Vintage Dirt Bike Q & A

resent engine rebuild and 71mm bore, went to kick it and compression backfired, hell on the foot it started after a few kicks but now the kick starter slips down like it doesn't engage all the time, any ideas for repair

It looks like the '76 CR250M kickstart shaft arrangement is very similar to the 125/175; grooved pawl/circular spring etc. Once when my MR175 kicked back, the spring popped out of the pawl groove and the kick arm wouldn't engage at all. It was easy to fix once the clutch cover was off, I used a new spring and a good spare pawl and it never happened again.

While you have it apart, I'd inspect everything carefully in case something got damaged, especially the pinion-gear detents. It looks like the 250 has everything on the clutch side of the cases, which is cool (on the smaller motors the return spring is inside the gearbox, which sucks when it breaks).

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