TAT-2016 Post 32 Honda CRF250L review

My CRF is a 2015 model that I purchased new in August 2015. I won’t go into a lot of detail why I selected this bike since I covered that in my earlier posts but my primary reasons were:

1               Honda reliability

2               Price ($1600 cheaper than my other choices)

3               Weight (It is heavier than some other 250 size bikes but still lighter than a KLR650)

4               Availability

5               Abundant spare parts and repair facilities along route

6               EFI (no carburetor)

7               21” front tire

I knew that the bike had plenty of limitations but was willing to work around those based on numerous reviews I read before purchase. Limitations:

1               Low Power compared to Yamaha WR250R (Yamaha $1600 more)

2               Heavy for a 250cc compared to the KTM, etc.

3               Non-adjustable suspension (WR250R is adjustable)

4               Others I’m sure

Modifications:

The basic off the floor CRF needs a number of enhancements to make it ready for the TAT. The $1600 savings on sale price came in handy in this area. BTW, the WR250R would have needed most of these same enhancements. I must make it clear that I put a lot of stuff on my CRF and I’m sure lots of other riders would not need or want the mods I made. One note though, most of this stuff is reusable on my next bike:

1               Rear Rack (Manracks – comes ready to mount RotoPax auxiliary fuel tank. Good quality and worked well on trip)

2               RAM Mounts for GPS, GoPro, etc (several different types used and I’m very pleased with their quality and variety)

3               30mm handlebar risers (made riding standing on pegs more comfortable. Before adding them I had to bend over to ride standing up)

4               Engine Skid Plate (get good quality since I hit lots of rocks on TAT Leg-1)

5               Radiator shield (A must considering the amount of gravel on the TAT)

6               1 Gallon RotoPax and mounting (2 gal RotoPax doesn’t fit well and interfered with my bags. 2 each 1 Gallons would be better. Very pleased with their quality and I used mine several times)

7               Folding shift lever (I actually bent this one and put my original back on the bike. Carry a spare. I’m not sure anything will stop bending a shift lever. I bent the folding one and Woodrow bent the original version. Just buy a spare.)

8               13 tooth (13t) front sprocket (replaced 14t and it made a world of difference on this bike. 2^nd gear will climb almost any hill and I only go to 1^st on the real serious climbs. A must do mod and pretty cheap. Doesn’t require replacing or modifying the chain).

9               Doubletake mirrors (They are great and don’t break when dropping the bike. I had to roughen up the ball ends with sand paper so they wouldn’t move when ridding on highway)

10            Seatconcepts seat (Fantastic replacement for that original 2X4 board of an original seat)

11            Grand Loop (GL) Fandango Tank Bag (I was doubtful at first but I love this bag. It looks huge but I filled it up on the TAT ride. It also unzips for easy on/off and to fill gas. Only issue was zippers got hard to operate when in heavy dust environment. Going to get some silicon spray for next trip)

12            GL Great Basin horseshoe bag (Same great quality and worked perfectly on this trip. I wasn’t sure how well I would like the mounting but once I strapped the GL to the bike I never took it off until the end. You must use the internal waterproof bags to not only ensure your stuff stays dry but for easy packing/unpacking. Each night I would only take out the internal bags I needed. I left in the repair kit and 1^st aid kit. Be sure to make sure the internal bags (3) come with the GL bag. Some sites want another $30 for them. Order direct from GL and they come in the basic price)

13            LED Taillight from DRCHardware (Replaces that huge hunk of junk that comes on the basic bike with a streamlined and much more visible light. Also replaces the rear turn lights.)

14            Zeta Hand Guards (Whatever you do put hand guards on your CRF. I’ve dropped my bike more times than I can remember and they have worked every time. Woodrow took a pretty serious fall missing a dog and they saved his hands and serious damage to his bike)

15            Speedometer compensator from 12oclock labs (Replacing the front sprocket makes the speedo about 7% wrong. Using a GPS you don’t even need the Speedo but it irritated me so I fixed it with this mod. It works 100% but a little pricy).

16            Garmin Zumo 660LM GPS (Love this GPS. It has bright and large display, its waterproof and has a fantastic mounting system. One issue was after riding several days in dusty conditions the release lock on the mount was jammed and I couldn’t get the GPS off. I poured water on the mount and GPS and it finally came loose. A little silicon spray may work to keep it free. I used this GPS primarily to find gas, food and motels but it will also follow routes generated from the TAT tracks)

17            Garmin 64ST GPS (I’m a dedicate Garmin fan and I also love this GPS. It is loaded with Topo maps and primarily for off road use. Doesn’t follow highways worth a darn but great for following GPX tracks I received from Sam (or GPSKevin). It really came in handy identifying possible water crossings)

18            GoPro camera (What can I say, GoPro works and makes great video. I have the early Hero 2 so controls are cumbersome but when I took the time it would make great video).

19            Dunlap D606 tires (I really only selected these after reading some good reviews. They worked great and didn’t wear too much considering the highway miles we had to do. Other tire may be better but I was happy with the performance of these (front and rear were installed at Charleston, mile 0 of 1400 miles))

20            Intercom Sena SMH10 (I have mixed feelings about these units. I had two older versions and we bought 2 newer versions for a total of 4 (max number that can be connected). I uploaded the firmware for the older two so they were all using same firmware. We could never get more than 3 to connect while on the TAT. We had tested them before the trip and had all 4 on line so not sure what changed. Making 4 or 3 way connection is a pain but once connected they seem to reconnect just by turning them on. Range not more than ½ mile and probably less in any kind of terrain. Speeds above 35 made them useless due to wind noise. I used CB radios on 2 AK trips with a lot less issues. The waterproof CB is expensive but if I had to do it again I would go CB rather than Bluetooth intercom.)

21            Bike Lock by Bilt (I bought a cheap brake disk lock on sale at Cycle Gear and almost couldn’t get it off the bike due to all the dust and dirt that had gotten into the lock. Don’t buy cheap here because of the consequences if it does permanently jam).

22            Bike Cover from Wal-Mart (It worked and kept prying eyes off the bike but some of the other riders bought better fitting ones from Cycle Gear at a small increase in price).

23            Auxiliary Power Outlet from Cycle Gear (I installed a 3 amp fuse in line but changed it to 5 amp when my air pump blew the 3 amp).

Honda CRF250L Performance:

The review below is my experience since I purchased the CRF in Aug 2015. I have about 3,000 miles on this bike, 1,400 of them just completing Leg-1 of the TAT; Charleston, SC to Little Rock, AR.

I’ve owned more bikes than I can remember but in recent years I’ve owned mostly large touring bikes:

1               Honda 750 Shadow

2               Yamaha 650 Classic

3               Yamaha 1600 Road Star

4               Harley Davidson FLHTCU Ultra Classic (Rode to Yukon, Canada on AK1 - 6,000+ miles)

5               Yamaha Super Tenere XT1200Z (Rode to Alaska and Arctic Circle on AK2 – 8,000 miles, including Iron Butt)

I bought my first dirt bike after nearly 40 years for riding the TAT last August 2015. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed riding small dirt bikes and the fun they provide.

The CRF250L is easy to ride and maneuvers effortlessly on roads or trails. With the right tires it handles mud and sand pretty well. I have yet to bottom out the suspension and I’m 5’ 10” @ 195 lbs not including riding gear. This includes the bike loaded for TAT Leg-1 with I would estimate at least another 50 lbs of baggage. It has a payload capacity of 350 Lbs so I’ve never reach that yet. We have ridden on some pretty rocky and rough roads with no issues with suspension.

It’s a pretty tough bike as proven by several dropped bike incidents I’ve had and a couple of potential serious accidents that Woodrow had on TAT Leg-1 (read my blog for details). Bent gear shift levers seem to be common and the hand guards (if you have them) take a beating. Everything else seems to be pretty tough or well protected.

Bike always starts and runs smoothly. Electrical power seems to be good because I’m driving with a GPS plus electric jacket and gloves plus have an iPhone plugged in charging. Woodrow has heated grips installed with no problem.

Fuel tank is small at 2.1 gallons. I tested my mpg before Leg-1 and got 72 mpg but that was in city and highway miles at around 45-50 mph; 140 miles per tank including reserve. The reserve indicator starts flashing when you have ½ gallon remaining. You have a fuel gage on this bike so it is pretty nice. Riding TAT Leg-1 was a lot of slow speed riding plus many climbs. This brought the mpg down to around 50 mpg. At 90-100 miles my indicator would start to flash meaning I had maybe 20-25 miles of range to empty. I’m considering a larger 3 gallon fuel tank for the next two legs because we seemed to have to find fuel every 100 miles (not wanting to use the extra 1 Gal of fuel in the RotoPax). My main concern is I will lose the fuel gage capability or at least it won’t be accurate. It is also a pricy modification ($400+). Still deciding on this one.

Here is where the CRF250L suffers. It is underpowered. I had plenty of power to do Leg-1 but I could feel on the really steep climbs on rocky roads in 1^st gear that I was pretty close to the top of the power band. I never ran out of power but I’m a little concerned what riding to the top of a 12,000’ mountain pass will feel like. The vast majority of the climbs I can do in 2^nd gear and ride a constant 18 mph. It’s the very steep and rocky ones that cause the problem. I’m 90% sure I will do the engine upgrade to put a FMF exhaust and new Electronic Fuel Control Module on before I start Leg-2. I wanted to see how the stock engine handled Leg-1 and now I know a little more power would be nice to have out west.

The CRF is also slow, probably due to the power issue in the previous paragraph. We had to ride a lot on 2 lane paved roads with speed limits of 55-65. My stock CRF can do maybe 60-65 but feels a lot more comfortable at 50-55. At 60-65 it is pulling hard and has lots of engine vibration. I can just feel that it is working hard and I hate to put that kind of strain on the CRF for long durations. An increase in power may make it handle the higher speeds with a bit les strain. If not then it is something to realize if you buy the CRF.

Summary:

1               Would I buy the CRF250L again? Yes, the price is right and it is so much fun to ride.

2               Would I like a more powerful bike? Maybe. The KTM’s are lite but much more expensive and all the ones I know seem to need much more repair than the CRF250L. WR250R may be better.

3               Would I rather have the Yamaha WR250R or the CRF250L? I would probably go with the Yamaha if money wasn’t an issue because it is $1,600 more but it does have a stronger engine and adjustable suspension. If money is an issue then the CRF is a great buy and so far is doing everything I ask.

I will try to get the other riders to do reviews on their WR250R and KLR650 but I can’t promise they will do as good a job as mine, just kidding.

I will next do a gear review of the riding gear and other miscellaneous items I carried.

TAT-2016 Post 31 30 Mar 2016

I still plan on posting a trip summary with gear and bike reviews in the near future. Here are some thoughts till then.

Lessons Learned and other comments:

This is not to say my opinions are correct or even applicable to most riders but they are applicable to the 4 riders on our trip.

1               Carry Gorilla Duct Tape. This stuff is great and can temporarily repair most things that break.

2               Carry good quality tie warps. I have some that have a metal pin as part of the lock, much stronger but I don’t see them for sale much anymore.

3               I was carrying a 20’ 1” tow strap on our TAT Leg-1. It was critical for getting Woodrow’s bike back on the trail after he decided to try and ride straight down the mountain. Problem was it wasn’t long enough plus we had to use the KLR650 to help pull the CRF250L up a very slick and steep slope to the trail. In the future I will carry a 50’ rope in a small bag I use white water kayaking. It’s not very bulky but would have provided the length we needed. In addition I will have a couple of carabiners and two prusik loops. This combination of gear can make a Z-drag 3 to 1 mechanical advantage. Google Z-Drag to see how it works. We use them all the time in white water rescue of boats and gear. That being said, weight is an issue and how many times would it be used. You must decide.

4               Work out a system to keep your boots dry in water crossings. I was miserable a couple of times because my boots leaked or I walked into deep water and filled them up. This really became an issue as the temperature started dropping to the mid 40’s. I am replacing my $80 boots with much more expensive but waterproof boots.

5               Intercom system is a very real safety item. It let us warn each other about possible hazards and coordinate ride decisions. We were using Sena products and I’m really not happy with them. It limits to 4 riders but we could only ever get 3 on line at the same time. We finally went with 2 and 2. I used CB on two previous AK trips and may go that direction on the rest of the TAT ride. Waterproof CB is available but expensive but much more user friendly with unlimited number of users and talking to trucks is a plus in Alaska and elsewhere.

6               Ride to your weakest rider. Woodrow will admit he was our weakest and most of the problems we encountered happened to him. Mostly because he didn’t recognize what was dangerous, therefore the need for an intercom. Riding too fast through some of the technical sections on day 1 and 2 starting at Andrews can be a problem.

7               Don’t overestimate the speed you can ride. Days 1 and 2 we averaged 14 mph. We finally got up to around 25 mph average but only after we got out of the really mountainous sections.

8               Motels and gas are far between even in the eastern states. Our daily route was based more on this than the miles we could have ridden. Our CRF250Ls had only 2 gal tanks with 1 gal in reserve RotoPax. I’ve gotten 72 mpg on the CRF but riding on highway at 50 mph. In the mountains I was probably getting 50 mpg. I would be on reserve around 90 miles.

9               Bent gear shifts seem to happen with almost every dropped bike. Carry spare.

10            We had no rain on this leg but if we had, it would have been a totally different and much more difficult ride.

11            Water crossings vary greatly. Some were concrete but with moss making them slippery. Others were firm gravel. Several were mud holes. The one I dropped hard in was rock shelfs that formed ridges that catch your tire and you have no control. Take time to get off and look at them closely. We walked the ones that looked questionable (remember wet boots). One in particular was about up to the axle of the bikes but very swift water plus was slippery.

12            Lots of blind turns especially in the mountains. Meeting a car or other bike coming the opposite direction is a real shocker.

13            Forest Service closes roads at their discretion. Sometimes you can get through but you may have to backtrack a good distance. Plan this into your day’s ride so you have daylight at the end. Skip lunch and ride!

14            Pack lite but have warm clothes. The last couple of days I had many layers on trying to say warm when the temps dropped drastically. We had snow for a couple of miles.

15            Wear protective riding gear. The TAT rides through a lot of rural locations with dogs, cows, gravel and many other hazards that are on the road just over the next hill or around the next turn. Going cheap here will cost you in pain.

16            Excessive speed is like gambling. Sometimes you win with more miles covered but you can lose real big when you meet that unexpected dog in the road or muddy spot on a mountain trail; Woodrow will testify to that.

17            Not many folks along our route even heard of the TAT. This may have been because we were on the new route through Georgia. Even the Forest Service guys we met did not know it existed. That being said everyone was more than friendly and helpful and very interested in hearing about our ride.

TAT-2016 Post 30 – Tuesday, 22 March 2016 (TAT Day-6)

Black line was our ride (1431 miles), red is section we bypassed and will go back to ride this summer.

I’m really writing this on Wednesday 23 Mar the day after we arrived home for several reasons. I pulled into my driveway around 2 pm after a very tiring and in a few instances very scary day (more on that later). We three remaining riders all separated as we pulled into town to head to our own homes and some much needed rest. As I arrived home I realized I did not have a key to the house and my wife would not be home from work for several hours. It was one of those things I meant to take care of before I left but forgot. I unloaded the bike and put the gear on the back porch and rode my very dirty bike to Barnes & Noble to have an iced coffee and planned on writing my blog while waiting for my wife to get home. I just couldn’t do it, too tired. I finally rode back home and was falling asleep setting on the front porch when my wife came home early. I then find out we had a club meeting to attend that evening and all our friends want to see me since many had been following the trip on-line. I was in bed by 9 pm. Long story to say sorry I didn’t post last night.

Now for the trip report. After an evening of food and drink at a restaurant close to our hotel, we decided to ride south the next morning to pick up the TAT at Helena, AR and complete the eastern half of the AR TAT which would put us within striking distance of home. Over the previous months while planning for this ride we had ridden several sections of the AR TAT up to Hazen, AR. This would be today’s destination and then a straight 50 mile ride on back roads to Little Rock. Because we would be riding south away for the heavy Memphis traffic, we left shortly after sunrise.

It was forecasted to be cold (40’s) until around noon with strong southerly winds (15-25 mph with gust over 30 mph). This made the long boring 60 mile ride south pretty miserable. It is flat with nothing to stop the wind in the Mississippi River Delta region. We finally made it to the bridge across the Mississippi River at Helena and picked up the track for the TAT. We were quickly taken into the many back country roads that make up a good portion of the eastern half of Arkansas. The roads were mostly gravel (90%) and in a lot of places pretty deep gravel. Average speed was 20 to 30 mph and many times less. A couple of roads were packed sand with soft sand spots so you always had to be prepared. One of the scary incidents today was a 200 yard section of road that looked like it had recently been plowed. It was really just soft dirt clumps and the only good thing was a single car had ridden in it so we tried to keep our bikes in the tire track. We all came close to dropping our bikes numerous times on this short road from hell.

The previous week it had rained extremely hard in this area and we saw water up to the edge of the road in many areas. It was obvious that the roads had been flooded last week but for the most part were dry now except for two areas. The first water crossing was not too difficult and the water only about 8” deep. The second one was significantly more difficult. It was really a large mud hole with bayou on both sides. We walked in and around this hole looking for firm ground to take the bikes. We even talked about backtracking around this spot but decided to walk the bikes through the best spot. Terry took the heavy KLR650 first with Woodrow and me on the back holding it up when he hit soft mud. We made it ok then took Woodrow’s CRF250L with a couple of us providing extra support. On the way back across to get my CRF I discovered some firm ground in the middle but under the water. I was able to walk my bike across by myself but with Woodrow ready to help if needed. No other water was encountered.

A short time after entering Arkansas we were riding down one of the many gravel roads and came upon a hand painted sign that said “TAT Rest Stop ¾ mile ahead, Stop and sign our book”. That may have not been the exact words but you get the idea. We did stop and had a very pleasant time visiting with the two gentlemen that ran this rest stop. They said they had been tracking us via my blog and SPOT map and in fact a family member had called them saying we were in Mississippi and would be coming by the rest stop very shortly. They had been waiting for us to come by. We all got a big kick out of that. In fact several other people came to the rest stop to meet with us. We signed the log book and were told we were the fourth group to come through this year but they thought we had ridden the furthest and that the others were just doing short sections of the TAT. They took our picture and we took theirs. They actually print a book each year with all the pictures of the TAT riders for that year. They post on the TAT Facebook page around September when the book is available; we will be ordering one for sure since we will be in it. This is a must make stop if you are riding the TAT.

We continued on gravel roads with short diversions for fuel until we hit the Hazen spot where we would head for Little Rock. I have to say we were all glad to be getting off that gravel. It wasn’t too difficult but it was just never ending. We then got on the two lane Highway 70 for the 50 mile ride home. Highway 70 parallels I-40 and if there is any traffic problem on I-40, lots of cars and especially semi-trucks jump over to 70. That must have been the case because the traffic on 70 was unusually heavy. In addition, 70 runs east/west and the wind was gusting at least 30-35 mph out of the south; a direct crosswind left to right. Our lite bikes were leaning at least 10 degrees to the left fighting the wind then when a semi-truck passed form the other direction it would block the wind causing us to head towards the truck then a blast of wind in the opposite direction as the truck passed.  To make it even more strenuous traffic kept building behind us because we could barely make 50-55 mph. We pulled off onto the shoulder a number of times to let them pass but this was a dangerous situation. I haven’t even gotten to the scary part yet.

As we were riding down one of the long open stretches between the small towns on Highway 70, we came to a section where a farmer was plowing on the downwind side of the road. This caused a huge dust plume to drift across the highway. I entered this plume doing around 50 mph and went immediately to 5 feet visibility. I made a frantic call on my intercom to Terry and Woodrow saying “I can’t see anything and moving to the right of the road” because I was afraid someone in front of me might have stopped on the road. I got to the paved shoulder and could barely see the white line but was still worried that someone in front of me might have done the same thing. I was about to move over to the grass off the road when I popped out of the dust. You hear about multi-car pile ups due to smoke, snow, etc. This could very well have been one of those situations. In the future if I ever come up to something like this I’m stopping and moving to the grass beside the road and riding slowing until clear.

Statistics for today’s ride:

184 miles ridden today

43 miles on highway from Memphis to Helena Bridge (cold strong wind)

90 miles on TAT on mostly gravel

51 miles on highway to home (strong crosswind)

Statistics for TAT Leg-1

1431 miles total

Started on East Coast at Charleston, SC and ended at North Little Rock, AR

Rode TAT from start at Andrews, NC to Hazen AR (bypassing TAT section in Mississippi)

8 days on the road including 1st day riding to Atlantic Ocean and 2^nd day riding to Andrews, NC

6 days actually riding the TAT

I will be gathering a lot of technical details from my GPS tracks and other notes to put together a trip summary. It will take a few days to complete but will cover the topics below and any others I might come up with:

1               Bike review – CRF205L, KLR650 & WR250

2               Gear review – what worked & what didn’t

3               Trip plan – what worked & what didn’t

4               Road conditions and closures

5               Budget – where the money went

6               Pictures – I found some pictures that I didn’t put on my previous posts so will add them to the summary; especially of Woodrow and his bike on the side of the mountain.

The locked gate was on the TAT and we had to backtrack up the mountain to take a bypass. The mountain trails are covered with large gravel and is not a pleasant ride, especially if you have to backtrack.

The bridge was totally gone but there was a temp gravel bypass when we rode it. It may or may not be passable in the future.

The trail to the waypoint Permit from Hwy 27 is a permit only road. The road was also partially collapsed towards the top.

Thanks for all the great comments and views of my Blog and hope our experience helps with your TAT planning.