A Few questions

[Bigwestbullies]

New to the forum. Glad I joined. I have a few questions about my trike. It's an 85 250R looks to me that it has a custom pipe. Now the trike is set up for drag it has an 8" extended swing arm (from what I was told its 8") previous owner had taken all the lights off I believe the wiring is all there I eventually want to get all lights put back on so I hope that they are the correct wires.I paid $800 for the 250R it runs but has some minor wear and tear issues shock seals and such. It fires right up first or second kick. Now here are my questions.

What ratio should I mix the gas and pre mix oil ?
How hard would it be to get the bike back to where It will be a nice duner with some good power.


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[RIDE-RED 250r]

First of all, welcome aboard! :beer

Secondly, you did great for what you paid by the looks of the pics.

Once you get through the new member probationary period of 2 months and 10 posts you should be able to score many of the parts you need like the headlight and tail light right here in the classifieds section of this forum.

I am not sure who makes that pipe. I can identify a few of the ATC pipes but not all. And yours I do not know what it is, but it looks like it might be a nice one beside the dent.

I would at least run a quick compression test to give you a rough idea of the condition of the top end. A stock engine should be around 190psi if it is fresh. Also, a compression test can be helpful in determining what type of fuel to run, whether it requires race fuel or pump fuel.

I don't ride dunes, so I am not sure of the nuance things duners typically do to make their rides do what they want in the big sand.

As to fuel and oil. That is a very well covered and debated topic. After much reading and researching for myself, I have settled on running castor based oil (Maxima 927) at a ratio of 32:1. Do your own searching and researching and make an informed decision for your own reasons based on your particular situation. Every R owner isn't in the same exact situation :)

Congrats on an awesome score! Around where I live you would be lucky to find an air cooled R in somewhat rough shape for what you paid for that '85! :)

[Bigwestbullies]

First of all, welcome aboard! :beer

Secondly, you did great for what you paid by the looks of the pics.

Once you get through the new member probationary period of 2 months and 10 posts you should be able to score many of the parts you need like the headlight and tail light right here in the classifieds section of this forum.

I am not sure who makes that pipe. I can identify a few of the ATC pipes but not all. And yours I do not know what it is, but it looks like it might be a nice one beside the dent.

I would at least run a quick compression test to give you a rough idea of the condition of the top end. A stock engine should be around 190psi if it is fresh. Also, a compression test can be helpful in determining what type of fuel to run, whether it requires race fuel or pump fuel.

I don't ride dunes, so I am not sure of the nuance things duners typically do to make their rides do what they want in the big sand.

As to fuel and oil. That is a very well covered and debated topic. After much reading and researching for myself, I have settled on running castor based oil (Maxima 927) at a ratio of 32:1. Do your own searching and researching and make an informed decision for your own reasons based on your particular situation. Every R owner isn't in the same exact situation :)

Congrats on an awesome score! Around where I live you would be lucky to find an air cooled R in somewhat rough shape for what you paid for that '85! :)


Thank you for your response. ya I am super stoked on my score. I have always wanted a 85 250r and now my dreams have come true. I talked the guy down almost $800 from his asking price I will definitely get the compression check done. I have to rebuild the carb as we'll the previous owner didn't clean the bike after he used it so there is sand everywhere when I first started the trike I was surprised this thing sounds like a beast I can't wait to own some quads out at the sand drags this season !!!

[Bigwestbullies]

So when I do a compression test do u hold throttle open or keep closed? How many Times should I kick the bike or just kick until gauge doesn't move anymore? Should I leave the gauge pressurized for a couple minutes to see if it Holds?

[slashfan7964]

No need to hold the throttle open. You're flooding the engine and wasting fuel. Couple times should give you a good reading but you don't really need to do it more than once.

[Bigwestbullies]

No need to hold the throttle open. You're flooding the engine and wasting fuel. Couple times should give you a good reading but you don't really need to do it more than once.
Ok thank you I'll give it a shot

[RIDE-RED 250r]

I have always held the throttle wide open to allow the most air into the engine for a compression test. Kick it till the gauge stops climbing.

There are differing opinions on this though

[Jason125m]

x2 on throttle wide open. You will have a lower reading with the throttle closed. Its not like you will miss the 2 cents of fuel 10 kicks will use... lol

[Bigwestbullies]

x2 on throttle wide open. You will have a lower reading with the throttle closed. Its not like you will miss the 2 cents of fuel 10 kicks will use... lol

I kind of figured it should be open. I hold it open when I check compression on my stand up jet skis.

[Bigwestbullies]

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YWI1FeIRS5w

Here's a little video I took earlier of her fired up and idling

[hitmeup760]

Nice looking 250, that swing arm is way longer than I thought, it looks great for drags but that much extension will bottom out on razor backs when dunning. I live in brawley which is 30 min. from glamis so I go out almost every weekend. I looked around and saw a +4 is great for dunning and drag racing but yours looks badass chromed out.

[Bigwestbullies]

I got the bike cheap. I couldn't pass it up. I'm a duner through and through but I do love the straight speed. Maybe I'll just turn it into a hill / sand dragger. Gotta look into getting the lights but low on fundage at the moment

[NeverLift]

Great buy. looks like a Dynoport pipe. There are companies that can fix the dents if your concerned.

[Bigwestbullies]

Great buy. looks like a Dynoport pipe. There are companies that can fix the dents if your concerned.

Will the dents mess with the performance any ?

[hitmeup760]

Not really but if your looking to get every ounce of performance out of it with no flaws then you should get it fixed but it will have to be re-chromed. Any metal shop can take care of that for you

[Bigwestbullies]

Not really but if your looking to get every ounce of performance out of it with no flaws then you should get it fixed but it will have to be re-chromed. Any metal shop can take care of that for you

I might just use it for a while then get a diff one. I'm lookin to ditch this swing arm for a shorter one so I can dune comfortably first