1974 MT250: How does Honda's first 2-stroke enduro handle the woods?
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- Опубликовано: 6 фев 2025
- First real woods ride with the MT250 after splitting the motor to replace the crank seals along with a fresh cylinder hone and new piston/rings. Lets see how it stacks up to the competition of the time.
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Great video, I really enjoy seeing the bikes from my younger days. They are still capable, and you don't have as far to fall as with newer bikes!
Thank you! That’s why I do it…it’s like a time machine for me. Get to see how you guys did it back in the day. Much respect.
I ride a ktm 300 now, im 53 yrs old, watching this reminds me of when we were kids and rode these bikes, bad shocks, vibration but we didnt care as long as we were moving along👊👊
Bike tech as come a long way! I ride a ‘23 Beta and while the new bikes are super capable and reliable, these old bikes are still a blast. I always say they are like time machines 😆
My friend had one of those in the early 80s in high school, it was a 75 model, he used to ride it daily, i had a Bridgestone 100cc lots of fun
I had a 1975 MR 175, this and the MR 250 were the enduro bikes of the time. The MT 125 and 250 were the dual purpose, and of course the CR 125 and 250 were the motocross.
I need to find an MR then! Thanks for the info!
I bought new a '75 MT 250 , and rode at the 6000-9000 elevation , needed a little lower gear and jetting , did pretty good though , then I took it to the Ozarks , didn't change the jets ......fist time I opened it up it threw me of the back because I wasn't expecting that kind of POWER ! When I went back to Colorado I changed jetting , hearing and rear shocks....Holy Cow ! I was challenging all the bikes in that class!
Nice! I just dropped a tooth in the front and will be taking it back in the woods again soon to see how she goes. I do notice that the airbox is a little restrictive when I open her up but still has plenty of juice.
That exact bike was my first dual sport,rode the snot out of it and it never left me hanging.
Honda reliability! I think I’m going to gear this down a tooth in the front and see how that helps in the woods.
You have a great place to ride off-road. Would be interesting to see a more racy 2-stroke on those trails, like a PE175 or KDX200 from the early 1980's, especially those early mono shock bikes with names like 'full floater' on the swing arm. Your Honda and Suzuki are really at the limit of their design parameters out there since they are 50/50 road/off-road.
IT 175s cheaper and more parts availability.
Thanks, I’m lucky to still have these trails. KDX’s and PEs are hard to come by. I’d love to get my hands on those models!
@@Garage2Trail Yes, sadly very hard to find those bikes. I especially like the PE with a blue seat cover, I think it's about '81 or '82, although the KDX was faster at the start with more torque from larger CC.
There is something about an older 2T enduro mmmhhmmm add to it that groovey Honda silver and red oh boy!! And it’s quite capable for an ol lady 😎that was very enjoyable
Thanks!!!
Thanks Dave!
Love the 2 strokes
Me too
Love it! Dr. Dirtbike wins again. I really enjoyed at 24 min. when you romped on it just a little.
Lol thanks Chuck! Lower gearing and a knobby rear will allow me to romp on it some more!
1970s Honda’s were all stylish,and had character unlike all bikes today
I agree. All the 70s and 80s bikes had great lines and colors
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for watching!
Good point, I didn’t remove the emulsion tube when I cleaned the carb, definitely the hardest one of any of my two strokes to set up perfectly!!
Especially when they start to wear out. I have a ‘74 XL350 that has a worn needle seat and I had to lower the needle down as far as it would go get it to run good…and it’s still on the rich side! I also had to lean out my ‘74 DT360A with a ridiculously small main jet to get that to compensate for worn carb parts. It now runs perfect and I constantly check the plug which doesn’t show it running too lean. Chocolate brown color.
Yes, the porting in the jug is set for torque not HP. You want drop the gearing one tooth on the small end for off-road use. The suspension when factory fresh was too soft. This is all based off my 1976 MR Enduro ownership. Back in the day I also removed the spark arrestor which restricts exhaust flow.
Yes the MR is ported between the Cr and Mt so ideal for aggressive woods work.
Good to know, thanks Banana. I don’t see many MRs pop up for sale in my area
I’ll def think about gearing down and maybe see how it behaves in the woods after @ibannymous
Enjoyed your video very much thanks for sharing this
My pleasure! Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for tuning in!
cool bike. a friend of mine had a 125 back in the day
Thanks Jeff!
I would be more embarrassed about the bolt falling out than the fuel leaking😁. Pre-ride bolt check all round the bike.
This bike drastically needs new shocks and fork refurb.
The thing is though it was tight. The threads let go. All of my old 50 year old bikes need new shocks lol
You're excused then, thread chase and blue loctite.
Not bad Dude, love those old RING DINGS,...Better take that duck (horn) to the doctor, lol. JB weld those pin holes, ride on man!!!
Thanks Mark! I’m gonna use the JB weld tank patch stuff I used on my 1980 Suzuki that had huge rust holes on it. That’s been holding fuel for weeks now. Keeping the duck horn too 😂
Great video, curious how you set up the carb. Mine has the stock 122/60 jets, needle clip in the middle air fuel 1 1/4 turns out. Idle and top end are awesome but the mid range throttle position terrible, wondered if you set yours up different. Thanks
Thank you! I had to drop my needle one notch to lean it out a bit because my slide needle or needle seat is worn…possibly a combination of both. It was very blubbery mid range until I did that. Definitely check your plug after to make sure it’s not too lean after that. Hope that helps!
Thanks!!! I’ll give that a try, I’m taking it on the speed deluxe vintage 1000 in a few weeks, hope it makes it!!!
@@1nicez awesome! You may also want to see if you can remove the needle seat tube/emulsion tube. Sometimes if those holes in the sides are clogged it can cause issues like that too. I had to gently tap the one out on one of my other bikes recently to clean it
I'm 60, I had one of these when I was younger. Good bike. Had a issue with shutting off out of the blue, then if you left it cool,it would start. ?????? Couldn't figure it out.
Weird, maybe it was running lean and overheating
Lucky guy!! 👍😎🇫🇷🏁
Thanks! Very fortunate to have these trails still and these awesome bikes to ride on them.
you should take and put some flex spray on the tank
I think I’m going to attempt to fill the pinholes with JB Weld tank epoxy. Worked great on another bike I recently fixed up.
It's a trail bike, not an Enduro. Honda really messed up with the MT series and they were sadly lacking in power. The handling was pretty good considering the flexy swing arm and 4" travel. They were long bikes, not tall. If you want to spend the time, put a CR top end and carbie on it. Toss the oil tank and pump as the CR barrel doesn't have an oil injection port. So, fill it with premix and find out. That simple mod will give you about 8 more horsepower. Well worth it and many MT owners did that back in the day. You don't need to change the head. Makes no difference.
Yeah I’ve always heard they were quite anemic compared to the CR of the time. It’s definitely not geared too good for the woods. I recently got a one tooth smaller up front sprocket which helps a lot but still does t make much power. Not a bad cruiser though!
@@Garage2Trail ..do the mods I mentioned and you'll have a great bike for anywhere.
I have the same bike @ 4000 miles.
Cool! How do you like it?
It's a really great motorcycle. Light and dependable.
I'm from thailand...
Hello and thanks for watching! 🍻
Honda in a nutshell, poor handling, great power, breaks, parts quality longevity..the caddie of motorcycles. 🤙
HES AN OBVIOUS NEWBY, HE BUYS ELECTRIC START YAMAHA DT’S AND WONDERS WHY THE ELECTRIC STARTER DOESNT WORK AND THEN HANGS WITH OTHER NEWBIES RIDING ELECTRIC START YAMAHA DT’S…… SOMETIMES LIFE CAN BE HARDER ON SOME OF US……
😆