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WR250R vs CRF250L
August 16, 2012 version

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Specs from WR250R Service Manual, 2013 CRF250L Owner's Manual, and Honda's CRF250L web site.   I have added US inch/lb/gal/qt values where appropriate.

ENGINE WR250R 49-state model CRF250L Notes from the CRFL perspective.
Design Liquid cooled 4-stroke, DOHC,
4-valve, single cylinder
forward-inclined
Liquid-cooled 4-stroke, DOHC,
4-valve, single cylinder inclined 20°
and offset 4 mm to the exhaust side
 
Displacement 249.6 cc 249.5 cc  
Bore 77.0 mm 76.0 mm  
Stroke 53.6 mm 55.0 mm Longer stroke often means more torque.
Compression 11.8 10.7 Use regular grade gas.
Piston rings Top, second, oil Top, second, oil  
Engine lubrication Wet sump Wet sump  
Oil Capacity 1.5 liter / 1.6 US qt 1.8 liter / 1.9 US qt Always good to have more oil.
Transmission Constant mesh 6-speed Constant mesh 6-speed return  
Primary gear ratio 78/25  3.120 73/26  2.807 See Gearing section below.
  1st gear 37/14  2.642 40/12  3.333  
  2nd gear 29/16  1.813 36/17  2.117  
  3rd gear 29/22  1.318 33/21  1.571  
  4th gear 26/25  1.040 30/23  1.304  
  5th gear 24/27  0.888 29/26  1.115  
  6th gear 22/28  0.786 26/27  0.962  
Secondary gear ratio 43/13  3.307 40/14  2.857  
Clutch Wet, multiple-disk Wet multiplate with coil springs  
Alternator/magneto AC magneto
350 W @ 5,000 RPM
Alternator triple phase output
337 W @ 5,000 RPM
Watts up wit dis?
Those 13 watts could power a vest!
Ignition TCI (digital) Full-transistor battery ignition  
Spark plug NGK CR9EK NGK SIMR8A9   Gap .031-.035" (.80-.90 mm)  
Throttle body Mikuni 38EIS/1 PGM-FI, 36mm throttle body  
Coolant capacity Single radiator
0.90 liter / 0.95 US qt
Single radiator
1.02 liter / 1.08 US qt
 
More coolant is good, too.
Starting aid Electric starter Electric starter  
       
CHASSIS      
Frame Semi double cradle Semi double cradle  
Forks Inverted Inverted, separate function Could perform better than regular inverted.
Suspension travel front 270 mm / 10.6" 250 mm / 9.8" Less travel, but adequate for DS.
Suspension travel rear 270 mm / 10.6" 240 mm / 9.4" Ditto.
Brake discs - diameter front 250 mm / 9.8" 256 mm / 10.0" Not enough different to notice.
Brake discs - diameter rear 230 mm / 9.1" 220 mm / 8.7" Ditto.
Chain DAIDO 520V 108 links DID 520VF 106 links  
Steering Caster 26.67°   Trail 111 mm Caster 27°35´   Trail 113 mm / 4.4" A tad more stable; good.
Wheelbase 1,420 mm / 55.9" 1,445 mm / 56.9" I like 'em short; run the axle all the way forward.
Ground clearance, unloaded 300 mm / 11.8" 255 mm / 10" Gotta accept this; see seat height.
Seat height, unloaded 930 mm / 36.6" 875 mm / 34.4" Good for short inseamer like me.
Total fuel tank capacity approx. 7.6 liters / 2.01 US gal 7.7 liters / 2.03 US gal Gotta go with an IMS aftermarket tank.
Weight with oil and fuel, approx. 134 kg / 295 lb 145 kg / 320 lb This is bad news, but what are ya gonna do?

 

Gearing

Here's a table showing speed in gear for the WR250R and the CRF250L. 'Tranny' is the spread or ratio between 6th and 1st gears. The small font 'MPH/1K RPM' shows 6th gear speed for each 1,000 RPM.

I'm using the final gearing of my own modified WR250R (47/12) and a proposed final gearing for the CRF250L (45/13). I'm showing these numbers rather than stock gearing because I want to compare numbers for motos set up for my own use. I consider it a waste of time to study stock gearing when it does not apply to me and many others. I chose the CRFL gearing so 1st gear is about the same as the WRR. I'm also using the tire circumference of the Pirelli MT43, my chosen rear DS tire. Because of the wider tranny spread of the CRFL, the max speed I have selected (at 8K RPM) is higher than the WRR, but not by much.

WR250R Primary     Final     Tranny
  78/25 3.120   47/12 3.917   3.36
               
Gear--> 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th  
RPM v 2.643 1.813 1.318 1.040 0.889 0.786  
1000 2.4 3.5 4.9 6.1 7.2 8.1 8.14 MPH/1K RPM
2000 4.8 7.1 9.7 12.3 14.4 16.3  
3000 7.3 10.6 14.6 18.4 21.6 24.4  
4000 9.7 14.1 19.4 24.6 28.8 32.5  
5000 12.1 17.6 24.3 30.7 36.0 40.7  
6000 14.5 21.2 29.1 36.9 43.2 48.8  
7000 16.9 24.7 34.0 43.0 50.3 57.0  
8000 19.4 28.2 38.8 49.2 57.5 65.1 <-- my max
9000 21.8 31.7 43.7 55.3 64.7 73.2  
10000 24.2 35.3 48.5 61.5 71.9 81.4  
               
CRF250L Primary     Final     Tranny
  73/26 2.808   45/13 3.462   3.46
               
Gear--> 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th  
RPM v 3.333 2.118 1.571 1.304 1.115 0.963  
1000 2.4 3.8 5.1 6.2 7.2 8.3 8.35 MPH/1K RPM
2000 4.8 7.6 10.2 12.3 14.4 16.7  
3000 7.2 11.4 15.3 18.5 21.6 25.0  
4000 9.6 15.2 20.5 24.7 28.8 33.4  
5000 12.1 19.0 25.6 30.8 36.0 41.7  
6000 14.5 22.8 30.7 37.0 43.2 50.1  
7000 16.9 26.6 35.8 43.1 50.4 58.4  
8000 19.3 30.4 40.9 49.3 57.7 66.8 <-- my max
9000 21.7 34.2 46.0 55.5 64.9 75.1  
10000 24.1 38.0 51.2 61.6 72.1 83.5  

Although the RPM shown in the table runs all the way up to 10,000 RPM, I suspect that I've never ridden my WR250R at anything over 8,000 RPM which means I top out at 65.1 MPH. That's about right.

I don't have a max RPM for the CRFL, but I suspect I will not ride it much over 8,000 RPM and that gives 66.8 MPH - very acceptable and faster than the WRR.

 

Side-by-side

I used a picture showing both motos in approximately the same scale to illustrate the heights of the seat low point (6) and seat rear (7) using the CRFL as the base. Also shown is the bottom of the frame (3) and top of the fork (8). Lines 1, 2, 4, and 5 show that the scales are close, but not exact.

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Specifications subject to change without notice or regard to customers' expectations based
on previous model years' specifications or previous specifications for this model year.
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