A good friend who is a newbie bot his 100 lb wife a 250ex recently. The shocks and springs are WAY too stiff and can't be adjusted. Any ideas on how to fix 'em or what to replace them with?

Also, this machine is too narrow for it's height and center of gravity, resulting in a "tippy" ride. What's the cheapest fix? Wheel spacers? Invert the wheels? If so, how do you get the valve stems out of the way?

Thanks in advance!

 

The stock tires on this bike are terrible. The bike pushes badly (the front understeers!), and the fault lies with the tires, and rounded balooney tires will make any bike tippy. The fix I did was to put on Holeshot XC's, on ITP 9X9 rims. These rims have a 3+6 offset, where the stock rims are 9X8 with a smaller offset. So, you end up with bike that is +4" wider than stock, and you have square profile tires as well. This cured all the bikes problems. I think it would be a mistake to put on spacers, while keeping the lousy stock tires.

You could try Works Performance for aftermarket shocks. Once you sink a bunch of money into a 250EX, you might as well have just started with a 300EX which has descent suspension to start with.

 

Hey YZGUY,

I have a 250ex and wanted to fix the tire situation.
Can I put the holeshot tires on the existing rims or do you recomend against that?
also what is the aprox. cost of the tires and rims.

thanks,
Dawgboy

 

Sure, Holeshots will go on the stock rims. Actually, the stockers are good, strong stuff. The reason I went with the aftermarket, was the increased width for added stability (they are wider to start with, and have a greater offset). A lot of beginners ride my 250, so I want it as stable as possible! If you are on a budget, and tippiness doesn't bother you that much, go with stock.