250Rs?

[mrbones]

I recently bought an '86 ATC250r. After riding it about four times at Croom, the piston blew up. I'm rebuilding the engine now. I'm putting in new crankshaft bearings, crank, seals, piston and a new bore. I'm still on the fence as to if I should replace all the bearings inside it. My engine has many, many hours on it and I could only find that out by taking it apart and inspect every part inside it.

When you buy an older atv, you never know how many hours are on it or how it was maintained over the years. As with any Honda engine, if it was cared for, would last you a very long time. Mine, unfortunately for me, was quite neglected.

[Scott270r]

Gee, no wonder I do not comment here much. Try to give a person some advice and the wolves come out to mark their trees. Our 250r's were built to run to the limits, and that is just what we do with them. If you are going to race one of these, or any other quad, and be competitive, expect to work on it and maintain it. Maintenence includes every nut, bolt, fastener, bearing, bushing, the shocks, and every other part. Not just the engine. It is no fun to drive 300-400 miles to a race and find you had a bad axle bearing in practice and you can't race. They will last a long time if you ride them and race them occasionally, or if you have not mastered a full throttle. I am thrilled a few of you can get longevity out of your R's. I have had one of mine since '94 and it still runs great. FOX17, best of luck on your decision. 

Not meaning for my earlier post to come out sounding offensive in any way. My engine has been very reliable so far, that's all I was trying to say. And that the 450R's I don't think are any more reliable than the 250R's are.

On another note, its refreshing that there are still a few of us left, I still love the 250R and always will.

[Hoosier Daddy]

Ok Scott, quit marking your trees.. enough is enough.. 

[HondaATC]

I was asking as I know a kid that has a 99' 250 sitting in a shed. A teen messed up the engine and this kid picked it up thinking he could fix it. He got an estimate from Honda of $1000 to rebuild the engine. Not wanting to spend that much, this 250 has been sitting in a shed for a couple of years. I can pick it up rather cheap. A 99' 250, would that be an ES? What would you do with this engine? Rebuild it? Put another engine in it? Would a 250R engine swap in there easily? What can I put in it without having to switch out alot of other parts?
Teej

That sounds like a 250ex...not much you can do with those. Its pretty much a Honda recon (utility quad) with different fenders. Not good for racing and definitely not good for putting a 250R engine into

[Scott270r]

Yeah if its a 250EX that is a totally different bike altogether. That is NOT a good racing bike but moreover just a sport bike. A 250R is a 2 stroke 6 speed racing bike from the 80's, none were made after 1989.

[methyman]

I have a 86 TRX250R with a 330PV topend. It has been together for over 3 year of abuse just with normal piston replacement. It finally broke a rod a couple months ago. It cracked the cylinder sleeve. It will still be cheaper to fix the R than any of the newer 4 strokes that are out. I have herd of the 450R and YFZ's blowing up and costing anywhere from $2000 to $4000 to fix. sometimes more.

[MotoMike]

I love 250R's.  I actually built one about a year ago.  I ordered all of the parts online, starting with a frame off of ebay.  I sent the frame to Mike at ATP and he did a killer job on the frame.  I got it all put together, took it to his shop for some final tightening and stuff and sold it before it left his shop.   I got talked into buying a 450r.

Now today............I got another 250R!!!!!     This bike has a 350 non PV motor and is just sick!  It is set-up for XC and woods which I really like.  Just can't beat a dinosaur.



Mike