Rider Review: 2001 Honda Rebel 250

What can I say about this bike? I snared it back in mid-June for $2K out the door from a dealership, with a 3 month warranty to boot. The bike has 17,000 miles so it saw some service rather than serving as a dust collector in somebody's tool shed. Okay, so it's the first bone-stock bike I ever bought since, well...since I bought my first bone stock brand new bike back in 1997. But man is it clean. Aside from two small dime-sized dimples in the tank the bike is imaculate, whatever damage from those two prior spills was fixed as the signals and pipes are all in great shape. The paint is in showroom condition, with the aforementioned dimples being the only flaw. The tank is clean inside, not a hint of oxidation. The cables and lines are squeaky-clean and shiny, like you find on the showroom models. New tires front and back, still with the blue rings on the tread. Clean brake fluid and oil. I think what really happened was someone added an older speedo to a brand new bike and hit the tank a couple times...

A few days later I acquired ANOTHER 250 Rebel, an 86 model with just under 28K on the odometer, needs alot of work but looks and runs alright. Sawed off mufflers, it sounds like dueling chainsaws!

Now for the riding report. Fun. At 5'8" w/32" inseam I am a bit cramped with the high footpeg postion, but the bike is for my wife and she likes it. The power is usable for everyday urban commutes, although I find the frequent cycling through the shifter a bit more of a hassle than what I'm used to on the VLX, especially for passing. Top gear roll ons at 45 are barely noticeable, gotta downshift one or two gears to effectively pass. But then again, I have to remind myself this is an entry level bike, designed for new riders and not something you can easily get into trouble with. And the motor winds up a lot farther than I expected it would, it'll get up and go when called upon.

Balance was second nature. Incredibly easy to control, I found myself fooling around at stop lights feathering the brakes and clutch, standing almost at a perfect stand-still without removing my feet from the footpegs. This bike is coming with me to the next rally games, particularly the slow race!

Braking was much better than what I had read about in magazines, the hydraulic front brake is just as responsive as the larger system found on my 600cc stablemates, and the rear drum does just as fine a job as said other bikes too. With less weight to haul down, perhaps they are even better...I'll need to log a few hundred more miles before I can confirm or deny this though.

Post-45mph riding was a bit buzzy, which became noticeable at 55mph, particularly in the foot pegs. Found myself looking for another gear to shift into...At 65mph I want to remove my feet from the pegs, there's an apparent reason for all that extra insulating rubber on them. I imagine pegs being located adjacent to the crankshaft has alot to do with the vibes, perhaps forward controls can alleviate this later on down the road. Still no freeway report.

The "new-rider" wife's report: She loves the bike! She is much more at ease learning on the Rebel than she was in the saddle of the seemingly heavier VLX (well, it is about 150 pounds more, but the longer rake and trail make the front end feel heavier more than the actual weight). And a more comfortble rider is a safer rider. She spent another healthy 15-20 minute dose today at a nearby parking lot puttering around, performing starts and stops with minimal stalling of the motor. She is building up some confidence, and that is good. And once she is ready for the road and has more mastery of all, she has given me the go-ahead to customize it (starting with forward controls, she likes the stance of the VLX better so the FC will mimic that, along with hopefully reducing the higher RPM buzz in the stock footpegs)...to which I can only say "WWHHEEEEEEEE!!!"

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