[twjay]

I had to let my TW go because of prior car accident injuries....she just rides too rough on the street and kept aggravating my back. I traded her for a Honda Rebel. Much smoother ride, and when I'm done with the forward controls- a better riding position for me.



Hated to see her go, but she went to a good home. I heard she clocked 300+ miles in the first two days! The new owner likes it so much, they are buying a second TW so father an son can ride together. New owner has 16 bikes, so that says a lot about the TW.



I'll still be around, thanks to everyone who helped keep my TW running.

 

[Bullspit]

The Honda Rebel looks interesting. I saw one the other day but I'm not sure I would like the feet forward riding position. I hope you will discuss this here so I can benefit from your experiences.

 

[twjay]

Will do bullspit.



She's torn down right now getting the "OCD Treatment" as my wife would say. I rode it a couple of times before starting the tear down.



I like to tear all my new to me bikes down and check all the bearings, seals, electrical, etc and give it a thorough cleaning. It's an 01 and only has 1,400 miles, so it's sat a lot.



So far it's gotten drag bars, a paint polish/wax, new tires/tubes/rim strips, new chain and sprockets, and the carb is on my workbench waiting for a cleaning. Also changing all the intake and carb seals, oil, plugs, air filter.(It idles too fast when it warms up so it's either an air leak or a dirty pilot circuit) As much as it's sat up, I'd guess the latter, but while it's down, I'm just going to replace the few orings that are there just in case.



Tires and chain looked ok, but are original.



Tank is clean and it has an inline fuel filter so I'm set there.

 

[retmotor]

Sorry to hear about the back and the TW.



I'd be interested to see a pic of your new bike.



I have low back issues, L4, L5. Because of that, I absolutely cannot sit on cruisers. Riding with my legs forward is agony. I rode Harleys for nine years and I'm convinced that's what damaged that area. Anyway, good luck with the new bike.

 

[Dark Sol]

The rebel is an awesome bike for people shorter than 5'6. Seat height is much too low if you're taller though.



It's a little low on power compared to bikes like the ninja 250; but on the flip side the bike will outlive the ninja ten-fold. Probably longer than that. It will cruise 65 easily on flats. It runs so smooth you can wind it up all the way to its redline of 8250 and not hurt a thing - 8250 is slowwwww for a 233cc twin with a 53mm stroke.



I have a 1991 nighthawk 250 with the same engine and it's just gold. It's so perfectly balanced and smooth with so little friction I can be running 60 @ 6200 on an 85 degree day and the oil temp never even hits 200. Compare that to the TW engine that easily hits 250 degrees in such a scenario. There's just no comparison. The bike was designed so well, it doesn't even have or need an oil filter! I never see any metal particles between oil changes, either.



You'll easily get 100k, if not 200k miles out of the engine if you take care of it - stellar for a 250 class that's spinning quite quickly at highway speeds. Mine is at 22k miles and I run the heck out of it and it still runs like the day I bought it (With 7k miles) It never lets me down, and I'm almost certain it will outlive me.



Enjoy it man!

 

[losttourist]

Congrats on the rebel. Actually one of the bikes I was considering for next season. Though liking the vstar 250 more, then again Im in between it and the vstar 650 custom with shaft drive. Anyway at least your old tdub is being enjoyed by another.

 

[flingwing1969]

The Honda Rebel looks interesting. I saw one the other day but I'm not sure I would like the feet forward riding position. I hope you will discuss this here so I can benefit from your experiences.

The Rebel is a bit small for me but I had a Honda Shadow 600 for several years. It had forward peg like the Rebel and they did take a bit of getting used to - I kept hitting air at start-out for the first few rides. I liked the position on the road but I live a mile up some steep, curvy gravel and it was a slow ride on these off-road conditions until I hit the pavement. You can't stand up on the pegs at all, way too far forward.

 

[Bullspit]

The rebel is an awesome bike for people shorter than 5'6. Seat height is much too low if you're taller though.



It's a little low on power compared to bikes like the ninja 250; but on the flip side the bike will outlive the ninja ten-fold. Probably longer than that. It will cruise 65 easily on flats. It runs so smooth you can wind it up all the way to its redline of 8250 and not hurt a thing - 8250 is slowwwww for a 233cc twin with a 53mm stroke.



I have a 1991 nighthawk 250 with the same engine and it's just gold. It's so perfectly balanced and smooth with so little friction I can be running 60 @ 6200 on an 85 degree day and the oil temp never even hits 200. Compare that to the TW engine that easily hits 250 degrees in such a scenario. There's just no comparison. The bike was designed so well, it doesn't even have or need an oil filter! I never see any metal particles between oil changes, either.



You'll easily get 100k, if not 200k miles out of the engine if you take care of it - stellar for a 250 class that's spinning quite quickly at highway speeds. Mine is at 22k miles and I run the heck out of it and it still runs like the day I bought it (With 7k miles) It never lets me down, and I'm almost certain it will outlive me.



Enjoy it man!

The Nighthawk intrigues me because it has a standard seating position. How is the seat height compared to the TW and Rebel?

 

[twjay]

Seat height is low on the rebel for sure. I'm 6' 2" and the controls need to be moved forward for anything more than short rides. Other than that, it's really comfortable. Drag bars with a pair of Tusk risers helped also.





If you were going to buy a bike and ride it stock, I'd go for the nighthawk, or a bigger bike, if you're taller. I like to work on/customize my bikes as much as ride them, and like the look of the Rebel better. With forward controls the Rebel could be ridden by a tall person for 100's miles, no problem.



I'm using some flat steel bar stock and some other misc. parts to build my forward control setup. The shifter will just need a longer threaded rod to be extended, the rear brake will be a little more work, but nothing too crazy.



Looking to end up with comething like this, but with a wider extension piece:

 

[frog13]

As mentioned above,both the 250 nighthawk and the rebel engines are some of the best ever built.

 

[GISdood]

In the summertime, I work with a local riding school (Canadian equivalent of an MSF rider coach) and at least half of our school bikes are 250 Rebels. Given how well they stand up to the abuse they're subjected to in the parking lot on a regular basis and your self-admitted OCD affliction, I'd say that bike is going to last you a looooooong time.

 

[Rezolution]

TW is definitely tough on the lumbar region, compared to any other bike I've ridden.

I am 6-1 and long limbed. If I sit in a 'normal' comfortable position, back on the seat, I come home with sore back, even on a short street ride running errands.



The solution is to sit way forward with my nards way up on that seat ramp running up the tank. A completely different type of pain, but of shorter duration.

My elbows are behind my shoulders, my knees are up toward the widest part of the tank and my toes are pointed at the ground, making shifting an ankle cranking challenge.

Any emergency stop in this position is a sure fire trip over the handlebars.



Long bumpy off road rides are only plausible for me by standing most of the time.



No other bike forces me into this bizarre compromise position to spare my back.



Wonder if any of the rear shock mods alleviate this phenomenon?

 

[twjay]

I've heard that a longer swingarm helps soften the ride, but I don't know how much.



Here is a pic of my bike. I finally got all the parts replacement I wanted to do before a serious ride done and rode it 130+ miles on Saturday.



Night and day difference on the street from the TW as far as ride. Power and engine RPMs are pretty close. Rebel has move bottom end though. I actually got mokey butt before any real aches or pains set in. The highway pegs made all the difference though....got to get those forward controls done.

So far I've replaced the tires, tubes, rim strips, chain, sprokets, intake orings, cleaned the carb, put on drag bars, added a crash bar with highway pegs and polished everything.



I have a little more to clean/polish and it will pretty much look new. I've started the forward control mounts, but I need to order the controls and linkage next month to finish. I'll post more progress pics when I get more parts.