Finally got a 85 250r and I have a few questions *Pics*

[k00leo]

So I finally got a 1985 250r and I have a few questions about it.
First and foremost, pictures of when I brought it home:





Pictures once I had cleaned it up a little bit:




Now here is one of my concerns…




What the heck went on here?
Did the guy do that so it’s easier to oil up the carrier?

Good news, the rest of the swing arm does not have anything else wrong with it. No cracks or anything.

Should I take the bike to a shop and get them to neatly weld on a plate to cover the hole up? I dont have a welder.

[Xowner]

Nice clean bike, and yes thats just what they did. Only thing i would worrie about is the water and such getting in there. Try to find some sort of rubber plug to seal off the hole. As far as weakness, there are a lot of bikes with swingarms built with open centers.

[RideRed250R]

nothing wrong with it.. i second x owner.... just find a plug and id spray alittle WD in it after every trip when id was the bike

[k00leo]

Whew that makes me feel better. I was worried that I had to replace the swinger

[350Xccelerator]

Nice R, good job on getting rid of all those stickers

[whipit]

you could slide those forks into their correct position. also, sweet toolbox!!!

[k00leo]

Nice R, good job on getting rid of all those stickers

Yea, the guy went pretty crazy on the stickers. But hey, they protected the plastics from getting scratched.

[edog]

Any plans other than riding it?...mods?

[k00leo]

Well right now it has a bent durablue axle on it, so i am buying a stock axle from seadoo and putting that on there. I still need to decided if i want to send the durablue to dirtcrasher to fix, or possible sell it as is.

I also want to eventually get new radiator shrouds, fork boots, thumb throttle, handlebar pad? (what would that be called?), some new radiator lines, break lines, etc. I dont know if i like the cobra silencer on it, so i might change it back to stock or put something better on there.


If anyone has a thumb throttle assembly for my 250r, please let me know, i will buy it from you.



Question for all of you,

The guy said that he would put a 40:1 mixture in the bike.

That should be making it run a little rich and smoke a little more then normal right? I know i should be running a 32:1 mixture on the bike.

Here is a little fun face for you guys too, the guy said that this bike was in Italy! How cool is that? he said that him and his buddy were deployed over there and they would go riding all the time. Some of the stickers that were on the bike showed that it may have actually been there. Pretty neat.

[edog]

A safe bet is 32:1.......

[atctim]

Question for all of you,

The guy said that he would put a 40:1 mixture in the bike.

That should be making it run a little rich and smoke a little more then normal right? I know i should be running a 32:1 mixture on the bike.

no - you got it backwards - 40:1 is less oil than 32:1 the first number is gas parts - the second is oil parts. so at 40:1 it would smoke a little less than 32:1 - albeit not that noticeable of a difference.

[k00leo]

Ah, ok. Thanks for the clarification.

[FastZ28]

you could slide those forks into their correct position. also, sweet toolbox!!!

Actually it looks like someone removed the smaller of the two fork springs. Get a set of Progressive fork springs.
http://www.denniskirk.com/jsp/produc...Id=&mmyId=5968

[k00leo]

you could slide those forks into their correct position. also, sweet toolbox!!!

What do you mean? does the front end need to be lowered?



FastZ28, whats the benefit of those springs? It seems that the front suspension is working well. Then again, i haven't driven it hard since it has a bent axle.

[200XMichigan]

You won't want to spray WD-40 into the carrier, it will act as a solvent and dissolve the grease that is in there. Find a good marine grade grease, they will sell it at any marina. Its for boat trailers that get submerged in water and then driven down the freeway at 70 mph. Holds up awesome to water. A rubber plug and some marine grade grease and you'll be good. You would want to pop the rubber cap off after any wet rides to let any water that got in evaporate. Is there a small hole on the bottom of the carrier for water to drain out of if it gets in? Might want to add that otherwise it seems like water would get trapped in it.

Awesome 250R by the way.