.
Not all'of the Honda's changes are improvements, though. Like the fuel tank, which last year was small and this year is even smaller. Once, in fact, the tank on our test bike ran dry on the 35th minute of a 45-minute race. The decrease in fuel capacity seems senseless, especially consider ing that only the American model comes with a small tank: the 1985 CRI25R available in Europe has a tank that holds slightly more.
:~h~t~ stka there are so few senseless aspects of the CR, and so many points that are easy to praise. The machine's good points are extremely good. and even its weakest points are still comparatively good. But in motocross, all measure ments of good and bad must be judged relative to the competition. And in this case, the competition is the KX125, a bike that was so out standing last year that the elements of mediocrity in the `85 Honda's rear suspension and power output are magnified into death blows.
To be sure, the Honda still has a lot going for it: the magical handling, the impeccable fork and the state-of-theart brakes all are above reproach. But as a stock machine, the CR falls short of its primary goal by one KX-length, despite Honda's commitment to out shine the Kawasaki. That means the CRl25Risnothingmorethana 1985 bike that's relegated to second-best status-and that's by 1984 standards.
HONDA CR125R
$1948
American Honda Motor Co.
