LIFE AND TIMES OF THE HONDA CR250R

[MotoFactory]

In the auto world, there was the Mustang. In aviation, it was the P-51. For bicycles, there was the Schwinn Stingray. There are timeless classics in each sport, and, in the dirt bike world, there’s no other that has reached iconic status like the Honda CR250R. Even though it’s been out of production in the U.S. since 2007, the CR has probably won more combined amateur and professional races than any other motorcycle in the dirt world. And CR250s are still out there winning. CRs are a hot commodity on the used-bike market, and on start lines across the country, they still outnumber many current models.

Over the course of its 34-year run, the Honda evolved, completely changing its identity several times. The early models are sought after in vintage racing, and the later ones are still competitive against four-strokes.

Jeremy McGrath rode for Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha, but his most enduring images are all on a Honda. His factory bike was almost unchanged throughout his Honda years, regardless of what happened to the production bike.

THE RECORD BOOKS

In terms of championships, the Honda CR250 is the winningest dirt bike in U.S. history. Here are some facts:

• Supercross Championships: 15

• Outdoor National Championships: 12

• First title: Gary Jones — 1973 250 National Championship.

• Most recent title: Ricky Carmichael — 2003 250 National Championship.

The list of riders who won on the CR250 is a who’s who of American motocross: Gary Jones, Marty Tripes, Marty Smith, Bob Hannah, Donnie Hansen, David Bailey, Johnny O’Mara, Rick Johnson, Jeff Stanton, Jean Michel Bayle, Danny LaPorte, Chuck Sun, Jeremy McGrath, Doug Henry, Mike LaRocco, Ricky Carmichael and many, many others. In fact, it’s interesting to note that since Honda switched to the four-stroke CRF450R as its mainstay, the factory team has only earned one Outdoor National Championship: R.C. in 2004. So it goes.

This spy photo appeared in Cycle Guide in 1971 and was the first real evidence of the coming Honda two-stroke. This bike had a strong resemblance to the 1971 XR250 four-stroke, but earlier versions actually looked more like the final production 250 Elsinore.

On the off-road side of the coin, the Honda 250 was incredibly successful on the local level, but not nationally. Honda never promoted the bike for off-road use, instead concentrating on the XR line for GNCC and Baja racing. The only time CR250s got attention on the National Enduro scene was when Kevin Hines raced them under the CRE name, which lasted a number of years in the late ’90s.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF TIME

It seems odd, but the Honda CR250 can trace its roots back to the RC166 six-cylinder 250cc road racer that Mike Hailwood rode in Europe. Terry Good’s website, MXworksbike.com, has an excellent history of how all this came about. Soichiro Honda was fanatical about winning races at any cost, so he put together a team of the best engineers to go GP racing. Within a few years, the team had achieved all its goals. The cost of doing this was incredible, so after winning in 1966, Honda pulled out of GP racing in 1967. That left a team of very talented and energetic engineers without much to do. At the time, Mr. Honda hated two-strokes and publicly said that his company would never build one. But the engineers knew that the two-stroke motor was the way of the future and set about building one secretly. To this day, it’s not known how much Mr. Honda himself knew about the project.

When Honda came out with the CR250M Elsinore in 1973, it changed the motocross world. There was no difference in 1974, and, in 1975, the top of the fuel tank was red.

In August 1971, the team took the prototype to a National race in Mine, Yamaguchi, hoping not to attract much attention. Unfortunately, the bike was photographed by the Japanese press, and soon Honda’s twostroke was out of the bag. Soichiro begrudgingly gave the go-ahead to make the machine an official Honda project, which, at first, was called the 335A. Two years later, the Honda CR250M arrived in dealers’ showrooms, and Honda won its first U.S. National Championship with Gary Jones. That first year, the Honda 250 two-stroke was a complete game changer, and it set off a frenzied era of hyper evolution in the MX world.

The first Honda Powersports product produced in the Marysville, Ohio, plant was the 1980 Honda CR250R. Later, the CR production was moved back to Japan.

MAJOR MODEL CHANGES

Early ’70s: Unfortunately, the CR250M didn’t keep pace through the early ’70s. It was offered almost unchanged in 1974 and 1975, and then received a conservative makeover in 1976. That allowed Yamaha, Suzuki and European makers to regain the high ground. In the meantime, Honda’s factory racing team was riding something completely different.

1978: Honda released a stunning new 250cc two-stroke, renaming it the CR250R. It had a Euro-style engine with the output shaft on the right and a reed valve intake. Probably the most memorable aspect of the bike was its striking appearance. Everything, even the motor, was fireengine red. Honda leapfrogged back to the front of the field in magazine shootouts and sales.

1980: This was an oddball year. Honda completely redesigned the bike with a center exhaust port and a double-downtube frame. Then the bike was completely ashcanned a year later, despite good reviews. In 1980, plastic gas tanks were ushered in to the delight of riders. In retrospect, it was a sad day; another era had passed.

1981: Honda predicted the coming of liquid-cooling and single-shock suspension and rushed to meet the call. The 1981 Honda CR250R leaped years ahead; in fact, it was too advanced. It had reliability problems, and the new Pro-Link rear suspension didn’t work well. Once again, Honda lost its edge in the 250 class. Over the next two years, the bike received back-to-back changes on a fairly large scale, and most of the problems were sorted out, making ’83 a very good year to ride a CR.

1984: Another massive year for redesign, this is when the Honda CR250R settled down into a familiar form that it would maintain for many years. The motor was turned around with the countershaft returning to the left. The bike received the ATAC exhaust valve and a hydraulic front disc brake, which is a watermark in the vintage-racing world today.

For the next six years, Honda made one or two significant changes every season. In 1986, it was a cartridge front fork and a more modern exhaust valve called the “Honda Power Port.” In 1987, it got a hydraulic rear disc brake, and the Keihin carb was increased from 36mm to 38mm. Most significant of all was the switch to an inverted Showa fork in 1989. This was considered a step backward at first, but within a few seasons, the new front suspension design was accepted. Even the 1989 version could be made to work much better than stock once suspension tuners figured it out.

After a few years of falling behind, Honda unleashed the 1978 CR250R. It was a great machine and was unchanged in 1979. In 1980 Honda started changing the CR radically every single year. The 1980 model was a bit of an oddball with its plastic tank, double-downtube frame and center-port exhaust. Johnny O’Mara turned a few laps on Dirt Bike’s 1983 CR250R test bike. That was the last year of the right-side output shaft and the best of that era.

1990: This was a big year for cosmetic changes to the Honda, but it should be pointed out that massive redesigns became less frequent. The 1990 machine got all-new bodywork, a white frame and upgrades in suspension. It sold for $3995. After that came a brief period that most riders try to forget. We entered the splash years. The most offensive look came in 1991; it was a virtual mullet on wheels. In 1992, the motor became more powerful and the frame became weaker. This was a bad combination for handling, which most riders blamed on the suspension. Roger DeCoster came to work for Dirt Bike magazine a few years later and explained what had taken place behind closed doors at Honda. He had been badgering the engineers for a stronger frame throughout these years, but it didn’t come until 1994. Unfortunately, Jeremy McGrath still preferred the handling of the older frame—once it had been gusseted for more stiffness. According to DeCoster, Jean-Michel Bayle had a gift for developing and setting up race bikes. The race team’s CR250R from the early ’90s was the mainstay of Honda’s racing effort for years afterward and was the version that McGrath rode throughout his Honda career. In 1995, Honda made a shocking switch to KYB suspension, although Roger pointed out that it felt about the same. The price by then had gone up to $5099.

The first liquid-cooled, single-shock CR hit the track in 1981. It was visually stunning, but didn’t quite live up to its looks. Some of the greatest years for Honda’s CR250R were 1987 and 1988. The bikes had good suspension and disc brakes. The upside-down fork was introduced in 1989 and, from that point on, the fork would be the bike’s weakest point. In 1984 Donnie Hansen, Johnny O’ and a crew of Indian Dunes celebrities clowned around with the DB editors. The factory bike at that time was called the “peanut tank” Honda and was nothing like the production machine.

Some say the best year in the entire run of Honda CR250Rs was 1996. Even though that model wasn’t significantly changed, it was the end product of an accumulation of upgrades. McGrath had gone to Suzuki by that time, and so had Roger DeCoster—even though he was still writing stories for Dirt Bike.

In 1991 the era of splash graphics was upon us. Honda didn’t go as gaudy as some other manufacturers. In 1993 DeCoster considered the frame too flexy; it would later be strengthened. Jeremy McGrath, on the other hand, loved the 1993’s turning ability and stuck with that geometry for years.

1997: Everything changed with the coming of aluminum. The 1997 Honda CR250R was a mindblower with its twinbeam aluminum frame based on technology Honda had gleaned from the superbike world. Not only was the frame new, the motor had a heavy re-do, and the bike was nothing like its predecessor. But it was like 1981 all over again. The bike was not well received. It was a very harsh-riding machine with a top-end motor. Only pro riders warmed to it, which sent Honda’s R&D team back to the drawing board immediately. For two years they could only make minor changes while a new frame was prepared. In this period, the Yamaha YZ250 hit its stride in most magazine tests.

2000: The second-generation aluminum frame finally arrived, and it ushered in another period when Honda was on top. It was the lightest and fastest, and even though some DB test riders of the time still preferred the Yamaha YZ250, it was a very close call.

2003: Once again, everything changed, and once again the Honda suffered a setback. The 2003 CR250R got a new motor with an electronic power valve. It looked good on the dyno, but that never translated to a good feel on the track. The Honda motor just felt sleepy. Power was an area where the Honda had long shined, but that would never be the case again. The frame and suspension, on the other hand, were excellent—basically not that different from the stuff on modern Honda four-strokes.

After that, the writing was on the wall. There would be no further development of the CR250R, only minor updates. In the spirit of Soichiro Honda, the company made an announcement that it would make no more twostrokes after 2007; thus ending the greatest dynasty in the history of motocross.

TODAY

Even though the final years of the CR250R were not its best, the bikes still do well on the track. In the used-bike market, they have proven to be almost unbreakable. The electronic power valve was driven by an underpowered motor. On the works level, Honda quickly found out how to make the motor sing, but the change was never put into production.

In 1996 the Honda had a cartridge Showa fork that was an industry high point for years. That same year the power valve was changed and was much more effective than the original “ATAK” valve. In 1997, 1998 and 1999, the Honda 250 was a super-rigid aluminum frame and a top-end motor. It was so harsh that the rest of the dirt bike world was slow to embrace aluminum as a frame material. By 2000, Honda had time to redesign the frame for more compliance. The next two years were golden for the CR250R.

Those last models are still competitive, but the real prizes on the used market are the models from 2000 to 2002. They are like gold to savvy riders. Yet in classified ads, you commonly see them selling for around $1800. Going back a few years, the 1996 version is a keeper, although as with any 15-year-old bike, condition is more important than model year. You can find gems for under $1000.

The new electronic power valve that was introduced in 2002 was never truly developed to reach its potential. By that time, Honda already considered the two-stroke to have run its course.

As far as vintage and evolution racing is concerned, in each era, the Honda is near the top of the wanted list. But if those bikes have survived all these years in good shape, they will probably command a higher price than new bikes. Well-restored ’83 models bring about $5000, because they are pre disc brakes. Same goes for the 1978 to 1980 models because of their air-cooled engines. The grand prize, of course, is a CR250M. True 1973 models are exceedingly rare, but the kicker is that no one can tell the difference between a ’73 and a ’74; the frame numbers are continuous. It’s not unusual to see them bring $10,000.

Will the CR250 ever return? There are whispers of a new two-stroke in the works at Honda. We’re not surprised—almost everything is in the works somewhere at Honda. But if it comes, it won’t be a CR250. It will be something else. Membership in the dirt bike icon club is very exclusive.

Bob Hannah claims his fastest years were on the works Hondas of the early and mid-’80s. In those years, the Honda race team was devastating under the leadership of Dave Arnold and Roger DeCoster. A new case-reed, electric power valve motor was unveiled in 2002. It was so advanced that Honda engineers figured they could turn to the CRF450R development and not worry with two-strokes for a long, long time. They were right, but not in the way they expected. The end came in 2007. The last CR250R was good, but it didn’t go out on top. The bike can be competitive in the right hands and with the right mods.

The post LIFE AND TIMES OF THE HONDA CR250R appeared first on Dirt Bike Magazine.

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