The Australian 250 Touring Thread

And a trophy winner too!

seems like only yesterday........

Pity we have such a small market. Honda has taken a shot by selling the CRF250 Rally. I wonder what % of those never leave the farm, when the farmer bought it with dreams of riding off into the sunset one day?

Is everyone waiting for the WR450R?

I’d buy one

Maybe they'd sell so many of them that it would make the rest of the range uneconomic? Like not selling that 250 Tenere over here, just on a world wide scale?

I have just downsized from a DR650, mostly because I am a bad rider with short(ish) legs, and wanted something to build up my skills and confidence on.

Haven't taken it on a long ride yet, just a few 300 odd km loops. As soon as this lock down ends I'll be heading off for a few days

They set up really well as a mini tourer!....big fan!

Loving mine so far. They seem pretty perfect out of the box. Decent fuel range, even the stock seat isn't too bad. Bark busters, bash plate, rear rack and some throw over luggage, and hey presto a capable small "adventure bike".

So I’m keen to see what tyres are being used by you guys on 250’s. I’ve got an XR250 and I need to replace the original tyres on it. I’m leaning heavily toward 50/50 tyres and looking at the motoz tractionator gps tyres. They seem like as good a choice for an all rounder as you can get. 2nd choice would be anakee wild tyres. What does everyone prefer as their choice for touring?

I would go for a D606 or D605 on the front and perhaps a Mitas E07 on the rear or even a D606, I have been running D606's on my Wr250R and I can still do the rough stuff and tour.

Yep,606 on the front and EO7 rear is a good combo!

I tried both the E07 and the motoz tractionator gps on my old Dr650. Both were fine but I felt the E07 had better traction in loose stuff. The motoz probably wore better.

I was thinking d606 front and rear for my own xt but from memory the d606 rear needs a tube? I'm keen to take advantage of the improbable tubeless rear, so will probably end up with the d606/e07 combo.

So I gone done the same, bought a 2012 xt 250 with only 4 k on it . I have put the rear rack on, baseplate, barkbusters and screen, now just the pannier racks ...brands please? And have you fitted bar risers?
Can’t wait to get out and see how she goes.

This is a bit of a pointless reply since I'm just going to use a throw over bag instead of panniers and aren't planning to get risers, but there is a reasonably active XT owners facebook group is you don't have any luck here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/278016532591603/?ref=bookmarks

The aftermarket is smaller than for many bikes, which I don't really mind. With my DR650 I spent almost as much time researching and doing mods as I did riding the thing.

Dave I appreciate the concept but truly what is are the benefits of these tiny tings compared to a 650?

Been thru all this Mark,read about it here!!
https://advrider.com/f/threads/size-does-it-really-matter.925310/

Thanks for the link Turumath - but will probs pm sidetrack one and find out what is on his.
I have pannier bags from BMW days and not interested in ‘new’ style, going cheap and cheerful - more money for fuel and pub meals .

racks (for softluggage only)
https://www.pmracks.com/products.php?b=Yamaha&sc=XT250

There are a couple (or more) XT-250/ 225 threads right here


https://advrider.com/f/threads/where-are-your-xt250s-lets-see-them.403156/page-474
https://advrider.com/f/threads/the-official-xt225-thread.178968/page-775

No bar risers here, instead a high-crank set of bars






I'll never diss buying off Gumtree again...what a find/ buy!
One week later for CoVid and I would've gotten the 1000k service in

I made the pannier frames!

If you are using throw over panniers such as Andy Strapz, you don't need much of a pannier frame as the seat takes the weight. The frame's only purpose is to keep the panniers out of the rear wheel. I had some made (can't weld!) out of 1/4 inch rod for a number of bikes I've had over the years. This included DRZ250, DR650 and Versys 650 - all used for touring. No issues at all. Good thing is that if you fall and bend the frames you just grab the frame and pull it out straight again.
Plenty of people refuse to accept that 1/4 rod is plenty strong enough but I never had an issue in well over 150k kms on the above bikes, including trip to Cape on the 250, and round Oz on the DR650.

BruceC