Ive looked at the 250R and this is what I can see
a young guy owned it he traded a 93 XR200 for it.
The quad has new maier plastic and new brake pads all around. The engine was rebuilt and has about 5 hours on it. The previous owner before the young guy had put new rings in it but installed them backwards and it scored the wall so when this guy rebuilt the engine he had to go two steps to 80over. The bike runs good and doesnt seem to have any mechanical problems.The Frame and swingarm dont have any cracks that i can see and i checked around the steering stem. Now for the problems one tire on the front is worn out and the light switch/kill switch is toast.

Any suggestions i.e anything else I should look at
and look at before i pay the guy? Is 80 over the last overbore that can be done on this cylinder. What typicaly should this quad be worth?

Thanks
John T

 

Check the suspension linkage.Grab the rear bar and pull it up until the tires are off the ground real slowly ,while doing that look at all the linkage points.There should be no free play.Pull on the top of the front tires and check the a-arm mounts,again no free play.have someone hold the rear off the ground and check axle carrier for blown bearings.All of these parts are pretty expensive to fix especially the rear linkage.

 

I would have him pull the front fenders and look at the frame in front of the gas tank. My 88 looked great everywhere until I took the fenders off. That is when I discovered the four cracks on the frame.

 

One suggestion from personal experience---it's a buyer-beware market. I bought my '89, one year ago and it had a CT 310kit(actually a 295--don't know how CT can call any 72X72mm a 310) installed. The guy seemed honest so when he offered to take off the cylinder I kindly said that it wasn't necessary. Unfortunately, after ONE week of riding my GLORY, the skirt off the sleeve on the intake side SHEARED off! I took the cylinder off and measured the ID of the sleeve---it was on it's LAST bore!!! At the very least, take off the cylinder. See if it looks like someone went PORTWILD---few people really understand the dynamics of porting like they THINK they do. Measure the ID of the sleeve with calipers, it should be 66mm if stock. But you said that it was bored---.080 over is 68mm AND THE MAXIMUM replacement size in the Nac's Racing catalog!! You're already pushing it! I would recommend buying a new cylinder after my experiences! You should be able to knock off $300($210 Cylinder and $90 Piston) for that. Take the stator cover off. It's easy and you can tell if the quad has been DROUNDED=RUST. The clutch cover takes more work, but if the clutch is ALREADY adjusted all the way out you can negotiate the price DOWN to cover a new clutch. Smell the tranny oil, BURNED smell? Did this guy really know how to maintain it? Brakes spongey, maybe he NEVER replaced the fluid. Last pointer---Buy A CLYMER Manual!!! It is extremely imformative. You'll thank me later. I'm a year older and MUCH wiser(not that I claim to know EVERYTHING). Good Luck!

 

Ok now before you go pulling the Jug off, think about this first, 80 over, one blown engine and you need a sleeve, not a whole cylinder. I dont know where you guys live but there are people around here that can resleeve a cylinder. Now do you actually think pulling the jug is gonna tell you a whole lot, maybe some scuffs, blah blah blah, you know where your at with the engine anyhow. What you want is to make sure the frame is solid thats the hardest part to replace and is the heart. Look at the front ball joints and wheel bearings in the front, those are more common to be bad than the a-arm bushings. Check rear bearing. You might even want to measure from a common point on front to common on rear for any differnce in lengths. I know a friend with one that is about 3/4 in shorter on one side. Its bent right in front behind steering stem. Look at the frame right below the front engine mounts Ive seen some kinked a little from hard casing. Shocks are a hard thing to check cause the fronts never were that good and the rear can get some revalving help. Chances are if you buy a 250R plan on spending some money to rebuild it some because they are up there in age. But hey I rebuilt mine from ground up and it awsome, wont go about it any other way. Good luck.....

'86 250R

to many mods to list

 

250Racer, have you had a barrel resleeved lately? You must have a pal that works in a shop or something! A simple cost analysis will show that you will spend around $100 on the sleeve. Labor to re-sleeve AND to match the ports AND most important RADIUS the sleeve edges(around ports) tends to run at LEAST $100. That brings me to Service Honda, who sells a NEW FACTORY CYLINDER for $210.18 plus shipping. For another $10-15 who wouldn't want a new cylinder. Ever had to Heli-coil a stripped out headstud? The Aluminum barrel DOES soften with repeated heat cycles(also age), you know? Besides defending my recommendation, I wanted doberman to know that Wiseco does sell up to a 69.5mm piston(for the '86 Quad). This piston will work in your '87, however you will need to run a spacer plate between the cylinder and case. This is because(if you did not know) the '86 has a 5mm shorter rod and the wrist pin boss is also moved down 5mm. The downside is that the '86 style pistons have less SKIRT and they are more top heavy. MANY of the National caliber motors are built like this(long rod w/'86 piston and spacer). Honda changed to the later design in an attempt to improve RELIABILITY. I like reliabliity to accompany performance--the less I have to tear it down, the more I can ride. I feel that I am helping you doberman--you will just have to decide for yourself. Another suggestion, pull up the Blue Book value. Sometimes if the seller KNOWS that YOU know what it is ACTUALLY worth he will come down if he's asking too high a price. As for 250Racer's other recommendations on checking the frame--take a tape measure, he's right there. Maybe you should print out this particular forum so that you can keep ALL of OUR suggestions in mind when you go. I can tell you one thing, you will grow fond of your "R". I could have bought a 400EX then some for the total cost of my investment, but I'm really satisfied with my '89 R---until Honda has a "R"eserection that is!!!!