Project 2 / 1981 Yamaha XT250H - before it became a Chookchaser project?

The brother-in-law, where do you start? Hooter was keen to have a machine himself and had budget of around the $1400 mark. Hooter ask for me to chase one down, I had to chose something that was reliable and would ease the greenhorn into riding dirtbikes. As mentioned before it is good to find something that someone else has spent the money on in the first place you may just find a bargain? After looking at few machines I really had to consider Hooter's lack of spannership and choose wisely.

A 1981 Yamaha XT250H came up for sale, in the photos the bike looked like it had a fair bit done to it, disc brake front end, new plastics, gripper seat, paint job all round, chromed bits! and most of all within budget. Showed 'The Hooter' the ad, what do you think? He mumbled something which I interpretid as lets go have a look?

Off to the viscinity of Mount Tamborine way, got to ol' mates place and further questioning it was a project for him & his son, the son since upgraded to later model. It looked on first inspection very well detailed engine detail was great, apparently money spent on top end rebuild by expert yamaha mechanic, didn't do the bottom end as it was it great condition. You could see all the new gaskets on the engine. But unless you see receipts - grain of salt my friends. Everything was painted and done, the list was:

1. Full top-end rebuild and inspected bottom end
2. Rebuilt rear shock and modified.
3. Disc brake added (not swapped).
4. Brand new genuine exhaust system.
5. Gripper seat.
6. New carb (I think?)
7. New plastics.
8. Bark busters & hand guards.
9. Chrome (spokes, engine mounts, foot peg stays).
10. Spray work all round (tank was affected by petrol).
11. Enduro head lamp.
12. Great tyres (bla bla brand)

Well, that's as long as my arm, lets take it for a ride? I rode it then Hooter, it seemed to run alright, but we didn't have much space to test it really. SOLD, Hooter was happy that he had a bike and from my point, all the extras made it a good investment.

After getting the bike home and taking it on couple of gumbies it seem to break down up it the rev range and seem to be down power, I didn't expect to go as good as a four valve, but definately better than it did? Did I make Hoot Hoot buy a dud, I was concerned that I had. I starting to think thats why the seller sold it as it didn't run right.

Let me invesitgate this further check valves, nah all good here, lets check the timing, something seems not right? Apparent 'expert yamaha mechanic' didn't do a very good job on the timing did we? Oh well, backyard mechanic will sort the shit out you couldn't get right! :D
After that a totally different machine, went great and has been a super reliable bike for Gumby Hooter. I would assume that the previous owner was unhappy with the performance on a couple of trail-rides it did before Ebaying it. Did I mention super reliable, well... until 2012?

What happens when Hooter runs over a Rock Golem?
What happened by Hooter?

Recalling the events of 2012 are somewhat blurred so the best way to describe the accident that caused a decent hole in the side of my clutch cover was a mix of sleep deprivation and lack of caffeine. But before that leads to the question of why. Why the lack of sleep, why was I riding in that state? To begin with, I worked a 12-hour night shift before the Crows Nest trail ride finishing at 6am, jumping in my ute already packed and ready to go. I drove to Daz and Tent’s houses to collect their bikes and continue onwards to Crows Nest for the trail-ride.

I let Tent drive due to the lack of sleep and my need for caffeine, this allowing me to consume all I could get my hands on: coffee x 2, Redbull x 3 etc., so needless to say, by the time we got there I was pretty pumped. It is a bit of a caffeinated blur of unpacking gear, getting ready, safety meeting, eat and then... we’re off!
As we started I was off like a bull outta the gates, left behind poor Tent who was stuck in a creek (watch proof) due to over inflated tyre or maybe it was his ego?

Speaking of the previous bull, I went like that for a good 20kms of fast paced action, overtaking a lot of the new bikes and slower riders falling. I think we got many stares of disbelief as a savage pack of vintage bikes tore past them leaving nothing but dust and fumes. Then the first big stack arrived; trailing behind Tent we were coming down a hill, fence on the right with an open paddock to the left, taking the paddock as the only route to overtake the ‘wide load’ which was Tent and not seeing the contour bank in front of me! I hit the contour bank at the height of third gear while sitting down resulting in myself getting ejected from my comfy sitting position and superman-ing over the handlebars, face first into the ploughed dirt.

Once I stopped sliding, I did a quick appendage check? All good here! I started the bike and kept on going, giving a sheepish wave the race marshalls at the bottom of the hill that had a very good view of my entertaining action.
After that and later moving up further to a bit of a hill climb and not seeing the hairpin corner in front, thus, launching me with the bike into the air and straight off the side of a boulder, landing onto a nice soft bed of lantana. I was lying there contemplating how nice the sky was and hearing the pack tear past and keep going, either not seeing a fellow rider or not caring, so, up I got - second appendage check, everything still attached and moving… sorta. Back on the bike which was now missing a clutch lever. I was able to get moving, nursing the bike down the hill and further down the trail. Upon reaching a road crossing with marshalls and a rest spot I stopped - with fatigue catching up and punching me in the face, I decided to have a rest.

As I sat there looking at everyone else, I noticed a 50mm hole in the side of my clutch cover. Now with the realisation that my bike had lost all critical fluids, I had to pull the pin and ask the marshalls what the easiest way to get back to the staging area was?
One of the marshalls replied, "On the back of my ute! I’m heading back in 5 minutes."
So I got my bike on and after a 15minute drive with one top bloke, unloaded the bike and there I was. After some time packing up, getting a feed & derping out, the boys rocked up after finishing the ride, with me claiming victory as I made it back first, though they said something about;

“It does not count as a real finish when you get over the line on the back of a ute, Hoot.”

Whatever guys, I know the mighty Yamaha XT  and myself did end up finishing our first Crows Nest trail-ride.

Tent's retort to written events.

Hmmm... Where to start with this delusional account of events?

I can’t defend my getting stuck in the first creek within 50m of the starting line and it has become somewhat of a tradition for me and Crows Nest. The last time we visited the Crows Nest trail ride I come down hard in the first creek (again about 50m in) and broke the front brake lever.

In my defence, it was my first trail ride and a tricky entry over rocks, a rather large one bouncing me off the side of the narrow trail and falling to the bottom of the ravine! (About 1m deep) As you can see from Hooter’s story however, it didn’t take long to round him up, but I did have the advantage of riding our community Honda XR 250 which does have some suspension along with some extra lung capacity with the 4 valve head!

I may be a wide load Hooter but even my bum is not wide enough to obscure a 100m long x 50cm high contour bank.

I recall the event quite well and as I slowed to take the obstacle safely, I see Hooter fly past on the left, throttle wide open to impress the marshals at the checkpoint below. I think to myself as it all unfolds in slow motion; poor Hoot Hoot’s eyes are painted on!

After stopping and checking that all his bits are in the right places and no leaky parts, the laughter starts and I hope to myself that I have it on camera, or that at least Banana Man was close enough to see it for himself! Unfortunately, the camera was flat so it won’t be appearing in the stacks page.

I will leave it to the readers own discretion as to whether or not the trip to base, broken on the back of a ute constitutes a win?

Dazza's heartache over being Hooter's mechanic!
Dazza's explains the half restore of the XT250H

I have always liked the TT version of this family & thought I would do a project at a later stage in life if I ever had enough spare cash and time, but seeing Hooter decided to attempt something he couldn't manage like riding from start to end on a trail ride with out drama. His efforts at trilriding has given me oportunity to muck around with the TT's sister, the ever reliable XT. I know I say reliable and the bike would still be going today I'm sure, Hooter is a non-testament to reliabilty!

Anyway, did I mention time before... yes I did. When you choose to use Gumbies Chief Mechanic, it's going to take time as I have many things on my plate. So 1.6 years later I finished Hooter's bike and can say it didn't turn out too shabby.

Seeing I had to source parts from around I decided in the meantime I will send the frame & swing arm off to be powder coated, as I knew I was going to be awile! It needed it as it was only painted, when doing 5 years of Gumby punishment, it does takes it toll. So my other brother-in-law helped me out with this. The other bits I had neccessity to get was a whole other clutch (eBay), to be sure and to have spares for future ailments that Hooter may inflict on the XT. A clutch cover (refer to pics) that came from the US as I couldn't get one cheap enough here at the time. I needed a gasket of course, so on this I just got a full kit, not much different on a genunie single gasket to the aftermarket full kit.

One because it needed it & other another I didn't want to buy a can of gold just to do one cover $$$, we must always think budget except in the case of the "The Black Edition" (Want to know more, then you'll have to wait!).