If I were to buy one myself, I would go for the ＜S＞ model, which has excellent off-road performance. That's what I used to think. However, since I've started going on tough forest road touring trips once a month recently, I'm very interested in the standard low-down version.
REPORT●Tomohiko Nakamura
PHOTO● Hideaki TOGASHI
The second generation underwent a dramatic transformation
I still vividly remember the day I first experienced the current, second-generation CRF250L/(s) on the off-road course in Kanagawa Prefecture and the surrounding public roads in the spring of 2021. Although there are many specification changes in the world of two-wheeled vehicles, I think it is quite rare to see such a dramatic transformation without any fundamental reforms or changes in direction (although Honda's approach is a full model change, and although the second-generation CRF250L/(s) underwent many revisions to its parts, the basic configuration of the engine and chassis was the same as the first generation). And I was beyond impressed by the transformation, I was moved.
Well, I got started with an emotional story, but to begin with, I never had a very good impression of the first-generation CRF250L, which was sold from 2012 to 2020. The main reasons were the stiffness and thickness of the body and the sluggishness of the engine, and although it may seem strange to say this about a model that sold about 130,000 units worldwide, even though it looked and had the name CRF, the first-generation model had little off-road feel when in its raw state, and I just couldn't get into it.
→Read the full story (JP Webike)
Information Source. [ motor fan vikes ]
