Honda’s new-found
punch in the midrange
does make the bike
easier to ride and
more versatile
ast year’s Honda CRF250R was an all
new machine, completely rebuilt from
the ground up and it was a good bike.
Honda had finally admitted, at least
to itself, that the Uni-Cam engine design
was not going to cut it in the high RPM, high
horsepower MX2/250cc four-stroke class, so
an all new twin cam engine was built and it
certainly delivered the high rev horsepower.
Unfortunately, it had little torque and even
less bottom end, and was only really suitable
for expert riders who could open the throttle
wide at gate drop and then barely close it for
the rest of the race. The engine was nicely
rideable in a trail bike sense though, but that
doesn’t really cut it for the majority of MX
racers. Fortunately for NZ’s MX riders things
have changed a great deal for 2019.
While the ‘19 CRF250R is still a little flat
from idle, it’s better than it was. Things have
changed drastically in the lower midrange
where some real punch now awaits.
Thankfully, the engine changes have kept
the CRF’s mega top end. With the revs up
a little it drives out of corners hard while
still getting impressive traction. To go fast
you still have to work the engine hard, but
it will reward that effort, and the fact that
it revs so high, and has strong midrange
too, means that it can pull quite long gears,
which will eliminate the odd shift every now
and then – keeping the bike driving.
The twin exhausts aren’t super quiet and
all the open throttle work means it’s loud to
ride. And with the throttle pinned there is a
little bit of high RPM buzz going on through
the bars, but it’s not enough to quite call it
‘vibration’.
So all 250Fs require full commitment to
ride quickly, and a high intensity input from
the rider to truly go quickly... in that respect
the CRF is no different to the competition.
However, the Honda’s new found punch in
the midrange does make the bike easier to
ride and more versatile.
KIWI RIDER 53