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John Mitchell enters into Commuter Heaven on Honda's little single

I was driving my Peugeot 505Gti 8-seater estate to work everyday, getting stuck in traffic, watching the "real bikers" whizzing past the queues, and with the Peugeot doing 20-25MPG, using lots of fuel into the bargain. The 20mile round trip from Gloucester to Stroud is a mixture of twisty, hilly and quite picturesque routes, in other words, pretty good biking roads. At the time I owned a Yamaha XJ900, but didn't want to use it for the work run as it was in pristine condition and a touring bike like that only starts to become fun after 30 or so miles.

So I decided a commuter machine had to be acquired,

I have always admired the Honda CB250RS, and thought that this particular machine would fit the bill. The CB250RS was introduced in 1980, used the same 4 valve engine as the XL250S, and weighed a mere 295lbs, fuelled up. But I also knew finding a decent one at the right price would be difficult.

A week or so later, I saw an ad for a 1980 CB250RS, for £300, I rang the seller to find it had only done 19k, but it had failed its MOT on a split front tyre, excessive travel in the front brake lever and a noisy front disc (what?)

CB250RS - simple, single... sounds like a recipe for a good time! Upon inspection, it turned out to be in very good condition, considering that it was a 1980 machine. The paintwork was original, as was the rest of the bike, apart from the exhaust, which had recently been replaced by a Motad.

The alloy wheels were pitted; as you would expect for a bike of that age, but apart from a missing toolbox cover it seemed all OK.

The seller appeared with the keys, and she started first kick, without any choke required, and sounded so sweet, no rattles or knocking. After having examined the bike thoroughly, it was time for a test ride. As soon as I rode the little Honda I started to grin, after the first corner the grin was a big smile, but after going round a roundabout, I could not stop laughing. After my XJ900, it was like riding a motorised mountain bike, it was so much fun, and I had to have it.

The only trouble was it had no MOT, and didn't have the de-compression lever fitted either, the seller said it didn't work with it fitted, which seemed strange.

I called up an expert on the 250RS, Matt at Tredworth Motorcycles, a small independent dealer in Gloucester, who advised "rip his arm off and I'll give it the once over". The problems turned out to be minor. The 'excessive brake movement' was down to someone fitting the wrong lever on the bike. A previous owner must have had short fingers, so they fitted an extra long brake lever, making it travel nearer the handlebars. As for the noisy front disc, the Speedo cable clip was bent over, and was touching the disc. The de-compression lever didn't work was because the compression mechanism was fitted back to front!

Heavy rain also brought problems, he bike would start to misfire badly, then burst into life and finally cut out altogether. It was better on a level surface, but as soon as the bike was put under load it would start playing up again. But as soon as the rain stopped the bike ran perfect. I tried spraying the plug, lead and coil with ignition sealer, but it still misfired again.

Defeated, I left the bike with Tredworth Motorcycles, as the front brake was juddering, and I was virtually relying on the rear drum to stop the bike.

I rang Matt after a couple of days, and he traced the fault to a cracked coil, so he fitted a second hand replacement, and moved it further under the tank, he also recommended a mud flap to reduce the amount of spray directed at the electric's in wet conditions. As for the front brake, he fitted a S/H disc from a CX500; the whole thing cost £86, including the rack and fitting. The difference in the front brake was amazing, with very little travel in the lever before it worked, it just took a bit of getting used to at first.

Doesn't look too shabby from the back either Problems solved, what was the little RS like on the road?

To begin with, pulling away on a cold engine would see it spit at me and then stall. The reason for this is that the fuel pump works well if the throttle is used either gently, or a big handful is used. Anything in between can cause it to stall on a cold engine. Once used to this, it was fine.

The motor was so smooth for a single though, due to its balancer shafts, but it did need to be revved, you had to keep a minimum of 4K on the tacho in order to keep the engine happy.

All my routes to work involve a long steep hill, and the little Honda coped quite well, all I had to do is change down a gear or two. You feel the RS will make it to the top, but it feels a lot more anxious, with its engine droning merrily away through the Motad exhaust, unlike the XJ, which just buzzes up the hill in top gear. The RS seems to say "I can do it, honest" and the XJ says, "what hill?"

The RS returned around 75 MPG. The bike needs hardly any maintenance, apart from changing the oil, (every 1000 miles) and adjusting the chain there's not much else to do on a simple single.

In terms of time saved it was worth every single penny and made the work run a thing of pleasure again. If you are looking for a cheaper way to get to work, you could do a lot worse than take a look at the little Honda.

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