Honda CRF250L Rally

I am not a Honda Motorcycle fan; not a hater, just not a fan. Yes, I have owned them in the past, but when it comes to new motorcycle purchase decisions, I don't include Honda on the list. Why? I really don't know. They just don't have any soul.

However, Honda came out with rally bike that really caught my attention. It wasn't on my list (I don't consider Honda); rather, it was sitting on the showroom floor of my Kawasaki Dealer (they also sell Honda).

This is the 2019 Honda CRF250L Rally (Base w/out ABS $5,899). The MSRP on my 2019 KLX250 in Camo was $5,549, so it wasn't frighteningly more expensive.

When I saw it on the showroom floor, I thought, ya know...in the world of high-clearance jap two fiddy dual sports...this thing actually looks kinda kool...soul food for the dual sport enthusiast! It's main attraction was the true Dakar styling with the encased engine followed by that really odd, although interestingly koolish headlight deal in the sand screen there.

I mean, not to get too gushy, obviously it's mostly a showy version of the basic CRF250L; nothing really going on under the hood. However, major differences are that the rally has 0.6 gallons of additional fuel capacity over the base model and actually has another inch of ground clearance....while tacking on a very un-useful 30 pounds (I'm not sure exactly where that much weight comes from), and 346 lb dry weight is sort of plump for the two-fiddy class.

But then, I wasn't really comparing Honda's Rally to the Base CRF250. I was at my dealer to work through a deal on my number one choice...2019 KLX250 in Camo. I just needed to take a step back and make a quick comparison to that model.

Again, the usual case is that small jap dual sports are so very close in specs that you're almost down to a color selection. Many, many specs between the Rally and KLX are similar. However, the real big difference is that high weight. The Rally comes in with a 346 pound dry/curb weight compared to the KLX at 304 pounds...wet! Add just the gas weight of the Rally (2.6 gallons x 6.3 pounds) plus some oil and coolant and you're up to a wet Rally weight of 365 pounds!

Weight (wet):

Rally 365 pounds

KLX 304 pounds

Yikes! That's a big difference for me. Maybe not for some who glide mostly pavement, but I wanted a small bike that would be easier to throw around in the Florida Sandbox. At the end of the day, those additional 61 pounds are really just the weight cost of bling. So even though I really, really like the bling, it really wasn't too much to walk away and start working the sales guy on my 2019 KLX250.

So what got me thinking of this?

Well, I was at the Polar Bear Rally in Keystone Heights Florida this past weekend and I saw a CRF Rally there and got to talk to the owner. He loves it, of course and thought it did just fine in the sandbox...

...but, then, I didn't see him roll out in either the A or B groups.