HONDA CRF250RX
THIS MONTH I HAVE MOSTLY BEEN… loving life and reflecting!
How on earth are we already into summer?! It seems like only yesterday I was jumping up and down in my seat after driving away with a brand spanking new CRF250RX in the back of my van.
But the time has come to end for this long-term loan, although for me, it isn’t actually the last of the story – but we’ll touch on that later, because I fancy a bit of reminiscing first.
Sure, the weather has been well below average over the past five months, and the dreaded C word has done its very best to hamper my plans of getting sweaty, dirty and mucky at proper events, but if anything, it’s made me realise just how good a road legal enduro bike is. From a background of just having these things to take to proper tracks, it literally opens up a whole new world in terms of riding and having fun.
Before, when I had my old
MX bikes, I’d always have to book onto events, clean, prep, and pay for a spot at either a proper enduro place or a motocross track – which isn’t an issue at all, but definitely meant I didn’t get out anywhere near enough,
especially as practice days book up so quickly for off-road stuff. I’m fairly last-minute when it comes to booking things like that as well, so I’d get to a few days before I wanted to get muddy and there’d be no space to go out and play… and it could go for months without having a proper blasting.
Alas, there’s no such issue when you have a number plate attached to the back (and all the road guff, obvs), and it’s meant that I’ve been out nearly every weekend, and week nights as well; whether that’s for a quick spin for an hour or so, or all day… it’s been brilliant. Oh, and yeah, the tank really does last that long. I’m thankful it does though, as of course, the RX does come with its niggles.
It doesn’t have an ignition barrel, so I wouldn’t like to stop and leave it anywhere, even to pay for fuel or for a jet wash token without a mate keeping a watchful eye.
In exploring new lanes, I’ve actually done a shed-load of real road mileage over the past couple of weeks as well, and after some thought and consideration, I think the next step would be to lose a tooth on the rear sprocket, just to give it that little more go at the top end. The CRF has so much grunt at the bottom end, you really wouldn’t miss it, and it would make things much nicer when cruising along; I’ve clocked that it will sit comfortable at 42mph, but any more than that, and when you get to 50mph or so, it really does buzz its tits off like no man’s business.
Saying that, it’s a bloody good bike. I’ve done more and more riding with every month, and I’ve absolutely fallen in love with it. For someone who is pretty crap in the dirt, it actually makes off-road riding much easier, thanks to its hefty punch, and insane grip levels.
I’ve cleaned it properly after every ride and it still looks as good as new, and I reckon I’ve probably ended up dropping it at least eight or nine times now – that includes smacking into a tree – and the CRF has proven to be a real, rock-solid weapon.
Even the service intervals were much longer than expected, which is a bonus.
But of course, action speaks louder than the words, and the funny thing is, like I said earlier, it isn’t actually the end of the story for me and CRFs.
Between us, I’m currently counting my pennies to buy one of these bad boys with my own cold, hard cash.
Sure, they’re a lot of money, but you can get some absolutely mega deals secondhand.
After the fun I’ve had on this one, it’s fair to say that I’m hooked. Now, if that’s not a testament to how good it is, then I don’t know what is.
Cheers, Honda!
THE CRF HAS PROVEN TO BE A REAL, ROCK-SOLID WEAPON