Honda Xl250
HONDA XL250
Cycle World Trail Test
Good torque, pleasant manners and a whole bunch of potential.
IT LOOKED like a big gamble when Honda announced its first XL250 dual-purpose motorcycle. All of the great Singles of the past—Matchless, Royal Enfield, AJS, Norton Manx, etc.—had gone to that great short track in the sky. BSA was still alive, but hanging on the precipice of doom by a single weathered old hand; and the misguided hammer of the British labor unions was about to deliver the final death-dealing blow squarely across the knuckles. Triumph momentarily survived, adopting the BSA Victors into its own production line and selling them (or at least trying to) as relabeled Avengers. But the labor forces, totally ignoring their own experiences with BSA, lined up against Meriden’s outer wall and again pulled their own triggers.
Knowing the fate of the thumpers that preceded its own, and seeing the difficulty that the struggling survivors were having in convincing the buying public that a four-stroke Single was the way to go, Honda seemed willfully to be entering a game in which the cards were stacked against it. But international marketing surveys and Honda’s computerized adaptation of those results into a finalized two-wheeled product won out over the odds. Not only did Honda prove a point, but went beyond that to establish a totally new kind of thumper market. Its XL250 grew into a 350. The sheer numbers of 350s sold, as well as the number of popular aftermarket products being retailed, was enough to draw Yamaha into the game with its grunty TT and XT500 models.
Honda’s XLs have been successful for a number of reasons. Their initial appeal was to the new buyer. Whereas owning a thumper of the past meant pretty much knowing your way around motorcycles and wanting to ride badly enough to spend anywhere from three to 30 minutes each morning getting your bottlerattler fired up, the XLs offered much and demanded little. They possessed all of the necessary street equipment, dualpurpose Trials Universals tires and a host of other goodies that salesmen could use to knock down arguments from the curious but unconvinced. There were the dual seat and passenger pegs, the easy-to-reach switches, quick starting, good mileage, a Single’s ease of maintenance, a five-speed transmission and the super, whiz-bang, gosh-almighty, ultra-sophisticated combination four-valve head and common-cold cure. Combine these points with reliability and it is easy to see why city traffic and local trails were suddenly filled with smiling people, quietly thumping their way to nowhere special, in no particular hurry. If they were in no particular hurry then, let’s hope they’re even less so now, because a new, complex noisebaffling intake arrangement and a heavy, two-stage exhaust system have toned down the XL250’s docile performance even more.
The reason behind the intake and exhaust modifications is federal noise emission restrictions. But Honda didn’t sit idly by and let the government hang baffle chambers and restricter plates on its motorcycle. The XL250 this year has a host of improvements that help the machine maintain much of its original appeal, and enhance its appeal in other areas.
The ’76 XL’s newness reaches all the way down to the frame. Formerly the cradle sections joined together behind the engine, forming a single tube that butted up to the main backbone. To accommodate this simple, inexpensive design, Honda originally cast the XL’s cylinder head with an offset intake tract. This year, since the frame was going to be restructured to accommodate the new exhaust system anyway, Honda didn’t mate the engine cradles until way up top at the rear of the backbone, thereby allowing utilization of a new center-port head. The new head feeds both intake ports more evenly, resulting in a power increase to slightly offset the power losses caused by the new restrictive intake and exhaust systems.
HONDA XL250
$1116
Apart from the redesigned frame section behind the cylinder head, Honda has moved the upper rear shock mounts slightly forward. The resulting mild cantilever effect makes easy trail riding very pleasurable. Up front, the steering rake has been kicked out to 32 degrees with 5.5 in. of trail. These figures are very close to the CR250 Elsinore’s 32
degrees and 5.8 in., and account for the XL’s good steering manners (tires permitting).
The engine in the 1976 XL250 is very much unchanged over those of previous XLs, save for the already mentioned new head. A chain-driven Overhead cam pops open the four valves (two at a time, naturally) at the proper moments to fill and empty the cylinder. A 74mm, three-ring piston travels 57.8mm each stroke to create the engine’s 248cc displacement. Power is transmitted via straight-cut primary gears to the constant-mesh five-speed transmission.
A peculiar trait of the 250 XL is the clutch engagement point. Nothing happens until the lever is almost all the way out. Then, sudden but smooth engagement occurs. It takes a while to get accustomed to this characteristic, but it is easily mastered.
The clutch on the 250 consists of 1 3 plates (6 drive and 7 driven). The entire unit emerges unscathed from abuse. In fact, the whole engine can take a pounding and come back asking for more. We tackled a soft, pine-needle-covered hill while trail riding the XL in the Big Bear, Calif., area. Second gear wasn’t providing enough momentum, but the engine wouldn’t pull third. We topped the hill by running up it in second at 7-10 mph with the rear wheel digging and churning furiously (a knobby tire would have been a tremendous help), and the engine wailing at a blistering 9500 rpm. Nearly a full minute of this beating at 1500 rpm over redline didn’t alter the Honda’s temperament one bit. At the top of the hill it idled its way through a U-turn and plunged back down, only to repeat the procedure three more times.
On such downhills you come to appreciate the powerful braking potential that comes as standard equipment on a thumper. No two-stroke can come down a hill as easily and demand so little from the rider in terms of braking finesse. But even without its added control, the XL has binders that would turn most other dual-purpose machines green with envy. The good brakes will also be appreciated for street riding and the unexpected panic stops that come with that territory.
The suspension, too, must be rated very plush in both street and trail applications. Intersection bumps and lumps, as well as expansion grooves along the freeway, can barely be felt as the XL motors along. On the trail, small obstacles are easy, while larger ones tend to cause the frame to flex. Still, the suspension soaks them up. . .as long as the speed at which they are traversed is not too great. When you exceed the built-in limitations of the suspension and the chassis, either a violent, forkbottoming crunch, a flex-induced wiggle and wobble, or both, will let you know that you ought to be a little more careful.
The longish shock absorbers perform in much the same manner. Their ride is very comfortable, but they can easily be exceeded. It is therefore recommended that, when riding off-road, the XL’s pilot be rather selective about the type of terrain he covers and the speed at which he does it. The XL is a fully street-legal motorcycle first, and a usable but limited off-road tool second.
For serious trail riding Honda offers other machines like the MR250 (tested in last month’s issue). But if thumpers are in your blood, whether for their gutsiness, reliability or sound, then there are several after-market modifications that can take an XL250 and make it much more suitable for fast riding. Accessory shocks, knobby tires, fork kits, exhaust pipes, carburetors, cams, overbore kits, stroker kits, ported heads, chrome-moly frames; you name it, it’s sold for the XL.
The Honda XL250 is a sheep in sheep’s clothing. It delivers a little more than it demands from the rider. It is by no means a serious playbike, enduro mount, or even a serious off-roader. It likes nice, smooth unpaved roads. It will handle an occasional bump or pothole, but any series of them gives the plush suspension fits. It cannot be wheelied in any gear but first, and then only with a quick rev and a pop of the clutch. Water crossings should be tractored through; give in to temptation and blast through only if you’re within pushing distance of a tote vehicle (our test bike drowned twice in less than two feet of water). A nicer, more docile machine would be hard to find. It is designed for the beginning rider who wants a street bike that he can put on the back of his camper and use as utility transportation out in the wide-open spaces. As such a machine it is a success. But the beauty of it is that it has the potential to grow with the owner’s abilities. It can be made into a real fire-breathing, sharphandling rock-spewer, or adjusted to any one of a hundred different stages of suspension and engine tune between that extreme and stock.
Some of you may wonder why Honda even bothers with an XL250 when there is a similarly-proportioned XL350 costing only $76 more. For some, a 250cc motorcycle is just the right size. It may not matter that it weighs within five pounds of its larger brother. Compared to the 350, the 250 yields slightly better gas mileage (around 50 mpg), much less engine vibration, easier kick-through when starting, and a generally milder manner. In addition, it handles better than the 350 because the larger machine’s greater speeds can more easily overtax the suspension and chassis. There may also be a competition-induced desire to stay within the 250cc displacement limit. Others enjoy riding against 350s to see if they can win at play racing.
For those desiring more horsepower and torque, the 350 is a better alternative. But if you’re in the market for a motorcycle with the features and benefits offered by the 250, then the smaller XL is made for you. Honda has proven over the last few years that that market not only exists, but is actually quite sizable.
SUSPENSION DYNO TEST
Remarks: Honda has done a lot of work on this fork to both increase travel and soften up the ride. Compression damping is excellent for trail riding or street use, but a little light for going fast. Rebound is marginally light too. If you anticipate pushing the machine hard off-road, a heavier oil than stock will help. The damper rod is all new and is within .25 in. of the maximum allowed by the engagement. Spring rate is appropriate for riders up to 185 pounds. No modifications other than oil are recommended.
Remarks: This is a good shock for mounting at the rear axle. For street or light trail riding we recommend no changes. Compression damping is a little light for serious riding, but offers a soft ride. The price you pay is occasional bottoming. The shocks overheat and fade fairly rapidly (insufficient oil capacity), but for the bike's intended purpose, this presents no problem.
Tests performed at Number One Products
