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Orange724
5/30/2013 10:39pm
5/30/2013 10:39pm
Edited Date/Time
4/17/2016 2:41pm
Being back in college has seriously reduced my budget, but I want to get a bike again to hit the track.
I saw a pretty decent 98 RM for cheap on craigslist and wonder if you think it would be a good weekend track bike?
How's the:
motor
clutch
suspension
tranny
brakes
handling
I always really like the look of these bikes and thought it would be cool to rock some 90's vintage.
I would get the suspension freshioned up and res-prung for me and leave it stock looking.
FTR, that is a 1997 in your picture. Below is a 1998:
Not a bad bike IMO... if its cheap and doesn't need too much work, get it.
The Shop
If the price is right and it has low hours I'd buy it for sure. RM's and KX's of this era were lacking in build quality so I'd definitely avoid them unless it is very low hour. With neglect they can become roached out basket cases in very little time.
The motor isn't very powerful by 250 2-stroke standards, but it'll still be fun. I think that was one of the odd years that required the cases to be split in order to change the water pump, or at least significant diss-assembly to replace it.
I'll definitely be looking for a low hour one.
The 98 was my favorite. I had a 96 and 98. (New 125's in 97/99 and would keep 1 bike 2 seasons) I raced the 98 250 nearly every weekend for 2 years in Intermediate and then Pro class and never had any breakdowns. Suspension is awesome, the bike really has a pretty modern feel to it and as long as everything is pretty fresh it's not going to feel dated compared to more modern 250's (I mean any 2000s Japanese 250's)
MXA always claimed these RM's needed over a thousand dollars worth of Hinson Clutch components. Yes...the clutches are not the best or most durable. I found that I could replace the inner clutch hub for about 50 bucks once or twice a year on my RM's when they got notched and save lots of money.
If I remember correctly the 98 was down about 4 horse power to the class leaders, but any of the aftermarket pipes got that back instantly. Mine was plenty fast.
I thought the internal water pump was cool, the engine looked sleek. I've never had to work on a water pump anyway so I don't see why they went back to an external water pump sticking out.
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