Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

.. ; HONDA XL2S0Kl rlIi:I a rlIi:I ..... g ~ g The four-stroke that turned thinking around thumps on By Char les Clayton and Larry Langley We want to tell you about this machine. There IS a quality about Hondas that bespeaks a great enthusiasm for the art of making motorcycles. They're very good. You can maintain them or not and they'll function anyway. If you lavish the care on them demanded by, say, a Triumph . t hey should last fo rever. Honda in tr o d uced the XL-250 about two years ago . The XL-250 proved that a properly des igned fo ur -stroke is competitive against the .u biq ui tou s two-st ro kes in th e on /off-road sce ne. M od i fi ed X L - 2 5 0 's wo n m a ny c ro ss-co untry races in cluding the Baj a 500. Now the first model change for the XL-250 has come along, the K I. At first glance it 's hard to see any changes except for t he paint , n ow a light blue in st ead of the familiar silver of th e ori gin al. T he "split pe rso na lity" XL·25 0 K I is adve rtised by Ho nda as an on/off-road bike and rig htly so. Standard trials tires are th e Iimi ling factor o ff -road. T hey just wo n't do the j ob in sand or so ft terrain. T h is ye ar Honda supp lies a 3 :0 0 x 2 1 front tir e replacing the old too-narrow 2 :75 x 21. It helps, but for serious dirt riding use the popular 3 :5 0 x 21 Cheng Shin knobby and either a 4 :00 x 18 or a 4 :50 x 18 knobby on the rear replacing the 4:00 x 18 tr ials pattern. The torque of the overhead cam four-stroke easily pulls the larger tire. A 15-tooth coun tershaft sprocket is standard equipment, coupled with a 48 ·tooth rear giving a top speed of 75-80 MPH . For en du ro riding most XL-250 owne rs have go ne to a l4- tooth counters haft an d a 52- tooth rear spro cke t, w h ich give a top speed of 70 MPH , while low gea r can be used for picking your way up nas ty rocky ca nyons and down steep h ills wi thout killing the engi ne . Fo r cas ual trail riding j us t a c hange to th e 14-to oth co un tershaft sp roc ket wo ul d be e nough . Fo r m ainly street riding th e stock gea ring is fine. A heavy d uty chain is standard. Fen ders are flexib le but not unb reakable . If you hit the m just righ t th ey will sp lit . The fron t fe nder d oes not keep mud an d water from splas hi ng Cross-country boog ies were with in the limitations of the XL if you remembered the limitations. Tire pressure had to be very low on dirt and then you had the problem of spinning a tire since there are no rim locks . . . on yo ur legs or o n the engine, a nd th e pipe is th e culprit, fo r it bends right whe re the fende r should be fo r m aximum prot ectio n. Even accesso ry fenders won' t fi t around t he stock pipe. This pipe weighs 16 pounds. I r's kind of ironic, fo r the bike co mes with magnesiu m en gine side co vers to. save weigh t , ye t ca rries an exhaus t sys tem "Oh, no. I didn't see the photographer there. Hope they don't print it ." tha t 's heavy enoug h for an anchor. It is very quiet, howe ver. Hond a in tr o d uced D.I.D.alloy rims o n the XL-250 an d they ha ve since become a qual ity standard. Heavy duty spokes keep e very t hing to gether and do n't loo sen easily . T he rims co me d rilled for rim lo ck s (t wo on the re ar , o ne on the fro nt) b u t the locks are not stan dard equipme nt. Since the Honda rim lo ck s list fo r over S5 a piece, Joe R ide r is going to be h it up for a good piece of change when he as ks for the m. T hey sh ould be include d. If you buy an XL250K1 for fun, you 'll have it. Slidin' is easy 'and feels good so you do it . >

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