Classic Bike Review: 1996 Honda CR250R

This is my look back at Honda's last steel-framed CR250R. This bike is considered a 90s icon for its success on the track and many consider it the last great Honda two-stroke. It also took Jeremy McGrath to his fourth straight Supercross title and almost won every round, only loosing in St Louis to Jeff Emig.
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[@zakpeterson6713]

I love all the throw back videos you do. And also your articles are just as good. Please keep them coming. The 80s and 90s were the golden era in my opinion.

[@kakarot3584]

These are some of the best reviews I’ve seen.. so underated mate

[@TheMotocrossVault]

Thank you!

[@jimhiscott2918]

I had a new 1996 Honda CR250R and it was an absolute BEAST! The regional racing I did in Florida I murdered the comp with my CR250. It was incredibly fast. When I put an Ohlins on the back and had GMD computrack work my forks it was just that much better. It pulled like a truck. Further we had the intake and exhaust ports reshaped Dean Beck that completely smoothed out throttle delivery. It was even faster

[@Rg452]

That was the best, last two stroke for the 250s. Love all these, you do great job bud.

[@michaeltrower6792]

Great bike bought one new still have it just got done restoring it

[@chriswesney]

In this era I had a '97 CR80 Expert (or big wheel). I could't have been happier. I raced that bike every weekend and it was bulletproof. Speaking of old bikes, I have a 1994 KX250 that probably has 30 hours on it since new. My uncle bought it new and got injured and never rode it. Now I've got it and I've been thinking about doing a factory replica.

[@chipper442]

I race my 1995 CR250r in all disciplines. JDay Off-road, NETRA,NEMX, and all the free riding my 53 year old bones can handle. Sold my ‘03 CRF450r in 2010, and bought my CR, it had about 20 hours on it. I’ll die with this bike. #RedRiderForLIFE I’m 5’ 11” and do find it to be cramped compared to the CFR450r, but I don’t mind lol. FMF Gnarly, 10oz flywheel weight, 13/52 gearing, and REP Suspension mods.

[@fermcmetz]

You forgot a very important thing: Stefan Everts became 250 World Champion on a machine like that!!

[@brendanroberge53]

O1 cr250r was my second bike i ever owned. It's the bike were i really learned how to ride. My first was 99 cr250. Sadly I blew the engine on the 01. My bike had all acerbis yellow plastics. She was sharp and pulled like no tomorrow. Watching this vid brought back A lot of good and hard memories. Really like the look of your hygge pipe. Bike sounds tight and crisp. She's definitely a keeper. Have a good one. Hopefully I can grab a 2016 or newer crf450 soon. Take care and take care.

[@brendanroberge53]

From Beaumont Alberta. Cheers.

[@swedish_sadhguru3854]

Tried finding this bike in Sweden for a few months now....not a single one for sale, damn it.

[@KizzaHigh_OCTANE_HSV]

I have to be the only person who loves the stock 95 purple look and detest the factory 95 and 96 look

[@brendanroberge53]

01 cr250 was my second bike i ever owned. Cracked the subframe was lucky enough to b working on commercial snd military aircraft so finding a good aluminum welder was no Problem. Wow this vid brings back so many good memories. Hearing a nice tight crisp bike is nice 2. Shoutout from Beaumont Alberta. Hopping to get @ least a 2013 or newer crf450 soon. Take good care of her and take care.

[@craigsteinman9807]

The white tank crs look like rookie all of them.. The all red and the red/ blue combo was such a gorgeous look.

[@bradleybeauchamp5582]

Nicely put together video, sure did learn a few things, it would be fantastic if you could do a video on the history of the Honda CR-500R

[@whitesand8]

didn't MC run the 93' frame every year at Honda ? I had an 03' CR250 and I didn't like the alloy frame even being much more refined than the 97' version....Felt light, looked great, the stability was better with less headshake was an improvement. but couldn't get rid of the front end push...Just didn't seem to have the front end grip as the steel framed Hondas...92'-93' CR250 motors were awesome....The headshake issue on faster outdoor tracks oh my it was scary especially with arm pump....Spot on with reliability comments...Honda's felt new with many races and practices on them...Kawasaki's would fall apart even when you're just trying to perform maintenance...There are folks to this day that maintain that there was no difference in reliability between Kawasaki and Honda of that era and I say they are delusional....

[@fatboy2smoker841]

Thanks again man..Great review on a great bike... I have a 95 cr250 and I think it also came with the 40mm carb as well

[@VlogEpicness]

The screaming eagle 🦅

[@DavidByrski]

Had a 92-93-96-05, then a 08CRF450R The 96 was by far my favourite. , 05 was the absolute worst. 08 CRF450R handled so much like my 96, ended up selling it and buying a basket case 96 CR250R and restoring it to a McGrath replica. I will never sell this 96.

[@sambuvca22]

tony, your 1990 cr looks bad ass. great job with that resto

[@davevowels7568]

BUT ON ON LIVE T.V. EMIG TOLD MCGRATH HE USED A BIG BORE KIT IN 1997......and MCGRATH LOST BY A COUPLE SECONDS LOL....LOVE EM BOTH BUT MGGRATH WAS KING !....N0ONE HAS OR WILL DOMINATE FOR A DECADE....GREAT VIDEO THANKS

[@scrambledgreg3834]

Great video!I have a 1995 and 2002 CR250R

[@evanfield580]

I bought my first 250 in 1996 and I bought a 1994 cr 250 and it is still one of my favorite motorcycles

[@JoshuaDomoslai]

I’m buying a 96’ this weekend. Also doing a McGrath replica and going to start racing again at glen Helen.

[@23MikeJ22]

I absolutely love it!!!

[@robertrishel3685]

Another one very well done! Thanks again for what you do!👍

[@TheMotocrossVault]

Thank you for the kind words

[@gjg1281]

You deserve a trophy for making these model history videos! I'm over at Cyclepedia.com if you ever need any resources.

[@megadawg342]

McGrath and Skip favored the 1993-94 frame over this model, and made adjustments to make it look like the 96 (5:38). 1997's were notoriously hostile frames, way too stiff. My bud Dave had a 1997 CR250 and it busted him up. The 2nd gen aluminum frame was the 2000 with the Keihin carb. MXA said it was dramatically improved. I bought one in the fall of 1999, Loved it. The only difference in 2001 was the MIKUNI flat slide carb. That 2000 was so kind to me compared to my 93-96 RM's. If I made an error the RM's would exaggerate whatever I had done wrong to punish me! That 2nd gen CR would do the opposite, it would correct mistakes I made. I learned to go fast on that bike, and my 2004 RM 250. I'm in my 60's now, but I learned to do triples and whips at PALA and won 2 series championships there, on those bikes, just 5 years ago. Yea, I'm in SoCal,.. it's 45 minutes away.

[@aeror115]

Great... I need a time machine 👍 Enjoy the bike life

[@mikeraskin7319]

Head shake monsters. I had 1986 cr125 and the shake was nuts.

[@fatboy2smoker841]

The 95 and 96 cr250s did not headshake whatsoever

[@chipper442]

Fat boy 2smoker my ‘95 250 can have its moments. It’s my go to bike for racing though. I’ll die with this bike.

[@joshmarks3954]

Had this bike, it was a rocket. Right about the forks they never felt good to me. Good upgrade would be the twin chamber from an 08+ . Do you think a modern 250f would outrun this bike? I thought a 250 two stroke would nail a 250f no problem. 450f is another story. Thanks for the cool reviews Tony.

[@timothymckern8956]

Would be nice to see one done on the XR 600 and 650 r I had a 1994 CR500 as far as I'm concerned as the best CR500 ever made

[@LifeWideOpen780]

The cartoon cr logo is the best on the shrouds

[@mustknowinfo2001]

Does it feel like a 125 with more power? It sounds like its a narrow slim frame easy to throw around

[@swedish_sadhguru3854]

how many horse powers did this model have? How would this suspension compare to todays bikes?

[@LifeWideOpen780]

Love it.

[@jamesamsler2418]

I had '93 125....luved it

[@ryanlionjediri3807]

I’ve had the privilege of owning a 92 and a 96 I’ve currently still got my 1986Yamaha tri z 250 6 speed I’ve had it 25 years and would like to see some good coverage on this please 🙏👍. ®🦁

[@HooligansMx]

Kaplan America would argue with you 😂😂😂

[@ericphillips2704]

The only better looking CR than this '96 was the '97 125. Great video as always by the way!

[@jennykirk9516]

I love 1990 125 250 or 500!

[@ericphillips2704]

@@jennykirk9516 '90 125 was my first big bike as a kid. I loved it.

[@narfer]

Working on a total restore of a 96 now.

[@u.ppredatorx2394]

I had many cr250's and the 96, 00, 01 were the best motors

[@4Him4u2]

I bought one of these used and stock in ‘97. Then, I found a cleaner, full “800 Collect” replica, a week later (used) and bought that one too. I knew they would be collectible but had to sell them to make room for newer bikes.

[@jeremylittle5911]

Where did you get the jersey from? Like the content!

[@TheMotocrossVault]

I got it from a company called 24.co on Instagram

[@ShaunSavage-kl9pd]

My 96 cr250 was like a 125 with the power of a 500. Horrible suspension though.

[@anthonywilson5557]

I would like to see 1993 Cr500

[@Junior-fd8ux]

That's it im fixing one of mine

[@retroracer6660]

Can you do a review on the 94 or 95 Kawasaki Kx 125 Please like these videos very invorimtive the old bikes don't get much coverage so the video's are well recived

[@retroracer6660]

Or maybe you could cover all the bikes like sort of a shootout

[@retroracer6660]

@The Motocross Vault

[@mustknowinfo2001]

So you can actually feel the difference if adding pipes?

[@TheMotocrossVault]

Yes mine ran much different with a different pipe. I loved the FMF Gnarly because it gave the bike much better bottom end.

[@pags1981]

96 cr250 was last of the chromo frame (like ktm uses still)?

[@TheMotocrossVault]

Schwifty yes they went to aluminum in 1997

[@stevenanderson2104]

Love your 1800 collect top where can i buy

[@TheMotocrossVault]

Here you go the-motocross-vault.creator-spring.com/listing/showtime-may-2020

[@justinmoock7506]

I have a request. I would like to see a review of the 1989 Kawasaki KX250. I had one. Super fast bike but extremely unreliable. Even kips valves would need replacing. My friend had a 1988 model in mint condition and my 1989 in poor condition would blow the doors off the 1988. I would love to see a review on the 1989 kx250.

[@TheMotocrossVault]

I will be covering the 1989 KX250 in the future for sure.

[@brianraymer5542]

Great review.....

[@bmxdestroy]

Man i miss that purple!!!

[@retroracer6660]

@The Motocross Vault can you review on the 95 Kawasaki Kx 125 and what is top five 125cc bikes you've ridden like the videos.

[@TheMotocrossVault]

Sure I plan on getting around to doing the 95 KX125. A vido on my personal favorites is a great idea as well. Thanks

[@retroracer6660]

@@TheMotocrossVault Yeah you could start at your to ten 80cc bikes then do 125cc then 250cc bikes and shere your opinions on each bike and give them rating of ten in power suspention and reliabilly, and look it would make a great video.

[@Junior-fd8ux]

89 cr125 please

[@TheMotocrossVault]

Sure thing

[@petertothRC-FPV]

Mine was an animal and holding my own against 450`s on the track once i geared it up.

[@ashleytester1049]

A new Honda CRF 250 will not run with this CR 250. i have a 96 250 CR, and i outrun 450`s on the track and in the woods.

[@davidhilton5414]

Had one dialed a few years ago and sold it like an idiot hah

[@hondacr250hrc4]

Sweet

[@supotsittiyod2721]

VERY BEAUTIFUL. 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍 THANK YOU. 🌷🌷🌷🌹🌹🌹🌷🌷🌷

[@100mphFastball]

The aluminum frames ruined the mystique of the 2 stroke.

[@unclequack5445]

McGrath had everything handed to him on a platter he has no idea what a real days work is.

[@unclelennie150]

fastest 250 I've been on is my 89 cr. it was fast had a125 also and that was fast too. Great bikes

[@alexguiver815]

@17:26 Jeremy McGrath is wearing tartan Fox pants, something to do with his family's ancestry? The McGrath surname has Scotch-Irish origins en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clan_McGrath#:~:text=McGrath%20is%20a%20surname%20of,was%20located%20in%20north%20Munster.

[@ShaunSavage-kl9pd]

My 96 cr250 was like a 125 with the power of a 500. Horrible suspension though.