Yamaha XT250 Versus Honda CRF300L...Which One? Part One

[@precipiceofgrind]

Like The Video(s)? Hit That SUBSCRIBE!!! Really Helps The Channel!!! Thanks For Watching!!!

[@nightfury6836]

I have that same XT, same color and all but the 2019 model. For me, it’s a commuter, trail, and apocalypse bike. I can also singlehandedly load & fit that XT in the bed of my little 4 cylinder Frontier. I’ll probably never get rid of it just because of that pragmatic trait. Great video series. 😎🔥

[@BNatoAk]

Both bikes are great, i like the klx 300 as well!

[@ConcernedCitizen456]

Thank you for sharing. Very helpful information.

[@jackm108]

Enjoyed your presentation. Lesson learned: I need both bikes and a TW

[@precipiceofgrind]

Yup, that pretty much sums it up! Appreciate you watching!

[@roberthallam6824]

Very nice content ! I live in Wyoming and it’s snowing ! I have a KLR 650 also and will get a DRZ400S this winter to add to my collection and a bit more off-road capable. Love the desert !

[@precipiceofgrind]

Thank you for watching! I've always wanted a DRZ400, bet that bike is a hoot! Enjoy your DRZ and snow!

[@primoservices5636]

Nice job clear and simple looking forward to the ride video

[@jmarshall719]

Great review. I have a 2022 Honda CRF Rally 300 and just pict up a 2021 Yamaha XT 250 for my wife. I have about 500 road and dirt road miles on the Rally and about 30 miles of road riding on the XT 250. XT 250 feels way lighter and nimble compared to the Rally being 45 lbs lighter. Rally has great wind protection, XT not so much. Need to at that Parabellum windshield. Also like you footpads and skif plate. Need to add those to the XT. I love the double take mirros on the Rally and will add them to the XT 250. Your spot on on the seat height. I am 6'2" with 32 inseam and it is way easier to get on and off the XT 250 than the 300 Rally.

[@precipiceofgrind]

Appreciate you watching! I searched the entire Southwest for a Rally last year, total unicorn bike so I settled for the 300L and am happy with it. Haven't seen much for windscreens for the 300L, perhaps in time. The Parabellum windscreen certainly helps on the XT.

[@jmarshall719]

The 300 Rally is like a unicorn in the Northeast also. I had money down on one and the delivery date kept pushing out. I saw one on FB marketplace with 400 miles on it and it was 20 mins from home. Bought it from the service manager at the largest Honda dealer in the state. It was like new and was $500 less than I would have paid for a new one. Watching your videos and the terrain you ride in I think you are better off with the 300L. Lighter and less plastic to break if you drop it. Bigger gas tank is nice, but my Rally is too heavy and feels like a tank compared to the XT 250.

[@precipiceofgrind]

@@jmarshall719 Yeah, I gave up on the Rally. For awhile the 300L was very difficult to get out here also and I had comments saying dealers were asking substantially over sticker when one came available. Is what it is. Trying to get my wife interested in the KLX300...but those are few and far between as well!

[@domusdebellum3042]

@@jmarshall719 my dealer never gave even have me a date. order beginning of may. first of november they finally make contact (i stopped in a few times in the mean time). delivery? beginning of february. in the end they told me that honda hadnt even been accepting orders and wont until the first of the year.

[@JohnB-dr8sk]

@@precipiceofgrind Love your videos man. And yeah, the bike market is totally self correcting now after all of the insane Covid price inflation and supply chain issues. New and used bikes, RVs and cars and trucks are way more available now and people just aren't buying because of the economy. If people with cash can wait another few months, we should see some really good deals pop up, even on XT250s and CRF's.

[@AamirKhan-fm4es]

The way you describe both bike is awesome. It help me a lot to consider which bike should I purchase as i was thinking to buy among exactly the same two models. But I have now decided to go with CRF 300 LS not L coze it has a lower seat.

[@precipiceofgrind]

Glad you found the content helpful and thanks for watching!

[@devingarrett5800]

I have the same xt as you. My solution to the freeway problem here in CA was to pop a 16 spoke gear on the rear. It stretches out the gears and raises the top speed to 80. But that sacrifices a bit of fuel economy depending on how fast you go but it has no effect off road and makes town riding much more fun.

[@precipiceofgrind]

That sounds awesome, I'm going to have to give that a shot with my XT!!

[@devingarrett5800]

@@precipiceofgrind if you have any questions just let me know. but i will say if you cruise at much more than 70 you will see a sharp drop in economy approx. 15mpg also halves the service cycle time frame. I do it every 2.000 miles at the longest. my next investment will be an FMF exhaust which should help with the economy and noise.

[@DirtRider22a]

@@devingarrett5800why would the sprocket change half the service interval?

[@JohnB-dr8sk]

@@DirtRider22a Yeah, if anything it should lower the service intervals because the sprocket makes the bike run at lower RPMs on the highway.

[@DontuseGoogleorWiki]

bc the engine isn't spending so long at higher RPMS so the engine isn't stressed and the engine oil isn't broken down by heat. Not difficult really. ​@@DirtRider22a

[@RickRose]

New XT250 rider. I was looking for both bikes locally and failing to find purchase opportunities. A nice, low-mile XT250 popped on the market, so that made the decision for me. Encouraged to hear you kept both. Thanks for the great video!

[@precipiceofgrind]

Can't go wrong with an XT250, awesome bike and so much more capable than it is given credit for. Appreciate you watching!

[@RickRose]

@@precipiceofgrind ...And now I have a deposit on a 300 Rally! Just trying to decide whether to keep both. I will keep both until I try some trail riding on the Honda.

[@DaveZee01]

Great video! Good to see you know how to mount/dismount a bike the easy way 😅 BTW, the Owner's Manual of my Yamaha XT550 (my first and last brand new bike back in '82) stated that one had to stand on its foot pegs when kick-starting it.

[@ericintampa9352]

good information, the himalayan is leading for me so far. thanks, Drock, appreciate it.

[@graymangw6016]

Cool video. I would like to say that you can get a lowering link for the 300l. It is an extra mod and will change the geometry, but it's not too expensive or hard and quite a few people have done it and enjoy it. Looking forward to the next video.

[@findingneutral]

Great comparison.

[@souhailshamaissem7564]

I just sold my yamaha xt250 3 days ago because I needed money but I loved that bike. I har a 2013 honda cb500f with similar set up like your Honda for the and found the horn button was way too big and many times I blow the horn while I am trying to use the turn signal. As far as fuel economy I was getting around 34km per liter or I could do about 240km until the low fuel light come on.

[@brucegibbs2118]

I have both bikes luv them both

[@cjjorge6636]

I have both and ride the yamaha most I live in the 🏜 desert and it loves the sand the Honda is better for rocks/ on road ....

[@pawelwolski1316]

Very nice 3 part series. I got here by accident, was curious about the XT250. I live in Indonesia, the XT250 is not available here, but I am into small displacement, light, simple and reliable bikes. In my opinion the "main stream" or whatever you want to call it, motorcyclists/manufacturers have lost their minds with all these "ADV" monsters. I just came back from a 9 day trip around Sumatra lake Toba, just an epic adventure on what a western rider would referee to as crazy, exotic, dangerous but awesome ride. I was on my Indonesian made CRF150L, yes sir, like 12 hp, five speed, air-cooled/injected machine. My friend on my CB150X, very sexy locally made ADV with all the fixings, water cooled, 6 speed and like 16.5 hp. He was visiting me from Europe where he rides a GS1150. At first he was making fun of my bikes, day two, it was all smiles, day three, he admitted there was no way he would have been able to keep up, go places we went through nor have as much fun. Waiting for my CRF300 Rally, here it's still a 250cc but with all the updates. In this new world, even though Thailand is close by, 6 months later and I am still waiting. Thx for the vid.

[@precipiceofgrind]

I personally quite enjoy crazy, exotic, and dangerous...very much! The XT250 is an amazingly capable little bike, dang near bulletproof. I hear what you're saying about the huge bikes. I have a KLR650, I cannot take that bike anywhere near where I can go with my little 250. Hope you get your Rally soon!!

[@DaveZee01]

Interesting to note that your CRF15OL is injected. My XR150L has a carburettor (here in South Africa) but also makes 12hp😮

[@mkshffr4936]

If the Honda was air cooled it would be a real competitor but seat height is a little high.

[@Wheelo40]

Interesting comparison. Thanks. I was waiting for you to get around to wind protection. I see the XT has a windscreen. I'm sure that helps on the road. Looking forward to the performance comparison, but with such a HP difference and only a 20 pound difference.... I think we have a winner. 🙂

[@crypticreality8484]

And it isn't the Honda

[@Ericbrochu]

I very liked your comparison. I have the same exact Yamaha bike here in Brasil. They call it the Yamaha XTZ Lander 250. I bought a new set of wheels and want to be able to swicth from street to off road easily. What are the exact mesurements of the tires you're using on the Yamaha?

[@precipiceofgrind]

I'm using Tusk D Sport tires and the front is 90/90x21 Front - 120/90x18 Rear

[@chrisjohns9631]

What is your inseam measurement? This is more important than overall height.

[@precipiceofgrind]

32" inseam

[@Greg-ck9dx]

Excellent.

[@Jack-ne8vm]

8:40 Honda lowering link helps seat height..

[@JohnnyBoy919]

I like that the honda has more aftermarket support as well as 6 gears compared to 5 on the xt. Did you consider the seat concepts low seat for the crf? One thing to keep in mind is the comfort xl seat is wider, making it slightly harder to get your feet down. This is coming from someone who owns a yamaha wr250r which has an even taller seat compared to the crf. I liked your comparison, I'm looking forward to more videos.

[@jrodriguez8216]

Not sure if you could comment if the Honda 300 LS would be the same other than the seat height. I would appreciate you insight.

[@precipiceofgrind]

A little less ground clearance with the 300LS also I think.

[@musicwithmr.yvellez3583]

Does 17lbs. matter? Yes, it certainly does for a lot of people. When someone discounts these weight differences, it makes me think either they are pretty strong (which many men are) or (more often) they really aren’t riding even intermediate ohv trails. Having the ability to pick up a bike on some fire road is not anything like getting pinned on a rocky steep hill climb. There is a reason I do not see any dual sports in my OHV areas other than performance bikes (KTM, etc.) and my xt225. Can a skilled rider ride these trails with a 300L. Of course. I did it with a 250L (called the little pig at 320lbs), but you can feel the mass and the potential trouble you are going to get into. The xt250 is essentially the lightest dual sport currently sold that is not a performance bike. You got to love its reliability, but I don’t see any of them in my OHV areas either. Even these are about 40lbs heavier than a dirt bike or performance dual sport. It’s 40lbs. of disadvantage. So, unless you are very skilled (can get through intermediate 5 with hardly a dab) or are very strong, best stick to the fire roads. Yeah, a lot of people will tell you what tough terrain they have done on their KLR 650 (the pig) or DRZ400, but I have gone out for years often to popular OHV sites and I don’t see them. So if you are just doing fire roads, the 300L should be more versatile because of its power on the street if you had to pick. But if I had to do an intermediate OHV trail on one, I would of course take the lighter bike. But the evidence says almost no one is going to use either bike for this purpose because neither would be a good choice.

[@jonathansheeder5153]

I love the XT, but got the KLX300. All are very good bikes. There aren't many ds bikes available around here.

[@JohnDoe-dj6qw]

Is that a Honda or a pack mule? 😅 People wanna put their feet down WAY too often and need to work more on static balance and clutch control. I had both of these, sold the xt250 and never thought twice about it. It is a MISERABLE seat, it's the pitch of it that kills you. Wonderful off-road, ultra nimble and flickable. Better stock suspension that the 300L, the Honda boasts the worst factory suspension I've ever experienced. Don't miss the ugly ass mug on the xt either, ugly bike imo. The Honda looks PHENOMENAL. Perfectly styled, excellent ergonomics and handling, especially onroad. Agree with everything you said, just not missing the xt, it was cramped for me at 6' too. That said, I betrayed my 100% blue blood when Yami discontinued the WR. In retrospect I shoulda bought a WR instead of either of these.

[@rizwankhalid1064]

so CRF is overall better in every department except for the height. I mean if you are a shorter rider like 5.7'' then XT is the only choice one have.

[@runrun8239]

Both are great bikes... but that chemtrail worries me.

[@docmadhattan]

👁️

[@phantomshtter]

Better find a safe space.🙄

[@censored4christ162]

I think we should start saying ufos leave them. Living on the bottom side of the flat earth

[@JohnB-dr8sk]

Oh stop. Jet engines burn jet fuel at high temperature and it's very cold up there. Those trails are just exhaust vapors that turn to ice. Yes, the NWO is very real, and so is weather modification, but this level of paranoia helps no one. Instead of worrying about stuff like this, try putting more energy into defending against the assault on free speech or on other rights that are being taken away right now.

[@Shade_Tree_Mechanic]

At least they admit it now though. The "Texas Weather Modification Board" was one of the first to do so m

[@raymondpexton5440]

Not really fair, about 9 hp diffetence From xt to the honda

[@PA96704]

LOL why do you guys always compare a 250 to a 300? It does not make any sense?

[@NANA-qn8on]

Yamaha-Air cooled, 5 speed, carburated. Honda-Water cooled, 6 speed, EFI. You might say the XT250 is a super noob machine, the 300L is for advanced noobs.

[@precipiceofgrind]

The Yamaha is fuel injected as well.

[@Largetalons]

Yeah only super noobs would want 8 more horsepower and an extra gear.

[@bultacowally]

You say noobs or boobs???

[@Edward-Norton]

There is no test riding the honda at least. Dealers don't have them.

[@precipiceofgrind]

No bueno. I sure would like to have a look at the short model.

[@JohnB-dr8sk]

All this has changed now. People are broke in today's economy and no one is buying, so bikes have returned and they are sitting on dealer's showrooms. I would re-check dealers.