My old bike = my new project

Back when I was young lad of 17, I passed my test on a 125 and purchased myself a nice D reg example of Honda's VT250 which fit nicely into the 33 hp restriction I was subject to. The steed served me well for two years whilst my restriction period expired and then I upgraded to a CBR400 NC23.

Due to excitement of owning my first "proper sports bike", the poor little 250 found itself at the back of my dad's garage collecting dust, cobwebs and copping for a fair amount of corrosion. It has remained in my dad's garage, SORN'd and non-running for the last five years while I moved from CBR to SV and to my current Speed Four. Until last weekend that is, when I collected the little beauty and pushed her to my house to take pride of location in my new shed/workshop/garage structure.

With a little bit of tinkering and some bike jump leads attached to my S4, the 250 didn't quite spring into life, but the engine certainly turned over. After trying to start her for a bit, I then realised that the fuel tap was turned to the "off" position D'OH! Not had to use one of those for a while! Then, success! The engine started and purred beautifully (well, as nicely as you'd expect on 5 year old fuel) so I was well chuffed.

Just need to give the bike a good clean then I can give it the once over to see how much it'll cost to get her ship shape and back on the road as a winter commuter. I'll stick a few pics up of the bike as it is now and what it looks like once cleaned, but in the meantime, it's pretty much the same as this one below (except I don't have the seat cowl) and it's all original and present.



What I could also do with is getting hold of a new battery as the 5 year old one is well past it and won't even take a charge from an optimate. CB9-B I think is what it is.


Cheers
Jase

[fastdruid]

Aggggh, inboard discs!!!

Druid

Originally Posted by fastdruid

Aggggh, inboard discs!!!

Druid

Yeah they can be a pain, but they're not that bad if you really get stuck in and make sure they're well greased up. Front wasn't ceased when I pushed it home anyway, and that's after being stood 5 years so they can't be that bad!!!

[hindle8907]

kool good idea ... hope you get it sorted and back up and running.

looks like it was delivered in a box??

Originally Posted by blueto

looks like it was delivered in a box??

I think you're mistaken, that's the standard issue forcefield.

[fastdruid]

Originally Posted by Jase22

Yeah they can be a pain, but they're not that bad if you really get stuck in and make sure they're well greased up. Front wasn't ceased when I pushed it home anyway, and that's after being stood 5 years so they can't be that bad!!!

Another one of H*nda's solutions looking for a problem!

They problem with them is more that from what I remember that you can never tell any problems until its too late and were a pain to do anything to.

Enjoy, the VT250 was meant to be quite a sweet handling little bike.

Druid

Originally Posted by fastdruid

Another one of H*nda's solutions looking for a problem!

They problem with them is more that from what I remember that you can never tell any problems until its too late and were a pain to do anything to.

Enjoy, the VT250 was meant to be quite a sweet handling little bike.

Druid

The major problem with inboard discs is that people see them as "maintenance free" and so they don't get the attention that traditional style brakes receive, hence when there's a problem it's usually built up over a while. Fortunately it's only a single one though, so a bit easier to work on.

Re the handling, I'll have to wait and see what it's like after the years of neglect. Althuogh remembering back it was probably one of the better 4-stroke 250s in that department.

Anyway, here's a couple of snaps (took one of the inboard disc just for you druid )

I do like the "retro" Honda wing too.



And here's some helpful safety guidelines

[fastdruid]

I think modern tyres make a huge difference too, although for the older bikes it almost seems like it's BT45's, BT45's or BT45's!

Druid - VFR750 with BT45's