Help and advice needed for first bike fix up

[Timmay]

Hi, I have just bought my first bike, a Honda CBX250RS listed on Trademe here:
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Mo...-148211423.htm

I figure it will need:
New tires (if the old ones are cracked or perished)
New Battery - anyone know where to get them at a good price?
Strip and clean carbs
Possible new brake pads

Can anyone think of anything else? does anyone know where i can beg steal or borrow a manual for one of these from, or a cb250rs(very similar bike)

Thanks to all in advance

Timmay

[Hahn]

Stolen from another thread...

http://www.wildwesthonda.co.nz/Service.html

[Timmay]

Hi, thanks for that table. I will sure to go over the bike this next week with a fine tooth comb. I picked up the bike today and with a new battery, a fresh tank of gas and an oil change got it running sweet. It needs a new rear tyre, one carb is leaking, probably the float bowl seal which will have dried up and perished.

Does anyone know who will stock new seals for the keihin carbs this has?

Thanks

Tim

[Ixion]

Econohonda. In Te Aroha I think. Or Te Puke. or Te Summitoruvver.

[xwhatsit]

Econohonda, in Te Aroha. Definitely.

I have a manual for a CB250RS, you're more than welcome to borrow it. However, the CBX250 isn't as close as you might think to the CB250RS. Engine completely different for a start -- RFVC XR250 series engine (twin cam), twin carbs, frame much modified (full cradle, engine no longer a stressed member), forks/rear suspension quite different.

If you need to do any engine work, track down a manual for the early RFVC XL/XR250s. For the rest of it, you don't really need a manual, apart from the carbs (which might be tricky to sync back up).

It's a shame the CBX250s didn't have a kickstart, otherwise you could do like I (and quite a few others, I'm now learning) have done, and drop the battery entirely.

Good choice for a first bike

I reckon if it's been sitting for a while, get a good battery into it, new sparking plug, drain the fuel tank and carbs and put some fresh gas into it. Then find a long, steep hill... I bet she'll cough into life eventually.

[xwhatsit]

This is ferkin' expensive, but maybe if you have no other option... http://cgi.ebay.ie/Honda-CBX250-CBX-...QQcmdZViewItem

MC10s are fun bikes. A little heavier and more complicated than the MC02 CB, but there's a couple more horses and they like to thump a bit more.

It's worth noting too, that the GB250 (which is still produced for Japanese domestic market, in ever-more-retro clothes) is basically the same bike.

[Timmay]

Hi, thanks for the advice and links, I have got the bike going and have run it up and down the road today. I am most interested in the engine so i will try and track down a manual for a GB250 or XL/XR250

[xwhatsit]

I suspect (I don't know, just something I've inferred from Yahoo Japan Auctions (I want certain GB250 body parts)), that they fitted a different carb set-up to the GB250s as time went on. Bear in mind that they are still selling this bike in 2008 and the CBX250 was from the mid-80s. And be careful what date XR/XL manual you get; the XL/R250 dates from 1972 right through to the present day.

First choice would be a CBX250 manual, such as that I posted; doing the forks or tracing electrical faults will be no fun without it.

[Timmay]

Hi, thanks for all the advice, the carb has stopped leaking so i assume the seal has fixed itself, the bike got a WOF today too so i'm on the road. From the ones I have seen up close GB250 is single carb