In order, Mt Bryce, the western side of the Columbia Icefield, an obligatory bridge picture with some other mountain, and a little accident on the way back to civilisation. She took it all like a champ.

Here's a simple solution to getting your wheel off the ground so you can oil your chain. Learned this trick from a friend of mine. I'm sure there are YouTube videos on it as well. Probably should start with a heavy duty rated squeeze clamp. I think this one is 300 lb clamp. I think you can get a two pack for like 25 bucks that most Hardware stores.

Hey wondering if anyone had an idea what this engine noise is. I've adjusted the cam tensioner, valve clearances are in spec, changed the oil and filter no concerns. New fuel and fuel filter. Don't mind the smoke I bled the oil and it got over everything. Any pointers or other things to check would be great. Haven't messed with the carb yet but I have a rebuild kit. doesn't have the engine mark for the oil starvation pin fix. Very old tires so I haven't ridden it long or above 30 but it shifts well. The idle sounds normal to me but when I open the throttle there's that odd whine

https://reddit.com/link/1uu0mzw/video/9oz3bc5g3pch1/player

I’ve heard good feedback about running MT21 on the front and Dunlop D606 in the rear. I’m so stupid when it comes to tire size conversion. If anyone is running MT21’s on the front, what size are you running. I was going to go 90/90 21 but I just wanted to be certain before I pull the trigger. For reference I live in the Eastern Sierra, 40% off road, soft terrain.

just looking to see if someone found a side rack that fits with the oem rear rack ( Genuine / OEM Carrier (Part # 90798-1Y154)) or will i have to also buy a new rear rack.

thanks

Hey ya'll. I'm thinking of buying a xt250 next but I'm put off by the valve adjustments and oil changes every 6 months. Does anyone know if one can get way with doing them once a year instead?

Outfitting my 2022 for aggressive trail riding. I typically don’t ride road unless it’s to a nearby trail. Let’s call it a 70/30 split. Looking for guidance on best setup for ideal performance. I do mostly single track and slower/technical trails.

Appreciate the help.

I have a trip planned for next month and the lead times from seat concepts are about 8 weeks right now.

1/4 ratchet + extension

8,10,12,14mm sockets.

1/4 t-handle

1/4 ratchet to hex adapter

8,10,12,14,17,19 compact wrenches

4,5,6,8 allen bits or wrenches (or both)

Multi tool (Chinese clone of the surge not showing in the photo as I don't keep it in the kit, I keep it on my person. That takes the place of a pair of pliers and a few other things that are nice to have like small scissors.

JB weld, small Tube of super glue, small tube of blue thread lock

Small bit of electrical tape Assorted zip ties ( some long heavy duty ones from Harbor Freight are critical.)

Small roll of duct tape Two or three 10 amp fuses

Sparkplug socket

I might be missing one or two bits but this has gotten us through a multitude of bdr's and a trip from Washington State to the end of the Baja peninsula. This does not include our tire repair kit which is a whole separate tool kit.

I use a DIY 3" abs tool tube. I fasten it to the inside of the side rack with stainless hose clamps. It's rock solid, can take a massive beating and has yet to fail. I throw everything into a small lightweight drawstring sack and then drop the sack into the tool tube. We have this same setup on four XT 250s and a Suzuki dr650. Tools vary depending on the bike.

Pro tip, you can buy a cheap Chinese socket bit set on Amazon for 12 bucks or so and then rob bits/sockets from that to make up your moto tool kit. I'm including a photo of a set that I bought for 12 bucks on amazon. It pretty much had everything I needed as far as the bits and the ratchet go.

Hey everyone. I'm attempting to repair my 2016 XT250. Long story short I have about 30k miles on it, trails and highway but it stalled one day and didn't start again. I drained the oil to find bits of aluminum and steel, possibly the camshaft chain guide as well. I took the whole bike apart and found deep gouges where it looks like the chain was slapping around. The inside of the chain is also pretty chewed up but the sprocket looks OK. I have 2 questions:

1. What else do I need to inspect and replace (e.g. bearings, camshaft)?

2. How did this happen? Did I neglect some maintenance task that could have prevented it?

Thanks. This is my first time cracking a motor open this far.

Photos of damage attached, plus a bonus photo of the cylinder bore in case anyone has thoughts on that.

What tools do you carry on your bike at all times?

Which bit and wrench sizes?

Chain breaker?

I'm looking to upgrade the stock tool kit because its a little lame at the best of times.

I traded for a 2013 xt250 a little while ago and wondering if anyone else thinks the bars feel really odd to me, especially when standing? Wondering if it's just me.

They feel more unwieldy/not controllable as much to me when I stand up. Looking at other pics they seem to be the oem bars, and I don't think they're bent from what I can tell.

My stock tw200 bars feel great to me just a little low when standing. Was thinking of replacing those on the tdub and swapping the stock bars to see if those feel better on the xt.

Hey guys, im Canadian and I want to put a graphic kit on my xt, however I don’t want to risk my original plastic.

Any ideas where to find rugged ass panel where I could practice wrapping?

Does anyone else find the clutch lets out late on their xt250? My gf just bought one, has about 1000 miles on it and the clutch lets out at the extreme end of travel, to the point she is having a very hard time riding it. I rode it and was also a bit thrown off by this. Is this normal? My triumph with 20k miles lets out pretty late but nowhere near this bad, feel like this shouldnt be a problem on a 1k mile bike. Have not attempted to adjust the cable or anything yet, just wondering if this is a common issue or not, thanks!

I was asked so here are the details.

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The rack is the same as the bradley performance rack but this one is off ebay. I offered $119 and it was accepted, here's the link for that:

https://ebay.io/m/icZUFk

​

The top box is from harbor freight. It's the Apache 3800. Awesome value, have them on many other bikes and they are bulletproof. They've all been mounted the same way. Through bolted in the corners, with large fender washers. Just be sure to mount it just far enough back so that the seat will come off and on without the box interfering. Never had any issues with the boxes loosening or breaking and I've been on a number of bdrs and have taken these bikes down to Baja.

​

Tool tube is just 3" abs with steel clamps.

So between my brother, my son and I we have four xt250s. Two of them live down in Baja and the other two are in Washington State. On the first 3 adv builds we just focused on getting the best parts we could get our hands on and didn't really care so much about the cost. We went with top shelf on all of it. This particular build I tried to find parts that were of good quality but maybe didn't have the name brand or I was able to cut out middlemen so cost was significantly less. Also tried to get stuff shipped with no tax and free shipping and on sale if possible. Bought a lot of stuff through AliExpress for the first time. I posted some pics of the foot pegs and the luggage rack we ended up going with. As far as suspension goes we ended up with a new Bradley Monoshock, Fork Springs, emulators and preload adjusters. Lighting is all LED fed through a new power distribution fuse box instead of a pdm60. The bike was purchased about 6 months ago. It's a 2021 with about 1500 miles on it and I paid 3500 for it. Tires still have a little bit of life on them so I'm going to do a few summer trips before I replace them. Anyhow, here's a few photos for anyone that's interested reach out and I can share details on individual bits and pieces.

We picked up a 2015 with only 800 miles on it. She has started practicing at the parking lot in the elementary school by our house after work. She’s getting better and better after each couple hours of riding. Her endorsement class is in a month and so far she’s pretty stoked. Can’t wait for us to go on rides together.

Hey everyone,
I was gifted a Yamaha XT250 about a year ago. I’m incredibly grateful for it and I've spent the last year riding it on trails and logging roads. I’m getting comfortable, but I’m consistently hitting some major performance walls.

For context, I'm about 6'0" and 180 lbs, and I've
already done some garage engineering to try and fix the notorious stock "couch" suspension:

I maxed out the rear shock preload collar based on the owner's manual.

I pulled the front forks apart and fabricated 6-inch PVC spacers to replace the stock shims.
Even with those adjustments, it still feels way too soft on harder trail hits. Beyond that, the nearly 300 lbs feels like a total tank when things get tight or technical, and the motor just lacks the "pep" or snappy throttle response I’d love for popping the front wheel over obstacles or breaking the rear tire loose.

Eventually, I’d love to sell it and upgrade to something like a 250/350 four-stroke or a 300 two-stroke, but realistically I can't afford to bridge that financial gap right now. I need to make this bike work for the time being.

Since I've already maxed out the basic preload hacks, what are my next best low-budget moves? Would dropping a tooth on the front sprocket give me the low-end snap I'm missing? Should I swap to a heavier 15w or 20w fork oil to slow down the damping?

Or is mastering a heavy, under-sprung bike like this just a necessary technique milestone I need to muscle through until I can save up for an upgrade?
Appreciate any advice from fellow riders who have pushed these little tractors past their comfort zone!

Hello all. I just picked up a 2022 XT-250 not too long ago, and finally took it out for the first time over the weekend.

The clutch seems to bite towards the very end of letting it out, maybe a cm or two before it’s fully released.

I’m looking for help or advice on adjusting it so that it bites towards the middle of the clutch release, more similar to the Honda Rebel 250’s used at the MSF as I had gotten quite comfortable with the clutch on that bike.

I’m relatively new to owning/working on my own bike, so the terms used online in instructions really don’t help me. I’ve also had trouble finding youtube videos about this too.

Thanks in advance!

Ive been looking for top end parts to put in my XT250, but I can only find 3rd gen parts anywhere I look. Even ebay doesnt seem to have any good parts avaliable. Anyone here know where I can find parts? Specifically looking for a barrel, piston ring, and gaskets