REview

2022 Honda CRF250R First Impression

The media hasn’t been to a fly away introduction since pre pandemic times, so it was nice that Honda invited all of the media to Mt. View motocross park in Sandy, Oregon to try out their new 2022 CRF250R. I mentioned in Racerhead last week that there is always one bike that is the most anticipated of each model year release and this year it was the new CRF250R. Honda made significant changes to the CRF250R’s engine, chassis, a weight loss program, as well as suspension settings, but changing a bunch of things doesn’t always mean that it’s better right? Instead of flying out there for a couple days, I decided to make a road trip out of it and bring my son as well as a couple friends for a few days to enjoy the cooler temps of the PNW. Getting to ride in the Pacific Northwest in the summer is much better than riding in the Southern California inferno. so thank you Honda for getting us out of Hell’s Kitchen! Here are ten things you need to know after riding the CRF250R up in the pines of Oregon. 

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Engine: The 2022 Honda has more bottom to mid range torque, which makes it a much more friendlier vet 250F machine. I am a huge proponent of using third gear in corners and that is one of the reasons why I love the Yamaha YZ250F so much. The Honda is not quite on par with the Yamaha down low, but it is much closer than before. The CRF250R has an exciting low to mid rpm response and pulls far through the top end. It almost has as much top end/over-rev of a KTM 250 SX-F, yet pulls harder down low than the orange bike. If the Yamaha and KTM had a baby, the Honda CRF250R would be born. Its power is a blend of both machines and much more fun to ride than previous red models. The Honda also has more of a free revving feel to it (similar to a KTM) and is easier to get back into the meat of the power if you make a mistake.

Chassis: We all know Honda has one of the best cornering chassis’ out there, but it wouldn’t hurt to get some added compliance and straight line stability from the Honda right? The 2022 gives you a little more of a forgiving feel on throttle while leaning. Think of a time where you need to go wide into a corner and then start angling back to get to the inside. This is where this updated 2022 chassis is better than previous years. I get some added contact feeling on lean angle that I didn’t have with the older chassis, which I find important if you want to keep momentum on a smaller cc’d bike.

Suspension: With the added power and lighter weight the suspension has been revised and to me has slightly more comfort, but that could be some of the newfound chassis comfort talking as well. Even though the Mt. View track wasn’t the best to test suspension on, but I did manage to get a feel of what we think could be a setting to leans toward. The front end wasn’t as soft as I expected it to be for my weight (170), but I did go two clicks stiffer on the fork and this helped keep the front end from diving too much on de-cel. This only worked if I dropped the sag setting to 107mm and turned in the high speed compression in a 1/4 turn. After these adjustments were made the balance of the motorcycle was much improved and the CRF250R settled into corners even better. 

Cooling: The thicker water pump propeller as well as the new radiator louvers cool down the unit much better than the 2021 bike! Not once did I see coolant puking out of any test bikes during the time I was at the introduction. I couldn’t have said that in previous years

Clutch: The nine plate clutch system holds up way better to abuse than the old eight plate system. Don’t tell Honda this but I was more abusive towards the cutch when I went out then I needed to be just so I could see what damage (or heat) I could do to the clutch. It held up fine and the bike was in a constant state of rotating between riders for six hours with minimal fade. I couldn’t say that last year. 

Weight Feeling: With the claimed eight pounds that the 2022 lost, you can definitely feel some of that when you start your lean into corners as well as when you want to stand up around the whole corner. I have always felt like I could stand up more on the Honda than other machines (besides the KTM), but the 2022 just gives me that feeling even more. Maybe this will not grab your attention that much, but it’s nice to have that lightweight feel while trying to maneuver you and your bike in ruts while standing.

Tires: Having Pirelli on an OEM is huge news. Dunlop has dominated OEM’s for years, but with weight in mind, Honda decided to try the Pirelli MX32 Mid-Soft tires n the 250R and they work well. I do wish that the 1.85 rear wheel came equipped with a 2.15 and a 110 rear tire, but I am fine with the performance of the Pirelli. The carcass feel of Pirelli’s rubber absorbs a lot of the track before it gets to your suspension and I like that feeling out here on the west coast. I do know that the Pirelli carcass will not last as long as the Dunlop, but these tires are built on performance, not durability.

2019 Kawasaki KX450 Update

Ahhh, the twenty-nineteen Green-Machine. There is a lot to love about Kawasaki’s new 450 and after an initial 20 plus testing hours have been racked up, this quick-read breaks those loves down and also highlights what I look forward to improving moving forward. As we all know, the KX450 was ranked high during our shootouts (it almost won the damn thing) for the new year, and for good reason! This completely brand new bike harnesses a lot of great features that will keep it a front runner moving into the future. 

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First and foremost, the chassis. When you look at this 450 on the stand, the bike looks big. When you sit on the bike, it feels big (tall). If you weigh the bike, it still is “big” (3rd heaviest bike in class, weighing in at 242lbs wet). BUT, when you ride the 2019 KX450, it DOES NOT feel big. Kawasaki has designed this chassis in a way for it to feel more slim, nimble, and easy handling than ever before. This bike is so playful in so many ways, and literally lets you put it anywhere you want. The cockpit dimensions were a bit off for me, as I’m short (period), and I felt the bar bend was too high. Not only do I dislike the 7/8th Renthals that come stock (sorry Kris), but it was even more of an excuse to change them out entirely for a low-bend, oversize bar. I chose a set of Pro Taper EVO (Husqvarna OEM bend) as the replacements, because I wanted low and a relatively mild sweep. The combination seems to work well as of now, but I literally just put them on and need more time to test. *(On a side note - why can’t Kawasaki use a different glue for their throttle side grip?? As an FYI, it takes an act of god, razor blades, and a Dremel to remove the damn thing).

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Moving onto the suspension, I was able to log the first 10-12 hours on all stock settings (adjusting minor clickers here and there) before sending the fork and shock to Race Tech for some love. In stock trim, the forks where a bit soft on harsh landings (bottomed out quickly) and they also liked to “pack up” in the mid-stroke. What I mean is, under braking or de-cel at speed, the fork likes to stay in the mid-stroke portion of the travel, translating into a harsh feeling/un-stable front end. Obviously, we sped up the rebound quite a bit, to get the fork to stay higher in the stroke, but the improvement was marginal. After riding Race Tech’s re-valve, bottoming resistance has been greatly improved, but I am still struggling with the same mid-stroke instability. Some things that have helped it (but not perfected it) have been speeding up the rebound settings again, and turning in high-speed compression on the rear shock. By doing so, it makes the rear shock ride higher, thus transferring more weight to the front with hopes to make the forks work as they should. I am pretty picky when it comes to front-end feel on my bikes, so this is going to be a work in progress to get it where I want. Part of the reason I wanted a lower-bend handlebar was to see if it would help me put more weight up front (from a body positioning stand point) to settle down the front. If not, I plan to turn back to Race Tech in the near future for new settings if I cannot get it where I want. Stay tuned. 

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As for the shock, I think it works well all around. In stock trim, it was too stiff for the forks, which I believe made the front-end feel ever softer than it should. After Race Tech massaged it, we lowered the spring rate for my weight (145lbs) with some internal valving to compliment it, and the shock is more supple and forgiving. I have a feeling that if/when I perfect the forks, the overall chassis/suspension combination on this bike is going to be hard to beat.  

With all of the new 450 power plants being so good these days, to dissect and nit-pick each of them is a real chore. The same goes for the KX450 motor. It is very free-revving and easy to ride across multiple different tracks and conditions. It definitely is not the fastest, it definitely does not have the most torque, but the usability and “racey” feel makes up for all of that. We had the guys at Kawasaki help us with some new map settings during initial testing, and we found two that we really liked. The first one Kris developed, with the intentions of a more aggressive, “snappy” race-feel to make the bike stay alive across the RPM range (which you can find by clicking on the 2019 KX450 “Optional Settings” article). We have currently been using this map the most. The other is for the nasty, slick days out here on the west coast. When blue groove becomes your friend, the more linear map really keeps the power plant more subtle, but useable from bottom to top. 

Next on my to-do list, is an exhaust. This is not to say the stock system is bad (I mean… if we are judging by looks, it’s bad). But, it actually sounds good and I do not mind the performance either. I am interested to see what improvements can be made by bolting on a new system. Is there any specific brand requests from anyone reading this? (Editors Note: We tried the FMF full system and although it was good, we wanted a little more excitement down low. FMF has since re-configured the headpipe and we will test ASAP).

Want to learn about a specific system, tell Kris! I am sure we can make it happen. -Dominic Cimino





Ok, this was supposed to be a “quick-read”. I guess it is easy to talk about something that you really like, and that is the case with this new 450 from Kawasaki. As stated, there is a lot to love about this bike, and we are just scratching the surface on the things that will prove to improve. My focus is to really get the forks dialed in, to polish of the great chassis combination that this bike has to offer. I am confident that when this happens, all of the others things that we will get to test moving forward will become the cherries on-top. You know the drill - keep an eye on KeeferIncTesting.com for all of this stuff and more. Thank you for reading!