2424 replies to this topic

[150ron TT Titanium Member]

Welcome retired ride,   manual says to check the valves first at 600 miles,  and then at 4000 miles,  and every 3000 miles after that,  so you could have them checked if youd like,  but if the bike starts up good,  then it might be in spec and fine.

[150ron TT Titanium Member]

Added some tusk goodies to the xt,  from rockymountain.com

tusk rear fender pack










Tusk seal savers










the bag is 14 bucks and the seal gurads are 10 bucks,  so not bad for only 25 bucks,  quality is great on both

[Denny Fish TT Newbie]

150ron :Bike's looking good, lots of nice mods., I'm getting set to change my front sprocket are the threads left or right hand to remove? Thanks for all your info.

[150ron TT Titanium Member]

Fron what i remember they were just regular,  righty tighty,  lefty loosy.

did you get a socket that fits?  what size socket did you get?

[Denny Fish TT Newbie]

Used a 30 mm. socket and breaker bar. Came off super easy.It is regular turn on the threads as you mentioned. Your right the 16 tooth turns fourth gear into a real puller. Used my handheld gps and the speedo is spot on, maybe off 1/4to1 mph at various speeds. Got  68 mph. fourth, 72-3 in  fifth, I notice first is a little higher but not too noticable, may get a 14 tooth and swap out the 16 if I decide to do more offroad riding when I load her up and go fishing and mushroom picking etc.  Its a fast and easy swap. Thanks for the info and safe riding.

[150ron TT Titanium Member]

Great,  glad to know it is a 30mm,  next time at lowes i will pick one up too.

Also good to know that the speedometer is pretty accurate,  i was told that it is about 10% off,  meaning,  if im doing 70mph its actually 63mph,  but glad to see that you compared it and it was almost the same between the speedo and the gps.


did you swap yours by putting the bike in neutral and stepping on the rear brake while breaking it off?   i only did it once,  and want to make sure im not gonna damage anything.

[Denny Fish TT Newbie]

I put it in first gear with the back wheel on the ground. Mine came off easy, it had no locktite on the threads just the washer with the fold over tabs, I have a new one but was able to reuse the original it has two tabs and they only bend one from the factory so I was able to use the second tab which had not been bent yet.

[truepath TT Member]

I used to be pretty active on this thread, but not so much in the last year or so. I'm still riding and enjoying my XT though. Does anyone here know if anyone makes a center stand for the xt250? Thanks.

[Retired Ride TT Newbie]

Well I almost decided not to post this, but some truthful downside needs be said sometimes, right?  After having acquired my used XT250 6 weeks ago and having done some street riding, I was invited by group of TW200 guys to join a dirt trail ride.  These were experienced riders in their mid 50's (my age group) and promised an intermediate ride, not a race. Sounds good to me.  The route ended up being 50 or so miles RT and up over mountain ridges, through some valleys, across some water, etc etc.  Seemed my bike was "squirrely" especially front tire. We encountered sharp hair pin turns, loose dirt, loose rocks, etc.  I dumped the bike many times. Front end would slide out from under me, I would panic and tip over. We were in first gear most of the time as it always seemed to be a climb and short turns, humps, etc.  BTW, The tires are Michelin T63 or something like that - I can't go look as bike is not here now.

This was my first experience on dirt and what an experience it was!  One time I fell to the left against a bank, motorcycle pinned my left leg down and I simply could not lift bike off me or get my leg out.
Finally one of the guys realized I wasn't coming (not unusual!) and turned around to find me and got the bike off me.  So enough of the sob story. The bike also started running rough and would die if you didn't keep it reved up.  Then extremely tough to get started again, bout wore battery out.  FINALLY, made it back to parking area and took my bike in to the dealer today and they suspect that oil
got in the air cleaner (because of crashes) and its not getting proper air flow.  They to check it all out, fix it and call me in a week.  I need some nice logging or forest road, not some goat trail up the side of a mountain.  Bad first trip out - but can only get better!

Edited by Retired Ride, 09 May 2012 - 02:09 PM.

[150ron TT Titanium Member]

Sorry to hear about your experience retired ride,   ive taken mine on the hardest black diamond trails around me,  some crazy climbs, and the bike has always been great for me.


do the air/fuel 3 turns out mod and adjust your idle speed,  mine was very low from the factory.

[Bill B TT Newbie]

I've had mine for about 2 1/2 years and ridden 90% dirt in North GA.  Bought new and have ~5000 miles on it.  Perelli MT21 on the front and Michelin T63 rear.  It is squirley on dirt with anything over 14 psi in the tires.  I usually ride 10 in both front and rear.  This makes a totally differt bike - handles great.  I run heavy duty tubes and have never had a puncture.  Most of the guys I ride with are on KTMs of various sizes and I stay right with most of them even at the sometimes faster pace.  This bike will also outclimb just about anything I've come up against.  I have had no issues with carb or cold start and have not touched the idle air bleed screw - guess I'm luckey.  This bike has been ridden hard and put away wet with oil changed every 1000 miles.  Tough bike.

[Retired Ride TT Newbie]

Thanks for the air pressure info Bill.  One of the other guys mentioned that subject at the end of the ride. I think he said he  runs at about 10 psi for trails.  I will definitely reduce my air pressure
next time I hit the dirt and see if that helps.  I know a lot of it is just plain inexperience on my part. Also it would have helped if there were only occaisional tough spots, it seemed every mile was a struggle and either a cliff or steep bank on either side of the trail. No good place to fall!

[syspig TT Newbie]

Looks like this thread hasn't had much recent attention, but it looks like the best place to ask about the new 2013 model.

Anyone own one? I'm seriously considering one for my wife, but am curious how the new fuel injection is working out.

[shuswap1 TT Bronze Member]

Not sure what the real-world benefit of injection would be on this bike. It's HEAVY and pretty anemic, but steady-eddy with the riding experience. I emphasised the heavy because I've had to lift it off the wifey so many times!

Both the wife and the previous owner had moderate-speed unexplained crashes on this bike. I checked it over very very carefully after her crash and could find no reason at all for the fairly dramatic front-end divergance from straight-line riding. Both crashes were pretty bad and there were injuries in each event.
I immediately changed the front tire, which may sound silly, but I am suspicious about the absolute crap tire that comes on the bike.

Bike is VERY reliable, smooth power delivery and it's been delivering about 75mpg mostly off-road, (about 60mpg US gallon)
Not sure what injection would add to this bike, except expense and another failure point if/when the pump fails

If I were looking for a bike for her today, I would look at a 2 stroke, due to the weight difference alone

Edited by shuswap1, 21 August 2012 - 10:36 AM.

[pj5454302 TT Member]

New led tail light, Bedlined rear fender, smoked rear turn signals and finally new shinko 700 series rear tire.

Sorry for the crappy cell phone pics

From this

to this, Shabam!!

[150ron TT Titanium Member]

Looking good!  anything is better then the huge rear tailight set up,   did you spray the fender?  what bed liner spray did you use,  looks great?

I did my skid plate,  grab bars,  and foot pegs with bedliner spray,  been holding up great.






By the way,  this forum does not really offer too much info and action for our bikes,  check out these two sources for additional info and knowledge.

http://www.xt225.com...ds.php?ubb=cfrm

http://advrider.com/...ad.php?t=403156

[pj5454302 TT Member]

thanks ron, Its a kent brand undercoat that I got from work. ( I work in a bodyshop) and Im currently awaiting approval to join xt225.com

[150ron TT Titanium Member]

cool,  yeah its a little slow joining up over there,  but once you are approved,  thats about it,  you are in,   hey i really like your rear tire,  what exact model is that?  and what % street/dirt is it,     i recently put on a rear shinko 244,  and now have about 2k miles on,  and it shows lots of wear allready.

[pj5454302 TT Member]

Its the shinko 700 series tire, I got the 4.60-18. And its a  60% onroad and 40% offroad tire.

http://www.shinkotir...oduct.php?id=48

[150ron TT Titanium Member]

Thanks pj,  that will be my next rear tire.   I was under the impression that the 244's were 50/50,  but in the video it states they are a 70/30 road/off road,  while your's are a 60/40 road/off road,  so ill get the 700 series next,  as i do lots of dirt.