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i finally sold my odyssey 250 , got enough to pick up this xl and still pick up some other goodies . it's old as hell but it seems to run ok , i think it's a bit rich , boggs when you cut it wide open , and it idles kind of erratically , and seems to put out black sooty smoke sometimes . not too bad tho , at first i was thinking float height ....but you can't adjust these floats , i've never seen that before . once i figure out whats up with all of that and my new brake shoes show up it'll be good to go . then later on down the road if i feel like it i can apply for the title and throw it on the road . until then i'm just going to use it like a regular old dirt bike . just thought i'd share because i'm bored .

Looks like fun, hope you get the bugs worked out of it. How much did you pick this up for if you don't mind me askin?

$350 , i've been looking for weeks , it's slim pickins around here if you have less than a grand for a bike , i keep seeing old early 80's cb400's and crap going for 2k , everything is suddenly very expensive .

Dr Rockso wrote:$350 , i've been looking for weeks , it's slim pickins around here if you have less than a grand for a bike , i keep seeing old early 80's cb400's and crap going for 2k , everything is suddenly very expensive .

overpriced bikes, $4 gas. Coincidence?

tommyj27 wrote:

Dr Rockso wrote:$350 , i've been looking for weeks , it's slim pickins around here if you have less than a grand for a bike , i keep seeing old early 80's cb400's and crap going for 2k , everything is suddenly very expensive .

overpriced bikes, $4 gas. Coincidence?

ONLY 4USD that is 2UKP we are paying 1.2 + UKP a litre emptied my tank down to as far as I dared then filled up 17 Litres @ 1. 23 per litre over the 20 UKP (= 40USD to fill the tank ) point the first time EVER I have has a BIKE cost me that much in gas !!!

Bike sale prices have gone up for sure because people are seeing "cheap" transport as a requirement. NO parking cost , no Congestion charge tax , lower road tax

Good deal. Did you get a title or do you have to have it inspected? I plan on making my XR250 street legal. It already has a speedo and headlight just need turn signals and rear brake light.

no , it didn't come with a title , but i can get one . my biggest concern is making it run right . it seems to hang up a bit after you rev it before it goes back to idle , then once at idle it'll sit there running for a while , but eventually it'll konk out . other than that it's great , i can give it as much throttle as i want unless i crack it wide open as fast as i can . the float isn't adjustable , the carb is squeaky clean (cleaned twice by me just to make sure) the rubber for the accelrator pump has seen better days but i tested it and it pumps just fine . unless i got the wrong jets in here or someone was screwing with the mixture screw then i'm not sure whats up . sadly i can't find any of this info anywhere online so i'm going to have to buy the book for it . the bike is fun as hell tho , it'll putt around at like 50rpm and it's got enough power to do what i do off road . once it's running right i'll be a happy guy .

well the jets are correct , and so is the clip position on the needle . i need to see if the boot is leaking but i'm out of aresol stuff that burns . so i'll have to get that and try it . i realised a few minutes ago that what i thought was the air filter was just the cage for it , so since i don't have a spare filter i wrapped a rag around it and and cured the not being able to crack it wide open problem , so i have a new air filter on my list of stuff to get . hopefully the hanging up after you rev it thing is just the boot , because i've pretty much eliminated everything else it could be .

What is that a 1980 model ? If you can't figure it out go to a Vintage motocross race, there are some guys there who are good mechanics / borderline magicians. Sounds like you're on the right track though. It's got a bit of rust on the front spokes and exhaust pipe, but maybe you can find some newer parts online or at a salvage yard. Maybe I'm blind but I don't see any cable going to what appears to be a drum front brake ??

You sure find some old stuff, that's for sure. But if it runs in a straight line and the front spokes and exhaust don't fall apart I guess you're doing pretty darn good for a $350. I love those old metal gas tanks, those were the good old days for sure.

I noticed a little of the price increases too, but it only seem to be 250cc's and up. You can still get couple years old Yamaha TT225L's cheap as crap but you have to put up with the lack of horsepower and lower seat height. The ideal is to find a WR250 or 450 that's only a couple years old, one that's already street legal (if that is what you want). They have some really nice horsepower and gobs of torque. Take a look at Thumpertalk.com, sometimes guys there have a LOT better prices than cycle trader, craigslist, e-bay, or the Washington Post.

I'm gonna start callin' you TimeRider.

ha ha , yeah , i'm too poor for the new stuff, it's an 83 , my 96 fzr is the newest thing i've ever owned . unless you count my truck ,it's a 99 . i spent all of my highschool days picking up $200 bikes , fixing them and selling them , so i've had around 100 bikes . i've slowed way down on my bike swapping , i've had the fzr over a year now and thats my record unless you count the triumph that i never touch that's been sitting for 3 years . and yeah , thats a drum front brake , but there is a cable .

what i don't get about this bike is it acts like it's got a lean condition , when you rev it the rpm's hang up and won't go back down unless you blip the throttle a few times or let it sit for a while . yet when you pull the plug it's sooty , black , and dry . i can take the mixture screw all the way in , or almost all the way out and it'll still do it no matter where i have the screw . it starts first kick , the jetting is stock , the float is unadjustable , and the carb is clean , i sprayed starting fluid all over the place and i couldn't get it to rev up so i know the boot is good and nothing is sucking in air , put a new air filter on too . the only thing i can think of is this is one of the first years honda put electronic igniton on . but it's a very primitive electronic ignition and there's a centrifugal ignition advancer (behind the clutch cover ..yay) if that was sticking sometimes it would leave the ignition advanced when it shouldn't be which could cause my weird idle problems and also explain why no matter how much tuning i do i can't get the damn thing to idle right .

over 100 bikes ??? Holy schnit. You must have gone through about 10 sets of tools fixing all that stuff. I can't even fathom that many bikes for one person to fix.

Speaking of running lean or rich, I thought I was running too lean, but someone said no I have it backwards it must be running too rich. He's probably right, as, the idle has been too high lately also. It's stumbling around 5,500 RPM, then as I open the throttle more everything is fine. I would think it needs more fuel but according to him it actually is starving for air because it's so hot outside. In the winter the bike ran perfect. So I think I'll tear apart my carbs tomorrow, I just hope I don't break something, I'm just sick of putting up with it and I don't feel like shelling out $500 so the local guy can break something else. Plus I don't feel like dragging it all the way to Ellicott City. So it's put-up or shut up time. I'm gonna rip my swingarm off the MX bike tomorrow too, and clean and grease the bearings etc. The Honda needs the front brakes bled and new fluid, but I think that will have to wait until next weekend. If I didn't have to work all week I could get this all done and have time to ride. Life's a pain in the ass though.


I guess it's better than having your motorcycle under 15 feet of Iowa river water.

yeah , if it was made before 1985 i've probably had 3 or 4 of it . the #1 bike i've had the most is the yamaha rd (8 of them) close second would be yamaha dt's (6 of them) . i can't help but wonder if i'd be seeing some more action from the ladies if i actually went places with the bikes instead of trying to piece them back together in the laundry room all the time . it's a sickness but i wouldn't have it any other way


on a side note , i just pulled off the side cover for no reason ....seems 83 was a transition year , mine didn't have the advancer (17 in the diagram) , it just has the rotor (16 in diagram)



here is some real pics




so i guess that wasn't it , i guess i'll check the carb again , i could have sworn everything was clear in there.

hmmm , ok , well i adjusted the valve clearance to stock spec ,and cleaned the carb again . so i went out and started it to see if i fixed the problem and it doesn't seem that i have . from when you let go of the throttle there's the normal decel but then right before it gets to idle speed it stays a bit revved up for about a second or a second and a half then it goes back to idle speed . right now i have the air screw on the carb 1 1/3 turns out . also for some reason now i can't crack the throttle all the way open without it trying to die . i went all thru the carb today , for hours , it's clean , every passage allows compressed air thru it ....i'm really starting to hate this thing .