Riding the Aprilia RS250 in torrential rain is...

[NSR125-Kid-UK]

...Nothing short of miserable.
Warming up the RS in the peeing rain, the lovely clouds of two stroke smoke are mercilessly smashed to the ground by raindrops the size of lamborghinis, while the engine struggles to idle as the bike warms up on my drive.
It's been like this for 15 minutes, the RS is always a bi*ch to warm up in the morning, and with bad weather like this - torrential rain and flood warnings everywhere, I'm in far from the best mood.
In the early morning dark, I can see the sidelights of the RS flickering slightly as the RS engine "dof dof dof dof"'s it's way to something resembling a normal idle. I'm getting changed indoors, it'd be suicidal to try it outside.
Leathers on, fleece on top, gloves on and pull the cuffs of the fleece over my gloves.

Well, off I go on the RS. The engine's since cut out in the cold and it's another three minutes of blipping the throttle, throwing huge white clouds of smoke out of the back, before the temperature guage finally reads 30 again, and I'm ready to go.
I flick main beam on, and watch the tacho needle start dancing about - a normal feature of RS's apparently, but not one that serves to improve my mood.

Still, throttle open, revs increase. Let clutch out, bike starts moving, revs die down and bike stalls.
See my RS has a very infuriating problem. The grips have no glue on. In wet weather, no sooner do I open the throttle than the throttle tube rotates inside the loose grip, closing off the carbs again - something which I mean to fix shortly.

Grabbing the throttle tightly to keep it open, I start the bike again, am greeted with the RS struggling to clear her throat and ride off.

Oh. What. Fun.
Riding up the road, looking at the reflection of my lights in the tarmac, while the rain makes the RS feel distinctly unsteady on its wheels. I bimble round the corner at the top of my road, and set off down the hill while a dozen unpleasant outcomes register in my mind, as I see wet drain covers, and to my horror, wet piles of leaves in the road.

What follows is 20 minutes of the throttle trying to close itself, 20 minutes of spray, and the RS being reluctant to do anything more than what i'm doing - sitting there, shivering, not really getting excited about anything.

Still, to the RS's credit, the articulated lorries in front are quickly overtaken, and it's possible to see again when I don't have clouds of spray in my face. But then come the roundabouts.
On the RS you have two choices in this weather:
1. Bimble round and hope car drivers don't overtake you.
2. Try to go round normally and then scare the crap out of yourself when the bike hits the powerband, usually spinning up the back in the process - it's worst in bad weather.

Still, eventually I get to work, but I can't help feeling that in this weather, the RS250 is totally out of its element.
Hot weather, blazing sun, sticky tyres and twisty roads can be heaven on the RS.
Cold wet weather, the last darkness of the previous night left over, spray and diesel everywhere? Equally miserable.

While I didn't mind the weather too much, the RS is too highly strung to ride in any other way than "hastily". Ride the RS Hastily in the wet and it's no fun at all. What I need is a lobbable inexpensive-to-fix bike, a nice four stroke that doesn't take ages to warm up in the morning, a bike where the power comes on when you open the throttle. What I have, is a little exotic gem of a bike, that in summer makes you feel like a GP god, but in winter makes you feel like a scooter boy.

Bring on summer
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https://www.bikepics.com/members/nsrandy/96rs250/ My Bike!

"I'm either going to teach andy to get his knee down, or I'm going to get him killed. One of the two" - Teaman

[tony532]

the joys of owning a 2 stroke

i remember it well

[colin1]

very nicely written
much better than when you did a review of your nsr125

if you wanna sell you rs250, let me know if you are within 100miles of birmingham as I am thinking about buying one.

you could get a 250 4 stroke like a cb250 or mz250 for a few hundred on ebay for the winter
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colin1 is officially faster than god

[NSR125-Kid-UK]

Aha.
Well...

When I say Bring on Summer, I have every intention of doing it on the RS. As I said to Craig (when talking about commuters compared to expensive sportsbikes), the ride you get is a reflection of the cost of the bike.
Cheap bike - frugal and uninspired ride.
Expensive bike - excitement, exclusivity, and a damn sexy bike to blast around on.

I love the RS to bits, it's the weather I hate not the bike.
The RS is staying on my drive for a long time to come, or until I die, whichever is sooner .
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https://www.bikepics.com/members/nsrandy/96rs250/ My Bike!

"I'm either going to teach andy to get his knee down, or I'm going to get him killed. One of the two" - Teaman

[colin1]

i reckon its good to have one bike for commuting and another for fun
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colin1 is officially faster than god

[Claud 14.7 to 1]

Hehe told ya mate

(4T): thumb the starter & go! (any condition)
Sure yours is more fun in the Summer, but not when you have to wait 20 mins for it to warm it up in the pissing rain.

(and then it blows up 5 mins down the road)

I'll stop now.

[NSR125-Kid-UK]

The RS is no more likely to blow up than a 4t 400.
We have this little thing called preventative maintenance which is something that, while your 4ters have the luxury of forgetting about it (probably because you have lots of fiddly tappets and valves etc to have to arse about with too), we do as a matter of course.

If you maintain a bike, it works.
If you don't, ir doesn't.

Simple.
Now enough of this engine blowing up crap. I've had enough of this rubbish from 4T people who try to convince themselves that the 2Ts will blow up just to stop themselves from worrying about not having the most fun bike on the road come summer...

...penis envy on 2 wheels is all it is...

..."well your penis might be twice as big and twice the fun, but it'll drop off soon so ner ner"


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https://www.bikepics.com/members/nsrandy/96rs250/ My Bike!

"I'm either going to teach andy to get his knee down, or I'm going to get him killed. One of the two" - Teaman

[Bomberman]

[Josh|RD125LC]

The RD is lovely in any weather. Starts first kick every morning, no choke as well! Leave it to warm up for a few mins, then take it slow til the temp gauge gets half way, then I open her up a bit more. Never dies on me, and never fails to idle. Only time it dies is when it runs out of fuel.

Just wait til summer Andy, then the RS will be in its element!!
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Honda MBX50 | Yamaha RD125LC | Suzuki RG125F Lucky Strike | Suzuki GSF600S
RD125LC Pictures

[Groove]

as long as u dont bin it in the winter
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|| Past: 1991 Kawasaki ZXR 250 ~ 2003 Honda CBR 600 F Sport ~ 2004 Kawasaki ZX6R B1H 636 ~ 1999 Yamaha R1 ~ 1999 Kawasaki ZX6R J ~ 2004 Kawasaki ZX6R B1H 636 ~ 1998 Honda VTR1000F Firestorm ~ K1 GSXR 600 Track bike ~ K6 GSXR 1000 ~ 2006 Speed Triple 1050 || Current: 2005 R1 https://www.adrucore.co.uk

[Rookie]

This is why I'll go for a DT or something when it comes to 2 smokes, it should be in it's element, despite the, er, elements.

[colin1]

a DT will be far more slippy in the wet as it doesnt have tyres that are designed for road use

unless you get the supermoto version and they are a bit rare
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colin1 is officially faster than god

[Rookie]

But can I not get road-use tyres for the normal version?

[colin1]

no the wheels are the wrong size
you would need to get supermoto wheels
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colin1 is officially faster than god

[Rookie]

Shit on my parade why don't you.
I'll be careful, if I ever get it!

[instigator]

[colin1]

[Visitor Q]

Ask dischord about what it took to start the viffer the other day...

With a freshly charged battery aswell.

Try it lives outside, but still.

Nothing should be /that/ much hassle
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China traffic/travel bike vid - When I make a sweeping statement, please add the word 'statistically' in to the sentence before you bitch...
From September 2014 to January/February 2015 I will not be using any English, nor reading any. As such, I won't be on here. PM at will, but I won't be checking/posting unless in emergencies. Certainly not for the first couple of months. Please berate me savagely if I break that rule...

[NSR125-Kid-UK]

ok so 20 minutes is a bit of an overestimation, but the RS takes a decent time to warm up, frequently cutting out if you leave it ticking over on its own without blipping the throttle (the NSR was the same in the cold though).

EDIT...

...or not .

The RS took 4 minutes to warm up to 33 degrees C

Maybe it was just the rain that made it feel a long time - it's not raining today and it's distinctly warmer than yesterday
____________________
https://www.bikepics.com/members/nsrandy/96rs250/ My Bike!

"I'm either going to teach andy to get his knee down, or I'm going to get him killed. One of the two" - Teaman

[EDBANGER]

[Shaun]

Oh great, he leaves visordown so now we get his bullshit stories.

[G]

I suspect any vehicle that makes 230hp per litre straight from the box will need some time to warm up and need to be done properly.
My RS takes a while to warm up properly in cold, can be ten minutes or more in crappy conditions.

However my RS doesn't do any of the other things mentioned though. It did have a dead battery previously (like totally dead), it would struggle to idle if you left the lights on as there wasn't enough power to make a decent spark, new battery now and it's fine.


So where's the 'I told you so' rating?


Incidentally, my RS250 is for sale / swap now . (Made my mind up to definitely sell now it's a bad time of year to sell, ) However got someone looking at it on Thursday that seems pretty interested, though that'll be a swap rather than a sale.

[Andy C]

[Dom_]

Leaving it ticking over while you put your gear on, no wonder it cuts out, the amount of shite that is covering your spark plugs. I start mine up and blip the throttle for about 30 seconds then go. Not had a problem yet.

Also, 2T's are more un-reliable than 4t's, reputations don't grow from no where. I know many people whose bikes have seized for no reason. "Poliniman" had done a full engine rebuild and 2k km later the top end went. Same goes for a mate on his 125.

It's a good bike etc etc...But don't kid yourself into thinking it's ultra reliable even if you stick to the service guide, because it's not.

[riichy]

i used to leve mine 2 mins on idle. now i tern it on and leve it live 30sec untill i have put my helmet on
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.......... PLOD ............ zx636 2004