'04 CR250R pros & cons

[Sauter497]

New here so be gentle...  Haha.

Couldn't believe AMA still has the rule that 250 2-strokes can still run with the 250 4-strokes.  We usually don't care about this with out CR125 modded by Eleven 10 Mods but my neighbor has an '04 CR250 just sitting there with less than 25 TOTAL hrs and a tank of 3 yr old bad gas.  He'll take less than $2000. for it.

Would love to race this at Unadilla!  Time is not on my side.

This bike is stock.  Besides the old gas removal.  What do I need to pay attention to to make this bike race ready?  It's for a 15 year old at 160lbs.  He's raced for about 10 years.

Thanks,
Dave

[dogger315]

Would love to race this at Unadilla!

Do you plan to compete in the open or vintage class?
What skill level is your rider? 

You're right about the time - this will be difficult (almost
impossible) to pull off in 7 days.

dogger

[_X_]

just go for it, its a honda! add race gas and go man.

[factoryX]

Dump the gas, rebuild that carb, change air filter, and change fork fluid if you can as well. but other than that 7 days is going to be tough for any other mods unless you have everything you need already. Pipe, Reeds, bigger brake rotors,  port/head work, etc.. If you're awesome just take the stock bike out there see where it gets you, you might be surprised.

[Sauter497]

My kid is in Novice.  His cornering is a sight to behold on hardpack or sand.  He will be in Am soon.  The 2-stroke Honda 125 we have is just not enough power and I'm not putting any big bore kits.  CR250 seems to be the best answer right now......  But hard to find.  Wanted a '05-'07, but can't find one reasonably priced.

Thanks,
Dave

[factoryX]

If your kid can jump decent but corner like a boss then the cr250 should be fine if not perfect. The only cons is the suspension tech is 8 years old and could use updating, and the motor/carb problems through honda's stupidity.

[Mike D]

I own this very year and make. If I were you I would be all over this bike if you can get it for a reasonable price. There was only one flaw with this bike IMO, the piece of shit mikuni tmx carb it came stock with. Take my word for it, DO NOT spend any time or money trying to jet it. No matter what you do it will not run correctly for very long because of varying temps, altitudes and humidity. I have been riding for 30 years and have never had such a frustrating time trying to jet a bike before. So that being said, go to e bay and buy a used 38mm keihin pwk off a 05 or later yz (i got one shipped to my door for 42 bucks) leave the tps disconnected, jet accordingly and kiss all jetting and poor performance woes goodbye. If honda would have speced this carb with this year cr it would have won all the shootouts it was in. This one mod on the 04 bike makes it run clean from top to bottom, its that big of a difference.

[Sauter497]

Thanks Mike D.

You've woken up some old brain cells of mine that remembered something about a jetting problem.  My son keeps telling me it'll be in mid-high rpm's most of the race, but I still would like to get it smoothed out.  Prob a port and polish with 50% C12 wouldn't hurt either.   Will definitately get a better carb, though.

This dude is killing me with the waiting game who still has it.....  He's not a motivated seller.  I may have to dig deeper to come closer to the $2000.00 mark.

Thanks,
Dave

[2T Institute]

i'll be at dilla.

That's Una-fu*kin-dilla...................

[msmola2002]

to be slurred drunkenly every I dunno, 6 minutes? At about 111dB.

[Sauter497]

Yup....  #497 honda in the novice 125/250 class and probably 49 CRF450 in the Open Novice class.  Wish you guys good luck.  We'll keep an eye out for ya.  They had 4 divisions of 125/250 Novice last year. 

Now this year no pit vehicles allowed!  We'll see how it all falls apart.

Thanks,
Dave

[msmola2002]

Yeah, was hoping to have my pitster out there this year to cruise around on - to spectate it is a bit of a hike from well, anywhere Little bummed about that.

Last year I ran vintage(!) 250 and 450C and was like moto 42 and 46 of 47 or 48. So this year have pre-entered 4 classes - 250 vintage, 30C and 250 and open C. Only one moto per class per day so my fat arse should be able to survive it, and won't be sitting around all day!