and effortless. But when you’ re knackered, that extra power and heavier delivery can start dragging you around. The 250 never did that. It still had enough motor to get through everything, but it didn’ t punish me for being tired. The comfort was good too. I didn’ t end up with overly sore hands or that harsh, beatenup feeling you can get from some bikes when they feed too much vibration or trail chop back through the bars. The chassis stayed compliant, and because the motor has a strong enough midrange, I didn’ t have to wring its neck everywhere just to keep moving. That was probably one of the biggest takeaways from the second half of the day. The TF250-C was quick enough to be competitive when I had the energy to push, but forgiving enough to help me get through when I didn’ t. I was cooked, but the bike wasn’ t making life harder. If anything, it helped carry me to the end of the day.
So, should you buy one if you want to race these kinds of enduro events? Honestly, yeah. If I lived closer to this type of racing, or had access to these events more regularly, I’ d have been seriously looking at buying a TF250-C the next day. I enjoyed it that much. The thing that impressed me most wasn’ t one single standout feature – it was the whole package. I picked the bike up, did the basic race setup, lined up the next day, and was competitive straight away. A bike that’ s hard to ride, harsh, nervous or picky with setup doesn’ t let you do that. The motor is strong for a 250. It has enough bottom-end to be usable, a really good midrange, and enough top-end when the track opens up. More importantly, it doesn’ t feel like you have to murder it everywhere to make it work. You can ride it properly in the tests, but also lug it and cruise it through liaisons when you’ re tired.
A BUYING DECISION KIWI RIDER 51