CRF150R? How great is the new CRF150R?
I was lucky enough to give one of these bikes a test run. Since
I have the CRF150F, it was hard to admit that this bike rips. Yes, yes. It’s hard to swallow for me because I was
basically trying to turn my “F” into an “R.”
Did I waste all that time and energy upgrading my "F"? No. Well,
not entirely. I like my "F" because it's just the way I wanted it. It, however, is about 40lbs heavier than the "R" so that's
a big performance bummer.
The bottom line is the “R”
is a ripping bike.
BUT since I know I’ll be sticking to my “F” for some time, I thought I’d try to point out a few things
that I don’t like about the “R.” Just keep in mind that when you read this, I do know the “R”
is a killer bike. I just want to poke my finger at it a bit. Here we go.
No flywheel! Well, sure there’s a flywheel in there, but
my goodness, it sure is light. Wick the throttle and it’s on!!! Cut the throttle and it’s off! I killed the
damn thing 4 times just trying to get out of the parking lot. It’s really light!
Power? It’s there. I thought it rode like a 2 stroke. That’s
a good thing. Really quick response. I question what it would ride like in tight trails though. It wouldn’t be nearly
as good as the “F.” Not even close. No cruising on the “R.” It’s all about getting on the
throttle. I really like that, but sometimes I like to jerk around and cruise. It doesn’t work well at that. You’d
need some weights on the flywheel.
Dyno? My 170cc “F” matches the “R” on the
dyno up to about 9,000 rpm’s. The “R” continues up to 14,000 rpms. Personally, I don’t like to ride
that high in the rpm’s so I think I’m good with my bike’s power. My bike weight about an elephant and a
half more though so I’m sure the “R” would still pull on me.
Frame? Here’s where my “F” is better. My “F”
frame fits an adult way better. The “R” is built for a child. If you are a kid, it’s rock’n. If
you’re an adult, go sit on both and stick your feet on the pegs. Then you’ll see what I mean.
Reliability? The "F" takes no maintenance. None!!! The "R" is
having clutch burnout issues and I'm told the top end will need changing every 20 hours. I don't see that happening, but
that's what they say.
The are also packing exploding cams. Yes, you heard me right.
The cams are exploding. Honda hasn't recalled them yet. Oh yeah, a new top end on a CRF250 can run up to $1,000 with $1,000
for installation. I'm told the CRF150R isn't far from that. I don't know if that's true yet, but I'll find out.
Parts? The "R" is getting a million after market parts. That's the thing that
really hurts me. I want all those expensive after market parts, but they don't make them for the "F." What a guy to do with
his extra cash? It's just not fair!!!! :)
Will I get an "R." I
have to say, I'm excited to see what Yamaha and KTM will come out with. I'm going to wait and see.
