'84 250XC questions

Yeah, me again! I have a couple more questions I was hoping the vintage crowd could help me with. I'm thinking about picking up an '84 250xc. It looks to be in fairly good condition. The owner even has it listed here on CH w/pics for sale: 84 xc250 It would be a backup bike to my KDX for racing harescrambles and riding in general.

So, is there anything in particular (trouble areas) I should look for on it? Also, if something were to break, how difficult is it to find replacement parts? (I generally go down once or twice a ride as I ride hard and push my limits!)

Thanks!

I've been racing an 83 XC 250, (basically the same as the 84 except for the tank and seat) and have had no issues with the bike for 3 racing years. I went thru the bike completely 3 yrs ago, rebuilt engine and shocks (Keytime Motorsports), new ignition system and some cosmetic repairs. I bent the triple clamps early this year and bought a complete replacement front end for $50.00, and I've had a heck of a good time racing it.
These old Husky's were designed for hard racing not closet queens.
Buy it, race it, you will love it!

Those bike in general are quite crashable what with no radiators which allows the exhaust to be routed in a manner which it doesn't get banged up nearly as easily as a water cooled bike. Unfortunately the way the shocks attach to the swingarm you can crash in such a manner as to hit the lower spring collar and bend the shock shaft. Can just be a freak thing where you give it some gas and the rear end washes out and an object or a flat tar road covered in mud is the first thing on the bike to make contact.

If you determine that the bike has not been repainted in the area the boots rub it probably has 90 % of it's useful life left, I looked at the pictures. It looks very nice to the point of thinking why did they go and buy it in the first place. The frame can egg out where the swingarm pivot is, it is pretty thin not a pocket like now. You can grab a hold of that clutch lever on top of the engine and try and wiggle it to get an idea of what sort of use it might have had. A rear spoke was $4 and the nipple was $2 15 to 20 years ago so even if parts are available the economics of them might be like the economics of going to the emergency room for your body. By the time the ridges get worn off the footpegs there are some parts inside that primary cover used to get it turning with the kickstarter which could be in need of replacement. There is not much threads on this site about them but folks wanting to buy some things in there from word of mouth is right up there with working ignitions. I have only had one ignition go bad and have a lot of junk gears on the back of clutches and deformed pawl holders.

Fran

The pictures he linked to weren't water cooled unless something bizzare is going on.

I am not so sure about the cases or the mechanism of the water getting to the crank area but that outer cover can be bad on the water cooled ones. Probably more so in Az than NJ

Only 250 that was WC in 84 was the CR

yup 84 250xc is air cooled

Thanks for the input. I'll check it out thoroughly and hopefully can make a deal on it.

One last thing. Should it have an 18" or 19" rear rim?

18

A couple of years earlier a lot of them had 17. Some of them even have nine (or so) little pins on each side of the rim in addition to the two rim locks but I don't think xc has the pins. Chances are it has rims with a brand I can''t really spell without looking Nordsk or similar and a date which is often like six months older than the bike is supposed to be. The idea of the 19 inch is for moto cross replacing some rubber with some spoke xc is supposed to be cross country or desert racing I believe and you would want more rubber for that.

If you go to the vintage teck section you can find a manual for an 1983, not super specific to any model but probably 90% or more of it would be in an 1984 manual. There may well be some statistics over there as well.

Fran

Thanks!

I'll 'fess up - I'd always assumed rim size was more connected with gearing or tyre life than some sort of traction/suspension benefit - if that's what you're saying.

Sounds an interesting concept Fran, any idea how it works? ie why is more spoke better for MX and more rubber better for XC? Or am I over-reading your comments and you're just saying more rubber = longer tyre life?

Cheers
Lucien

The 18" puts more rubber (sidewall) between the rim and the ground than a 19". The advantage to that is less chance of rim damage from rocks and roots.

In restoring my 82 I have found the two hardest Parts to get are the Gas Tank and the Clutch Cover. Well Dent free that is if Your going to Race it Leak free is all You need. The 82's used 17" Rear Tires and the 83's 18". 18" opens the Door to many more Tire Choises.

A gold wing or Harley dresser has big bump absorbing tires while a sport bike has low profile tire where the rim isn't too far from the road in comparison. To get to the overall diameter a 19 inch tire will flex less and weigh less. I doubt the wear of the knobs themselves is any different. The 19 inch ones generally seem to be lower profile from what I have observed however I don't have anything 19 and you sure can get quite a variety of outer diameters in 18 which don't always seem the same from brand to brand for same numbering. These vintage husky bikes don't have the chain set real far off center. A 140/80/18 Irc m5b for example probably doesn't leave room for the plastic chain guard if you had one and kind of chips at the edege knobs a bit in use.

Fran

I have an nice 1983 XC250 for sale and ready to go if anybody is looking for an last year Aluminum Tank bike email me for pictures , Ron Nehls 1-509-930-0886