The lowly Honda CRF250L might be one of Big Red’s most modestly priced models, but it’s hugely popular — and now it’s getting some updates for 2017.
The quarter-litre duallie now makes more horsepower — Honda claims between 24.4 hp, up from the previous model, which made approximately 23 hp (depending who you ask). Peak torque has risen from 22 Nm to 22.6 Nm — modest power gains to be sure, but steps in the right direction. These improvements come from changes to the airbox, fuel injection (bigger 38 mm throttle body), and exhaust systems.
Bodywork is also changed a bit for 2017, and the digital gauges now have a new tach and fuel gauge display.
Unfortunately, the bike still weighs a bit more than most 250s, at 146 kg curb weight.
Why not a 300? Easy to do and in a class of its own.
Completely agree. I can’t figure out why Honda has not swapped the CBR300R engine into the CRF yet. With the CBR producing a little over 30 hp, it wouldn’t be such a marginal increase in power either. And the extra torque would be appreciated too – for slow, technical trail riding.
Mike, I’ve wondered too, and I think it comes down to displacement.
It’s my understanding that the 300 engine is a little taller than the 250 engine, although I could be wrong on that. If that’s the case, then the frame could require a slight re-design to fit the bigger engine, which would mean:
A). Trouble for markets that require a 250 engine
B). The machine would be exposed to punishing emissions regs in the near future, as I think most countries allow for exceptions under 250 cc.
Remember, with the 300 motor, it was the stroke that changed, not the bore, so theoretically the big bore kits from the old CBR250 engine could be applied to the CBR300, getting you a much more significant bump in cc. I am surprised we haven’t seen home-brewed CRF350L models yet, as Bill Blue has been doing this sort of stuff with the Kawasaki KLx250 for some time.