My VTR250 seems to be lacking power?

[BikingBrit]

Thanks for all your comments guys.

Alright so I've gone over the bike and both spark plugs look good, I'll replace them anyway since they're really cheap. The air filter however looks pretty dirty and needs replacing, I'm guessing this could be at least part of the problem. On that note, does anyone know where I can find an air filter (for a 1998 Honda VTR250)? I can't find one anywhere online so I guess I'll try calling the Honda bike shop tomorrow. I'll probably clean the carbs as well, however I've never done this before so any pointers would be great.

[awayatc]

Airfilter? Google is your friend....
Can you give it a good clean, with compressed air?

if you never done carbs maybe just start with a can of carb cleaner....have engine run and squeeze into intake...rev it to stop it stalling..

am still suspicious about your exhaust....
does it have removable dampers at the end.?
If so are they all blocked up?

after you change filter (honda shop should have one) and it still doesn't go....
can you swap exhaust with your mate? Just to try?

you said it been serviced recently, and yet has a dirty airfilter...? Hmmm...

[Drew]

Dirty carbs don't usually present with just a general lack of power. It would normally be hard to start, or not rev, or die when ya touch the throttle.

On my wife's VTR, one of the choke/richening plungers was jammed and that caused me no end of grief. They're pretty easy to get out with the tank off (which Honda have made harder than it bloody needs to be in all!).

[BikingBrit]

Airfilter? Google is your friend....
Can you give it a good clean, with compressed air?

if you never done carbs maybe just start with a can of carb cleaner....have engine run and squeeze into intake...rev it to stop it stalling..

am still suspicious about your exhaust....
does it have removable dampers at the end.?
If so are they all blocked up?

after you change filter (honda shop should have one) and it still doesn't go....
can you swap exhaust with your mate? Just to try?

you said it been serviced recently, and yet has a dirty airfilter...? Hmmm...

Yeah obviously the air filter wasn't changed, but the oil and coolant was.
The exhausts look fine to me, I'll take a picture of them soon if the air filter doesn't fix the problem. Still looking for an air filter as well, found one for $70 bucks online and it's from overseas Waiting for Honda to get back to me, I'm hoping they'll have one cheaper.

[kiwi-on-wheels]

Found an airfilter for an old cbr on aliexpress at a reasonable price

[BikingBrit]

Been a while but I thought I'd do a catch up post on this just in case anyone else experiences a similar problem.

So I put in a new air filter (which it really needed) and it only cost me $50 from the Honda Motorcycle shop, but this didn't really fix the issue (although it does feel a lot 'healthier' now). I then gave it a good hard think on what could be wrong, and when I was fiddling around with the clutch I realized something was wrong (I slapped myself on the head for not checking this earlier). When releasing the clutch, the lever doesn't fully disengage and sticks, thus causing the clutch to slip a bit. All I did was give the cable a little bit of slack to compensate for the lever sticking, and voila, my bike has significantly more power than before and feels 100x better. I am a tad concerned about the clutch being damaged/worn from being ridden whilst slipping for however long it was but it feels good for now and I'll be keeping a close eye on it.

Thanks for everyone that commented and gave suggestions

[F5 Dave]

Oh well good to have a resolution and you will know how it feels if the plates get over worn in the future.

[Drew]

Oh well good to have a resolution and you will know how it feels if the plates get over worn in the future.

I would expect to see heat damage on the steels.

Doesn't need to be slipping to have symptoms of damage. Graby and not fully disengaging is symptomatic of warped steels.

[actungbaby]

Thanks for all your comments guys.

Alright so I've gone over the bike and both spark plugs look good, I'll replace them anyway since they're really cheap. The air filter however looks pretty dirty and needs replacing, I'm guessing this could be at least part of the problem. On that note, does anyone know where I can find an air filter (for a 1998 Honda VTR250)? I can't find one anywhere online so I guess I'll try calling the Honda bike shop tomorrow. I'll probably clean the carbs as well, however I've never done this before so any pointers would be great.

http://www.econohonda.com

07 884 8810

malcom will sort you out