Honda Xr250

HONDA XR250

CYCLE WORLD TEST

The Middleweight XR ís Better On The Trail Than It Is On The Spec Chart

Middle children have it tough. The biggest kid in the family gets the headlines and is instantly appointed the leader. All the good stuff begins at the top and the biggest has the prestige (and muscle) to

keep the others in line. The littlest arrives with a built-in excuse; he may not be able to do things as well, but then he’s the baby of the family and gets attention because he's so cute.

In the middle, nothing. What can be even worse is when the middle kid has a cousin of the same size; the kind of kid who does his homework and minds his manners and stands when his elders come into the room.

Honda’s XR250 is in the middle, defined and even limited by the XR500 at one end. the XR185 on the other end. and the XL250S crowding in from the side.

The 500 has twice the displacement in the same package, the 185 has nearly equal performance for less weight and money, and the XLS offers road legality with nearly the same off-road potential. The XR250 isn’t the biggest, fastest, cutest, most nimble, cheapest or most useful.

“Don’t make up your mind yet,” the Honda rep said as we rolled the XR250 into our truck. “This thing is better than the numbers. “

And so it proved to be.

Comes to that, there's nothing much wrong with the numbers. The XR250 is part of a family. Honda’s 250 and 500 fourstroke Singles, so it has a single overhead cam working four valves via rockers. There’s one intake port and two exhaust ports, divided bv a cooling passage and w ith two small exhaust pipes tightly tucked around the engine and back into a single

muffler/spark arrester. The engine has a double balancer system, one in front of the crank and one aft. sharing a shaft with the transmission, the complete system serving to balance out just about all of the fourstroke Single's traditional shake. Bv gearing the primary drive so it doesn't multiply the torque too much. Honda managed to keep the five-speed transmission compact so the complete drive package takes less room than all the equipment might lead one to expect.

Each engine has its own touches. For the XR250. meeting public land regs rather than street rules, this allows a higher compression ratio than the XF250, 9.6:1 vs 9.1:1; a less restrictive silencer while still being as quiet a bike as you'll meet on the trail, and a 30mm Keihin carb jetted for good response without extras, while the XL250 has a 28mm Keihin jetted lean and compensated with an accelerator pump.

The most important change for the XR engine is the camshaft, which has longer duration and moves peak power up the range. The XR peaks at 9000 rpm, while the XL's peak comes at 7500. Thus, there's extra power and what amounts to an extended rev range.

For the plavbike XR. all the above is a bonus. The engine will run fine on low or no-lead gas. has no more temperament (rather less, actually) and develops more power, 24.6 bhp against the XL’s 20.2. The 250s and 500s and the two-valve 185 Hondas use the kick-linked compression limiter and thev all can be started without trouble, and without fear. This test is the fifth time we’ve used the limiter in less than a year and we have not had one bad moment. Nice work.

Full circle engineering, as has been noted before, ties the engine into the design of the frame, suspension and tires.

The XR250 frame is nearly identical to the XLs and the larger XR. being an open loop, w ith downtube bolted to the front of the crankcase and the back of the case to the rear tubes. The backbone also has a stay bolted to the cylinder head. As noted in earlier reports, the stressed engine is a Honda favorite, providing less weight and increased ground clearance because there are no frame tubes below the engine. Honda says there are other advantages, as the downtube being close to the engine gives more room for the 23-in. front wheel, and the balancers cancel the vibrations that would otherwise need to be absorbed by the frame, hence the frame can be lighter. The stressed engine frame was used on the old Honda GP bikes and is used now for the Hawks. CBX. CX500, etc.

Race-minded historians point out that the GP Hondas were not famous for great and/or predictable handling. But again. Kawasaki's latest and most advanced 750 GP machine uses its engine as part of the frame, so the question is still open.

In this case, the XR/XL family does have a small and light frame, despite using mild steel. (The custom frame outfits in the U.S.. C&J for instance, build replica XR frames with chrome-moly steel that weigh half as much.)

The XR forks are oil and spring, the usual stanchion tube-damper rod-slider arrangement. The leading axle forks seem to have been used more to put the mass of the forks closer to the steering head, as the tubes extend only about an inch below the axle. There is no extra travel or engagement and w hile the axle and steering head clamps are beefy, the stanchion tubes are onlv 35 mm in diameter.

Rear shocks are long, oil-damped and nitrogen-charged, hut again, no wizard stuff. The shocks mount all the way back, above the rear axle, which works well in terms of giving long shock body travel and careful control, but doesn't give as much wheel travel for shock travel as would a forward mounting. Springs are single rate, although the mounting angle means the actual rate decreases with compression. There are three positions for spring loading. set so close together as to make the settings not much different. Wheel travel is 8.8 in. front. 7.8 in. rear, same as the XR5Ü0 and an inch or so more than the XL250. The extra travel lifts the XR an inch higher, making the w heelbase almost an inch more than the XL, although the addition isn't noticeable.

Tires are Honda-designed claw pattern, with tread and sidewall designed so the knobs Ilex and grip the surface. The XRs come w ith the enduro tire: six plies and an extra row of knobs on the sides, w hile the motocross Claws are four-ply and the dual purpose Claws are much milder in pattern. The front wheel is a 23-incher as Honda designers believe the better angle of attack and long, thin footprint more than makes up for the extra resistance of the long tread under some circumstances.

There's a full complement of enduro equipment, as the ad men say, in this (and rival) cases meaning a small headlight and tail 1 ight. powered by the alternator only. The headlight is surrounded by a number plate and the tool bag is a sort of vinyl cover, with zipper and snaps, atop a molded plastic shell attached to the rear fender. The tool roll comes with the normal pot-metal wrenches, plus there’s an extra socket for the recessed alien-head fork caps. The roll is held—not as firmly as we'd like—by a strap and D-rings, which is at least easier to loosen than rubber straps. The aluminum skid plate is shaped to tuck closely to the front of the engine. The shift and brake levers protrude beyond the plate, but have folding tips. The rear axle has a permanent tommy bar. the better to haul the axle out and free the w heel for tire changes, but because the axle nut is fixed with a cotter pin and the chain is tensioned by the normal push bolts with lock nuts, tire changing isn't very quick. The only instrument is a speedometer with trip odometer, which has a nice large re-wind knob but does not have instant re-set. Lenders are long, so they don't have much style but they will keep mud off the engine and the rider's back. The chain tensioner can fairly be described as long travel and we were glad to see the choke mounted on the top triple clamp and the w ide tank neck, the better to watch fuel level while topping up. We also must be getting used to Honda’s tank styling, as nobody mentioned that on this visit and it used to look, uh. different.

Before we don't judge by the numbers, there are two sets of numbers which come close to show ing w hy this bike works better than its family position would hint at.

One. with half a tank the XR250 weighed 268 lb., the XL250 weighed 278 lb. and the XR500 weighed 288 lb.>

The street equipment thus adds 10 lb. while subtracting four bhp. And the XR250 has the same basic frame and suspension, tank, lights and such as the XR500. so the larger engine adds 20 lb. to the complete package.

Two. the gearing of each model has been set with a keen eye towards each machine’s engine and use. The internal ratios and primary drive and sprockets have been done so that the XR250 has a final drive ratio, engine speed to rear wheel speed, of 9.03:1 in top gear and 28.11:1 in 1st. The XL’s ratios are 8.10:1 and 25.21:1, and the XR500 has 7.22:1 and 20.10:1.

On the chart, those are just numbers. In the woods, they are lucky numbers.

A man who studies motorcycles for a living gave us a new insight recently: Honda does not build models to compete with the other makes. Motocross classes aside, Honda never comes out with what the others have. Honda instead builds what they believe the bike nut wants.

The XR250 isn't a direct competitor to the Yamaha IT250 or Suzuki PE250, not exactly. The XR offers a different sort of 250cc fun in the dirt.

If the XR250 had a motto, it would be “Not To Worry.’’

The engine doesn’t always fire on the first kick, although it improved after the first few hundred miles. What the XR does instead is always start within three kicks or five when cold (full choke, no throttle), or one or two kicks when warm (slight throttle, no choke). No leaping, no kicking back, no flinching from the dreaded backfire.

Quiet? It’s hard to explain how quiet. Unlikely though this sounds, when the XR rider is parked within a pack of other dirt bikes, two-stroke or four, thumping and popping as usual, he can’t tell if the XR is running without squeezing the grips in a search for vibration. We loaned the XR to a two-stroke man. He fired it first kick then kicked it twice more because he didn’t know the XR was already idling. Yes. Saw it with our ow n eyes.

Smooth? Again, nearly impossible to do the engine justice. Somewhere between the average Twin and the average Four, that is, much smoother than any un-counter-balanced Single of our experience. The balancers may be there for the frame, but they also serve the rider. The engine's smoothness is so, well, smooth, that it goes unnoticed until the next ride on a previous Honda or rival four-stroke Single. Terrific. What you get in working ability comes as a nice fat power curve rather than a high output motor. The XR will outperform the XL and some of the milder two-stroke 250s, while losing drag races to the class rockets, the IT250 and Can-Am Qualifier 250. In exchange, the XR’s power is always on tap. Instant response and a wide range. Tractor at idle and a respectable turn of speed in top gear.

Here's where those gearing numbers pay off. The XR250 and XL250 have wider gear ratios, 1st to 5th, than does the XR500. And the smaller engines rev higher and are geared so they can rev higher. The XR250 does 8.56 mph per 1000 rpm in top gear. The XL does 9.55 per, and the XR500 does 10.71.

Now. Multiply the mph per thou times each bike’s rated peak power.

XR250. theoretical top speed, 77 mph.

XL250, ditto. 71.6 mph.

XR500, ditto, 69.6 mph.

How ’bout that. In real life, it isn’t that easy. The XR250 showed us 75 on a flat, hard dirt road and 80 with the rider tucked in and drafting a modified 500. The XL250 will w ind past peak, and so will the XR500. The XR250 is faster than its polite cousin but can’t out-run the 500. And the 500 will out-grunt, out-climband out-accelerate the 250. You do get something for your 11 bhp. What the 500 is not. is twice the engine the 250 is.

Back in class, having the powder match the gearing means at first, the XR seems to need one more gear. It’s revving its little heart out while the rival two-stroke 250s are a long way from peak. But in the sand, the XR will keep on pulling while the peakier 250s won’t.

The clutch works beautifully and the shifter is light, perhaps too light as the XR occasionally found itself in neutral, sometimes in the normal place and sometimes between 2nd and 3rd, or 3rd and 4th. We figured the lever was too low, so we moved it up one notch. Worse. The raised lever needed more toe pressure to be sure the gears were engaged. Back the lever went and the rider learned after a few hours to be sure and shift firmly. If there is a benefit here, it’s that when you're caught by surprise, when you jam on the brakes and then need another gear to pull you out. the XR can be dow nshifted without use of the clutch.

The pow'erplant does have some limitations. Note first that the stock XR camshaft w'ould in other applications be the hop-up kit cam. Getting the stock 25 bhp required some pre-modification, so to speak. By gearing the engine to rev high, there’s adequate performance for most uses. But this isn’t a light bike and there is no surplus of power. In the first two gears the front wheel can be yanked up for obstacles, given some warning. In the upper three, it can’t be done, which places a certain limit on getting out of trouble at speed.

Honda is offering sports kits for the 185, 250 and 500 XRs. The 185 and 500 are as expected: high-compression piston, reground cam, new airbox and pipe, etc.

The 250 equipment is more complete. As mentioned, the 250 already has a hot cam. The parts list includes a high-compression piston, two sizes of over-bore (to 255 and 262 cc) a new crank, connecting rod and balancers, ported and polished head with larger valves, new airbox, larger carb and less restrictive exhaust pipe. Although Honda R&D would sort of like the kits to be used as a group, Honda’s men here are quick to point out that you will be able to buy the parts as subkits, useful because the price of the complete 250 kit will be as high as you’d expect from the list.

More to the point of this test, the 250 kit is so complete because it needs more than the 185 or 500 need. The 185 is close to the two-strokes in power now. The 500 can quickly be tuned to deliver all the power a normal rider can use.

The 250s are tough. The 1T250 for instance will run with motocrossers. Thus the XR250 needs lots of work before it can challenge the ITs and KTMs.

The XR’s suspension works best in the middle. The shocks and springs are nice and soft at low speed, although the forks don’t comply to stutter bumps or small stones, due to high stiction and too much compression damping on small, sharp jolts.

From touring to brisk, the XR works fine. The rates fore and aft are perfect for the average size rider, going with the pack. Wheel travel is enough for most conditions, although naturally the XR will bottom on dips or steps that taller and lighter machines take in their stride. Fair trade, as the XR is low enough for an occasional dab as you come through the rocks, and for some serious sliding.

Bounding through the rough at full chat, not so good. The forks are under-damped on rebound and top out when climbing hills. The shocks worked adequately when new, but lost damping, especially on rebound, as the miles rolled up. There seems to be a ratio of speed to miles here. One of our faster men reported the shocks on his XR—we had three, borrowed en masse for an annual three-day ride in the wilderness—were marginal after 200 miles. Another rider, easier on equipment as a matter of practice, didn’t notice any loss of damping until 400 miles.

We suspect both weaknesses can be easily cured. The forks come with ATF fluid, no air, and we intend to try 15-w fork oil and air caps. Several aftermarket firms are already offering shocks, so that should be no problem. We are surprised that the production shocks wear this quickly. Pity the factories sometimes trim costs in this area.

Handling, though, is more than suspension and the XR’s handling is good. Much of the credit goes to the 23-in. front tire. We’ve had reservations about the idea and we didn’t like the thing one bit on the 125 motocrosser tested last month. Here, though, the long, thin footprint works. It sticks well on rock, planes across the sand and does (as promised) level ruts and cross-grain. Only real drawback is that on hard-packed dirt with scattered cover, the front tire can come loose instantly. The Claw isn’t the perfect tire, although it does work for this application.

The XR250 works well because of the combination: steep steering head, extra trail created by the long footprint and the tire itself.

Together, they make for slow steering, and for slow reactions by the bike to the ground and the rider to the bike.

It’s a stable platform. Where the lighter two-strokes kick sideways and wiggle under power, the XR tracks straight and steady. The rear wheel doesn't walk to the outside. Next, the rider discovers he can apply full power and keep the rear wheel in line. After that, powerslides can be provoked, all in control. Rocket down into the berm and bank around, safe as houses. If there’s no berm, using the rear brake will set the suspension, power will get the rear tire spinning and the front tire slides just a bit. slow enough for the rider to balance 'round the turns in a two-wheel drift.

Weight and power are in balance. The XR500, while being faster and quicker, has an unsettling habit of wallowing on fast turns. The weight and engine torque push the bike down, the tires let go and the chassis unloads, the tires bite again, putting the 500 into a series of arcs while the rider intended one smooth slide.

The XR250 has 20 lb. less for the tires and suspension to handle, and there’s less engine torque, so the XR250 delivers one smooth slide per turn. No average rider ever felt closer to Jack Penton than he will on the XR250.

Mud isn’t quite as pleasant, as the rear tread seems to pack quickly. Honda’s claws are designed to clean themselves by flexing, so it may be that in mud, a fluid surface, there’s nothing for the tread to flex against. And the front tire can make steering heavy work, too slow even, in the slop.

The XR uses the same basic brakes as the XL, but while they are a bit weak for the street, they’re just right in the dirt. Braking response is in direct proportion to effort and the tire grips well enough to allow' lots of pressure.

HONDA XR250

$1548

All the controls work fine, and most of the riders liked the bars, grips, bar-pegseat relationship and the seat itself.

Two drawbacks concerning equipment. The plastic tray with fabric cover, Honda’s version of a tool bag, lost its righthand snap after a few hours. The same thing happened to the XR500. And the bag itself isn’t large enough for serious work, as in carrying tools, spares, trail mix, etc.

Second, the little headlight isn’t adequate for finding your way home in the dark. About 15 mph is all it will allow, and had an IT250 not caught up w ith our man on the trail after sundown, likely he’d still be out there. Okay, the lights are usually only fitted because the rules require them. But people do get caught by time and the rival enduro models, Yamaha especially, do offer better lights.

End of criticism.

The XR250 is not a direct rival to the Yamaha IT, Suzuki PE and the KTMs, Maicos, Husqvarnas, Bultacos et al. Although a good rider can win class in a club enduro, serious competition w ill take a lot of work, and the XR probably can’t be given the power or the light weight of the ISDT-style bikes.

No matter. The XR250 is fun. Its prime virtue is simply that you never have to worry about, or allow for, the bike. Instead, you can concentrate on your riding or the scenery or whatever it is gets you out in the woods.

One of our better riders did 500 miles in three days on the XR250, and came back astonished. He’d learned more in those three days than he’d learned during the previous three years, on bikes with far more impressive specifications.

The XR250 is the perfect learner’s bike.

Not just a beginner’s bike. Not just for beginners.

A learner’s bike. No matter how good you are, if you’re still learning, if you want a bike that’s working for you every inch of the way, the XR250 is it. E9