After more than a decade persevering with a single-cam Unicam motor and being slated for making a mellow bike, Honda is going to a twin-cam motor for its all-new 2018 CRF250. It also features electric start, twin pipes and the chassis and bodywork very similar to the CRF450 which was new last year. And it is going to get its worldwide debut in production form this weekend in the Japanese championship.

The new CRF250 was always going to get a revamp the year after the 450 but this all-new twin-cam motor is a surprise. The prototype machine was unveiled by former Japanese and Australian champ Takeshi Katsuya recently in Japan. He’s Honda’s official test rider rather than a full-time racer nowadays.

Usually Honda races its bikes in the All-Japan championship, complete with lots of factory parts like factory forks and shocks, different pipes, lots of titanium and carbon fibre parts.

But Katsuya’s bike shows very stock-looking exhaust, suspension and bodywork, as a final shakedown for the production version which is set to be raced this weekend. That means Honda should unveil official information about the bike very soon.

Photo by MX Kida.