Galfer and Bel-Ray Brake Upgrades for Honda CRF 250L

Unlock text to speach and become a member!

02 November 2016 | Andrew Nguyen | Test Rider: Chris Siegel | Gear

In order to keep up with a group of quick riders, ADVMoto’s CRF 250L project bike forces its rider to squeeze every bit of performance out of it. Equipped with only 19hp, it’s certainly not going to win any drag races. Fortunately, the bike is fairly light (relatively speaking) and very well balanced, enabling it to brake later into corners and steer quicker than a 600lb adventure touring bike. To capitalize on these “advantages” we decided to upgrade our project bike’s brakes.

A stock 250L does a fair job stopping with stock brakes, but what it lacks is “feel”. The factory system can be described as an on/off switch that actuates blocks of wood to slow the wheels. After riding for a few hours in hot conditions, the brakes feel vague, probably due to the rubber lines flexing as they heat up.

Gallery3

Galfer, one of the leading global specialists in braking systems sent us front and rear steel braided brake lines, along with a standard sized Off-Road Wave Front Rotor to beef up the CRF’s stoppers. The rotor is made of unrecycled, high carbon, 420 stainless steel that is laser cut and heat treated. Galfer’s braided brake lines are available with a variety of color combos for the PVC hose covering and banjo bolts.

Bel-Ray sent us a sample of their new Racing Brake Fluid, which has a boiling point of 580 °F and will work with brake systems that require DOT 3, DOT 4 or DOT 5.1 fluid. The bottle itself features an easy to read fluid level gauge and an ergonomic shape for pouring which came in handy for our CRF since the rear reservoir is small and surrounded by bodywork. If this stuff is designed for racing, it’ll surely endure anything we put our little Honda through.

Gallery5

The products didn’t come with model specific instructions, but none were needed (installation guides are available on Galfer’s website). The rotor was a quick bolt on procedure, and most of the time installing the lines was taken up during the brake bleeding process. Galfer is thoughtful enough to label which end of the brake lines connect to the master cyclinder.

After scrubbing-in the rotor, we noticed a dramatic difference in braking performance. Squeezing the lever now feels much more progressive and lighter pulls give the rider feedback on what the front end is doing. During rocky downhill testing, this new feature became extremely useful as we could easily find and modulate through the limits of traction for an easier descent. On high speed runs, trail braking into corners became less of a meditated task, and more second nature as we could confidently carry more speed into the apex of each turn. Best of all, the feel of the lever was consistent over the course of a full day of hard riding.

Gallery2

We could probably increase the CRF’s stopping power even more with upgraded pads, but they’re simply not needed. The brakes are performing exactly how we like them to, and now that we can scrub speed better, it's time to focus on acceleration.
MSRP: $79.95 Front Line | $59.95 Rear Line | Front Rotor $161.00 | $16.99 Brake Fluid GalferUSA.com BelRay.com