Honda VT250F

[liviy]

Hey, my 1st thread on here!!! WOOHOO!

1st just like to say you guys have got a wicked site with tons of info!!!

Just wondering if anyone can comment on the Honda VT250F (1987) as a bike, especially for a 1st bike for a learner?

Good, bad? Things to watch for?

Thanks!

[vifferman]

Hey, my 1st thread on here!!! WOOHOO!

1st just like to say you guys have got a wicked site with tons of info!!!

Just wondering if anyone can comment on the Honda VT250F (1987) as a bike, especially for a 1st bike for a learner?

Good, bad? Things to watch for?

Thanks!

Good bike for a beginner (in fact, a good bike all round), but they tend to be a bit expensive. Having said that, most 250s are a bit dear for what they are; supply and demand, y'know.

Welcome to Kiwi Biker. :spudwave:

[Kflasher]

Good bike, friend has had hers for about 4yrs now with little to no issues.
Get someone you know (if you don't know what to look for) to check it over for you. Being a learner bike they tend to get abused and some lack of maintenance.

[xwhatsit]

I was looking at one, almost bought it, until I had a recommendation that they tend to (in typical Honda fashion) do timing chains, and also crankshafts, and it is alarmingly common. Funnily enough, I see the same bike at uni quite often, somebody else bought it -- and it's still running fine, and my supposedly rock-solid reliable bike is broken instead .

Getting such an old bike means you have to pay much closer attention to any problems. Get it checked out really thoroughly. Do you know what year it is? The recent ones are supposedly far more reliable. (Oh I see you said it's 1987... that's a fairly late model, which is good). Other than that... great bikes, massively popular in Hong Kong and Japan because they're cheap and relatively quick for low insurance and fuel. V-twin, but you still have to give it a lot of revs to get anywhere... but that's to be expected.

Good luck!

[Wasp]

great bikes, bit on the heavy side but lots of nice low down torquey grunt (i used to have a vtz)

one major problem is the cam chains (the small oil journels (pipes) that transport oil to the top of the cam chain get blocked), check if the engine rattles - to have a shop to replace the entire system runners tensioners and guides is well over $2,500.

the guy that bought my vtz (insanity_rules on here) cleaned the journels ran some oil treatment and later replaced the cam chain himself ($300)

welcome to kb!

[nudemetalz]

Excellent bike, my wife just sold her '89 model. She called it "Trusty" for the obvious reason.
Nice to ride and went well for a 250. When we went aound the SI on that and the ZX-10, the VT got nearly 30km/l on the open road at a constant 100km/h !!
Things to watch for are the camchain tensioners. Her's used to rattle the chains a little when cold but once warm was okay. They tend to stick a little until the oil has circulated through and got warm.
But yes, thoroughly recommend. We were amazed at how quickly we sold the VT on TradeMe (like 15 minutes!!)

[gamgee]

it's a vt250F not a vtr250
the vt250f is a sack of shit, wouldn't touch it, they have a dodgy oil pump which will go at any time it feels like, then your engine will eat itself, as above crank shafts a major issue, plus parts are getting hard to come by, my advice would be to avoid it, and I owned one for a little while

[gamgee]

the reason I sold mine was I heard about how problematic they could be and my dad told me i should sell it asap, so i did then about a month later I got a call from the guy who bought it (for cheap) saying that it had snapped a cam shaft or something, so yeah it's up to you but I wouldn't recommend it!

[Hillbilly]

Here are a couple of pics of the old Honda VT250F, not to ne confused with the Spada or the VTR250. The black one is from '84 and white one is the "special edition" made in '86 with the vented front disc. Good in their day, but wouldn't buy one now.

There are other alternatives, unless you *have* to have a Honda.

[Insanity_rules]

Depends on how its been treated earlier. If its had a good life and your prepared to do a little maintanence I'm happy to show you an easy modification so it doesn't oil starve itself. They are a good bike if theyre looked after.

If its been thrashed to death, had no work and had a mileage over 80,000 avoid it like the plague. A full rebuild would be expensive, a bit of preventative work isn't.

Welcome to KB

[Switch]

Welcome to the site Enjoy your stay. I was going to buy a VT250 but then i stumbled accross my Hyosung. If you find one thats been looked after, go ahead

[liviy]

WOW guys...some great responses and info!

Yeah, it wasn't my 1st choice but this one has done 42,000k's, doesn't have any damage and is going for a good price (about $2000) so I was thinking all that means that it should be good at least for the 1st few months incase I damage it then I'm not losing so much $

[Insanity_rules]

WOW guys...some great responses and info!

Yeah, it wasn't my 1st choice but this one has done 42,000k's, doesn't have any damage and is going for a good price (about $2000) so I was thinking all that means that it should be good at least for the 1st few months incase I damage it then I'm not losing so much $

Good deal! If it doesn't rattle too bad then buy it. A set of cam chains isn't that expensive or hard to do and you'll get a really reliable bike. The 250 market is pretty expensive.

[hXc]

the vt250f is a sack of shit, wouldn't touch it, they have a dodgy oil pump which will go at any time it feels like, then your engine will eat itself, as above crank shafts a major issue, plus parts are getting hard to come by, my advice would be to avoid it, and I owned one for a little while

You can talk some shit, can't you? It's the same engine as a Spada, and as far as I know, the same engine as the VTZ, and I know Spada parts are readily available, why wouldnt the F parts be readily available?

I can't vouch for the bike liviy, but the engine is absolutely brilliant. Some things may go 'blah', but that's expected in any old bike. Especially a 250; I know mine has been thrashed since the minute it got to NZ, and it's 18 years old, still goin' strong at 45,000k's and hasn't even had the cam chain done yet. It'll need it soon, but not much of a problem yet.

What I'm saying above is, old bikes are hard to predict. Some will shit themselves without a hint of doing it, some will never shit themselves, and others will just start to die down a bit. You can't be too sure, but the engine in those bikes is good.

[Switch]

The 250 market is pretty expensive.

I agree with you on that one, I can't believe the price of 250's now, Damn petrol prices meaning a boost in bike sales. Ah well, the quicker you get your full the better