My new (old) CD250U

[currykev]

Bought this last week. 9000 genuine miles and drove it back from Holyhead to London.
Not in 1 go mind. The weather was a bit dodgy a couple of days. But some 99p garden gloves kept the rain off those fingers.
A couple of niggles with it, nothing major,but this forum may not be the place to air them.
Great to ride a bike on a Motorway for the 1st time. (Test only passed 4 months back)
My front garden is now full.

[tom robinson]

Hi currykev,
what speed is your new bike comfortable at on the m way and is the cd250u a single or twin?
Ive been thinking of buying another bike and came across one but it is a Honda 250 twin but i hear they are not as good as the single 250?
thanks tom

[Black Sheep Radical]

I like those, well done

[Bogger]

CD250u is a much underated bike. Take my word for it it's a great bike.

Bogger

[Jon]

Hi currykev,
what speed is your new bike comfortable at on the m way and is the cd250u a single or twin?
Ive been thinking of buying another bike and came across one but it is a Honda 250 twin but i hear they are not as good as the single 250?
thanks tom

It's basically a 250cc version of the CD185/200 Benly twin. It's a 360 degree parallel twin so unlike the CB125T version the pistons rise and fall together. This gives it a very flexible torquey engine but it's limited to around 8000 rpm. They usually have a single carburettor.

Very different to the CB250RS singles...the engine will run down very low in top gear yet pull away smoothly whereas the singles are revvier.
The comparison you may be thinking of was between the CB250RS single and the CB250 Superdream. The 250cc Superdream was a 180 degree crank slug, over-weight and underpowered because it was in effect a sleeved down 400cc Honda Hawk (the US designation) and basically would barely pull it's top gear. the 400cc version was a pretty quick little bike in comparison....Quicker than a 400/4.

The CB250RS single was basically an XL250 trail bike engine in a special lightweight frame and they go really well. If I were choosing between a dream 250 and an RS, and I've ridden both in the last 5 years, I'd go for the RS every time....Quick little sportsers...

However, You can't really compare the 250U with the RS...Like the Benlys, the 250U is a torquey no nonsense commuter whereas the RS is in effect a miniature sportsbike. It's got a low maintenence, extremely strong and easy to work on motor designed for third world countries whereas the RS has a typical Honda sports motor...Short oil change intervals and so on. In comparison the 250U doesn't even have an oil filter, just a gauze screen! (which really should be checked and cleaned on first purchase because if it's had gasket cement on the casing or had old cheap oil in for too long, that screen might be half blocked)...

[digger06]

i had a cb250rs with an xl500 engine in, almost a direct fit,
it was a brill bike,

[dmw1950]

I've got a CB250 2000 year. The engine is a Twin 233cc Benly engine, same as in the CB250U. By the time mine was made, they were not a big seller. I find the bike very useful, it does about 70mph and 70mpg or 90mpg at 50mph. It should give you years of trouble free pleasure.
I had to solve some vibration issues when I put the bike together (it was a stolen/recovered 10,000 mile bike), some bits were broken and damaged and the wiring loom needed repairing.
It's now a bike I would trust to go anywhere and if it failed I should stand a chance of fixing it by the roadside.
Most parts are inter changable CB125, CD125, CD185, CD200, CM200 and CB250 1993-2003. Sold in USA as the Nighthawk 250.

[crunch90]

Very nice buy kev!! What year is it? I'm guessing late 70's from the Indi's but it has a lovely chrome rear arch.

[Jon]

I've got a CB250 2000 year. The engine is a Twin 233cc Benly engine, same as in the CB250U. By the time mine was made, they were not a big seller. I find the bike very useful, it does about 70mph and 70mpg or 90mpg at 50mph. It should give you years of trouble free pleasure.
I had to solve some vibration issues when I put the bike together (it was a stolen/recovered 10,000 mile bike), some bits were broken and damaged and the wiring loom needed repairing.
It's now a bike I would trust to go anywhere and if it failed I should stand a chance of fixing it by the roadside.
Most parts are inter changable CB125, CD125, CD185, CD200, CM200 and CB250 1993-2003. Sold in USA as the Nighthawk 250.

The CB125T was a 180 degree crank engine. The rest are 360's. A lot of people look at the 12,000 rpm 17 BHP CB125 and then look at their CD125 or the cruiser variant and think they can swap carb manifolds, add a carb and the cam and get lots of extra BHP's....the fact that the 360 degree engine maxs out at 8000 rpm and the 180 runs out past 12,000 is the clue!

[Boo]

Very nice buy kev!! What year is it? I'm guessing late 70's from the Indi's but it has a lovely chrome rear arch.

Those are a lot younger than they look.