Honda cr 250 2 stroke, are they good bikes?

[RovingRaven]

Are the cr250 2strokes good bikes? How is their reliability, power, accessability to spares? Is it a good idea to buy one now after Honda stopped making 2 strokes?

[zotis777]

Depends on the year, the better they are the less available they are, if you're looking for sometbing recent, 05-07 definetly, I have no problem finding parts if that's what you mean, never even considered having a spare cr, I bought the only 05 I've ever found in my local craigslist, so I guess a spare would be difficult, and they are reliable, everyone will say they lack in power, pwk A/S, along with fixing the squish and cutting for pump gas as well as an 05+ base gasket (if its pre 05) will fix the power issues everyone whines & moans about, past that they're awesome bikes, and the gen 3s hand beautifully

[pieplatesnductape]

Ricky C did just fine on his.. Yeah good bike, reliable and great handling. Parts are still prevalent but complete late model cr's in great condition are getting rare. Look for vet riders bikes, who often have more time and money and knowledge to keep a machine in good shape. Loads of info here to make any cr a great bike. Enjoy the search good luck.

[RovingRaven]

I was meaning spare parts for the bikes. I love Honda and I want a two stroke. I rode a 2000 model once, it was awesome except it didn't have much bottom end. How does it handle in the bush?

[kneedrag05]

2003+ handle superb in the trails. I absolutely LOVE my '06. It has smooth linear power everywhere. fantastic machine

[nwhondaguy]

I was meaning spare parts for the bikes. I love Honda and I want a two stroke. I rode a 2000 model once, it was awesome except it didn't have much bottom end. How does it handle in the bush?

Come ride my bike it has enough bottom end stock. No mods.

Getting suspension done now so can't really tell u if the stock is good or not cause I never had a good basle but mine are fine when I would ride.

[2005cr250r]

Parts are pretty much everywhere. I love the power and handling of my 05

[mynewcr250]

horrible horrible bikes

[Tommyk_55]

The Hondas really have to be screamed to be fast, if your worried about bottom end power look away from late model Hondas.

[El Liebre]

The Hondas really have to be screamed to be fast, if your worried about bottom end power look away from late model Hondas.

 

 

Said the guy who probably doesn't hang out too much in the Honda 2-stroke forum

[choppertown]

people who say that the case induction CR's dont have bottom end are..well..&%$#@!ed to put it nicly. I bought into it at one point to...till i bought an 02. stock carb on it, the squish is set to were it should be and a gnarly pipe on it. nothing els done to it. with and without the FWW the thing has plenty of bottom end in the bushes. it lugs up things just fine. and when you open up on it it has alot more power then the late modle cr's.

[adam8781]

I loved my 2002 cr250... till i bought a 2005 rm250. The motor needs a few $ in work before i would consider it good.  Compared to the yz and rm 250 it is a terrible motor in stock form. Dodgy bottom end, huge mid surge that comes on all at once

 

eric gorr has super cheap engine packages for the cr250 that bring it to life. I would buy one again now that there are so many ways to bring the motor to life.

[ksum]

I have a 2004 CR250 and love it for the trails and am usually riding tight technical trails. My mods are Vforce3 reeds, pc platinum 2 pipe and carb swap,

[rzr33]

When you say fixing the squish what are you referring to?

[slaydirt]

I love my 01 best bike I ve ever owned and ive had a few over the last 30 years of riding,i ride track,tight trails, and open desert trails and the bike does all of this to my liking, I have a 10oz flywheel weight,fmf sst pipe and Q tech silencer,v force reed block...I think that's it other than gaurds plenty of low end fast enough on the desert stuff for me lol

[hardhitwarrior]

dont believe the 2000-2001 hype. they dont have much bottom end. and dont tell me my PV is stuck  open because its not.

 

if you have money to port then go the 3rd gen like others have pointed out. on the other hand if you just want to ride and no need to through alot of money, an 01 CR250 would be teh best bet. its an angry bike even with less bottom. and there are alot of ways to gain bottom end WITHOUT porting the cylinder.

Edited September 14, 2013 by hardhitwarrior

[shrubitup]

The 02-07 CR250 chassis cuts like a knife anywhere. Very precise, good handling bike. The motor takes alot of tweaks to make better. I will say better but not comparable in any way to 450 bottom end power. Honda sold so many of these bikes which results in a seemingly endless supply of parts. 

[darkdaenor]

I was meaning spare parts for the bikes. I love Honda and I want a two stroke. I rode a 2000 model once, it was awesome except it didn't have much bottom end. How does it handle in the bush?

 

I currently own a 2000 CR and I love it. Has plenty of bottom end power for me riding in the woods! All stock except for hand guards, spark arrestor, etc.

Edited September 15, 2013 by darkdaenor

[adam8781]

When you say fixing the squish what are you referring to?

 

Squish is the space between the top of the piston and the head when the piston reaches the top of the stroke. When squish is to large (like almost all stock 2 strokes) you lose power, get excess spooge, difficult jetting etc  Anything over .050inch/1.3mm is to large in my opinion. I shoot for .040/1mm to .045inch.  Race engines go smaller than that but 1mm allows for a bit of rod stretch and high rpm, crank bearing play and carbon build up.  If you kept the motor fresh and carbon off the piston every 20hrs or so you can go tighter .030 etc but that is for guys who keep the engine better than new all time. Smaller than .030 and your piston will actually kiss the head at high rpm (this is what some race engines are built for) but i would not recommend it for our bikes. We liked to rebuild them anywhere between 40-100 hrs. To high strung once you go that small.

 

by comparison

2002-04 cr250 comes with .060-.070 inch

2005-07 cr250 comes with .070-.080 inch

(terrible inefficient head squish)

 

read this, its the yz250 but its no different on the cr250

https://www.thumpertalk.com/topic/492565-yz250-squish-clearance/

 

and this

http://www.rbracing-rsr.com/squishcalc1.html

 

and this

http://www.rb-designs.com/squish-band-test.htm

Edited September 15, 2013 by adam8781

[hawaiidirtrider]

Wow this thread is pretty schitzo   the original poster must be spinning a little with the wide range of info...who does he listen to? lol  . I think you may do well to also put a search on cr 250 riding in the woods or something like that and start reading a bit. cr 250 hondas are reliable and work well for offroad. I have an 01 cr 250 that I got almost brand new used and it works well for trail . Reading the searched threads will give you an idea of what to do for each year / model to make it better. After you've read a bit usually you can tell who's full of crap and who makes more sense. I've come here for info and have gotten lots of great info to improve my bike to what I want it to be for trail. My cr is super easy to ride and comfortable with lots of power. It's evolved into this bike that's like a powerful kdx type powered good handling trail bike that I can turn back into an mx bike whenever I want. For me I'm a vet rider /racer that has a cr and races hare scrambles , hare n hounds, rides trail  and used to race mx etc before. Here's my bike. .check out my channel and look at how my cr runs in the different vids.. and check other  cr honda trail vids. There's a ton of cr's and they are great transformed trail bikes. Here in Hawaii cr's have great resale. They have a great rep and they are all over the trails.. For different years there are different mods . Mine was easy. put a flywheel weight and gear it down. That's the main thing  

Here's a little tight section.. and the next is an older hare scramble with my 01'. It's a good bike for sure to change from mx to trail. If it wasn't good I would have upgraded long ago...but listen to the motor.. I'm just short shifting and riding high gears lugging.. all right off the bottom. I could ride it different too and rev and ride like a 20yr old. It's fun for a little while but it's definitely not faster or smoother or expending less energy. ..just so you get an idea that it's easy to ride trail with.. and still have some braaap for fun if you want.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Is0FoRLQzYo

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pveXmtcnlHQ

 

Damn as I watch this last vid I can see I'm slowing down big time!!! ...pacing myself to last instead of going for it!!!

Edited September 16, 2013 by hawaiidirtrider