We ride the current MX2 class ProMX Championship winner's motocrosser, Brodie Connelly's Honda CRF250R weapon.
Honda is currently having a Purple Patch globally in MX racing. Not since the Honda domination of the 1980’s culminating in America’s Motocross Des Nations victory in 1986 with Team Honda riders David Bailey, Johnny O’mara and Ricky Johnson have we seen Honda on top of their game quite like we’re seeing at the moment. The strong form hasn’t just been the Lawrence boys stateside as a recent run of results here in Australia sees both Kyle Webster and Brodie Connelly winning their respective MX1 and MX2 classes in our domestic Pro MX National Championships. We thought it would be awesome to jump on Brodie Connelly’s Honda CRF250R to see if it is the bike or rider.
Now getting your hands on someone’s championship leading bike can sometimes be a bit tricky but you never know your luck until you give it a go. So the phone call was made and a date secured for me to ride the number 88 Polyflor Honda, Brodie Connelly’s Honda CRF250R, just a handful of days after Connelly would go 1-2 at Murray Bridge while massively extending his already comfortable championship points lead.
BRODIE AND HIS No. 88 HONDA
Brodie Connelly hails from Tauranga in New Zealand, a city on the South Island just North of Rotorua. At the age of just 20 Connelly has earned himself seven New Zealand National Championships. If the first half of Pro MX here in Australia for 2024 is anything to go by he sits in a great position to earn himself his first Australian National Championship later this year.
Weighing in at 70kg and a height of 175cm Connelly is all muscle and as lean as they come, with a very strong body position on the bike that rarely falters from textbook.
Brodie’s bike set up is reflected by his aggressive riding style with handlebars, gear lever/back brake and clutch lever/front brake set up all being quite neutral. No surprises there. From the moment I sat on his bike I didn’t need to touch a thing, everything immediately felt like home and just like that it was time to throw the helmet on and warm up.
My track for the day was the picturesque and flowing RidePark circuit situated about 45 minutes west of Melbourne. The track had purposely been left rough and rutted from the weekend’s public riding and with a few passing showers conditions were perfect for testing a bike of this calibre!
LET’S GO!
My first lap on Brodie Connelly’s Honda CRF250R I was mindful to take it relatively easy and not get too far ahead of myself until I got to know the bike. As I rolled the throttle on in third gear I was expecting a relatively slow rise in power as I realistically should have been in second gear for the speed I was traveling at. Without much of a warning the bike started pulling strong and smooth and I was literally gob smacked. In all of my time (and I have ridden a heck of a lot of Factory 250’s in my time) had I ever felt such a smooth and strong bottom end on a 250.
Even though I’m currently between 80kg and 79kg on a good day, I still classify myself as a bit too heavy to be a proper 250 four-stroke rider. From the moment I was 16 my dad had me on a 500 and 250 two-stroke and I never raced the Lites class from the moment I turned Senior. So even when I’m on a rocketship Factory Team 250 these days I feel that lag in the power where it seems to take a while for the motor to really pull and from there they usually scream through the top end like a new born baby. This motor goes completely against the grain compared to any 250 I’ve ever ridden.
Once I completed the first lap and got over my initial surprise from the motor I focused on the chassis, suspension and balance of the bike for a lap or two. I was almost certain that with Brodie weighing in around 72kg without gear, 8kg lighter than me, that the bike would be a tad on the soft side. I was surprised for the second time with an overall feeling of firmness that gave me the confidence to send all of the massive Ridepark jumps on lap two.
I would go as far as to say that the forks were totally spot on for me and the rear Showa A kit shock felt amazing. The only thing I noticed was the 5.0 spring rate on the rear was definitely a tad on the soft side compared to the 5.4 on my 450. The combination of Brodie’s extra track speed combined with my 8 extra kilos of body weight meant that our setup is so close it’s not funny.
WHAT I LIKED ABOUT THE BIKE
It would be a lot easier to answer what I didn’t like. Essentially, if I had to build my dream 250 I’d pretty much just throw a 5.4 rear spring on Brodie’s bike and we’re good to go. It’s that simple.
MOTOR
I have to start with the motor and try to explain this unique power plant a little better because the motor is on top of my Like list and it’s a very deep list. The motor feels to me like a nice 350 motor that makes incredible power from right off the bottom, through an incredibly strong midrange, then up into a gutsy top end that revs well. The top end power will get you out of trouble if you need it to.
When I rode the bike hard and fast I found that if I left the bike revving high up around 13,500RPM in a certain gear I would actually be going faster if I was one gear higher and around 10-11000RPM. The bonus here is that a bike will always handle better when it’s pulling in a lower rev range.
The good thing about this motor is that you have lots of choices! You can pull third gear through almost the tightest of corners and you’ll be rewarded by tractor like power and not need to snap a gear straight out of the corner. You can also choose to rev this bike and spend the bulk of your time from mid to top end but if you do that, you’re missing out on the brilliance of this motor and the truly unique power that it produces so low in the rev range.
HANDLING
The production Honda CRF250R for 2024 is already a smooth and compliant package straight out of the crate. There are countless additions to the Brodie Connelly’s Honda CRF250R that complete the package starting with the Showa A kit suspension and HRC shock linkage that allow the power to be put to the ground in an effortless manner.
I have always preferred to run the standard triple clamps on my Honda 450’s and have tried countless numbers of aftermarket triple clamps including chunky, solid billet clamps along with X-Trig designed to add more flex and feel to the bike. I’ve never found a clamp that compares to the stock clamp for me personally and it put a huge smile on my face to see Brodie Connelly running some bone stock, black anodized clamps to complement his work of art suspension package. I didn’t need to even touch a clicker on Brodie’s bike throughout my entire test ride and was blown away with the small bump sensitivity both at the front and rear ends of the motorcycle.
HYDRAULIC CLUTCH
While the standard CRF250R still comes with a cable clutch, the entire Factory Honda Team here in Australia run a HRC hydraulic clutch on their 250’s. The pull and feel of the clutch is exceptionally light in comparison to the standard clutch, although I must say I’m a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to cable clutches, especially on a 250. Although once you do a few laps and get used to the slightly different feel from a hydraulic clutch it really is hard to go back to cable. The clutch action felt great and wasn’t at all grabby like I occasionally feel from time to time on factory bikes. The No. 88 Polyflor HRC Honda runs a complete Hinson clutch internally.
FRONT BRAKE
In 1997 racing for Factory Kawasaki here in Australia I was gifted a full factory front brake to run on my Supercross bike. The same caliper and 270mm rotor that Ricky Carmichael was running in America at the time and wow that thing was strong. This front brake is about the only one I’ve come across since where you actually need to treat it with real respect. Any more than one finger on the lever and you risk going down. I’m a huge fan of strong front brakes so this was a big tick for me.
WHAT I WOULD CHANGE ON THE BIKE
I really had to have a good think about this one. One thing I noticed was that Brodie seems to run his idle really quite low and I managed to stall the bike three or four times, cruising around idling from section to section while doing some photos. It never stalled on me when I was riding properly out on the track but it did play on my mind a little. This is obviously a personal preference thing and would have taken me all of about 10 seconds to change however I was reluctant to touch Brodie’s baby, some things are just better left untouched.
Other than that I wouldn’t touch a thing. The ODI bars and grips felt like home to me and the SKDA graphics had the bike looking fresh without any edges starting to lift from gripping the bike.
SUMMARY
This bike is a work of art, plain and simple. The stand out aspect is its motor and the way the power is delivered. You can tell immediately that it hasn’t been built by a mad scientist chasing crazy numbers on a dyno. This is a motor that has meticulously been refined over a three year period to the point of where it is truly difficult to see any weak links.
The power is able to be put to the ground via a stable and predictable chassis and suspension package which holds its balance no matter what you throw at it. No surprises at all to see how this bike is performing here in Australia with Brodie Connelly on board.
BITS AND PIECES ON Brodie Connelly’s Honda CRF250R
Showa A-kit suspension fork and shock
Fork springs 4.8nm
Shock spring 5.0nm
Standard Triple clamps and HRC factory linkage kit
Factory Dunlop Tyres
Dunlop mousse tubes
Motomaster sprockets 13/49
Motomaster oversized front brake disc kit and rear disc
Drive chain DID 520 ERT3 (Gold colour)
ODI grips& handlebars
SKDA Graphics kit and seat cover
HGS full titanium exhaust system
Twin Air Power Flow air filter kit
Twin Air 1.8 radiator cap.
EZE Wheel set
Samco radiator blue hose kit.
Works Cylinder Head
Works piston kit
Compression ratio 14.5 to 1
Works crankshaft
Works throttle body
Hinson full Clutch kit
Works L/H engine side cover with hydraulic clutch
Vortex ECU (Custom tune)
Pro Bolt Titanium Kit
WORDS | LEE HOGAN
PHOTOS | JEFF CROW