Bike features
Here are the main features of the Yamaha XT 250 Serow:
- off-road efficiency;
- well-tuned suspensions;
- achieving both maximum torque and maximum power at 6500 rpm.
The last point deserves special attention. Due to the fact that the number of revolutions per minute for maximum power and torque is the same, the motorcycle can maintain its dynamics until the last moment. This makes the Yamaha XT 250 Serow one of the best dirt bikes, certainly among the small capacity options.
Review by Yamaha Chinese copy Cartridge Strike (2012)
The moto topic on the site has completely withered...
But I’ve been riding “real” (I’ll explain why in quotes below) enduro for a year now! Exactly a year, even in winter I went several times.
February '17. The pit bike is ready for the season. But man is such a damn brute that he is always missing something. What was wrong with Pete? Firstly, sports equipment. Naturally, you are not allowed to travel to additional places “by law.” Secondly, you can’t go somewhere far and for a long time on it. And I was planning a couple of long-distance trips. Well, thirdly, I wanted to have less maintenance and repairs. And you can’t plant a second one - at least you can get to the neighboring forest. In fact, this is a toy for riding alone in the nearest forest.
We choose... We immediately forget about the Japanese - the cheapest yubr, which you can look at without tears, is far beyond the budget. And enduro is like a premium car. Initially, I tried to find money over thirty thousand, Chinese, of course, with minor problems, but I soon realized the utopian nature of the idea. I set the goals - moderately off-road motorcycle, low in the saddle!!, no less than 200 cubic meters. Easy. Immediately about and their clones - the saddle height is 90. We choose.. We choose.. and, in fact, where is the choice??? The crisis of '13 didn't even bring us to our knees; it drove the motorcycle market deep into the ground. Of the new ones, a 14-year-old intruder in his sixties is gathering dust forlornly. Discounts? What are you about?? The mot looks huge, overloaded with details, and generally not my thing. Are you interested in a certain model? We will deliver to order. With prepayment, of course. What if you don't like it? I don't know what your problem is. And - prices, prices... We look at used ones. Second strike. Nothing to see. They sell rubbish, half without proper registration. If the road worker is registered with the previous/previous/grandmother/neighbor's bug. Enduro is either sports equipment or simply not registered. I looked at the tribute cartridge. This is a Chinese type of Minsk. Mot beams. Basically.. if you change tires, you can actually drive to some asshole in the world and get stuck there. But the engine is 150cc without a balancer! That means Route 70. Not serious. Next is the snow leopard vr1. Engine - 200 with balancer. Works great, no vibrations! But a road worker. Here the racer is making a new model based on its overpit-underenduro. In principle, the difference is mainly in the engine. I know the old model, and my impressions are contradictory. On the one hand, this is exactly what I want! The disadvantages are mainly related to the weak engine (and the new model 200 has a balancer!!), and low load capacity. But - my weight is a lamb, plus I don’t carry too much - it’s enough for me. Rare tires, short service life of the components... nonsense, Pete taught me to work with my hands after every ride. Rubber... really, after pita I wanted “full size”. True, the price is double the budget... but you can raise the amount. I ordered from two stores, they promised to deliver and call. I'm still waiting. :-D.
At the same time, I'm looking at used ones. I set my sights on looking at a few more options. Unexpectedly, an announcement - strike cartridge, 12 years old, thousand miles. What kind of strike? Copy of Yamaha-Serov, low in the saddle, light. There are a lot of negatives - the frames are cracking, the tanks are leaking, there are no spare parts... I’m calling - one owner is not young, he is registered, the diagnostics are valid!!, condition - he drove a little on asphalt. Everything is original. I agreed to watch it. Night (again night, again at work, again without sleep :-D,), I think, I’m surfing the Internet... Are the frames cracking? There is one hero of the Internet - under him, the spendthrift literally fell apart. But, if you think about it... This “uncle” weighs a hundred kilos. Plus equipment Plus cargo, backpack, things... My usual weight will be three times lower! Okay, whatever - I’ll go and at least look at this craft for the legendary Serov. I go straight to the heel, into the booth with a board and zip ties.
The sight of this small, neat, and somehow beautiful motorcycle struck me on the spot. The suspensions work (hello, the snow leopard has a stick instead of a suspension), the engine runs very quietly. The vibrations, of course, are a bit high - the engine is 250 without a balancer. The motor really turned out to be perfect, it didn’t move off the asphalt, diagnostics were due until August. The owner is a pathologist (almost a colleague, damn it, and even a namesake by name/patronymic!), an older man, I liked it - after all, choose not the equipment, but the owner! One problem - the battery died, and only the owner started the engine from the “leg”. Nonsense - we’ll buy a battery and tune the engine! Let's buy!
Thanks to diagnostics and valid registration, and correctly executed documents (thanks to the previous owner!), it was registered quickly and cheaply - 520 insurance for a year, and 600 rubles for re-registration. The room is old. Inexpensive, I think it gives the opportunity to travel everywhere calmly. By the way, the insurance was checked twice, and the second time in such a situation - that only the correct documents saved us from more serious consequences.
I bought a battery, changed the spark plug, adjusted the valves and carb. The motorcycle started to start with a kick - otherwise, while washing the bike, we trained to see who could start it the fastest. There was a strong smell of gasoline - again, a well-known problem. I removed the tank and there was a crack on the bottom. There was some kind of screw lying in the tank, I don’t know where it came from - I just threw it away. The gap was covered with Poxypol. Eliminated a bunch of different extraneous sounds. I moved the wiring to the steering wheel. I made a mudguard for the rear shock absorber. I installed the trunk removed from the pit. And - let's go!
I drove three and a half thousand in a year. Mot, on the whole, did not disappoint... although... You understand that this is still not Serov - a typical Chinese counterfeit of the company. But on the other hand, for this money... A colleague rides a bicycle - it costs one and a half times more! The instructions directly state that “the motorcycle is made in enduro style.” Like, what did you want?? Just think, the mirrors are made of the cheapest plastic, they weren’t made for enduro, I broke my own three times, I got tired of restoring them, so I installed a random mirror with the help of Mr.., sticks, and some mother. One, the second was no longer there. Gears are switched by a very tricky system of levers and rods - naturally, this system is unacceptable for enduro! The lever always bends, the rod is always crooked, and even located below the frame. Backlash, unclear switching, always crooked design... Plus, sometimes I would like to move the footrests forward. By the way, the footrests are without springs!! What idiot did that?? I'm tired of trying to catch these footpegs, which always rise on the off-road, and to straighten the traction, I decided to redo them. I threw out the rods, put the lever from the snow leopard with a folding foot directly on the box shaft, as is done on all normal enduros. I moved the footpegs forward and installed springs. Beauty!! But - the place seems to be cursed - on the next trip I turned up so well that the entire blow seemed to have been taken by this switching foot. She, of course, stood it... but began to look up. I drove to the garage, shifting with my heel. I straightened it for about two hours - it’s not old foil. It turned out, of course, approximately, and the lever stood with a tooth offset. Of the “built-in” jambs - in one feather there was no caprolon ring - while I was making it, I took it apart five times. Restored the rear pads using proven technology, Poxypol, clutch lining, two rivets. I replaced the wheel bearings - it looked like they were without lubrication and simply rotted. The oil seals are in short supply, I installed the old ones replacing the springs.
Over the summer I traveled around the city, off-road, and even on a short distance. The motor turned out to be quite versatile. Sit comfortably. And - economical - on the highway I managed less than three liters per hundred. Naturally, more in the mud. Another small minus is that I can’t figure out where to put everything I need. On the pit bike, I installed a small tool box on the handlebars, behind the fairing for cameras, a bottle of water/gasoline, and on top for a mat and a sleeping bag.
I went everywhere. For example, I drove to work for a week, then 740 km in two days on completely different roads. It was I who went to Gary. There are, as you know, three holes in the Urals - Shali, Gary, Tabor. I was in two, the third remained unconquered. Plus, I really wanted to drive further, where the road actually ends (the asphalt ends much earlier). Traveling by car is unrealistic. I took the shortcut on a motorcycle. 160 km of asphalt. And the first bell rang - a flooded road bridge. I used the pedestrian, suspended one. 22 km - the embankment is operational!! railway (it’s not easy to ride in one helmet when there’s a cliff on one side and rails on the other. And there’s always the feeling that the locomotive is catching up from behind.). A little more asphalt and the grader started moving. I constantly change gears and catch the wind on the rocks. What is Garinsky district? Swamps, plains, the largest lakes and rivers... I was extremely lucky - the rising water flooded the road. I drove through small spills without getting my feet wet. Having dived into the next one, I even soaked the eggs, and almost stayed there! After all, they said, “If you don’t know the ford, don’t stick your nose into the water!” I decided to explore the next ford - and for good reason, the depth is about a meter! I've arrived. The extreme point is the half-abandoned village of Linty, a thriving village in the past, now a village of fishermen and one grandmother. I slept in an abandoned house in the attic.
Serious trips include five days in the northern Urals. Grader, rain, rivers, mountains and passes, waterfalls and beautiful nature, swimming in the purest river, in the most literal sense of the word - head over heels with an iron horse. .
In the fall I started thinking about good tires. The native Chinese one held dry soil well, did not make noise, but did not hold wet soil at all. It snowed and it became impossible to drive. Even a bald road bike held up better. And for the New Year I gave him a gift - a cross-country parsley. Fortunately, there are standard size tires for enduro-sea, for absolutely every budget and taste. The tires turned out to be ideal for winter - you drive like in summer. Let's see how she behaves in the summer. An oil seal chain has been purchased for this season. And since it is impossible to put a new chain on old teeth, I began to look for stars. And then it turns out that the driven star is very rare, and is not worth anywhere except strike and amagi! There are no similar ones in the official catalogs of well-known companies. There are three options. You can order from Izhevsk, where these motorcycles are made. The price of 1800 doesn't seem like much. You can install a similar one with some kind of spacer. But I took the third path. And I ordered a 50-tooth sprocket from the factory (original 48). I absolutely did not like the gear ratio plus the very short gears. With 15 front sprockets, the bike goes well on moderate off-road conditions, but on the highway 80, after which wild vibration begins. You can’t set it to 16; it’s better not to drive off the asphalt at 17. A 50 rear sprocket should improve the situation a bit.
In general, I was not disappointed in the motorcycle during the season. I got exactly what I wanted. On the highway, if you are not in a hurry, then 70 is very quiet and comfortable. The pendants work. Naturally, not like Japanese enduro, but definitely better than Japanese road bikes. The mot is light - I can pull it out alone. The motor failed only once - the throttle cable broke in the forest. Having quickly rearranged the remains for suction, I drove home without any problems, simultaneously drowning the moto in a puddle.
I look at what is generally produced on two wheels, and I understand that there is no alternative to the strike. Analogues from Japan - Jebel 200 and the same Serov - cost four times more - for me the amount is unrealistic. Yes, they are better in everything, but it’s like explaining the advantages of a new Mercedes to the owner of a Nexia. Our motorcycle industry died without doing anything good. And China is still riveting a bunch of Honda analogues with a seat height of 90 of varying degrees of wretchedness. Racer makes interesting models, but I don’t really like anything, the compromise doesn’t suit me. The only thing I don't like about the strike is the engine without a balancer - the vibrations are high.
Dimensions and weight
Depending on when a particular model was released, dry weight varies. In general it ranges from 110 kg to 120 kg. Together with fuel, the car will weigh a little more - approximately 130 kg. The tank volume here is 9.8 liters, which is excellent for such a vehicle. Average fuel consumption per hundred km is about 3 liters. The seat height of the XT 250 Serow is 810 mm, its length is 2150 mm, its overall height is 1160 mm, and its width is 805 mm.
Features and Features
Yamaha, together with the Italian company Pininfarina, did a lot of work on the appearance of the motorcycle. The design is so successful and attractive that it has remained unchanged for 15 years and does not lag behind its modern competitors.
The motorcycle was based on the frame from the Yamaha Tricker, which debuted a year earlier, in 2004. Due to the good layout of the main components, the Yamaha Serov 250 is very easy to operate. It can be used to perform complex motorcycle maneuvers such as riding and wheelie turns.
The engine was transferred from the previous model Serov 225. The cylinder volume was increased to 249 cc. The transmission was simplified from a 6 to a 5-speed gearbox. The first gear has become a little longer than on the Serov 225. In first gear you can go faster.
The engine turned out to be high-torque throughout the entire speed range. Pulls well at any speed. This allows you to use the motorcycle in mountain conditions. In first gear, the bike starts off easily on steep climbs. Effective when driving off-road.
A simple two-valve air-cooled engine, so it is normally noisy and gives the impression of a motorcycle with a larger engine capacity.
Economical fuel consumption is 2.5 - 3 liters per 100 km.
The short-travel suspension remains unchanged.
The saddle height is low - 81cm. Due to this, at low speeds you can avoid falling, since your legs can freely reach the ground.
The bike is ideal for beginners, teenagers and girls.
The motorcycle is easy to control and corners well. Gear shifts quickly and clearly. The Yamaha Serov 250 engine has a long service life: the engine is reliable, rarely breaks down, spare parts are available.
As you can see, there are basically only advantages.
There are few disadvantages:
- slow acceleration
- max speed only 120 km/h
Chassis and brakes
The frame of this machine is made of steel. It looks sophisticated thanks to the efforts and taste of the designers. Probably, this bike can be called, without any exaggeration, one of the most beautiful lightweight enduros. Everything in it is verified, from the steering wheel typical for the class to the neat spoked wheels. Thanks to all the design delights, the XT 250 Serow looks not just modern, but futuristic.
At the rear of this model, the suspension role is played by a pendulum version with a monoshock absorber. At the front there is a telescopic fork with dimensions of 35 mm. The rear brake for the motorcycle is a disc with a diameter of 203 mm together with a single-piston caliper. At the front, the bike brakes thanks to a 245 mm disc along with a two-piston caliper.
Review of the Yamaha Serow 250 (XT 250) motorcycle
I recently bought a Serov 2001. It’s my first motorcycle, so I have nothing to compare it with except mopeds, which I last rode as a child about 10 years ago. But, having ridden it, I couldn’t agree with this (in any case, for the first motorcycle there are definitely quite a few of them, unless you weigh 100 kg, of course). This is the second motorcycle I’ve ridden in my life (the first was a Jebel 200, on which I opened Cat. A in driving school).
They say that it is not for hard off-roading and does not like jumping (the chassis gets loose quickly). Others have been jumping for more than one season and everything is fine. I rode on a dirt road with medium-sized potholes at quite a low speed (about 60-70 km) - the fork never pierced. On the primer the full potential of the engine was not revealed. It's enough on the asphalt, but sometimes you want more. Although, for a beginner this is unnecessary. Besides, driving on asphalt is boring, so it’s not critical.
In general, for the first moto, I think it’s a worthy choice. And also for those who don’t need to fly headlong between the trees, although you can also catch a drive on a serov. But with experience this may not be enough, although the 250 is also not a gun, then you’ll probably want a 400. that very quickly, using their potential, but people have many years of training behind them.
In general, I wanted an enduro for off-road driving. But on XP I could only reach the ground with my toes (my height is 169), so I was looking for something lower... The choice fell on:
1. Honda Digri
The option is not bad, 250 cubic meters, 25-26 horses.. The chassis is about the same as the Serov. Motorcycle for mountains with a low seat back. What put me off was that it was not popular and, apparently, was produced before 1996; in any case, I didn’t find anything more recent. There were only two options, both with mileage in the Russian Federation and not attractive appearance. And this is all provided that the price is the same as for b/p serov. It also has water cooling. On the one hand this is a plus, on the other hand there is a higher complexity of the design. Possibility of damaging the radiator in the forest (especially for a newbie due to inexperience). And service is more difficult.
2. Suzuki Jebel 200cc
I read the testing of it and Serov. Jebel leaked. In general, at first I learned a lot about the jebel, it’s a good motak. But 250ka is not low in terms of landing. I thought that the only difference was in the engine (200 and 250). But it turned out that these are completely different motorcycles. And the 200 is quite weak, besides, there are only 5 speeds (there are 6 on the Serov). In general, Jebel 200 is no longer needed. In principle, the 250 is lower in fit than the XP, but I still wanted more confidence in the saddle, and the price is on average 30 thousand more than the Serov, if you take a used one in the Russian Federation and a recent year.
3. Yamaha Serov
Well, everything is clear here. I wrote a lot about him above. By the way, when I asked a seller in the “moto world” what first enduro to take for the forest at my height, he answered without hesitation: Serov.
4. Kawasaki SuperSherpa
Seemed to be the closest competitor to Serov! Very similar in many respects. But it is less popular and there is very little information on the Internet. I found only one test in which they responded negatively to kava. Same price. It's difficult to compare them. I've never even seen him live. The only thing that put me off was the lack of information and one negative review on the internet. There are a lot of videos about the Sers on YouTube. Digri and Sherpa barely appear there.
5. Honda XP 230
There was only one option and it was sold. And the price is 20 thousand higher for one that has been running around the Russian Federation, however, it started in 2005 and it was this year that it was sold on the internet. It looks like a complete copy of the XP250, only with a low stance. But as it turned out later, the “insides” are completely different. So, it is unlikely that he is very different from Serov. Rather, it is one of the mountain analogues. Perhaps it replaced the digri, only with air cooling.
6. Yamaha TTR 230
I actually found out about him quite by accident on one of the forums. There is no information, but it is there))
To summarize, we can distinguish 3 models: Digri, Serov and Super Sherpa. I won’t say anything about the latter, but somehow it did not inspire confidence. Therefore, I would look more towards Digri and Serov. By the way, the Serov has only two valves, which makes its engine even simpler. I was pleased with my choice, although the Honda XP 250 still haunts me!)) But the price is slightly different, and it’s not suitable for my height (considering that this is my first motorcycle). In the future, when I gain experience, perhaps I’ll take this one, or better yet, the Honda XP 400 ...
The first thing that catches your eye is how light it is. It steers like a bicycle, the ease of control is simply beyond words. The engine is sharp, even very peppy, enough from the bottom, it can easily pull 5-10 km/h at low idle speeds and in second gear uphill at 50-60 degrees (we have a lot of these in Vladivostok :).
It gets onto the wheel from the gas, although only in 1st gear and you have to try hard. But with all this, the gas is supplied softly and feels soft, that is, it will not be possible to accidentally over-gas, and even more so it will not provoke waste. Once upon a time, somewhere, I read very correctly about the Sherpa - “It’s on the Yamaha VR that you want to PUSH, FLY FOR A FIFTY KONE IN THE SHIT ON THE REAR WHEEL, but on the Sherpa you ride calmly, squirrels, flowers, nature... beauty.”
This applies to Serov in the same way - this is still not a sports device, and you don’t want to push it too hard, although it can be crazy if necessary. But it’s good at what it was designed for – climbing. For example, along power lines, in mountains, or anything else with a slope of at least fifty dollars in degrees. The first VERY short tractor gear (up to 25 km/h, if my memory serves me correctly) and the height (inexperienced riders can help themselves with their feet) decide; to say that it’s convenient is to say nothing. And he really drags himself calmly, puffs like a donkey, and drags him up the hill...beauty. Speaking of gears - they are really very short, and in the city those who do not like to click them will feel a strong burning sensation just below the lower back - they will have to switch constantly. A clear example is that you can safely and comfortably shift into 5th (the last bitch!) gear already at 50 mph, but according to the manual it is recommended to switch to it at 40 mph, but where is that good? However, on the highway, such a gear ratio will make everyone feel hot, because the comfortable cruising speed on it ends already at 80 km/h, 90 is the edge, then the engine begins to howl indecently, hinting “well, stop raping me, please!” But driving a long distance with constant engine speeds around 6-7k... is not much of a pleasure, and it’s not all that pleasant for the motorcycle. At the same time, there is no noticeable lack of power, the car generally picks up a hundred very quickly (just for fun, I recently went with a turbo Skyline 260+hp, we went head to head until about a hundred), after a hundred-110 it really doesn’t pick up so quickly, but at 120 it deflates completely and further accelerates extremely reluctantly. However, such gears are perhaps the only negative that I could find in this spendthrift. In terms of operation, it’s a Yamaha, that says it all. The engine is a modified version of the 225, simple and indestructible like a Kalashnikov assault rifle, but at the same time very noisy and likes to eat up oil if it is pounded for a long time at high speeds.
It consumes a little, about 3l/100km, on the highways if you fly and hum at rpm – 4.5. The headlight shines very well despite its size, driving at night is comfortable.
The instrumentation is very cool, I always liked digital speedometers, the tripmeter also comes in handy sometimes.
Oh, and yes - emergency lights are present, a useful thing in the aisle or thank someone there to say
