5 Things To Know Before You Buy a Honda CRF250L or Honda CRF250L Rally

Hello everyone and welcome back to the Dorkside. I am the Dork in the Road and today I want to tell you about 5 things you should know if you're considering picking up one of these bad boys, a Honda CRF250L. That's right everyone. I am the Dork in the Road and I want to be your internet writing buddy, so please consider subscribing and don't forget to turn on those notifications so that you know when I post awesome new content just like this. This is my 2016 Honda CRF250L. I've had it since 2017, so I've owned it for 3 years, put a lot of miles on it, trail ridden it, ridden it in the woods, ridden it on the highway, ridden it in the backcountry, ridden it in mud, sand, over rocks, under trees, over the hills and through the woods to Grandmother's house. I've ridden it. It's the bike that opened my eyes to a world of outdoor motorcycling adventure and it is the motorcycle that I unequivocally wish that I had started on when I bought my first bike. I'm a big fan of the 250L. If you're thinking about being smarter than me and jumping in and getting yourself a CRF250L, I want to give you a little bit of insight, some opinion, some information from a guy who owns one who's had a little bit of experience and some seat time with it. So these 5 things are not things you're going to find on the stat sheet. If you're trying to look up the weight or the horsepower or any of that stuff, there's plenty of other videos and plenty of websites out there that will give you that information very easily. This video is about what it feels like to own a Honda CRF250L. Let me give you a glimpse into your future as an owner of the Honda CRF250L. So good and bad. It's not going to be all good, not going to be all bad, but things that an owner of the motorcycle like myself knows that maybe someone who's just test riding it wouldn't know right away. The first thing to know if you're thinking about buying a Honda CRF250L is that the suspension, particularly the front forks, feels squishy and soft. I don't think I realized at first how soft and squishy that suspension really is. I didn't have a lot of points of comparison, but now that I've ridden a little bit more, put in a few miles on the bike, and ridden a few other dual sports, I really notice that one of the things that you hear about the bike, that squishy suspension, is absolutely true. Bottoming out the front forks is easier than it should be. The front suspension will dive under heavy front braking. When you're hitting obstacles on the trail, definitely you're going to feel the impact of those more than you would with a bike with a little bit stiffer suspension, and it's going to compress farther and just bounce you around a little bit more than maybe other dual sport bikes would. So I just said all that about the suspension being squishy, but the number two thing you need to know about the Honda CRF250L if you're thinking about buying one is that it is surprisingly capable. It will surprise you. It has always exceeded my expectations off-road, particularly when I got in over my head. In a technical situation, a lot looser terrain than I was expecting, maybe a hill climb, something where I needed more than I thought this motorcycle was going to be able to give me, it has never let me down. Now it doesn't do it easily. It doesn't crush the objective. It doesn't blow you away, but it will get you through. It's more capable than it should be when you look at the specs. You point the front of the motorcycle at the top of the hill, you twist the throttle, you hold on, stand up in some cases, and it will carry you there over rocks, roots, anything that's in your path. It doesn't do all these things well, but it can do them, and it will if you need it to. It will surprise you pleasantly. Basically like the tortoise and the hare, it's the tortoise. It will reliably get the thing done just it might take its sweet time to get there. Number three thing to know about the CRF250L if you're thinking about buying one is it's a heavy motorcycle. It's a heavy dual sport. It's 320-ish pounds, which is pretty heavy for a dual sport, especially compared to some of its competition, but it also just feels kind of top heavy and weird, like it wants to tip over. It's partially a function of that squishy suspension, that the extra weight combined with the fact that the suspension is diving and flexing when maybe you don't want it to be, but it definitely feels like a heavy bike, and as a new rider, I found that a little unnerving, especially in technical stuff, especially when it starts to lean over, so you get into a situation where you're trying to stop and get your foot down maybe and the ground's uneven, and the bike starts to lean. It's harder to keep upright than you would think sometimes, so the weight will surprise you. It'll come out of nowhere and kind of surprise you, the top heaviness, so it just feels heavy. That's a purely subjective thing. That's a feeling thing, but it's something that I felt as an owner of this bike riding it and as a new rider learning to ride off-road on it. Number four, this motorcycle is a tank. It is, I think, indestructible. It's been dropped, kicked, rolled. I've done all kinds of stuff to it that I shouldn't have. I've dented the hand guards. I've fixed it with rocks on the trail side. Every time you turn the key on and hit the starter button, this motorcycle will start up. It is a reliable tank. It will never let you down. I never, ever worry about this motorcycle. I had a charging issue a year or so ago, and I went to the dealership and was like, I think that something may be wrong with my charging system, and the guy looked me square in the eye and said, there's nothing wrong with your charging system. These bikes never have a problem with the charging system. Something else is going on. He tested my battery and everything was great, and it turned out I had a crappy third-party USB charger that was draining my battery. The bike itself has never given me a problem. I burned up the clutch, but that was definitely user error, not the fault of the motorcycle. People have put thousands and thousands of miles on these. Steph Jevons rode one around the world. I've never, ever heard of anyone who owns a CRF250L. No one's ever said to me, yeah, well, it was a pain in the ass. I had to work on it all the time. Not a thing. It's a Honda. It's a small engine, low compression Honda. It's going to last you a long time. Reliable, awesome, stalwart, steadfast companion for all of your adventures throughout forever, the Honda CRF250L. Number five thing to know before you buy a Honda CRF250L is, honestly, and this surprised me when I first bought it, but it does reasonably well on the road. The freeway is a little bit of a push, but it can do it. I've got a whole video on that if you're interested. But if you're just trying to cruise in the highway, 60 miles an hour, hit some back roads, you want to cover some miles even, aside from a sort of uncomfortable stock seat, it does great on the road. She kind of just settles in and cruises. When I bought this motorcycle, I didn't think that I would enjoy riding it on the highway at all, and I honestly don't mind it. She does fine. She does great. It's more comfortable, more capable than you would think on the highway. Is it as comfortable as a street bike? No. Is it as comfortable as a cruiser or an adventure bike? No. But it's not intolerable. It's just less comfortable. So she does surprisingly well on the road, and I think you'll be happy if you spend any time on the highway on it. You'll be pleasantly surprised. That's like one of the biggest things about this motorcycle, is all it has ever done, the whole time I've owned it, is pleasantly surprise me. This motorcycle is so much greater than the sum of its parts, and it's so much better than what it looks like on paper. So those are the five things that you should know before you buy a Honda CRF250L, but I have a bonus six thing for you. And this is a completely intangible, 100% subjective item. But this bike is charming. The people that own them love them. Like I said, the sum of its parts, but this is a motorcycle that you will love, you will fall in love with. It's like a friendly little companion. It's like a droid in Star Wars that follows you around and makes sure that you have everything you need and never lets you down. It's a charming bike, and you will fall in love with it. All you have to do is put it in your garage, spend some time on it, and you'll know what I mean. And those of you that own Honda CRF250Ls know what I mean. For the most part, people that I know, and I know quite a few 250L owners because they watch my videos, and many people have even bought 250Ls based on my videos, which is the most flattering thing ever, but no one's ever said that they regretted it that I've heard of. It's a charming bike. You'll fall in love with it. It's definitely worth your consideration. If it's on your list, ride one. Absolutely, 100% ride one if you can. If you can find one for a decent deal or even buy a new one like I did, I think you won't regret your purchase. It's a great motorcycle. So I would urge you to strongly consider it, and that's coming from someone who's owned one for a few years now and put thousands of miles on it. It's a great bike. It really, really is a fantastic motorcycle. You made a good choice if you got this far and you're strongly considering it. If you have any questions about the 250L, please feel free to leave them in the comments. I could answer them, or the many, many subscribers that I have that also ride 250Ls can answer them for you. That's my 250L shenaniganspeel. Thank you very much for watching. Please consider hitting that Like button if you got some useful information out of the video that really makes it more visible and helps YouTube know that other people should see it and spread the word and helps the channel grow, and I appreciate that. But for now, and as always, I just want to say thank you very much for watching, and please do not forget—it's so important to me that you don't forget—to be excellent to each other. Thank you. Excellent! Yay!