Honda VT250F

[hXc]

yea i like the spada best too, remember jimmy hooning around the takas on his?!

His = mine. I love it too. He wants it back, haha. Next track day, we're swapping bikes for a few laps. I'm going to shit my pants on his 600

[Hillbilly]

Here are acouple more VT250F variants, the FF and the FH. I've actually sat ona FF at a local dealership. Was surprised by the twin drilled discs and the square section cradle frame as seen on the VF1000F. Didn't bother to take it for a ride, it'd done 73,000 km.

[xwhatsit]

I would be most surprised if you were getting 40HP at the rear wheel -- seeing as Honda quotes 34HP at the crank, and manufacturer figures tend to be on the high side... Sounds like the previous owner wanted to sell it to you quick for a good price

[Hillbilly]

That's pretty good you know. Compare the power of the old '80s VT250F series with that of the Hyosung GT250R. I believe that the Hyosungs only have something like 24hp. Then add the 170kg weight!

[Insanity_rules]

not as good as yours aye dont worry, it didnt cost me much so i dont mind

although mind you we have no idea how much that vtz has done......

True that my friend, for what I paid it was worth spending what I've spent on it so far and am planning. That lil bike has well paid for itself in fun value.

It was a little bit of a gamble but on the strip down it looked pretty good internally. Goes really good now though eh?

[cowboyz]

(Oh I see you said it's 1987... that's a fairly late model, which is good).

Good luck!

only in the biker world would a 19 year old bike be considered "fairly late model"

look around. for the same money you should be able to get something alot younger. People still want your first born for 80s bikes.

I was in Freedom Honda in PN yesterday and they have about 5 or 6 CBR250 for $55-$6000. Funny enough I was in looking at a VTR1000 for 7. I did mention how crazy it is but the saleman just said, thats how it goes.

[The Big J]

I am selling a 88 VTZ250 in a couple of weeks if your current deal falls through. Haven't put too much thought into it but done basic maintenance and 10000 kms in last 6 months and rolling along nicely. Will be 55000kms by time I sell it as I'm probably riding it up to Auckland around new years but could always drop off in Hamilton. Rear shock is a little soft but not too bad. Am considering cleaning out the carbs but that would be for my learning experience only as I don't think there's anything wrong with them. pm me if interested. I'm sure you could get one of the Wellington guys to have a close and more impartial look for you if keen.

[hXc]

I would be most surprised if you were getting 40HP at the rear wheel -- seeing as Honda quotes 34HP at the crank, and manufacturer figures tend to be on the high side...

Don't know where you get your figures from, this is the Spada we are talking about, not the F.

Power: 40.00 hp, 29.2 kw at 12000 rpm.

Sounds like the previous owner wanted to sell it to you quick for a good price

No. Myself, and many others can vouch for the reliability of this bike, and how Jimmy beat all his mates on their 600's on his li'l Spada.

[xwhatsit]

only in the biker world would a 19 year old bike be considered "fairly late model"

look around. for the same money you should be able to get something alot younger. People still want your first born for 80s bikes.

I was in Freedom Honda in PN yesterday and they have about 5 or 6 CBR250 for $55-$6000. Funny enough I was in looking at a VTR1000 for 7. I did mention how crazy it is but the saleman just said, thats how it goes.

Lol, I meant a late model VT250F. But yes, bizarre prices for old bikes. 250cc market is nuts. I think that's why there's so many people riding around on GN250s -- and people pay lots of money and put up with unreliability to avoid them...

[STORKEN]

STORKEN has blue VT250F '88. Very reliable, fastish (160kmh) not too heavy. Paid $1300 for mine w/- two owners. One from new to 27000k's then another from then till about 80000k's. Put about 5000k's on it, air filter was expensive ($200?). I take mine round Mt Taranaki, 160k's trip, she loves open road. Just don't pay too much for one then there's not too much at stake. You see cheap ones around $700 - $800, so you could replace whole engine for that, and still have parts bike. I'm having slight problems with gearbox, but I don't think that'll be too serious. They're a cult bike in Japan and the U.K.

[xwhatsit]

STORKEN has blue VT250F '88. Very reliable, fastish (160kmh) not too heavy. Paid $1300 for mine w/- two owners. One from new to 27000k's then another from then till about 80000k's. Put about 5000k's on it, air filter was expensive ($200?). I take mine round Mt Taranaki, 160k's trip, she loves open road. Just don't pay too much for one then there's not too much at stake. You see cheap ones around $700 - $800, so you could replace whole engine for that, and still have parts bike. I'm having slight problems with gearbox, but I don't think that'll be too serious. They're a cult bike in Japan and the U.K.

...................................

[rwh]

I'm happy enough with my '86 vt250f, which I've ridden for the six months I've had my learners.

I've heard Wasp and IR making dire warnings - but they're both talking about the same bike, and they guys at Boyle Kawasaki haven't heard of any such 'typical problem'.

I've had one recurring problem which has been hard to diagnose - I assume that means it's an unusual one, or the mechanics would say 'Aha! it's *that* problem' and go fix it. It seems to sometimes run rich. It's mostly gone away since I got them to unkink the crankcase breather hose, but occasionally reccurs.

Also many of the fairing mountings are broken, but I guess that's understandable with a 20 year old bit of vibrating plastic - and it's easily dealt with using duct tape

Richard

[liviy]

Well, I bought it and am very happy!

All be it I haven't got much to compare against but she's quick enough for me and doesn't seem to have anything wrong

[rwh]

* cough *

Now that mine's dead (big end bearing, most likely), I'll add a bit of backup to Wasp's suggestion that it should be looked after carefully - particularly ensuring that it has enough oil in it etc.

I'm happy with mine as a bike to ride, and I'm probably looking either for a replacement engine for my dead one, or for another one so I can use either for parts for the other, but I'll definitely be paying more attention to things that aren't quite right mechanically.

Richard

[liviy]

That sucks...

Well I thought I'd be smart about the whole thing and instead of trying to service it from when I got it, I thought I'd take it to Honda for the 1st one and see if they picked up on anything that might be wrong or likely to be in the near future so I'm not just trying to save a few $ n changing oils n filters, etc without having something cheaply fixed that will cause it to go bang if I don't...and I got a shock!

I won't be taking my bike back to Boyds Honda in Hamilton...their attitude had something to be desired as I got the impression that I was putting them out by wanting my bike serviced and then they gave me a list of stuff that they said needed fixing too but when I had another mechanic (a friend of a friend who just happened to be in Hamilton at the weekend) look at the list he laughed at most of it and asked what they were taking when they made it. Plus they missed that my rear brakes were due to have the pads replaced.

They're list included :

Bent forks, need straighting (his comment, possible but unlikely, can't see anything wrong)

Left arm pitted, needs fixed or replaced (His comment, it's about 4 inches above the maximum travel of the suspension and tiny so no point in doing that)

Hand grips worn (His comment, WTF?)

Steering bearings worn, need replacing (His comment, no chance everything tests fine. I'd like to know how they worked that one out!)

Back tyre worn, needs replacing (His comment, fair dues...it's getting close)

And after all that they missed that the marker for the rear brakes was bang on needing replacing and they didn't mention it.

He also mentioned that his nephew had 2 of those comments when he took his bike in there too...the steering bearing & the hand grips. When they were fine apparently.

*sigh* Can you trust anyone these days?