Vintage Dirt Bike Q & A

I just got my first bike since I was a child. Picked up a 1975 MT250 for $250. Odometer says under 1,000 miles, but I'm guessing that is not accurate. I hope to restore it and have a neat vintage bike. I've done auto restoration and tinkering, but never a bike. Been wanting to have a vintage bike to fool around with for awhile. I've been reading up on these bikes and they seem really cool. I'm really stoked to dig in. It's a bit daunting though as the bike is non-running and I've got a million questions. I checked the compression today and it's got 150lbs, cold of course. Unfortunately, a lot of electrical is missing. There's no coil, all the switches are gone, and all the lights except the headlight are gone. I've been scouring ebay, but the prices on used parts are pretty crazy. My plan is to get enough together to get it started for a baseline. I then plan to tear down, clean and paint and rebuild. I would like to have a nice bike when said and done by doing the work myself for under $1,000, but maybe that's overly optimistic. I'm sure I'll be posting a lot of questions. Hopefully I won't wear out my welcome too soon.

Take a look at values on the MT250 before you spend even $1000. For $1500 you will find a nice one and have a complete running bike with all the electrics, titled and ready to go in some cases. That is not to say a mint one won't be worth more than that but based on your list of missing parts I would suggest you find another donor bike or a more complete bike.

+1. for sure. Maybe you can think of the bike you have now as the parts bike you'll likely need, and pick up a decent, complete bike for what you surely would have spent on the $250 bike (or maybe less). One other thing; it seems to me the MT250's that have been stripped down for dirt use are usually pretty beat up, while the complete ones - especially with turn signals - have been mainly used on the street, and are much better candidates for fixing up.

Ray

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'74 CR125M (175cc), '75 MR175, '82 RM250Z, '08 YZ250F, '14 Zero FX electric, '14 Zero MX electric, '18 Alta MXR electric

All good advice I'm sure. I've been buying parts, and may have $500 in parts when all said and done. My son and I are doing all the work ourselves as a father son project. The work is half the fun to me. I probably need my head examined, but think it's a worthy project. That said, I would have probably been better off looking around more and maybe should have just parted the bike. I figure a good motor like this has is worth well more than what I paid.

Your not at all crazy safety I spent way more than a grand on mine and it looks like shit. I put all the money into stuff to make it faster and give it a bit more clearance and make it a bit lighter. The port job and reed valve setup were the most expensive but its a much faster bike than it used to be. I have a bunch of spare parts let me know what you need and I will see if I have it. I need to get rid of the stuff I will never use as I need the room in my garage.

Just by your screen name are you an MG owner???

Yes, I own an MG.

Woosh, I'll contact you. Thanks.