250SX VS 250SXF my experience

Hey all.

First time poster here, i thought i would share my experience & opinion of my last two bikes as i'm probably one of a handful who have had both and i wouldn't be surprised if my opinion is a little different to most. I'll try and keep it semi short. I've spent the last 17 years riding mx and have spent most of my life on two strokes.

In the last 6 years i've owned quite a few bikes, i generally own two at a time.
Starting with 14 YZ250F, 06 125SX, 08,YZ250, 17 250SX, 18 RMZ450, 19 250SXF (current bike).

I thought i would share my thoughts on the 17 250SX VS 19 250SXF.

Starting with the 17 250SX.
I bought this one at the start of 2018 and put 70 hours on it.

I won't get too much into the bike in stock form as there is a lot of information around which i believe is pretty spot on. It had a decent amount of mods on it for 60 hours so that's where my experience lies.

In stock form i found it fell flat on it's face at high rpms, had finicky jetting/fouling issues and i just couldn't get it to turn that well. Not taking away anything from the bike in stock form, i still found it to be superb, it just took a lot of modding along the way to get it to where i felt comfortable.

Mod wise i had a full pro circuit exhaust, v force 4 reeds, two stroke performance head/jetting spec, pwk 38 carb conversion, WP spring conversion and racetech gold valves front and rear.

This bike ran crisp and had plenty of smooth power from bottom to top. I could ride this in 2nd/3rd gear for most of the track, the power plant was still fairly aggressive but somewhat smoother/broader/stronger everywhere. I always had trouble finding rhythm on this bike, too hot/cold into and out of corners, too hot up to jumps, i could never just find any consistent rhythm on this bike, i would get 2-3 good perfect laps in a row and then just loose consistency.

Handling wise, i found it handled well but always had a natural cornering tendency to trace out wide arcs which naturally led me to take the outside lines. No issues sticking in an inside rut, just look a little effort to turn in.

Enter the 2019 250SXF.

I had just sold my 18 RMZ 450 which i had owned at the same time and found a cracker deal so i thought why not. I literally unbolted the forks, shocks, my favorite half bent bars and bent levers off the 250SX and bolted the right up to the SXF and took it to my local track.

All i can say is what a bike! Holy shit! This thing turns and pivots on a dime, not overly sure as to how as it is literally the exact same suspension/settings and frame geometry as the 250SX. I find that i can pick any section of the track, put it on the limiter, lean it over and go for it. The updated ergos are a welcome touch also, much slimmer and comfortable feeling.

Engine wise i find it has plenty of bottom/mid to cruise around the track in 3rd gear or shift between 2nd/3rd/4th and let it eat. I can't believe how far high it revs and how much power it puts out, but at the same time it's so smooth that you can hit the throttle early mid corner and launch out of it. It certainly takes a different no fear riding style to rev it till it sounds like it's going to shoot the piston out the top but i definitely don't agree with it being a 'top end motor only'.

The only change i've made is 2 up on the rear sprocket to help utilize 3rd gear a bit easier.

At the end of the day i seriously believe my new 250SXF is as fast or faster than my 250SX.