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In the beginning... The Honda CB250
And so it came to pass that on the Monday the Twenty-Eighth of November, Two Thousand and Five that Brad purchased his first motorbike, and it was a 1994 Honda CB250, and it was goooooood...
Which is just by way of saying that my new-found obsession, which has been lurking beneath the surface for several decades now, has finally taken on a physical manifestation in the form of a bike widely described as a perfect first bike.
Way way back in the dim dark past I grew up on a motorbike, or to more accurate I started in a side-car and then later graduated to being wedged between my parents on the actual bike. Since then I have developed into a mad cyclist, and now I've extended my two-wheeled collection to include the motorised form.
So without further ado, here's the first bike:
Riding Notes
The bike feels generally very stable, though there is a tendency to develop a little bit of a wobble in the handlebars at high speeds if the handlebars are knocked (for instance by over-energetic inidicator switching).
There's plenty of power for riding up hills so long as the gears are used well - I've found the following ranges to be fairly common:
RPM Range |
Type of Riding |
Notes |
1500 |
Idle (as per manual) |
The idle revs tend to climb a little towards 2000 once the bike gets hot |
3000 - 5000 |
40-80km/h in gears 3-5 on inner city roads and highways |
|
4500 - 6500 |
60-90km/h in gears 3-5 on hilly tours (uphill) |
|
6000 - 6500 |
100-110km/h in 5th gear on freeways with no much head-wind |
Plenty of power left in 5th gear, but any increase in head-wind uses that power up quickly |
7000 - 7500 |
80km/h in 4th gear on freeway heavy head/side winds (30-50km/h gusting) |
At this strength winds 5th gear completely loses power, very difficult to go higher than 80km/h in 4th |
7000 - 7500 |
100km/h in 4th gear on highways with medium head-winds |
|
Maintenance
Within a few days of bringing the bike home I already had most of the externally removeable parts off for inspection and have managed through a super-supportive Melbourne motorbike community to have three motorbike manuals sitting around for when I decide to pull some more fundamental parts of the bike apart. 
Speaking of manuals - this seems to be a well thought of manual for this bike:
|
Clymer motorbike manual |
Online bookstore: http://www.themotorbookstore.com/reb250twinni.html
Google search: %22Honda+Rebel+CMX250,+Twinstar+CM185,+CM250,+Nighthawk+CB250+Repair+Manual+1978-2003%22
Here's a few maintenance tasks I've made notes on:
Fuel Usage
Refuel Date |
Type of Riding |
Range w/o Reserve |
Max. Range |
Usage |
22/12/2005 |
Mix of hilly touring & peak-hour commuting |
342km |
422km |
0.04l/km, 26 km/l |
24/12/2005 |
City free-ways, low traffic, 30-50km/h gusting head-winds |
265.5km |
326.7km |
0.049l/km, 20.42km/l |
27/12/2005 |
Country high-ways, low traffic, 30-50km/h gusting head-winds |
271.7km |
334.4km |
0.048l/km, 20.90km/l |
30/12/2005 |
Country high-ways, low traffic, low winds |
411km |
506km |
0.032l/km, 31.64km/l |
01/01/2006 |
Country high-ways, city free-ways, low winds |
316.16km |
389.12km |
0.041l/km, 24.32km/l |
11/01/2006 |
Mix of hilly touring & peak-hour commuting, low winds |
371.97km |
457.81km |
0.035l/km, 28.61km/l |
11/01/2006 |
Hilly touring, low winds |
368.87km |
453.99km |
0.035l/km, 28.37km/l |
15/01/2006 |
Mix of hilly touring & commuting, low winds |
321.72km |
395.96km |
0.040l/km, 24.75km/l |
15/01/2006 |
Hilly touring, low winds |
380.80km |
468.68km |
0.034l/km, 29.29km/l |
07/02/2006 |
Mixed touring, low winds |
322.98km |
397.52km |
0.040l/km, 24.84km/l |
08/02/2006 |
Mixed touring, low winds |
336.57km |
414.24km |
0.039l/km, 25.89km/l |
12/04/2007 |
City free-ways, mixed traffic, mixed winds |
311.21km |
383.02km |
0.042l/km, 23.94km/l |
29/08/2007 |
City free-ways, mixed traffic, mixed winds |
307.47km |
378.40km |
0.042l/km, 23.65km/l |
(Rough) Averages (calculated on 23/02/2006):
Range w/o Reserve: 339km
Max. Range: 417km
Usage: 0.039l/km, 25.43km/l
Recommended Engine Oil
According to the pretty handy lube-recommedation tools offered by vendors, here's the suggested engine oil for a 1992-2005 Honda CB250 (capacity 1.3 - 1.8 litres):
Vendor |
Recommended Lube |
Lube-Match Link |
Most of this information seems to be provided by Datateck (now Infomedia), so hooray for them...
Spark Plugs
Recommended by Honda:
NGK (Part number: CR6HSA)
Oil Disposal
Sustainability Victoria provide a free service to dispose of household waste such as engine oil, a timetable of provided drop-off dates and times is here: http://www.sustainability.vic.gov.au/www/html/1601-detox-your-home-timetable.asp