The CRF250L Owners thread

1) Ride dirt, and you will dump it. That's just the way it goes.
2) The stock tires kinda suck off-road. MT21 front and D606/K760/MT43 rear will help a ton. Or, Shinko 244 front and rear if you're cheap and ride lots of pavement.
3) Yes, it sounds like you need a smoother wrist if the back is causing you to go down. Usually the front washing out is the culprit.

Welcome to the dirt,street riders never understand why we are so comfortable with dropping our bikes,you will be a much better street rider now because as your dirt time increases your ability to maneuver your bike on the street will greatly improve and you can recover from near misses better.

I did not notice any issues with the front. At the end of the day I realized I should have let out some air from the tires. I was still at 22 psi front and rear.

With all of the dropping, how much protection does everyone typically have on their bikes??

I see the hand guards, bash plate and radiator guard, all of which I will get. But now I am thinking the bike could benefit from some spools and case covers. I haven't seen too many DS bikes with those, unless I was unable to spot them.

Have no Idea why I wrote Weight. Lol.

WOW! What??? Could you clarify on what you mean by 70 - 120? Sorry, I don't understand Dyno Talk. Sounds like HUGE Gains! Do you have a dyno chart to review? Still haven't seen one!

Perhaps a reference to a British form of currency???

It crashes fine with just handguards. I have a spare brake pedal and shift lever in my kit, but they keep bending back just fine.

That wasn't a dyno run, just a pull on the road. I assume 70-120kmph.

Learning dirt riding is more frequent crashing at first, followed by learning how not to crash. Then you get cocky, and want to ride faster than you should for the conditions. Hopefully, by that time, you have real good protection for your body. You can get bike parts off a shelf, or online, bones heal slowly....

I just picked up the moose racing Knee protection off of amazon the other day, love em.

http://www.crfsonly.com/catalog/product_info.php/products_id/5168

I should get something else for forearms. Make sure to practice your tuck n roll, and avoid the "superman" tactic. soil wins. Just ask my elbow.

First (very light) drop that my CRF took, the shift lever broke off (I had already replaced it with an aftermarket aluminum) so Keep a spare of those. Keep spare allen keys to loosen / tighten adjust your handlebars. If they take a bend, you'll want to do what you can to reposition them as much as possible.

Make sure you are counterbalancing big time, It's going to feel weird at first, because it completely contradicts the rules of pavement. Also, Keep a lot of weight on the outside peg during your corners, that will help keep the bike "adrift" if you loose traction.

OH yea! And replace your tires like everyone else mentioned. You should notice.....A bit of a difference.

Thanks for the advice.

BTW, the stock IRC tires are named "Foot Loose" by IRC...that's funny...but then it's not.

That doesn't surprise me. They are junk for the trails. A broken collar bone waiting to happen if you go agressive in the trails with them.

Finished my rear license plate bracket modification
I disconnected the license plate illumination thingy and then modified the metal bracket system that holds the license plate in stock form to bolt to the brake light assembly. Only needed two little bolts to attach the license plate to the repurposed metal bracket that I bent up and drilled holes in. I still have to cut the rear plastic piece up and reattached it to keep mud/water out of the electronics.

Today I found out three things that fit the LRP:

1) 43t sprocket
2) MT43 rear tire
3) DirtBags Ranger

However, 1) and 2) can't be used at the same time without a longer chain. The MT43 will squeeze on fine with stock gearing , and a 13t will give a smidge of extra room. But it just won't fit with a 13x42 or 13x43 setup. I removed the plastic mud guard and it was about 2mm from the metal of the swingarm with 13x43.

So, If you want to get lower gearing and run the MT43, get a longer chain (just one extra link will do it), or go all the way to 12x40 or 12x42.

I measured the MT43 against the wall and it's about 27" (+/- 1/8" or so) inflated and unloaded. The effective rolling diameter will be a bit lower from squish, but it's still quite a tall tire - taller than a "4.0-18" would be by the book, by a full inch! I found a reference online to it being 26.92", which jives with my quickie measurement.

On the Dirt Bags - they look nice, much better-made than I anticipated. They need to hire someone new to take their product photos. Mounting was easy, and they don't take up my seat mounting bolts, so it's still easy to get into the seat or take the plastics off! I could just jam my size S Shoei Qwest in there when they were off the bike, but they won't fit a helmet once mounted on the bike. Still, it's a pretty generous size. They also lay flat against the frame when empty, so the bike isn't much wider at all.

If I replace my stocker 14T sprocket to 13T sprocket, does my speed reading be affected also?

yes

I assumed it was a roll on time from 70 kmh to 120 kmh. If these are on road times, that is more than impressive....

Edit: Doh! I missed a page- someone already said this.... : Double Doh!

you are correct .... rolling start from 70 kmh to 120 kmh .... 5th gear only

Any fuel economy data? Did you mess with the programming, or just run the suggested settings from B&B?