I am one of a select band of RS250 owners in Hull (a large fishing village north of Watford). Select because few. The bikes do exist here, in spite of the climate, but you can go for weeks without seeing one, and I suppose it was the camaraderie generated by ownership of relatively rare machinery that made me stop to chat to the owner of one of the few others I've seen. It was visibly different from mine in that it had a fairing, a nice black job that I instantly coveted. I could have gone on my way comparatively envious if I hadn't asked him how much he'd paid for the fairing. Fifteen pounds, he said, bought locally through the small ads. For the last three months I've scoured the ads in the local rag - baby clothes sell well, as do fridge freezers, and I've had hundreds of opportunities to buy used once bridal gowns, though not in my size. Fairings, no.
I bought the bike two and a half years ago by putting an ad in the paper myself. I needed a bike capable of taking me and my son to school every day - lots of short, traffic bound journeys. I wanted an RS largely because of its simplicity and economy (well, I actually fancied an Harley, but was told I couldn't have one). I decided I wanted to buy from a civilian, rather than from a motorcyclist. The young lady who phoned up certainly fell into that category. She had owned the bike for only three months and hardly used it, because she was too small and light to ride it - manoeuvring it into her back yard and putting it on the centre stand proved almost insuperable problems.
Scarcity of the bikes in this part of the world had an advantage. If the breakers have one you don't get much competition for the bits. I still buy odd parts from a machine that was broken two years ago. Of course, if they haven't broken one, you've got problems.
Running costs matter to some people, which is one of the reasons I bought the bike. Fuel economy is quite good - about 75mpg overall. I'd better admit at this point that I'm not one of your redlining, throttle-agaist-the-stop, footpeg snapping merchants - too old, too timid, and besides the police have a Freudian love of radar guns around here. But I do use the acceleration, and the bike travels two-up for a lot of its time, so 75mpg can't really be bad.
The mileometer reads 20000 miles, which is probably true. The first owner replaced the endless chain with a split link job that is still in reasonable condition. Tyres are quite long lived. I have to replace the brake pads before they are 50% worn because they emerge from the caliper far enough to suffer from the elements and seize. I had to replace the whole caliper at 17 grand. l now find that the lever pulls right back to the bars, but there's no sponginess. I have heard of people hoisting the front of the bike up to a roof beam to dislodge an obstinate air-bubble, but I haven't yet worked up the enthusiasm.
Since mine is the kickstart model, the battery spends most of its time asleep, and there is no sign of it ever being renewed. The gear that is driven by the electric starter on the electric start version can strip, the bits cost £50 to fix it. Servicing, with the aid of a Haynes manual, varies from the very easy to the bloody awkward. Electronic ignition leaves you with the spark plug to change and the timing to check. There's not a lot of joy to be had from the latter, the manual admits if the timing's out you can't adjust it anyway. So all you get is peace of mind - or not, as the case may be. Oh, and an oily face - when you peer into the appropriate aperture with a strobe light, compression ejects little gobs of oil at you.
The chain doesn't need adjusting often, despite pulling 25 stones on a regular basis, but I oil it frequently. The air filter is a wash in petrol and soak in oil job. Tappet adjustment is easy once the tank is removed, provided you have the fingers of a brain surgeon and a teensy little spanner to turn the tappet screws. Of course, inlet and exhaust settings are different - the manual tells all. The petrol tap has a filter that becomes quite clogged up. Watch out for the small O-ring on the flange that fits into the tank - fitting it wrongly results in intermittent running.
The gauze oil filter has to be changed every 7000 miles or 8 months. It lives behind the right hand cover - drain the oil and remove one million bolts, the clutch and decompressor cables, the brake pedal and kickstart, and the ignition cable. Well, the manual tells you all that, what it doesn't mention is that, unless the cover's been off recently, it's unlikely to budge. The dreaded aluminium oxide corrodes two locating dowels in the cover. I finally shifted it by use of an extensive vocabulary and a wooden lever jammed between kickstart shaft and cover. Grease the locating dowels to prevent a reoccurrence. Part of the clutch mechanism will fall out as soon as the cover is pulled off. The oil filter gauze pulls out and the balance chain can also be adjusted. The tensioner needs to be manually moved, although it is supposed to spring back into position once the locknut is loosened.
When I put the cover back on it snagged just before seating against the flange. A slap with the palm of the hand produced the sound of metal falling inside the cover. This turned out to be the decompression cam, which had located itself perfectly to write off the starter pinion if there had been one fitted (and costs £50 to replace). One service item that everyone happily avoids is the grease nipples on the swing arm. Someone had taken offence at the left one and broken it off. I managed to get the stub out by driving a three-cornered file into it.
The only major jobs I've done were related. The gasket at the base of the barrel cracked - not all that uncommon - and oil seeped out, which I ignored until the gasket was pushed out and I had my own personal oil gusher situated just above my right ankle.
Getting to the gasket and replacing it was no problem, but on my way down there I encountered the camchain. The tensioner for this projects above the cylinder head, and if the sprung wedge at the top projects more than 9mm the chain's shot. Mine was. I didn't have a spare camchain at the time, and it had never sounded particularly noisy (to me), sol left it where it was and finished the job. Getting the barrel over the piston wasn't particularly easy. I tried using strips of aluminium beer-can as a ring compressor without a lot of success - finger nails accomplished the task in the end.
Decision time ensued after a few weeks. Was camchain replacement a Take It To Your Approved Honda Service Agent job or could I do it myself? If I could just reach into the recess and pull it out, I had a yen to do it and save myself some money (which I didn't have in any case). I thought sod it, and have a go. The news is, if you can contain your excitement, it's possible. It's an easy enough job, you don't have to remove the barrel.
After the tensioner is removed, the chain can be pulled up its tunnel. An oil feed pipe has to be pushed out of the way - it's considered rather good form to replace it after the chain's installed. In a macho mood I managed to strip a thread in the head. A local dealer Helicoiled it for £7, but a torque wrench is really necessary.
So far, I've been able to cope with most of the problems I've encountered. There are minor grouses, as with most bikes - a centre stand that's hidden away and is difficult to find even once used to it. I've given up trying to get it off the stand while seated because the whole thing judders forward. Maybe the stand's too high, it's also prone to seizure if not lubricated fairly often. The kickstart lever broke, for no special reason. I replaced it with one from the breakers, not from an RS, and had to fit a stop to prevent it going over centre, but it works.
Every so often an indicator bulb falls out of its holder because the latter has bent under vibration or something. The fact that the holders appear to be made out of Kitkat foil doesn't help. A problem has arisen, gradually, in the last year in rainy or even very damp conditions. Once warm pushing in the choke makes the bike falter and then die. It starts again and accelerates, but cuts out at constant speed. Pull back the choke a little and it's fine. The Honda dealer can't find any problems with the coil, spark plug, HT lead, etc. (A cracked rubber carb manifold? - Ed.). Other than that, it's a pleasant bike which starts, goes and stops, usually in that order, and I rather like it.
J.D. Bond