250-500cc Much hiatus, help a 2 stoke husky noob

Long story short, I'm about to pick up an 03 CR250 and am beginning to get a little concerned... mainly with the availability of wear parts like chain sliders, reeds, etc etc. I'm sure there must be something I'm missing when I'm searching for parts, but aside from the WR, are there many or any or all lot of cross compatable parts with other models or brands of bikes? Seems to be that I find parts that fit xxxx-1999 and 2004-xxxx... what gives? Am I about to buy a disposable bike?

There are a good bit of parts that interchange between the years on the 93-12 250/360, but also a lot of subtle differences. I don't believe they imported any '03 bikes, so you most likely have an '02 CR250, the last year you could get the CR250 in the states. They are very desirable, or at least the digital ignition is on them.

00-04 125/250/360 all share the same bodywork, radiators & subframe. Radiators are easily obtained from eBay and fit the 00-08 bikes. Front & Rear pads should cross with some more common KTM #s. Front Brake Master should be rebuildable, just need to pull the seals and measure to buy the proper kit. Rear master is oddball size and non-rebuildable. 01+ bike's use 25mm wheel bearings (front & rear) and the forks cross with the TE/TC bikes.

It's not nearly as easy to get stuff as a similar year jap bike, but they are getting up there in age.

Edit - reeds/reed cage from a mid 90's and later Honda CR250 will bolt up. Search the section, there are a few people who have done this with great results.

Thanks for all the good info, I'll definitely be thorough when looking at it.

Is there a solution to the rear master as far as a replacement? I assume I could make one work from a different bike somehow if it came down to it

If you happened to come across one and you were in the market, what would you pay for the bike?

In good condition anywhere from £900- 1800 english pounds.
Don't stress over parts you don't need yet.
Ive not had any issues with findin anything on my 02 360
All is available at a cost.

Fair enough. I'll post up some pictures

Picked her up yesterday, was pleasantly surprised how good of shape it was in. Looks to be well taken care of for sure. The seller even threw in some handguards (that I was planning on purchasing anyhow) and a spare sparkplug. Really excited to get out on it

This is a TALL bike, I can definitely see some pros and cons to something that will be mostly a trail ridden. I'm sure any kinks I come across will be easy enough to figure out.

I'm the meantime, I should probably take care of a few things like possibly new chain and sprockets, clean the carb especially; it never quite seems to quite get on the pipe so maybe the main is a little gummed up. The steering stem bearings DEFINITELY need replaced, some pretty nasty notches. My buddy and I seem to have both felt something a little off coming from the rear end, possibly swingarm bushings or something of the like? I don't think I've ridden a bike that needed them so I'm not exactly sure what to compare it to. Just feels a bit... loose? Squirrelly?

I've found the husky linkages go through bearings pretty regularly.

In my opinion, I find a little bit of up/down play is normal. But with a used bike I wouldn't be suprised at all if they're shot. I keep a bearing kit on hand and try to pull the swingarm, clean and regrease everything once a year. In between that I use the grease nipples 3-4 times a year.

If you can put the bike on a stand and move the rear tire side to side at all you need new swingarm bearings.

Head stem bearings are easy and cheap found out they are the same as trailer wheel bearings 44643l i think.
Swingers ive done mine twice in 5 years now ive been thinking the way to go with them would be ptfe bushes n phosphor bronze sleeves. Replace the needle set up complete..
But squirrely from the back end is flat tyre or swinger bearings, put it on a stand an lift the wheel n drop see if it moves any un sprung. As stated before try bumping the wheel to each side an see if theres any play.
All balls do a good set.

Good looking machine, also found jetting was way rich from factory, most drop the coin on a lectron.
Just pull the powervalve cover see if its working.

Oh it looks like those were his im selling bike plastics, if you can get another set from ufo for getting scratched up keep those pristine as they are getting tougher to find original graphics.

Awesome info chaps, much appreciated! I'll do a little poking around in the garage today and see what I can conclude.

Never hear of a lectron before a few days ago, jetless carb?! I'm baffled on how such a contraption would work. Does it self adjust? Like FI almost?

The tupperware is a bit rashed up, but gee if it's worth something with these graphics I'll set them aside for sure.

The front tire is in ok shape, but probably couldn't hurt to replace.

Well as far as the swingarm bearings I'm still not able to pinpoint what might be happening, but the front wheel bearings are SHOT. I guess that could definitely play a part in the squirrelly feedback I was getting

Thats good, pull the swinger out and check the need for grease, too much is just enough!

Lectron has two jets it runs with a metering rod and main jet, the rod is like the needle jet but has a flat on oneside that is tapered so it starts fat and as you open throttle the rod gets thinner = more fuel out of the main jet.
Up above 1/2 throttle there is a powerjet that hangs from the top and supplies extra fuel at higher rpm.

Not self adjusting but a very ingenious brilliantly performing piece of hardware.

Halls Cycles in Springfield, IL and Bill's Motorcycles Plus in Oregon have the best selection of Husky parts, knowledge and customer service.
As far as the Lectron is concerned, I live in TN and went out that way and rode with a friend at Rampart Range. With the stock TMXX, I spent a good part of my day trying to get my jetting right due to the altitude change. I went again with my Lectron and only had to give the powerjet a 1/4 turn adjustmet.

Nice bike! That looks clean for an 02 or 03. just run through it replace all your bearings. Maybe new chain and sprocket. Cables probably a good idea. Pump up the tires and you should have a good reliable and fun bike for a long time.

Maybe I'll keep my eyes peeled for a used lectron. I'm going to attempt to keep costs down on this ride lol. We'll see how that goes, I keep finding parts that I want. Not having to mess with jets sure is tempting though...

Thanks marc. I'm definitely excited to get this girl out and rip around. Like has been mentioned probably should just replace a few things before I do. Stuck a gauge on the rear tire and it had 30 psi in it lol. Idk what this guy was thinking.

New plastic worth it? I built up a new set in my cart on ebay, plus a few husky stickers to sort of make my own graphics, and I'm at about 215... should I pull the trigger? Or save the money and put it towards one of these crazy carbs?

Maybe someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I think your bike comes with the Mikuni TMX and not the TMXX. The TMXX is rumored to be the one that is more finicky. I personally don't have a problem riding a bike with scratched up plastics. Mine would look like crap again after a couple rides.

See how she rides for a bit before going carb route, as for plastics if your planning on keeping it an dont mind having beat up plastics then dont bother.
But if you wanna sell then it always looks better with a spare set on the advert.

Just my opinion.

you can interchange parts from other bikes on to it, for instance I just put a sinnis apache rear master cylinder and rear footrests on my husky, the bolt holes were ever so slightly different on all three items but other than that they work fine, as do the bar risers meant for pitbikes and the clutch cable meant for some weird lifan thing have a good look on ebay, more often than not the bits you need are similar enough to fit or be made to fit