HONDA CRF250RX
THIS MONTH I HAVE MOSTLY BEEN… enjoying being legal
Well ladies and gents, we’re another month down! Sure, things with the whole pandemic didn’t change drastically, but it means that we’re another month closer to summer, and hopefully edging towards a bit more normality; I’m counting down the seconds until I can sling the CRF in the back of my van and go and get ridiculously filthy at a proper Enduro event, or a properly kept MX track. Those will be the days.
But it’s not just been sitting in the garage gathering dust and waiting for the world, oh no. Thankfully, Honda managed to get the horn and plate ready, so I nipped over and not only got those bits stuck on, which meant in the process, the CRF turned into a road-legal weapon as well… and my god, what a difference it makes. I always liked the idea of green laning and all that jazz, but I really didn’t think just how much I’d enjoy it, or how much of a difference in freedom having a ‘plate makes; from spending hours trawling the interwebs searching for the newest off-road site that might just have its doors open, now all I’ve got to do is delve into the garage and head straight out. It’s bloody awesome.
I’ve just moved, so I haven’t quite
Insurance group: £7849 - £0
explored the area as much as I’d like yet, but there really is no better way of doing it than by getting down and dirty on the CRF; it makes exploring so much more exciting, and actually gets me out of bed in the morning on a weekend, no matter what the weather. Especially so, as the last couple of weekends we’ve actually been lucky enough to get snow, with the first weekend being absolutely epic in terms of the white stuff.
Naturally, I couldn’t resist heading out, and it was the first time taking the Honda out on the roads – but my god, what a blast. There were a few things that are odd; for example, there’s no key or locking mechanism so you really can’t leave it anywhere at all, and another thing is it’s so weird not having mirrors!
It’s not until they aren’t there you realise how much you use ‘em (obviously for safety, and not for checking your six in case of the 5-0), but that did take some time to get my head around. Another thing is the dash is fairly difficult to read in proper sunlight, and as it’s an off-road bike, it isn’t particularly ecstatic at the idea of rolling along above 30mph or so; in all honesty, it handled the roads a lot better than a (slightly softened) MX bike ever should in my opinion, but if you aren’t used to it, it does take a bit of time to get used to not only the vagueness (it’s made for the dirt after all), but also the lack of oomph at the top when you’re getting north of 40mph – but then again, these are all things that the CRF wasn’t made for, and for getting from one lump of mud (or snow, or ice) to the other, it actually was great fun. And in all honesty, in all my time of riding unbelievable bikes, I don’t think I’ve ever turned so many heads riding through a high street.
But the best part is just how well it does handle things off-road. I went out in the snow and it was such a laugh – I didn’t venture too far, and even though I froze beyond all belief, it was worth the trek; I’d say getting sideways in the white stuff has been the most fun I’ve had all year. Even when I went out the following day (I know, it’s becoming an addiction) in the actual ice, it seemed to just pull grip out of nowhere when I could barely stand up; literally, I fell over trying to take the selfie on this very page. Even so, and having the off-roading ability of a goldfish, I never felt out of my depth, nor nervous. With the soft engine mapping engaged, it just made me feel like I could take on the Dakar Rally.
I know a lot of people are worried about getting one of these things as it’s a lot of cash to spend on a toy, but to be honest I’m buzzing with how well it handles so many different situations. I can’t wait to do some more proper exploring and off-roading next month with a big adventure planned, followed up by what is hopefully a return to the track the following month. Oh yeah baby!