Honda CRF250L

In preparation for my America trip, I was eager to try something new.  Part of me was keen to get yet another Suzuki DRZ400, but I still felt it was a bit heavy for what I wanted.  I also have since Africa developed a lower back condition, and I was worried that having a heavily laden bike and the very likely chance of me having to single-handedly have to pick it up would present itself.  So research went on and while I liked the format of 250s there weren’t many modern variants available in the UK.  I had heard fantastic things about the Yamaha WR250 but without being able to locate one to try it, I felt I should deal with things within my reach.

Cue: Honda CRF250L,  it’s a relatively young bike, all the modern trimmings one would expect, lightweight, fuel injected, modern headlight that actually illuminates the road, a decent dash computer.  All in all it seemed like the winner, I knew for sure I could find one in the USA but could I do the same in the UK?   Well yes, thankfully just down the road from me at my local dealership I found one. Near new condition, full-service history, everything in check and affordable.   I bought Wendy in November, and a few weeks later I found another in the USA which I named Ursula.  Ursula was newer, with more expensive trimmings than Wendy, Luggage rack, SeatConcepts seat, Racetec suspension, FMF powercore exhaust system, a FMF fuel mapping controller, all the fancy billet machined trimmings you could ever imagine to waste money on… and it was for sale cheaper than I bought Wendy for.    Later in March I sold Wendy and flew out to the USA to commence my trip on Ursula.