SEEING RED, THE CRF250 INTRO

By John Basher

With the onslaught of four-stroke 250’s in 2004, there were two bikes that I was really interested in the KX250F (a.k.a. the RM-Z250) and the CRF250. After spending one fine day last week at Cahuilla Creek riding the long awaited Kawasaki four-stroke, there was but one more four-banger left to cross off my checklist. On August 27th, that fateful day finally came.

From Cahuilla Creek to Carlsbad Raceway, the evolution of four-strokes was about to reach all new proportions once the CRF250 hit American soil. Kawasaki and Suzuki had entered the four-stroke mix simultaneously (only seven years after Yamaha developed their potent YZ400F), but Honda had extensive knowledge from developing the best selling motocross bike on the planet in the CRF450. Kawasaki, to their credit, had done their homework. At the KX250F intro last week, I was truly surprised at the handling and lightweight characteristics of the bike. One of my only qualms was in the power department, as the bike felt more like a beefed up 125 two-stroke rather than a lug it and run it in one gear four-stroke. It didn’t help that Cahuilla Creek is at 2,500 feet with deep loam berms, not exactly the conditions an engine loves.

120 miles straight down Interstate 5 and two and a half hours away from the office in Valencia, the tag-team of Tim Olson, his father Alan, my brother Mike and myself pulled into the historic Carlsbad Raceway track. Nestled in a deserted area on the flight path of Carlsbad Airport and only a few miles from the Pacific Ocean as the crow flies, the track hasn’t seen many changes since the late 1970s. The dirt, if you want to call it that, is rock hard and dry. Track conditions are always important because four-strokes usually have a different flavor when it comes to hard packed dirt. Ride a four-stroke on diamond hard dirt, and you’ll automatically notice how powerful the motor is and how predictable the bike reacts. When I kicked over the CRF250 for the first time (it took me four kicks), there was no surprise that the motor had enough power to summon the souls of past motocross racers as I flat-tracked my way around the Carlsbad track. To save a little face, I’ve never ridden Carlsbad and I surely don’t deem that track as my type of track. Throttle control is a must for Carlsbad, and I have the exact opposite style of riding than what is best for that track. I adapted, don’t get me wrong, but I spent a great portion of my time trying to figure out how to slide the corners Supermoto style and come out of the turns with optimum speed.

Once I ironed out the kinks in my riding, I was able to understand the power of the CRF250. I haven’t ridden the CRF and the KXF back to back on the same day and at the same track, so I cannot make any direct comparisons. I do know that the CR250F hauled my 170-pound body around the uphills without any problems, and that I could ride nearly the entire track in third gear. This isn’t a shifting machine. You can lug it and still get out of corners without having to shift down. Numerous times I told myself to keep my fingers off the clutch, and I found myself carrying more speed through the corners.

In the weight department, Honda claimed that the CRF250 hit the scales at 206 pounds (completely dry), but it actually felt slightly heavier than the KX250F.

Who has the best four-stroke 250 out there? Good question. I found the CRF250 to have a great overall package (power, handling, ergonomics), and the KX250F is definitely fun to ride, while the YZ250F is the bike that all other four-stroke 250’s will be compared to. Like I said before, I’d need to ride the three bikes on the same track and on the same day to determine what bike I would purchase. I do know that Honda has a great bike in the CRF250; it will only be a matter of time before I will be able to truly understand where it shines against the competition. Look for a complete story in the upcoming issue of Motocross Action.