Honda CRF250L- expected soon!
When we attended the launch of the Honda CBR250R, we were told that the motorcycle is a platform. Now, meet the Honda CRF250L. Honda will open sales in Japan this month and the CRF is expected to hit the European and US markets as well. The motorcycle has the same bore and stroke as our CBR250R and is made in Thailand, also like our current Bike Of The Year. The liquid-cooled 250cc DOHC single should produce 23PS and 22Nm of torque and we expect noticeably lower gearing for off-road work - the CRF is a light-duty off-roader by design. The chassis is a steel twin-tube frame and the swingarm is aluminium. Mounted to these are upside down front forks and at the rear, the monoshock. The claimed kerb weight is 143kg, a bit lighter than the CBR250R. Styling, as you can see, is full-on off-road style.
We expect to see this motorcycle to go on sale in India soon, though Honda has officially not announced any plans for the CRF250L. It makes a lot of sense given the shared components. Further, the Hero Impulse has generated significant interest in the off-road style motorcycle and the primary criticism seems to be that the engine doesn't have the grunt required of hardcore off-roading. Not only with the CRF address that issue, it will also give Honda one more weapon in the coming war with Hero MotoCorp, the bloodiest battle of which is expected to be the Dream Yuga's assault on castle Splendor.