Back in the early 70’s, I owned a ‘72 Honda XL250.
Even though it was a street legal enduro, the one I owned was an off road only used dirt bike that a high school kid could afford. When I bought it, it had an reverse cone open exhaust, all the lights removed, a foam air filter sock that used to oil my pant leg, and a great big plastic gas tank for all day riding.
Back then most all of my friends were riding much lighter, and faster two strokes. But I was always drawn to the booming sound and torque of a classic four stroke single. One thing we had lots of in desert riding were steep rocky mountain side trails that tended to be covered in loose rocks. On a two stroke you had to keep the motor screaming to get to the top of most of them and God help you if you stalled out, halfway up. But that Honda , even though it wasn’t real fast, it had a big flywheel and you could just chug up the side of most hills without even breaking a sweat. Later models got a new center port intake which moved that carburetor to the center of the frame and would’ve kept that oily foam filter I had , off of my leg.
As a teenage knucklehead , I treated that bike very poorly, I spent as much time crashing it as I did riding it. I did very little maintenance on it. And yet it just ran like a sewing machine. I used to foolishly load it into the back of my beat up pickup truck and take it out to the desert and go for daylong solo rides, something only a dumb kid would do. But that bike never failed me or left me stranded. I was too young and inexperienced to realize at the time , what a marvel of engineering it was. It was one of the first mass produced bikes to have a four valve head, it had forks that were a copy of Cerriani design, it had magnesium side cases, and a 21“ front wheel. It was just a really well designed little bike.
This beautifully restored one sold on Bring a Trailer for $8600 in 2020.
So, did anyone else here ever have one? Or maybe the 350? I’m getting nostalgic just thinking about it!
Even though it was a street legal enduro, the one I owned was an off road only used dirt bike that a high school kid could afford. When I bought it, it had an reverse cone open exhaust, all the lights removed, a foam air filter sock that used to oil my pant leg, and a great big plastic gas tank for all day riding.
Back then most all of my friends were riding much lighter, and faster two strokes. But I was always drawn to the booming sound and torque of a classic four stroke single. One thing we had lots of in desert riding were steep rocky mountain side trails that tended to be covered in loose rocks. On a two stroke you had to keep the motor screaming to get to the top of most of them and God help you if you stalled out, halfway up. But that Honda , even though it wasn’t real fast, it had a big flywheel and you could just chug up the side of most hills without even breaking a sweat. Later models got a new center port intake which moved that carburetor to the center of the frame and would’ve kept that oily foam filter I had , off of my leg.
As a teenage knucklehead , I treated that bike very poorly, I spent as much time crashing it as I did riding it. I did very little maintenance on it. And yet it just ran like a sewing machine. I used to foolishly load it into the back of my beat up pickup truck and take it out to the desert and go for daylong solo rides, something only a dumb kid would do. But that bike never failed me or left me stranded. I was too young and inexperienced to realize at the time , what a marvel of engineering it was. It was one of the first mass produced bikes to have a four valve head, it had forks that were a copy of Cerriani design, it had magnesium side cases, and a 21“ front wheel. It was just a really well designed little bike.
This beautifully restored one sold on Bring a Trailer for $8600 in 2020.
So, did anyone else here ever have one? Or maybe the 350? I’m getting nostalgic just thinking about it!
Last edited:
. It wasn't the bikes fault, I was riding it like a motor x'er. They weren't built for big jumps...
