Roost Kings

Roost Kings

Best Thumper vs. Best 250 vs. Best "125"

JIMMY LEWIS

SOUNDS SIMPLE, RIGHT? PICK THE BEST THREE motocrossers ON the market—a 125, a 250 and a Thumper—then shoot them out. Piece of cake. Except it's not that simple. Well, okay, Honda's impressive new CRF45OR four-stroke was a shoo-in, but the 250cc class is so close a separate mini-comparo was required to come up with a representative. Kawasaki's KX is slightly off the Expert-level pace this year (though maybe the best choice for play-riding or grand prix work) so it was the first of the four to hit the showers. The Suzuki RM250, light and agile, was a real contender, barely edged out in our preliminary shootout by Honda's CR250R and Yamaha's YZ250. The CR is essentially an allnew bike for 2002, and it's very, very good—tops, in fact, when it comes to weight, suspension and handling. But the YZ was right there, ever so close, bonus being its mondo motor. On the strengths of that 249cc powerhouse, then, the Yamaha slid into the top 250 spot.

And the 125s? Some controversy here. Turns out the best 125...is a 250! Yamaha’s YZ250F, that is, the high-revving mini-Thumper legal for AMA 125cc competition. Undeniably good, too. The bike was our pick for Best Motocrosser last year, and just overalled a 125cc comparison compiled for our 2002 Cycle World Buyer’s Guide.

After much track time, then, the stage was set. It all came down to a one-day, winner-take-all contest to see who shined.

In fact, they all did. Don’t get us wrong, we’ll pick a winner, but the high state of motocross bikes today made it difficult, especially with three bikes so different in specifications and character.

Our first big debate concerned the performance factor. In the competition classes these bikes fall into~125cc for the YZ250F; 250cc for the YZ250 and CRF450-each bike delivers plenty of power in stock form, enough to run with anything out there. And, no, the 450 doesn’t have that much more power than the YZ250; it was all about the rider and how much throttle control he had as opposed to how much bhp the bike dished out. It’s always easier to spin the rear tire than to hook up and roost away-think about that next time you want more bolt-on power! But there are limits; in the whatever-cc Vet class, for instance, the YZ250F, like any 125-class bike, will surely be out-gunned.

Both Thumpers in this comparison have long-pulling powerbands, almost twice the length of a typical two-stroke, prompting fewer shifts. But while it’s okay to lug the CR a gear high, this isn’t acceptable behavior on the YZ250F. Better (required, actually) to keep the Yama-Thumper a gear low and rev the wee out of it. The two-stroke YZ pulls crisp right off the bottom and has tons of over-rev, making for as long a powerband as a stroker can have. But potent as it is, compared to the quadra-strokes, it comes up a little short.

On to suspension, a performance category | that doesn’t care about classes. The fourstrokes came out on top of the favorites list with all of our riders. Both Honda wQ and Yamaha YZ-F have a very progrèssive feel all the way through their susl¡¡£ pension strokes with excellent bottomW ( ing resistance. I he Yamaha seems a little stiffer initially, plus it's lighter, so holds itself higher up in the stroke. This is better for jumpy, Supercross-sty'1e4 obstacles. On the other hand, the C R-F is plusher and seti~les , down in turns giving excellent steering and front-end feel for a four-stroke, even if it uses a bit too much travel in the jumps. On a whole different tack is the YZ25Ö, very stiff in the initial part of its stroke and not especially progressive throughout. It has a Pro beginning and a Novice end, a strange setup, but it seems to work out just fine. Like its little four-stroke brother, the YZ holds itself up in the N stroke, but has a tendency to blow Hh through the travel if ridden hard by \ Lister riders. The advantage is I when slower riders hit stuff they I shouldn't, it absorbs the bumps and rough landings without // t deflecting. But when fast guys get sloppy, it bottoms pretty hard.

HONDA CRF450R

$6299

Two-stroke or four, and suspension differences be damned, each of these setups provided excellent hook-up, keeping the rear wheel on the ground to a level nearing perfection.

In Liet, overall handling here is surprisingly similar across the board and they all feel pretty much about the same weight on the track. Sure, when you get the CR spinning at high rpm, it has a heavier feel that either of the two Yamahas, but for a 450 Thumper the Honda is plain feathery.

The YZ250 is on par with other 250cc two-strokes, the top-heaviness feel from past years having slowly disappeared-in fact, it isn’t noticeable any longer. The 250F feels the

YAMAHA YZ250

$5899

YAMAHA YZ250F

$5499

lightest by a small amount and doesn’t “gain weight” as the revs go up, keeping a 125cc feel.

All three are quite stable, turn equally well and feel similar in the air, with a middle-of-the-road approach in all areas. One difference was in “feel,” mainly that riders felt much more on top of the YZ250F and more “inside” the CRF450 riding compartment. The two-stroke YZ was in between. Regardless, it was extremely easy to move around on all three bikes and put your body where it needed to be to make the bike do what it needed to do.

For durability and ease of maintenance, these three are class standouts. We rarely had to throw an extra wrench at any of them. Cleaning air filters, changing the fluids and keeping rubber fresh was about all the attention they needed over months of use and abuse. Brakes are all top-flight stuff and drew rave reviews no matter which bike. Clutch action was superb on all three throughout, and upon inspection none of the bikes showed any abnormal wear, save for the CR’s chain-buffer pad. About our only other real gripe was with the Yamaha’s plastic getting beat-looking a little too fast.

In the end, performance alone didn’t lead us to a winner-remember, just to get here each was already a bestin-class pick. So it came down to fun-yes, the main reason we all ride in the first place. Was this the easiest way to throw the cards in favor of the Yamaha YZ250F? Maybe, as that was the single most prominent reason the F topped our Ten Best Bikes MX category last year. It’s still as much fun as ever, and now has a year’s worth of detail improvements. But then the YZ250 two-stroke is quite a kick, as well. In fact, its extra power over the F-model is just plain addictive. Just try not to have a good time with the extra roostability. But it also took a bit more attention on the track and required more energy to ride hard than both its little four-stroke brother and the Red Competitor. Yes, it was capable of turning faster lap times than the CRF450 when pushed, the very reason guys who make a living racing motocross tend to go with a 250cc in the first place.

But no one could resist the 450. It is an all-around blast to ride and extremely fast at the same time. It doesn’t tire you out and makes you feel almost as much of a hero as you do on the YZ250F (nothing matches a 13,500-rpm wail). Honda had plenty of time to study the field and hit the nail on the head with this bike. No, it isn’t leaps and bounds better than the competition, but all it takes is that little bit. And this year the CRF450R is a little bit better than the rest. □