2015 Honda CRF250R – Dustin Hoffman

Overall the Honda is a great bike straight off the showroom floor. The biggest change between the 2014 and the 2015 is the switch from a Showa conventional fork to the Showa TAC SSF Air Fork. Like many I have remained skeptical of any air fork since their introduction. I’ve struggled to become confident in the air forks I’ve ridden in the past. However with the Showa TAC SSF Air Fork I was able to get the front end to feel planted in corners without losing bottoming resistance. From production settings we added 10 psi to the inner chamber as well as 10 psi to the balance chamber, those changes were made only to suit my style of riding. I wanted to keep the front end a little bit higher up in the stroke in ruts and fast sweepers. The only other change made was slowing the rebound two clicks to stabilize the bike in high speed parts of the track. Honda upped the front brake rotor size from a 240 to a 260, and it works awesome. I have always liked Honda brakes as far as production stuff goes, and now with a larger rotor there is no need to go and spend $250+ on an oversized brake kit. Now as far as power and the motor go the main change was the addition of three maps. They maps make a difference in performance but not massive changes. Changing between the three maps is super easy, all it takes is the push of a button.