For third place I chose the YZ250F. The blue bike is lacking bottom-to-midrange pull, but once you get through second gear the bike feels close to the RM-Z on top. It was just difficult in the tighter stuff to get it to move forward. The suspension is unbelievable on this bike. The fork has to be close to the best production fork I have used to date. It soaks up big hits yet is supple enough to be gentle on the braking bumps. Love the bar bend but lose the black sidecovers...ewww, they look beat in a hurry!
In fourth place it's the CRF250R. Again, the motor is great on this ride but signs off a little too early for me. The Honda loves to be short-shifted. If we were going to an arenacross or supercross track, this is the bike I would choose, but we test exclusively at outdoor tracks and it lacked on top. Overall, the feeling I get from this bike when I ride was that it's the most comfortable and easiest to get used to machine of 2008. The suspension was a little harsh on both the fork and shock and I didn't like the grip compound. Also, I had a little trouble dialing in the steering damper. It felt like it had heavy steering until we turned it way down. Then I didn't feel like it was even necessary. Maybe that was Honda's idea all along, make it so the rider doesn't know its working.
You know, I hate rating the KTM 250 SX-F last 'cause it isn't a bad bike at all. It hauls the mail and will take you from corner to corner the quickest out of all the bikes. The problem for me is that the fork is so harsh on deceleration, then it blows through the stroke on big landings. I was puzzled. The shock is actually really good on most bumps, so the people blaming the linkageless suspension need to put that to bed. This bike feels different than others and twitches on long choppy straights. I like to feel comfortable on a bike to go fast.
Jimmy Lewis
5'10"/185 lb/Vet Pro
It was a pretty split decision for me between the Suzuki RM-Z250 and the KTM 250 SX-F. I swung toward the KTM and here's why: I look at every one of these decisions as if I were spending my own money on a bike in the class we're testing. I figure I'd be living with this bike for at least a year, likely two. And I take it seriously. The KTM won out for a number of reasons. First is durability. These SX-F motors specifically-and the rest of the orange bike as well-have been bulletproof. Second is the outright power, which I think makes or breaks bikes in this class. And third, lately I've been riding a lot of KTMs, both moto and off-road so I was easily comfortable on the bike and didn't have any of the same feelings about harshness in the suspension as the majority of our testers did. It worked fine for me, even at 185 pounds. And it turned the best and I like to carve my lines with my front tire!
The Suzuki was a close second as it was easily the most comfortable ride in the class for me, the motor is still amazing even with all of its newfound competition. I picked the Kawasaki a slightly distant third as it, for me, was a bit vanilla. It has a race-ready motor and very neutral manners across the board but nothing that spoke to me. I take that back, the exhaust note did, in a bad way. The CRF is a tad on the aggressive side for me, from the handling to the motor. Its impressive mid-to-top power runs through the spread so quick I can't enjoy or use it as well as I'd like. And I practically have to run the damper in its stiffest position to relax the in-turn manners; I think I like the 24mm clamps better than the 22mm ones even though Honda says I'll get used to these. Then there was the Yamaha. My favorite bike last year went from an easy riding, great handling motocrosser to a handful. The suspension is still great, but I couldn't get happy with the new midrange bias its motor had. I fought with it in the turns, especially in the ruts, then on the straights as it felt flat up top. This is surprising as I had none of these problems last year and I'm lusting over the 2008 YZ450F.
As the only guy picking the KTM as a winner I'm sure to be branded the "token vote." But I'll stand by my decision knowing how close all these bikes truly are. Look at any of the charts, specifically the lap times chart, and tell me how far off any one of these bikes really is. Because even the haters were riding it around the track just as fast as the other bikes. And frankly, I had the most fun on the KTM. Isn't that what really matters?