Yamaha’s WR250F has been dominating the 250cc four-stroke enduro sales race in Australia since its introduction. It’s been crowned prince with a massive following, but that reign at the top is definitely under attack. We’ve been mighty impressed with Honda’s new CRF250X and we believe it has what it takes to give the Yamaha plenty of opposition. But without testing the bikes back to back it was impossible to make a definitive comment on which bike will now rule the 250 four-stroke roost. We’ve been absolutely inundated with requests to face the WR250F off against the newest kid on the block, so with our own interest levels reaching redline we decided to make the highly-anticipated bike fight happen.
With the date settled and the location arranged, it was time to prepare the bikes for battle. Rather than present the bikes straight out of the crate, we opted to set them up with a few minor modifications that reflect the mods made by most owners of brand-new enduro weapons. Both bikes had been well run-in before the bike fight with around 300 kilometres each on the clock, and both were fitted with competition-style tyres rather than the ADR-approved rubber they’re supplied with. The Yamaha scored Metzeler MC5s front and rear while the Honda was shod with the Dunlop D756 rear and D742 front that Honda provides in the spares kit.
Both bikes scored engine oil
