We stumbled across a few CRF250 Rally "grey imports" earlier in the year in PRC by total surprise (was politely asked not to take pictures and must have been really in my friendly weekend mood, as did not take any). Well ~ disappointed somehow as wasn't impressed with overall cheaply build quality and weight-size-power after a test ride... Definitely needs a engine displacement upgrade and some suspension tweaks. Hey ~ its my own personal opinion and feedback, yours may vary ~ over and out....

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Somewhere down the road in China since '89 ~ along the route I've learned the hard way that pleasing everyone is impossible, but pissing everybody off is a piece of cake....TBR

I maybe in the market for a 250 ADV bike that will handle a trail better than my XR650L.

I like my 650L, but it's certainly no lightweight bike and on tight trails it requires more skill than I have. You also need a step ladder to get onto it. But hey, it's a 20 year old bike.

The 250 Rally is looking good for me. It's not a feather weight (158KG wet) but for a ADV I think that's pretty light weight. The suspension does appear poor but it is a cheap bike.

The 2018 CRF250 Rally comes in at just over £5500 OTR. That's CHEAP !! Very cheap.

The WR250R was £7500 when you could still get one. That's A LOT of money for a bike that isn't that much better.

I can't think of a non-specialist Enduro bike that came with anything but crap suspension. You can't globally sell a bike with suspension that suits every rider from 50 - 150KG. It's an impossible task. So manufacturers don't bother.

Whatever ADV bike you buy, you HAVE to consider spending money getting your suspension re-valved, re-spring or replaced entirely If you're going to push it. If you're prepared to spend £500-£1000 on your suspension then I'm sure you could TRANSFORM the CRF250 Rally into a very nice handling trail bike. The rally has 43mm Showa forks which are up-rated from the 250L so the journey is half way there.

Some will say "My bike's suspension is great out of the box". And for most people who do nothing but roll up and down a motorway with touratech junk bolted to their bikes, It's probably true. But that's not really ADV riding is it. That's touring. Or just giving their Ebay stickers a day out..

Rally Raid will no doubt be having a go with the 250 Rally. It will be interesting to see what they do with it.

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Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

Actually, for me the WR250R had pretty decent suspension in standard form for my lardy 210 lbs. (95 kg.) with gear. In fact in my research I found many WR riders pretty much leave the forks alone. The rear shock does need a bit of help ... but both shock and forks are better than CRF250L ... standard vs. standard.

Hopefully the Rally version is better. It certainly wins in the looks dept. No denying that.

Possible good news for those 250 fans in the UK ... Yamaha has NOT discontinued the WR250R. There will be a 2018 version ...

Apparently Yamaha initially had planned to discontinue the bike but thought better of it (must be a story there..) ... and now it's officially back in
production! I wonder if they will begin importing it to UK/EU again?

I would not buy the CRF Rally until you at least get a test ride on the WR250R.
I was really surprised how much better the WR was than the CRF250L ... and not just HP either.

Look them both over carefully, get reviews and rider comments. You may be surprised. I'd sooner have a used WR than a new CRF.