Standoff!
STANDOFF!
BY JIMMY LEWIS
YOU’RE GOING TO BE DISAPPOINTED IN US. WHY? Because we didn’t pick a winner. Never mind Cycle World's reputation as the voice of authority, the motorcycle magazine of record. Never mind our hard-hitting founding publisher, old Joe Parkhurst, rolling over in his grave. Never mind us never minding, we just couldn’t pick a winner in this, the most competitive dirtbike comparison test ever.
“Well, that’s just the easy, cop-out, please-all-the-big-advertisers, sissy-stepping way they do business at the world’s largest motorcycle magazine,” you say? Ha! See, we weren’t the first to rush out our 250cc four-stroke motocross comparison. Why? Because we couldn’t pick a winner last month. So we spent a whole ’nuther month beating the livin’ poop (for want of a word Mom says I shouldn’t use) out of the bikes to see if something, anything, put one of these four ahead of the others. No such luck!
So, instead of telling you which bike wins, because we can’t, we’re going to tell you three other things: 1) What worked really well; 2) what didn’t work so well; and 3) which bike was our favorite, though that doesn’t necessarily make it the overall winner.
How so? Because most of our test riders liked one bike more than the others, but still wouldn’t say it was better than the rest. Strange, huh? Simply put, it’s getting to the point where comparison testing is like telling you which flavor of ice cream should be your favorite. They’re all good!
Honda CRF25OR vs.
Kawasaki KX250F vs.
Suzuki RM-Z250..vs.
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CW COMPARISON
In order for you to see things more clearly from our perspective, we’ll start with our impressions from the four riding introductions we attended. Products of the Kawasaki/Suzuki alliance, the KX250F and RM-Z250 are exactly the same motorcycle except for color and radiatorshroud shape, so whatever applies to one applies to the other. Better to let your preferred dealer or the factory contingency program make the call on which is best. We rode the Kawasaki first and came away impressed. Really impressed. Next, we got our gloves on the tried-and-true Yamaha YZ250F. Better fork, more refined, still in the hunt for sure. Suzuki got its yellow RM-Z from the Kawasaki factory and we were still impressed. And the one we thought would seal the deal right from the git-go, the Honda CRF250R, was as good as we expected, and quite possibly the best. But not definitely.
See, that’s how single-day introductions with no backto-back comparisons leave you feeling. Different bikes, different tracks, different conditions.. .one lavish intro with fine food, another on a sweltering day lacking pizzazz (though there was pizza)...no conclusions.
And with deadline looming, sometimes a riding impression is just that-an impression. A few more intimate days elevates that impression into a test, and beyond that there’s the almighty shootout.
So here we are, after three months of flogging, still scratching our heads for lack of a winner. We rode all four bikes at perfectly groomed and watered circuits, and at beatup, unprepped, dry and dusty tracks. We raced them. We rode them in the hills and at wide-open Grand Prix tracks. We put brand-new Bridgestone M402 knobbies on them and raced them against each other. We did more roll-ons and practice starts than we could stand, all to see if any of these bikes was faster, better or quicker. What happened? Read on...
The Honda was a favorite from the first stab on the kickstarter. It and the Yamaha, for the record, are very easy starters. The CRF feels the lightest, the most nimble and the closest to a 125cc two-stroke in the flick and fling of things. The fourth-generation aluminum frame has the right amount of give and plenty of get-comfort and rigidity obviously
Price........ benefiting from a lot of learning since 1997. Mated with Showa suspension, the CRF has the usual Flonda plushness, a smooth suspension stroke and beaucoup bottoming resistance front and rear. Balanced. Magic, almost. You can slam the front end into anything and come away with a pretzeled rim before you get scared! We set the rear sag at 98mm for our 170-pound average rider and never touched a clicker. Typical CRF. The bike has just the right thickness through the middle, not too thin, never fat. You ride “in” the Honda, and it is the easiest to move around on. Middle-of-the-road in terms of layout, the CRF was comfortable for small and large riders, though larger guys favored the Yamaha and smaller riders leaned toward the Kawasaki/ Suzuki.
HONDA
CRF250R
Weight:
Tank empty.. Tank full....
$5799
Fuel capacity ..
Seat height____
Footpeg height. Footpeg to
seat height____
Ground clearance
216 lbs. 226 lbs.
. 1.9 gal.
. 37.0 in. .16.4 in.
. 20.6 in. ..13.5 in.
ips
A So Honda, it’s almost flawless
A Nearing the realm of works bike handling and suspension
A Friendly engine with plenty of steam
Downs
▼ First-year blues: high demand, high prices and those tiny little glitches
▼ Learning the air-filter removal trick
In the engine department is where things get interesting. The Honda initially impressed us with its bottom-end grunt, but it’s on top where the CRF really likes to eat. In our seat-ofthe-pants testing, it feels like it puts out the most j peak horsepower, if only by a small amount. But 'where the power really shines is in terms of delivery.
Initially, rpm rises slower than on the other bikes, allowing the Honda to get good bite off the bottom. Not the fastest way to ride a bike that revs to 13,000 rpm, maybe, but it sure makes for a fun, easy-riding experience.
The rest of the CRF is as expected from Honda, with super-solid fit and finish, polished to the point that you hate to see it get dirty. The bike is light where it needs to be and tough in the wear areas; for example, it has 8mm seat bolts, which stay tighter longer. But we still wonder which Houdini maneuver it takes to get the CRF’s air filter out from between its frame rails without dropping dirt into the intake boot? Also, our Honda was the first bike to roast its chain, though you won’t have to buy a set of handlebars-Renthals are standard. Another issue was the clutch springs getting saggy, which resulted in the clutch losing its initial bite coming out of turns, though it never slipped outright. We’re sure a fix will be available soon,
though, most likely in the form of different springs. We ran the Honda’s jetting a bit leaner than stock by turning the fuel screw in all the way, then backing off 1V2 turns. Big difference from the standard 2#4, allowing a larger #42 pilot jet and even better rideability. The more gas you can cleanly bum, the better!
If it sounds like the Honda is unbeatable, wait till you take a spin on the Kawazuki! Do so on a rough, fast, sandy track, and you’ll be seeing green. Or yellow. At first, we thought this bike(s) was the top-end screamer. It certainly sounds like it, and faster riders were able to keep it singing. But our Novice riders relied on the bottom-end in the Suzukidesigned mill and came away all smiles. After a bit of time, even our Pros were dipping a little lower in the power spread. Similar to the Honda, the Suzusaki gathers revs a bit slower than the Yamaha. It takes big throttle openings and continues to pull hard. The power falls just a little in the middle, and then it comes alive again. It screams, but it doesn’t often hit the rev-limiter, and top-end power feels the lowest by a hair. Jetting can switch around the delivery a bit, but you’d better be a carb tech to even try. We leaned out our Suzuki and got better mid to low response. And we tried a setting developed by Kawasaki for Supercross that allows more blow-off from the pumper (#100 bleed jet with richer OBELQ needle), leaning the duration of the squirt and making throttle
response a bit crisper. Especially for that triple-jump after the double-double. Really!
Just because we said the KX/RM makes the least power doesn’t necessarily hurt it, however. As evidence, our stock yellow testbike pulled a holeshot in one of the 125cc qualifiers for the U.S. Open in Las Vegas. Is that fast enough for you? Overall, this was the engine that most mirrored the power delivery of a 125cc two-stroke, just with double the spread.
KAWASAKI
KX250F
$5599
Weight:
Tank empty... 216 lbs.
Tank full..... 228 lbs.
Fuel capacity ... 2.0 gal.
Seat height.....37.5 in.
Footpeg height.. 16.5 in. Footpeg to
seat height.....21.0 in.
Ground clearance ..12.5 in.
A Runs like a 125 with two powerbands joined backto-back
A Stability and go-fast handling in spades.
A Available in yellow as a Suzuki
Downs
▼ What’s a bleed jet and what part of the powerband does that clean up?
▼ Gets beat-up looking fast
SUZUKI
RM-Z250
Price..........$5599
Weight:
Tank empty... 217 lbs.
Tank full..... 229 ibs.
Fuel capacity ... 2.0 gal.
Seat height.....37.5 in.
Footpeg height.. 16.5 in. Footpeg to
seat height.....21.0 in.
Ground clearance .. 12.5 in
JMps
A All the same good points as the Kawasaki, only yellow
A Twice as many dealers with parts
f)owns
▼ See KX250F
Handling was definitely a high point on the Suzuki. And the Kawasaki. In fact, the pair handled like KXs typically do, with unmatched stability.
The lightest bike by a pound (or a half-pound, depending on which bike we weighed; production tolerances at work), it doesn’t mind
being a little low in the rear and will still turn amazingly well.
The one thing the KX/RM really liked was to be ridden hard. Every rider at every skill level commented that the faster he rode, the better the bike(s) worked. That’s the sign of a good package. Neither the fork nor the shock was singled out for being overly good or bad in any area, they just plain worked without drawing undo attention. When the track got rough and the red and blue bikes started to bounce or swap, the yellow and green ones just ate it up.
We were initially concerned with the durability of the all new KX/RM, but during three months of testing there was never an issue. In fact, these two bikes needed the least attention. We threw a new clutch in the Suzuki after the U.S. Open (those big whoops have a way of ruining clutch plates) and then never touched it. We didn’t much like having to drain the coolant to change the oil, but the aftermarket has a fix for that (www.dirttricks.com). And don’t forget to run the bike for a while before deciding you need to add oil. The two-compartment system takes a while to sort the slippery stuff into the sight glass. These two bikes can be more challenging to start than either the Honda or Yamaha-the kickstarter is a bit higher and awkwardly light to kick. More shared demerits: cheap graphics, poor frame paint and the handgrips promote blisters. Small things that make big impressions.
And then there’s the Yamaha. Lost in the hype, the YZ250F remains the same fun-to-ride bike it was when it pioneered the 250cc four-stroke motocross category. This class, after all, is all about the fun factor, at least for most Vet-aged riders. You’re never going to beat your buddies down the start straight, but you may outlast, outwit and outhandle them. And have a blast doing it! Nothing like feeling the throttle cable stretch, ya know. The 125/250 four-stroke class is more about the rider than the bike, though all things being equal, you’ll likely get to the first turn first on a miniThumper. And spend way less coin making it fast, because it already is.
Back to the Yamaha, and speaking of fast, it is and it feels like it. It has the biggest hit anywhere you need it, zings all the way to rev-limiterville, and is happy to camp there. The sweetest spot is in the midrange, where the YZ-F beats up on the other bikes. Off the very bottom, the fuel screw can be finicky, but the other brass in the carb can largely be ignored. Get the Dr. D (www.dubachracing.com) fuelscrew tool, learn to tune away the slight bog, and live happily ever after. The YZ is a quick and exciting revver, and
while it may not be the most friendly outright, it gets the job done around the racetrack. On the day we fitted all four testbikes with electronic lap-timers, the Yamaha was consistently quickest regardless of rider shape, size or skill.
Surprising, then, that more of our test riders voiced complaints about the YZ-F’s suspension, and to a lesser extent (because they are so intimately connected), its handling. Our testbike wouldn’t settle down and rail comers like the other bikes. It tended to dance a bit going into and out of the turns, and kept its front end up high inside the curves. We experienced some bottoming in the rear end, and when the bike did this, it tended to rebound too fast, as well. We settled on an extra eighth-tum of high-speed compression damping and a click or two stiffer on all the other adjusters as being the best setting. It was interesting how jacked-up we let the Yamaha’s suspension get at one point during testing (the rear ride height was way too high), yet the bike still turned fast laps! You won’t get away with that on the Honda.
Our theory here: The YZ-F’s new forks are a huge improvement, plusher yet 100 times more resistant to bottoming than they were last year. And now that you’re riding the bike a little harder and faster, it moves around a bit more. You wouldn’t even notice if it weren’t for the other bikes-which is why we do comparison tests. Predictably, faster riders complained about this more than Novices.
Around the edges, the Yamaha is a stone. Solid, that is.
It’s the most proven by far, with a reputation for durability that is at least tied for top ranking. Our only YZ-F issues were a boot through the airbox (who said photo shoots were easy?) and a bent handlebar. Two drain plugs is one too many, but with all that oil chilling out in the frame, you don’t need to change it that often. Also, the Yamaha’s airfilter element is a bit flimsy, though Honda would do well to measure its airbox opening.
YAMAHA
YZ250F
Price.........
Weight:
Tank empty...
Tank full.....
Fuel capacity ..
Seat height.....
Footpeg height.. Footpeg to
seat height.....
Ground clearance
216 lbs. 227 lbs. 2.0 gal. 37.7 in. 16.5 in.
21.2 in. ..13.0 in.
$5599
Alps
Refined and still taking on all comers
Still the most exciting motor
New fork makes a big difference
Downs
Suspension needs some fine-tuning
Not as new/cool as the rookies
So, we like the red bike the most.. .and the blue bike the most.. .and the green and yellow bikes the most. Does that sound like a kid in an ice-cream shop yet? Get used to it, because comparison shopping these days is more about knowing what you are looking for and less about which bike is best. Why doesn’t our collective favorite bike, the Honda, win? Because “favorite” isn’t the end-all category by which to judge a motocross comparison. The fastest bike, the Yamaha, doesn’t outright win either. It turned the quickest lap times around the dreamlike Racetown 395 MX during timed moto testing, yet it wasn’t the most fun to ride. As for the other bikes, the Suzuki and Kawasaki, they have strong points, and with a change of the breeze can outshine either of the others-for instance, if you are small and like a stable bike with good low-end power.
So, no, it’s not fair to tell you which bike wins because they all do, and for different reasons. It took a lot of pump gas to come to this conclusion, and a fair bit of convincing to write it, but this truly is a comparison test with no winner. Or four of them, depending on how you look at it. O
