Dmay4

Member
Oct 31, 2010
11
0
I have an 01 xr250 which I just started MX racing and am finding it is bottoming out on the big jumps. Actually almost knocked the wind out of me the other day. I want to stiffen it up a bit but there doesn’t appear to be an adjustment, the service manual suggests the bottom bolt may be the key but unsure. I am contemplating going up on the springs stock is suppose to be 0.33, thinking of going to a 0.48. I am 225 ponds. Any other cheaper suggestion would be appreciated.
 

Ol'89r

LIFETIME SPONSOR
Jan 27, 2000
6,961
45
Hate to tell you this but, you are on the wrong motorcycle. The XR suspension is designed for trail riding not MX. At 220lbs, you will have to adjust your oil level and oil viscosity to keep the bike from bottoming out. Try going up on the oil level and going to a higher viscosity. You can go to the stiffer springs or even add a spring spacer but, it will still be less than desirable for MX.
 

Dmay4

Member
Oct 31, 2010
11
0
Yea I know not the best choice for MX, but just getting back into ridding and started out doing trails and the racing was an after thought. Unfortunately the finance committee wouldnt let me purchase another bike.... yet. So I am trying to make some mods to this one. I dont plan on winning big money but would like to not finish last
 

Ol'89r

LIFETIME SPONSOR
Jan 27, 2000
6,961
45
You could also have your current suspension re-valved for your weight and riding style. That would help. Maybe even find a used set of forks off of a CRF250. You would probably have to use the complete fork set with triple clamps but they are easy to find and not that expensive used. The only problem with that is, once you get the front end working, you will find that rear suspension can't keep up. The shock and linkage on your XR is different than the CRF so you can't use a CRF shock. The only option that I know of for the rear is to have the shock re-valved and re-sprung.

I take it you have already tried to adjust the clickers?
 
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Dmay4

Member
Oct 31, 2010
11
0
I am not able to find the clickers on these forks. There is only an air bleed on top and a large hex bolt on botton like a 20mm or something
 

dirt bike dave

Sponsoring Member
May 3, 2000
5,349
3
It's been long time since I had an XR. If I remember correctly, in the middle of the large hex bolt at the bottom of the fork leg, there is a rubber plug (probably all coated over in mud). You can pry that out with a small screwdriver and adjust the compression. All the way in clockwise would be the stiffest.

On clickers, each click makes a bigger difference the further in you go. Basically, the difference between 2 clicks out and 3 clicks out is much bigger than the difference between 12 clicks and 13 clicks.

FWIW, raising the fork oil level as 89r suggested will make a huge improvement in bottoming resistance and stiffness as the fork gets close to bottoming. That alone would help alot on the track.
 

mgorman

Member
May 8, 2000
258
0
I raced an XR250 quite a bit back in the 1999 to 2003 era. Wish I could remember the spring rates I used but .48 sounds right for the front and the rear I forget. (I weigh 200). There are spring charts on line for that bike and your weight. If I remember right, I raised the fork oil level about 30mm as per Scott Summers father's recommendation and that cured the knifing in the corners too. Then I had mine re-valved and the stroke lengthened by 3/4" by Drew Smith at WER, Works Enduro Racer and it was the best suspended bike I ever rode to this date. I could ride the worse wet root infested rock gardens and still do the doubles on the MX track and nothing turned faster except an 80. It's good to see someone racing one of these, I miss mine.

List of Mods...

New upper triple clamp to move bars forward (honda clamp forces you to sit) and CR Hi Bend bars

Suspension by WER

Quiet core removed but insert and spark arrester remained, still pretty quiet. The XR's in '99 had 2 baffles, a 1/2" and about 1.25" which is still quieter than any MX bike sold today.

1" seat lift and cover.

Grease fitting inside brake pedal shaft (let me know if you want details, taps and drill required, no mods to frame, just pedal)

better foot pegs

The motor and pipe were left stock except removing the heat shield to keep mud from collecting in it. I experimented with a FMF megamax pipe and all it did was lose bottom end and make noise. The header pipes are the same diameter as the XR400. I raced it 3 years and only replaced chains, sprockets, tires and brake pads. Even took second in the Buckeye Series scrambles championship one year and won it the next against all the 400+ thumpers. It's a shame Honda quit making that bike and replaced it with the anemic 230

XR250b.jpg



Good luck
 

Matt90GT

Member
May 3, 2002
1,517
1
no way around it, you need to properly spring the bike. No amount of oil level or clickers will adjust the suspension for your weight.

MXtech and racetech both have spring calculators on their websites.
 
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