CRF250L initial review

[brp]

Seems from the harley blurb that a narrow header pipe good for better torque with exhaust emissions aiding in giving a better
seal for better compression, for a more efficient bigger explosion in the bore - then transmitted to ya rear wheel.

For top end you need a big header/exhaust system to keep up clearing all the emissions from higher RPM, more fuel ...

[Night Falcon]

Curious as to what the service intervals are? 200k range means carrying extra fuel most places i ride, is there an after market tank on the cards?

[andy mac]

888 have you found http://rickramsey.net/CRF250Lmods.htm yet? He seriously likes his farkles and rates the CFR (with big bore & replacement shock) better than WRR. But he also has a short inside leg measurement

[Waipukbiker]

There is a thread on the ADV Forum for this bike and things like a bigger tank are in the mill, It mentioned that IMS are going through the design stages for a bigger tank.
The bike seems to be gaining popularity in the states so the aftermarket bits should be starting to trickle through.

[mc4aregreat]

I had to put a new header pipe on my DRZ250. I bought a pipe from cycleworks that has a bigger Dia. and shorter length, so i guess the actual volume is similar, and needed no carby changes.

Whether it has more power i cannot tell, (it certainly hasn't lost any), but it deffernantly has more THUMP. I can now hear my exhaust, and sounds very similar to the sound of a WRF250. The new pipe fitted into the original muffler perfectly, because the original skinny pipe had a packer to make it fit tight.

Check your muffler Dia first before getting a bigger Dia. pipe.

[NordieBoy]

888 have you found http://rickramsey.net/CRF250Lmods.htm yet? He seriously likes his farkles and rates the CFR (with big bore & replacement shock) better than WRR. But he also has a short inside leg measurement

But the WRR with the Athena 290 kit looks the dogs bollocks.
Brings the power and more importantly the torque up into TT350 territory.

A TT350 in a modern chassis

[pipe]

I've heard a nasty rumour that some of the power upgrades that can be done to the WRR give to the top but take from the bottom.
I definately don't want to loose any bottom end torque though a bit more up top would be nice on the highway when the head wind strikes... though it can still hold it's own if you just drop a gear.
I've not investigated too much as it all costs more money.

Remove the emission gear add a FMF Q4 and the EFI programmer you will get an good increase across the rev range.

[brp]

Whether it has more power i cannot tell, (it certainly hasn't lost any), but it deffernantly has more THUMP. I can now hear my exhaust, and sounds very similar to the sound of a WRF250. The new pipe fitted into the original muffler perfectly, because the original skinny pipe had a packer to make it fit tight.

Check your muffler Dia first before getting a bigger Dia. pipe.

Good sound enhancement :wink:

Maybe larger header pipe does not make much difference on a 250 when not a torque machine to
begin with - may very well be more suited to a bigger header pipe to take advantage of mid to high rev range where its power developed ....

[NordieBoy]

Quite often the gains from a larger dia header are most noticeable on the top end but if you look at the dyno chart, it'll be better everywhere, just more pronounced up top.

[888]

I want to keep the excellent fuel efficiency (at least for the time being!) so while I have the FMF slip on coming, I won't be doing the whole re-map etc as one of the forums are reporting huge losses (25%!!!) in fuel efficiency when they installed a map that gave the bike the most power in all settings. The same fella has set up a switch wherby he can toggle between power/economy maps- now this sounds like an excellent "best of both world solution". Use the economy while I'm driving down to the 42nd Traverse (for example!) and then toggle on "kick ass" when the going gets tough.... My second mod (after replacing the 14T front sprocket with 13T) was to cut back the snorkel inside the air box- the bike sounds deeper and on my informal testing ground (paddock out front of the house) first and second felt a bit more powerful....is my "ass dyno" reliable?? At least this limited airbox mod does not require a re-map and it has not hurt the overall performance. Next mod is the disconnect the lamda probe- apparently this tricks the computer into making the fueling slightly more rich (which is good because the bike comes lean from the factory).

I can't wait to put the FMF Q4 (slip on) onto the bike- will it add any extra grunt? Or will I just sound like the most awesome biker ever without any real increase in performance?? Sounds like a "win-win".......

[888]

I wonder if I could find a NZ made header for the CRF250L that was cheaper than buying the FMF header??

[NordieBoy]

You can only get a 25% loss in fuel economy if you're shoving 25% more fuel in.

Sticking a pipe on won't make much of a difference apart from sound and weight.
Opening up the intake as well though and you're into re-jetting/mapping territory.

[888]

You can only get a 25% loss in fuel economy if you're shoving 25% more fuel in.

Sticking a pipe on won't make much of a difference apart from sound and weight.
Opening up the intake as well though and you're into re-jetting/mapping territory.

Yup, I'm holding off doing any more airbox mods until I have a tuner- but there are good reports on the lamda probe disconnect, the extra fuel is in effect a cheap re-map. The only time this could be bad would be if one were to ride at high altitude then it might become way to rich.

[ADVGD]

I wonder if I could find a NZ made header for the CRF250L that was cheaper than buying the FMF header??

Cycleworks in NZ make custom headers and mufflers, he does a nice job, but I personally would use an FMF header with an FMF pipe, matching components is always my preference. A small NZ one man business would struggle to match FMF's R&D time, cost, equipment and knowledge base.

This is an article I wrote a while back about getting more performance from a 250cc bike, it may not be one that you like, but should be of interest as extra pieces of the 250cc performance improvement puzzle:

Improving engine performance or 250cc bikes

[888]

I had read that article awhile back! Yeah, I reckon that I won't put any more money into the CRF asides from tires (at least for now). It is a massively fun 250cc as is. Should I have bought the slip on FMF? There will be a definate weight savings and it will look and sound awesome (always guaranteed to get respect from "senior" riders when you come blasting past......!) but if I decide to boost it up a bit (hey, 4-6hp extra is a fair bit on a small bike) then at least I'll be well down the road! My greatest concern is losing fuel efficiency, that is why I love the concept of switching between two maps.