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Home » motocross bikes » 2010 Honda CRF250R – First Test – Dirt Rider Magazine

2010 Honda CRF250R – First Test – Dirt Rider Magazine

By: jesse ziegler

Thursday, October 29, 2009

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<p>When it comes to motocross bikes in recent history that really, really, really needed fuel injection the 2006 to 2009 Honda CRF250R is at the top of the list. The over-carbureted twin-piped CRF250Rs can be notoriously boggy and can be a bear to dial in with brass and screws.It could be argued that the “need” for EFI could actually be more desirable in the 250F class than with the 450s. With their smaller motors, hesitations off idle and spotty power delivery affect the performance on a much more noticeable scale. Who needs ultra-precise fuel delivery on a 450? Top pros in a supercross rhythm section, and that’s about it. But the working class of motocross (riders and bikes) that resides in the 250cc world can use as much power-and delivered as perfectly-as possible.The 2010 Honda CRF250R is the first production 250cc motocross bike to be delivered to us with fuel injection, and it’s a wonderful, wonderful thing. The response is amazing. The bike barks, yips, growls and purrs at your command. Just wiggle your throttle hand a bit and listen. It’s immediate, clean, predictable and fun. I’m guessing gas mileage on this bike measures poorly, because most people who’ve ridden our test bike blip the beans out of the throttle. It’s like a video game. Brap-brap-brap-brap-brap…all day long with no bog.Before you can play with the injector’s crispness you have to start the CRF250R. Don’t worry, though, because it’s one of the easiest bikes to kickstart that we’ve tested. None of the CRF450R’s quirky starting characteristics transferred over to the 250F. Once running, feel free to whack the throttle around in the pits for a while and enjoy the connectivity between wrist and motor.On the track the directness of EFI takes center stage. The bike has zero hesitation out of turns. It doesn’t stumble down straights, and it certainly doesn’t hiccup on landings. You can ignore the part of the bike that introduces gas and air to fire and just enjoy the ride. Throttle response is off the charts with EFI, and the 2010 CRF250R is a perfect example of this.Power is different than response. As such, the power coming out of this Honda’s incredible response isn’t guaranteed to be as impressive. But it generally is-just not where you think it should be.Honda boasted at the press introduction that this motor would lead the class. And when ridden like 250Fs are usually ridden, it does produce some impressive results. Everywhere from smack-dab in the middle of the range on up to the 13,500-rpm rev-limiter, the new CRF250R makes serious power. And it delivers it quickly while staying usable. It doesn’t rev out and beg for a shift like previous years’ models have. For 2010, the bike happily stretches gears and tickles the rev-limiter for a good while. In comparison, 2006-2009 models generally charged through the mid with great performance and then buried their heads immediately into the rev-limiter. This quick revving was our only complaint with the second-generation CRF250Rs (if you don’t count bogging).Where the bike feels like it should have the most power (according to the great throttle response), it doesn’t. Down low the bike is smooth and clean but it doesn’t knock your socks off. The EFI is controlling power at a rate designed for good traction and smooth acceleration. It doesn’t deliver snap. Snap in the 250F class is a lot like snap in the 125 class: It’s handled by the clutch. And power’s pretty much useless if it doesn’t provide some traction. That’s why we ride four-strokes, after all. Remember? We traded in our two-strokes (crisp, instant throttle response and light handling) for the usability and traction of the ‘bangers. This is one of the first bikes to bring some of those two together. So, if you want the bike to crack elbows, give the clutch a blip-she’ll wake up just fine (just like your two-strokes did). Some will come off this bike saying it’s too soft down low, saying it needs new gearing or a pipe to give it some bottom-end grunt. But no matter what you do, you won’t turn it into a 450. It’s a bike that rides in mid-to-top with plenty of traction and power down low to get you through.In summary, the Honda CRF250R has a much-improved engine for 2010 with incredible response, and it’s not scared to hang it out there. Let the revs do the talking. Oh yeah, the dual exhaust is gone, too. But the new single pipe sounds sweet. It’s throaty and low with a nice note-sounds cool!On to the handling and suspension. Well, for 2010 Honda shares a lot of parts between its motocross machines. In fact, almost everything you see on the bike is interchangeable between the CRF450R and the CRF250R. Ninety-five percent of the frame is identical with only the engine cradle and mounts being modified for the 250cc motor and chassis balance. In general, the 250F gives a very similar ride to the 450R. That is, the 250R is quick steering and ultra-light feeling. The bike goes into corners intuitively-almost on its own-and settles in nicely. It is a light and flickable affair in the air and is easily movable by the slightest rider input. It’s nimbly-bimbly-like and is almost like riding a toy. Somewhat surprisingly, we’ve had great experience with this 250F being high-speed stable as well. And its manners have been well behaved everywhere in between.
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<p>Not everyone was 100 percent sold on the 2009 CRF450R’s Kayaba suspension performance or overall handling balance of the chassis. And from the beginning it was clear that the big-bore CRF was picky about sag and suspension clickers. But the Showa components on the 250 seem to be working flawlessly. They really should since the package consists of an all-new 48mm fork and “shorty” reservoir rear shock. It’s some fancy stuff we get on our bikes these days. We’re running 102mm of sag for 165 to 180-pound riders and leaving clickers alone. We’re even leaving the clickers alone when slower, lighter riders climb aboard and hearing no complaints. The same goes with lighter faster guys. It’s just working. At the very most we’ve slowed the shock a click for some fast downhill sections but nothing else. We hope the user-friendliness continues as the bike clicks off the hours.Guess what? We found something to complain about. After riding on the Dunlop Geomax series of tires, we’re not sure why Honda went with the 756 rear and 742FA front. True, the 756 will give some more soft-condition performance, but the MX51 front and rear combo is so good everywhere we missed it almost immediately. For most riders, the front Geomax truly puts the 742FA to shame. We experienced some drifting of the front we feel could be eliminated with a tire swap, especially on dry, hard-packed surfaces.From our first 8-10 hours, plus what we learned from a good race session, we’re sure this bike can easily keep up with any 250F in the class from last year. We’ve already sneakily begun comparing this to other 2010 models and are getting ready for the most exciting 250F shootout since the very first one. Can Honda take the crown? Oh, who knows…we’ll have to wait and see.<strong>Specifications</strong><br/><br />
MSRP: $7199<br/><br />
Weight (tank empty): 217 lb<br/><br />
Seat height: 37.4 in.<br/><br />
Seat-to-footpeg distance: 21.3 in.<strong>What’s Hot!</strong><br/><br />
Amazing throttle response<br/><br />
Sharp handling makes tight corners a joy ride<br/><br />
Light weight feel<br/><br />
Suspension is versatile and impressive<br/><br />
Starts easily and sounds cool!<br/><br />
Power pulls forever<strong>What’s Not!</strong><br/><br />
Change the oil often: shifting crispness can go away if you stretch it<br/><br />
How good are you at sticking on tiny numbers?<TABLE cellspacing="3" cellpadding="2"></p>
<tr>
<td colspan="3"><strong>SETTINGS</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="3">Jetting</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="3">Ha ha ha ha</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Suspension </td>
<td>Stock</td>
<td>DR</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Fork</td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Compression </td>
<td>11</td>
<td>Stk</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Rebound</td>
<td>7</td>
<td>Stk</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Shock</td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Low speed compression</td>
<td>8</td>
<td>Stk</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>High speed compression</td>
<td>1 1/4</td>
<td>Stk</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Rebound</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>Stk</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Sag (mm): </td>
<td>102</td>
<td>Stk</td>
</tr>
<p></TABLE><strong>Pete Peterson</strong><br/><br />
5’10″/160 lb<br/><br />
Vet NoviceHonda and fuel injection have finally made a four-stroke that can pry me away from my two-stroke. The throttle response of the 2010 CRF is so crisp and immediate that the thumper loses that “lumbersome,” heavy feel. I could move the bike with my right wrist instead of my arms, making it less tiring to ride, and I gained confidence each time the bike responded exactly as I’d asked. Everything else good about the bike follows from this responsive engine, and everything else includes a super-nimble chassis that never got upset, a short-wheelbase feel in the corners and suspension that never seemed out of sync front to rear, even when dumbly going right through the deepest braking bumps. I found myself getting on the throttle earlier lap after lap and didn’t want to give the bike back. The four-stroke trade-off has always been faster lap times for a bike less fun to ride. Not anymore. Turn sharp, jump predictably, find traction and giggle like a doofus. FI rules. Don’t tell my 125, but I’m going to cheat on it every chance I get with this sexy new redhead.<strong>Kris Keefer</strong><br/><br />
5’11″/160 lb<br/><br />
ProRiding the 2010 CRF250 made me want to go back and ride a 250F full time again. It was that fun. The fuel injection works flawlessly without giving up the pivotal bottom-end response that we all like on 250Fs. The bike had great instant throttle response, and the low-end pull was amazingly good. Going in I was skeptical about the bike being “too smooth” feeling, but the new CRF had great pull from mid to top. It could be revved out in third, and shifting a little early into fourth was not an issue at Perris Raceway as the bike pulled the taller gear just fine. Top-end was great, and the bike felt really snappy and fast everywhere on the track. The bike felt really light and nimble and could be cornered very well. Initial lean was great coming into corners, and I could start my corner sooner on the CRF. The fork and shock felt balanced, but the track did not get too rough so we will have to check more into the suspension on a rougher track day. The only things I did find that I did not like were the front tire and grips. The Dunlop 742FA tire pushed once the track dried out slightly. The grips left me a funny blister on top of my thumb. Weird. Overall it is one of the most fun 250Fs I have ridden yet!</div>

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