Posts
4
Joined
4/1/2008
Location
USA
Edited Date/Time
1/27/2012 11:06am
Hey all, I am new here. I have a had a 1978 Can-Am 250 cc Qualifier for the last 14 years or so. Bombardier has just resurrected the Can-Am name for their new 800 cc ATV. There is even a nice little historical write-up of the Can-Am bikes on their website.
Left-hand kickstart, right hand chain drive, oil injected, twin-strut rear shocks... A very unique bike, and fast as heck.
Now, for those of you who don't even need to look at the site to remember these bikes, it would be nice if you could contact me, especially if you own one of these bikes, and/or have parts for them, or know someone who does...
I can be reached here (if the reply notification works) or at mailto:markbyn@hotmail.com
Thanks all! Ride on!
Mark in Florida
Left-hand kickstart, right hand chain drive, oil injected, twin-strut rear shocks... A very unique bike, and fast as heck.
Now, for those of you who don't even need to look at the site to remember these bikes, it would be nice if you could contact me, especially if you own one of these bikes, and/or have parts for them, or know someone who does...
I can be reached here (if the reply notification works) or at mailto:markbyn@hotmail.com
Thanks all! Ride on!
Mark in Florida
"This post is useless without pics".
Post one up and welcome.
I also owned an MX 5, 1982 model. It was orange in color. The shocks had a longer travel, so I swapped them onto my Qualifier before selling the MX 5 to my best friend. He somehow 'left' the bike at someone's house years ago, and now isn't sure he will ever see it again... If i'da known, I would have bought it back ina hearteat.
My bike is still far away from me, and I don't have any photos of it to share just yet. I can give you a brief description, if that helps?
Stock black frame and hubs, red fenders (original fenders were broken beyond repair so replaced with suitable parts), red gas tank of a plastic material (it was faded so I painted it bright red, but now that I know better, I may try to sand and polish the plastic to return the original red), I installed a CR250 clutch cable because no Can-Am parts were available to me. The front hub is cracked, so I am looking for a whole wheel with brake drum/hub assembly, unless I decide to cnvert to a modern disc assembly front and rear.
The seat I had reupholstered with a gray, weatherproof vinyl. It sports a Qualifier headlight and speedo. I had this speedo up to 100 mph on this bike before. I npw need a new kickstart/shifter shaft assembly, as mine are stripped out. Probably need kickstart lever as well. They both share the same shaft on the left side, so no way to install a sheer pin.
My bike is loud... I mean, LOUD! It has its main tuned pipe portion, but the spark arrester was missing. I tried a CR250 arrester, but it just changes to a deeper tone. I will never be able to sneak up on anyone with this thing! haha. It is still a lot of fun. I didn't know whether to trust the oil injection system (no one trusted them back then, even though I never heard of any failures!), so I just mixed my fuel 45-50:1 (50:1 recommended by Bombardier).
Anyway, hope to chat with y'all some more! Be ever better to be able to get my bike. It's a bit of a long story on how it is so far away from me... Maybe next time, if anyone is interested?!
Mark
The Shop
Luxon 4-Post Bar Mounts
$189.95 - $239.95
DeCal Works Huge Plastic Inventory of UFO and Polisport kits.
If you need anything for a Can-Am, You need to contact Al Roberts in Lumberton, Texas
He has a barn full of Can-Am's & parts.He's the go to guy for Can-Am's
I dig up his new address, as he got hit during last years hurricane & I'm not sure if my current info is correct
Yes Bobby they were fast! but that was it! the only bike I ever rode that has worse brakes then my Maico's!
The suspension is also not even close to today's mono shock suspension. While the front can be swapped to something new and still look vintage, the rear twins would be hard to improve on, unless someone has been working on some rear high tech dampers and progressive springs. There is just no travel to speak of.
I am into restoring and riding... Like with the old cars I love, you just CANNOT put these marvels into a museum! Use 'em!
I will wait to hear more info from the Texas Can-Am guy! Thanks!
Oh, and KTM93, that's a great picture! Very close to my MX-5... Mine had round numplates, not squarish... But otherwise very close!
That first one is obviously Saddleback, here's one from Racing World.
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