Hey Murdo Nice bike, many years ago a fellow I knew bought a new one and I was amazed by the huge fins on the engine. Must confess I know very little about these bikes apart from that they were made in Germany. I did however read that they have gone out of business in the late 80's. Can you still obtain parts??
Yes Phil, the original company closed in '86 due to family squabbles of the children of the founding Maish brothers Willhelm and Otto. Since then the name and assets have been sold to Holland, England and last I heard back to Holland again. Parts are mostly readily available from yankland, pomland and deutchland. I have never needed many parts in the 33 years that I have owned it. It has 19,600 km on the speedo (80% bush riding) and have not yet pulled it apart to replace the single 'Dykes' type ring. No seals, primary chains or other bits in engine have been touched. I bought from Ross King at Off Road Imports in Gladesville, Sydney in September 1981 for the huge amount of $2,588.00, (A Yamaha IT 250 was about $1700 at the time.) and have not regretted it a day since. After running it in on Castrol Super TT mineral oil, I switched to Bel-ray full synthetic at 80 to 1 and it runs sweet with none to very little smoke trail. Photo from today at Bike Territory bike park. He might be old, but can still get it up in the air (front wheel of the bike that is). Made it to the top of the 360 degree lookout (and down again).
Nice bike Murdo. It seems you bought this bike as I was being born You don't happen to know if you got it on the 7th Sept 1981? Lol
My bike has been sitting with the mechanic for 2 weeks. Nothing wrong with it... New stock exhaust should have been fitted today and taken for blueslip inspection.
Cool, took the Aprilia to work today...pulled up at the lights in the city and some guys yells out.. "Rev its tits off mate" ... so I did
Murdo,80.1! That'd super lean on the oil. Is that the recommended ratio? They are legendary bikes.when I was a yungn one of my mates dads had a maico engine in a husky frame. It went like stink and apparently handled well too.
I rode my cb250 to the lcal inspection place to get a blue slip today and during my first ride on the bike since I bought it I discovered a few things- 1. People find the sight of a 6'5" 125kg bloke on a 250 funny to look at 2. The bike does not like hills (see point 1) 3. Going from a Suzuki GSX1400 to a CB250 is like going from Elle McPherson to Elle McFeast. 4. A GSX1400 has a really strong bottom end and a massive mid range. A CB250 has no end or range to speak of. Despite all this I had a massive smile on my face the whole time I was riding and I now have a blue slip so will be on the road from next week
Pulled my exhaust appart because it was dirty, ocd in overdrive lol. Had to start it without the slipon on, man it sounded beautiful
Scotchy, Maico recommend 100:1 but that was just a bit too lean for my likeing. Two strokes need the cooling effect from the fuel more than putting in more oil to prevent seizures.
During my leisurely ride yesterday I noticed the bike seemed to be bogging down and didn't want to rev- I jumped to the obvious conclusion which was my obvious love of magnums and thought I was destined for a future of avoiding the death stares and honking as I held up traffic. Having already checked what I thought was everything I needed to I realised I had forgotten the spark plugs. $9 and 2 plugs later it's like a new bike- it probably could pull the skin off a rice custard now. Mmm.... rice custard
Pulled my aprillia apart after blowing it up. Top cylinder rs. New piston and barrel needed. More Offerings to the speed gods.
The CB 250 is registered, insured and destined for a life of servitude lugging my sizeable frame to work. $600 for the bike, $500 for rego, a battery, some new bars, grips and mirrors. I also managed to pick up a set of Rjays panniers from gumtree for $50. By the look of the previous owner I may want to avoid sniffer dogs for a while. Grand total around $1350, cheap motoring (which is the sort you have to do with 3 kids!).