merv's new baby

[merv]

I've been wanting an XR250L since 1996, but unless you bought an import you couldn't get one, but finally last year Blue Wing relented and added them to the lineup.

Why the hell would you want one? Electric start, and it is an XR250 - of sorts. Compared to the XR's that were sold here until recently it does have a slightly detuned engine - lower compression, CV carb, smaller header pipes and taller gearing - comes stock with a 40T rear sprocket instead of 48 or 50 like the earlier XR's.

So the merv's garage now has a good range of bikes for merv and Mrs merv.

On the road we can take the VFR and the DR650 (or the XR and WR for shorter runs), gravel roads we can take the DR and the XR or the WR, trail and hard out dirt we can take the XR and the WR with the odd sprocket change as necessary. We now have a nice flexible mix. I was missing a dirt bike that I could take on reasonably long distances with Mrs on her DR and the beauty of the XR is it will handle quite rough dirt tracks as well.

All I've got to do now is run it in and then have to make choices about what bike to ride.

I did a bit of work on it this afternoon fitting rim locks (security bolts to us old guys) on both wheels to lock the tyres to the rims. I always fit two to each wheel which works better and saves worrying about wheel balance. The Japs never did bother fitting them to the trail bikes they sold for the road. Dirt bikers swear by these to allow you to run the tyres at low pressure to get traction in mud without spinning the valve stem out and for lazy guys like me it means if I get a flat I can continue riding without worrying about fixing the tyre. The road legal (DOT spec) tyres they fit to these bikes are very hard in the sidewall and even with no air in they ride OK. Dirt riding I would have my WR at between 0 and 10psi rear tyre pressure for example as the tyres are so hard in themselves.

Also chucked a Ventura pack rack on it. Surprisingly you can't buy the L brackets for this bike even though it been on the market close on a year now, so I adapted the ones I had from my DR250R. They aren't quite right in that the pack frame is tilted forward a bit much, but it will do for now and I couldn't be bothered butchering them by bending them to a different angle. Hopefully Dolds will do the L brackets for it soon and maybe I'll buy some then. The rear subframe is quite different compared to the XR250R so the L brackets for those do not fit at all.

Here are the pics in the garage.

Had to deal with Motomart now because they are now the sole Honda dealer in our area, having reached that status when they dropped KTM. Saw Brendan at Sawyers, and he wanted me to buy a TTR250 instead for a $1,000 less. Problems with that are the seat height - 35 mm taller, and the engine and configuration looks too similar to the twin cam design of the DR250R I had but disliked, with its buzzy power and close ratio gearbox so I wouldn't risk that type of engine again and besides I have the WR to support the blue brand anyway and have always wanted to get back to an XR after selling my last one in 1998.

[cowpoos]

do a web search on michelin ac10's ..... the worlds best DOT aproved off road tyre...I run them on the farm...they wear bloody well for the hard tracks we have and grip extremly well...infact exceptionally well....

I also looked and test rode the XR250...I found that it was a little heavy for my use...and since I never ride my dirt bikes on the road...it wasn't really a flexability issue....

they look good...though

[Motu]

Veeeery nice Merv,I was eyeing one up last year on my DT230 quest....when I saw an electric starter on an XR250 my eyes popped out!What sort of weight are we looking at there? I seem to remember they were pretty light.Getting the perfect mix in the shed is a difficult task these days - how come that is,with such a wide selection? I'm boggled at how competent the DT230 is on road,and wonder why I would want a bigger and slower bike....but I really want to get the XT back on the road,it goes through things the DT jumps over.

Oh boy,rimlocks...grrrrr! I've been playing around with tyres this last week,and have fitted and removed a couple of sets on the DT.I just fitted an old Kenda K760 rear that some idiot (ahem) flat stacked at the bottom of the pile for 4 years.Trying to fit a heavy duty tube in the gap was like trying to stuff a wet suit in there,and I could hardly get my fingers to the rim lock,only one on the rear.But I use 2 on the trials bike,and even then get creep.The tyres are one size up on stock,and fitted my lowering links to bring the seat height back to stock.What are you doing about the seat height on the XR? Or is it ok stock?

[merv]

Weight of the XR250L isn't light at 128kg dry, but compared to Mrs merv's DR650 which is 147kg dry it aint too bad. Compared to my WR which is 102kg dry it is heavy. Seat height is 875mm stock and other than knocking a bit of preload out of it last night I'll leave it alone and I am sure it will settle a bit with use. Compared to my WR which was 998mm seat height stock, this won't need the cost of another shock or anything like that. I'm keeping the WR anyway for adventure and trail rides and the like so will tend to keep the XR for gravel road riding with Mrs though may get a bit more hard out on it sometimes.