
Another twist is the fact that there’s a resonator on the right side but not the left. Honda says that makes for more efficient airflow. It’s not just about two different mufflers now the left and right sides are completely separate systems, originating from two separate exhaust ports. There are a couple of added twists this year. The idea behind this is to move the mufflers forward and make them smaller for more centralized mass. One idea that Honda is sticking with is the twin exhaust system. Between those two changes and the 13-48 final gearing, the bottom line is slightly lower gear ratios (numerically higher) compared to last year. The primary gearing is considerably lower, although each gear ratio is taller. It uses two different types of friction plates and five coil springs. There’s no capacitor to power the EFI system anymore because that function is handled by a lithium battery.Įven though it’s still cable-actuated, the clutch received attention too. There are other incidental changes caused by the inclusion of a starter motor for example, the cam chain had to be moved to the other side of the engine. There’s no place for a kick-start lever even if you want one. Honda went all in by adding the starter motor and removing the kick-starter in one step. That allows larger valves and lower piston speeds. Now the Honda has the shortest stroke of all the 250Fs by a sizable margin. Next, Honda shortened the stroke and increased the bore size substantially. The engineers say that besides making for a lighter valve assembly, this allows more radical cam profiles and, accordingly, the new motor has more lift and duration on both cams. These are tiny levers between the cam lobes and the valves that allow more linear action and eliminate conventional valve buckets.

Along with the double overhead cam design, Honda turned to the use of finger-followers.

There are several key areas where the 2018 Honda CRF250R reverses course from the previous one.

Honda did more than just redesign the CRF250R for 2018.
