I really like the look of the 250L and will be doing a test ride soon. Fuel injection, fuel guage, easy valve adjust and electric start, all things that I wish were on bikes I owned years ago.....not to mention the price! I really want a small easy to work on, reliable trail bike to travel the 10 to 20 highway miles to the woods and off road areas, highway speeds no more than 55 mph. I'm 6', 210 lbs. I ride at a slow to moderate pace.....my speed days are behind me. In the near 50 years I have ridden, I have owned bikes that had inherent problems or conditions that many other owners had also encountered. KLR= broken balance chain tensioner, XR 650r= overheating, cracked frame welds, Suzuki DL 1000= clutch chudder, idle hammer, Harley Sportster= carb percolation, oil use. Now when I look at posts concerning a bike I'm looking to buy the first thing I look for are problems that keep popping up. In the case of my current 04 DL 650 it was one of the only bikes I had researched that had O mechanical problems or running conditions.....and 10 years later runs like the day I bought it. While at the dealer the other day I noticed a small puddle of coolant under the weep hole of a new 250L. I thought, ah ha, this may be the weak spot on this bike, so I looked around the web and found this site.....and also mention of a coolant leak out of the weep hole from a member. According to the member, the leak vanished on its own? So is the water pump seal an inherent problem or coincidence? I also was surprised at the low price of the 250L with the features it offered , then I noticed that it is made in Thailand and not Japan. With bikes I owned in the past, specifically the KLR 650's, I had fewer problems with the Bikes made in their country of origin than those bikes built in other lands......Actually this was true of the Brazilian VWs I owned. I got to thinking, If I want a bike made in China I'll buy a Hyosung or Jin Cheng. Funny but the outdated Yamaha 250 right next to the 250L at the showroom (not he WR) was $400.00 more than the Honda and had no fuel injection, no fuel gauge, etc .......but It was made in Japan. The racing model CR Hondas are also made in Japan. So it would seem that Honda would rather not risk poor quality on their serious bikes but keep cost down on the cheaper bikes. One of my biggest concerns regarding the 250L would be excessive oil consumption between oil changes.......My old Japanese KLRs used NONE.....my later Thailand KLRs used ALOT. But my decision to purchase will be based largely on what you guys say here since I place waaaay more faith in a fellow bikers opinion than what a dealer might say. Please let me know your opinions concerning this bike. Ride safe Dan
Welcome! Excellent post. Valid concerns. I'm new to the CRF250L so probably don't have much to offer. When I first brought my CRFL home I noticed a couple drops of oil and I couldn't ascertain where they were coming from, but it looked like one of the engine plugs. So, I just rode her for a few days to see what would happen, and now, no more leaks. I suspected I was just seeing residual from the dealer prep, and it cleared itself up after about 40 miles of riding. I have almost 300 miles on the clock now and no leaks. I'm not bothering with "break in" either. I'm just riding the way I want to. Otherwise the bike is great. No complaints for me, but I'm a street guy not a dirt guy. My girlfriend has the CBR250R. She also has no problems. Both bikes are running great.
Thank you for your reply. My apologies, actually the posts regarding the weep hole seepage were on page 630 of the CRF250 L forum at ADV. Since my last post here I have been trying to research an engine noise that some are noticing on their CRF. A Youtube video of the sound was put up by one owner. I know the CRF uses a rather unique roller/rocker valve adjustment system so I wonder if it could be producing the unusual noise some hear. One plus regarding this bike is a new design cylinder liner that acts like a heat sink to prevent cylinder distortion and blow by (oil consumption). My old SL 125s cylinder used to oval at high temps and oil would get past the rings, in It's case the thing would smoke like crazy until it cooled down.
Well ... I've had three bikes with this same Honda 250 motor; two 2012 CBR250 and one 2014 CRF250. All three ran/run perfect with no anomalies or issues. Honestly, I think you are tilting at windmills. Every vehicle (Car, truck, motorcycle) manufacturer does a pretty good job now with quality control. Sure, regardless of manufacturer there are always a few problem vehicles out there, and those are the ones we all hear about. But they are truly the exception to the rule. Most vehicles run well for years with proper care and maintenance. Heck, I had a Ducati for years that ran perfect despite the reputation for poor quality and everyone telling me it would be a maintenance nightmare. For example! I was a die-hard Subaru freak for 15 years. In that time I had 5 Impreza variants. Three of them were used for autocross racing and track days. They ran perfect for a combined 500,000 miles. And then there was my last Impreza. It got great gas mileage and always seemed to be a bit down on power compared to my friends Impreza of the same year. I thought nothing of it because it ran well ... except for higher than usual oil consumption. The dealer, SOA, and independent mechanics said that the consumption, though high, was within the boundaries of "normal". To cut a long story short, at 12,000 miles the cam failed, destroying the engine. Subaru then proceeded to deny the warranty claim which I eventually got sorted out, but that is another story, which includes all kinds of bad warranty experiences over the years with Subaru. So, after the car was repaired I still experienced much higher than normal oil consumption. Keep in mind my friends car consumed virtually no oil whatsoever under the same driving conditions and mileage. So, I sold the car due to lack of confidence and bought a VW. V-Dub for life, yo! The point of my story is that I had 4 great Subarus and one bad one. Does that make them all bad? No. I still think they are great cars, but I won't buy another one because of my bad experiences with the company over 15 years. I also had a bad dealership experience when I bought my CRFL ... but I went through with the purchase for a lot of reasons, but mostly because it was the bike I wanted that best met my needs and wants, and Honda has a great reputation for building high quality stuff at great prices. Anyway, your decision should come with piece of mind. So I totally get why you are doing this sort of research. Best of luck with your decision!
Yes, all good points. I may be getting a little too old or thin skinned to mess with the dealers anymore regarding problems with bikes or cars. Years ago I would have no problem marching into a dealer, demanding satisfaction and threatening to picket out side the dealer concerning my discontent, and I have needed to do this a number of times, particularly with cars. Now It's something I don't even want to think about doing and simplifying down to the basics seems to be much preferable, already sold one bike a couple weeks ago and the funny thing is, it felt like a burden was lifted. Reminds me of a friend who's DL1000 had a loud engine knock that he said he finally fixed.....by selling it. Woman riders I know seem to have a very different take on bike ownership. They must enjoy motorcycling in a way that most of us guys only dream of. One gal had the same Sportster I owned and, in pressing her with questions like - does yours use oil, do your turn indicators work only half the time, does it backfire, etc, etc - she simply laughed and said being a woman I don't really know what it is supposed to do or not do, I just throw a leg over and ride. Guys tend to over-analyze things, particularly if you frequent forums that the so called "Pros" post at , one thread regarding notchy shifting can gather dozens of posts. A little off topic maybe, the other day I heard a news story stating that money CAN buy happiness ! but only if it is used to buy experiences....not things. I thought hell, to experience motorcycling I have to own/buy a bike, again with all the possible hassles, etc, involved. Then my gal had this great idea, why don't we just rent a car or bike to take a trip with? This will indeed offer all the fun of the experience with NO ownership stress. Women, just gotta love 'em! And yes, I think I have made my decision............wonder if that mountain bike is still on sale? : ) Ride Safe.
I don't think anyone wants to mess with dealers anymore. IIRC, there was a study that indicated most folks would rather a root canal than a dealership experience. Ha! That's funny what you say about women ... my gal is similar to that. Throws her leg over and rides, leaving me to worry about things like tire pressure, oil changes, maintenance, etc. Renting is a great way to go if there's a place local to you and you don't ride a lot. I know a bunch of folks who rent cars for road trips rather than take their own. Nothing wrong with a mountain bike! I use mine for the off-road experience and my CRF for the on-road. I'm actually trying to come up with a way to mount a bike rack to my CRF to carry my MTB to the trails. I've seen it done before, but I'm not sure I am that crafty. Hmmm.
That was a nice read for a Wednesday morning. Had mine for a while now and completed over 3000 miles, commuting miles only. Had no issues so far. A little oil leak following the initial service by a Honda main dealer they'd pinched the oil filter o ring. Apart from that, I love this bike. Changed a few bits here and there, as you do, but only because I wanted to. I kept the gearing the same and with the FMF full system, EJK setup, DNA filter and removal of the air 'snorkle', it's all good. (This means you can actually use 6th!)
Tell me about it! I only weigh in at 150lbs and the bike had trouble climbing some hills in 6th. A reduction in gearing fixed it.
RE Women and their outlook on the world... I saw a woman I knew changing her oil the other day at the apartments where I live. It was like an 85 Taurus. (before the days of maintenance lights) I went up and said "Youre changing your own oil! Great!" Wanna know what she said? "Oh theres this little red light (the oil pressure light!) that comes on every time the oil needs changing!" "How often does it come on?" "Oh about every couple of months!" (this is an old car probably leaking/using a lot of oil) So much for women being in control of things!
Haha. Was she also looking for the 710 cap? My girlfriend actually insisted on learning how to change the oil on our 250's. So, I showed her the way, picked up a beer, and relaxed while she did all the work. That was a good afternoon.
Hmm not sure its a good idea to teach them things like that. Women have entirely too much power today.
After 3k miles of road and dirt (I'm an old racer, I've been riding it like I stole it) the bike has been as reliable as a hammer. After field stripping the bike to replace the suspension, I could tell where the corners were cut for the low cost, but Honda's got decades of experience at doing that. Overall a typical Honda product that should last for a long time.
uh oh some people have reported problems with the cam chain tensioner. Not sure how wide spread this issue is. Will keep following it.
ive got 35,000km on my 2013 crf250l, i rode it very hard. constantly wheeliing, fast acceleration, my BB 305 got 25,000km on it so far. my observed problems so far: -fork seals like to leak, you have to use fork stanchions covers to eliminate this problem, problem occurs because dirt gets into the fork seals. mine leaked at 9000km, and since i got the stanchions protectors no problems. -engine leaks coolant from "weep hole", this leaking is caused by bike being ridden hard. i noticed when riding gently no leaking occurred, while when off roading with alot of bouncy bouncy, it would leak alittle. after 35,000km ive only had to add maybe 100ml of rad fluid, so its not that bad of an issue. - clutch can slip if ridden too hard for prolonged periods. best way to remedy this is stronger clutch springs, or a rad fan by-pass switch. an oil cooler would help to. -my crf250l, and 2 of my friends crf250l's all came from factory with 9% speedo error. so your actual speed was 9% less then indicated. to remedy this use a 38T instead of 40T or get a larger tire, ei 120/90 or a 130/80 - rear suspension can "over heat" if ridden hard for prolonged periods, muffler piping location contributes to heat build up. muffler heat protection will help but does not completely eliminate this issue. -transmission can jump gears if gear is not correctly selected, this is more of a user error, however ive found it simply happens alot more often on this bike then on say my r1, or my crf250R, or my kawi 650r ect ect.
I have been wondering about the fork seals...I thought I had done something wrong or hit something too hard BUT this makes sense and why sometimes mine leaks and sometimes it doesnt. Also, good to know about the coolant. I have seen mine leak twice, guess I rode her right those 2 days...hahahaha!!
Hi Michael, thanks for the info, I have experienced all these problems with my 2012 CRF L ( 8000 km ). Cheers Geoff
Thanks for the update, good info to have. I've experienced the fork seals all ready, but that was mostly my fault for incorrectly re-installing the front wheel and putting the stanchions in a bind.
