The CB250N was not in a bad condition for £185. The big disadvantage of getting the Wet Dream was a considerable loss of street cred among certain of my friends with whom I had spent many enjoyable hours taking the piss out of such machines. I kept telling myself it was cheap! The ride home through the Oxfordshire countryside was uneventful, except for a little skittering on the residue of some overenthusiastic road repairs.
My initial impression was that it was either lacking power or had a surplus of weight. It was considerably more sluggish than a very ratty CB250RS which I had the misfortune to own some time previously. Handling was not spectacular and took a bit of getting used to, but on reflection was probably not too dire.
The next day I rode the machine to work, about 17 miles of dual carriageway then 2 miles into town. It went fine. Returning home was not the same story. About 7 miles from home the revs shot up and the bike gently slowed down; the chain had decided to go AWOL. £25 poorer for a new chain after a lift to a bike shop, I was back on the road.
The Honda was used nearly every day for a couple of months. I changed the oil every 1500 miles and the filter every other oil change. Rumour has it that frequent oil changes on small rice grinders improve engine life considerably and this has been borne out in my experience.
After moving house, I had the choice of the insanity of the A40 west of Oxford or the back lanes. I tended to use the latter, it was more fun and I felt that I would be less likely to be killed by a yuppie type commuting into London. It's true, they do commute from beyond Oxford.
The top end was somewhere around 80mph, and it would cruise at 65 to possibly 70mph. Acceleration was nothing special, and I never bothered to find out the 0-60mph time. Fuel consumption was heavy for a 250, it returned between 45 and 55mpg depending on the degree of thrashing. Servicing was generally straight forward. I discovered that the split pin holding the camchain tensioner pin at the top of the tensioner had been replaced by a bent nail. Sometimes the tensioner sticks even if you have adjusted the bolt - check with the rocker cover off and loosen with a large hammer and chisel. A naff camchain can seize up the engine after tangling the valves, slowness with the clutch lever results in a seized back wheel and brown underwear or worse.
I found that comfort was adequate over short and medium distances but long distance work was a bit of a struggle. the clutch was fairly light and never cause me any hardship. The twin front discs (off a 400) were effective and the rear drum was adequate, able to lock the wheel. My pillion was short in leg and found some degree of difficulty in climbing aboard but noted that the broad seat was considerably more comfortable than that of the old RS.
Even a light pillion had a very noticeable effect on performance and top speed was reduced by up to 15mph. The horn produced a gentle bleat which would not even perturb the most timid granny let along provide appropriate admonishment to a Volvo driver. The instruments were the standard Honda items and were functional at best.
As time went by the engine became noisier. No amount of adjustment of the tappets or camchain quietened it. A can of STP made a considerable improvement and also cured one or two oil weeps. The tyres lasted well and I did not have to replace them in the 5000 miles I put on the bike. I ended up swapping that Wet Dream for a DT125 as I fancied a bit of trail riding.
The second Wet Dream was a 400 version which I acquired three years later. I was desperate for transport having had to sell my R80GS and needing something cheap. The 400 was a prime example of a rat bike and needed some work. £30 with no MOT, tax, good tyres, good exhaust and a K & Q seat. There was quite a bit of rot on the rear mudguard and the brackets on the carrier had fractured. The engine was covered in oil but started and seemed to run fine. A spare engine and other bits were thrown in.
The rolling chassis turned out to be in good nick, not a speck of rust on the Motad, the chain still had some life left and the paint was almost free of scratches. I was well chuffed. The engine rattled gently as I pottered along. The front brake was as effective as I recalled on the old 250, but the back brake felt strangely spongy - the pinch bolt on the brake operating arm was missing. After fixing that it passed the MOT.
The power was a considerable improvement over the 250 and it proved a very reasonable commuter. I was at that stage living in London so the bulk of riding was in town. The rattle gradually increased in volume and I had to keep feeding it oil at the rate of a pint a week, which leaked out of the engine, attracting grime. I decided to use the best bits of the two engines; the job was done in a day!
After putting the new mill into the frame and connecting all the bits it coughed into life on the first press of the starter. I was totally incredulous and deeply suspicious. My suspicions were well founded. On trying the kickstart there was the ominous sound of a return spring coming away from its stop. I could not ignore this as upon starting the engine with the electric foot a loud rasping sound was heard. Oh well, drain the oil, strip off the casing and replace.
Try again. Same Result. Consult Haynes manual, no enlightment. Repeat procedure. Consult manual again, no help from the pictures so try reading the text. What the hell is a spring guide and what does it look like? I could find no pictures and nothing in the pile of bits seemed to fit the bill. It was getting dark and I was getting well pissed off. My other half had shown great wisdom and had disappeared, leaving me cursing in the gathering dark. It must have been one of those missing bits. I took the only course of action left - reassemble the heap and leave the kickstart lever off to prevent accidental operation and subsequent dislocation of the spring. That seemed to do the trick.
By then it was dark. I decided to run the motor for a short while to see if anything would fall off or go bang. After two minutes at about 3000rpm all seemed well, except that the exhaust gaskets were blowing slightly. I looked at them, only to see that the tops of the downpipes were red hot. I was a bit concerned at this, but then remembered that the tops of the downpipes on BMWs glow slightly when being thrashed. As the pipes on parallel twins are tucked out of sight when riding you don't notice if the pipes have become a little warm.
I allowed a couple of minutes for the pipes to cool before tightening them. This was not long enough and the resulting burn elicited a stream of curses. I rode the machine home. The rattle had been reduced a bit but the oil leak was worse than before. So, I just kept on riding and topping up as and when needed. It is still running, rattling and leaking, to date has been totally reliable, having been used almost every day commuting in the middle of London. As an exciting sports machine, forget it, but as a commuter machine with no pretensions about being anything other than a transportation utensil it is great.
To summarise, the Dreams are definitely commuter machines, with the 250 version suffering from being very underpowered. Still, if you are satisfied with a machine which accelerates in a manner reminiscent of a slug with a pin up its arse then it would suit you down to the ground. The 400 has adequate power and performance for a commuter/short distance tourer but appalling fuel consumption (39-45mpg). As cheap hacks they are great but don't expect them to be a suitable mount for a boy racer. The examples I have owned have provided me with good dependable service but not a great deal of excitement.
Sandy R.