The engineers couldn’t start from scratch again like they did for the 2018 CRF250, as Honda’s accountants wouldn’t allow it. Honda went straight to the drawing board to see where things went wrong. ![]() We checked multiple times to make sure we weren’t. ![]() The best word to describe the 2018 CRF250 was “boring.” The dull power made it feel as if we were riding with the rear brake on. That’s 3-1/2 horsepower down in comparison to the leader of the class, which in 2018 was the Husky FC250. It handled well, but in the 250 class it’s all about power, baby! The 2018 CRF250 offered no bottom or mid, and the top-end power was subpar at only 40.70 ponies. The bike was a dud in the engine department. Q: WHAT HAS HONDA DONE TO ITS CRF250 SINCE IT REVAMPED IT IN 2018?Ī: Honda had no choice but to spend millions of R&D dollars in an effort to fix its then-all-new 2018 CRF250. Hasn’t Honda figured out that a modest attempt to spiff up your models with bold new graphics goes a long way in the eye of the buyer? Guess not. On the other hand, there is no buzz for the “Dolly the clone” CRF250 from the year before. There is a lot of buzz for the all-new CRF450, which should translate into increased sales in 2021. Does this business strategy work? Yes and no. It’s a strange business model to give up on the CRF250 in hopes of making it up on the CRF450. By not spending any money on the 2021 CRF250, Honda was able to spend every penny of its R&D budget on its redesigned CRF450. Both years that Honda made zero changes to its 20 CRF250s, it was coming out with an all-new CRF450. We said this in our 2017 CRF250 test: “If you rolled a 2017 Honda CRF250 and a 2016 Honda CRF250 into Honda’s R&D department and asked Honda’s most brilliant designer to tell the 2017 from the 2016, he couldn’t do it.” There is a pattern here, but it doesn’t make total sense. Q: FIRST AND FOREMOST, IS THE 2021 HONDA CRF250 BETTER THAN THE 2020 CRF250?Ī: Is this deja vu? Why does the 2021 CRF250 look identical to the 2020 CRF250? Because it is, all the way down to the graphics. ![]() THE GEAR: Jersey: O’Neal Mayhem-Lite, Pants: O’Neal Mayhem-Lite, Helmet: 6D ATR-2, Goggles: EKS Brand Gox, Boots: Sidi Crossfire 3SR.
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