Harley-Davidson Sx250

HARLEY-DAVIDSON SX250

Cycle World Road Test

IF YOU THINK about it, it isn’t very hard to figure out why Harley-Davidson—a company that for decades has been producing monstrously torquey V-Twins for sport and touring—would suddenly make an apparent turnabout and market several lightweight two-stroke dual-purpose motorcycles. There is a very large demand for lightweights and just capturing a small piece of the market can mean a substantial amount of money sales-wise. But if you look at some of the thought that went into the new Harley SX250, the largest of H-D’s two-strokes, you realize that they didn’t want just a small piece of the market, they wanted a substantial chunk. Unfortunately, somewhere between the drawing board and the retail outlets, something went wrong.

Basically, the Harley engine is a conventional piston-port ring-ding. The major exception is that it sports a chrome bore. The advantages to a chrome bore are better heat dissipation and a lower wear factor. The disadvantages become quite apparent if you ever need to have the cylinder bored. It then becomes cheaper to purchase a brand-new pot.

The neat H-D things that we’ve mentioned before are truly plentiful on the SX. There’s Marzocchi suspension fore and aft, for starters. In back it’s got a quick-change ISDT-type hub for on-the-trail repairs. The exhaust pipe features a built-in spark arrester. The engine is a willing starter in any gear. A Dell’ Orto square-slide carburetor provided us with right-on metering. The SX has breakerless CD ignition that is separated from the battery system for those of you who want to strip the machine down to the bare essentials for off-roading. For the enduro buff there’s a very accurate speedo with an odometer that is resettable both ways by tenths. The fuel tank is distinctively styled and holds 2.7 gal. of gasoline. The oil tank is in the main frame tube beneath the fuel tank,« la Can-Am. The filler cap rests between the fuel tank and the steering head.

Continuing on, you find that the shock absorbers are adjustable five ways and are equipped with a lever to aid in setting spring pre-load. The frame is a full double-cradle unit. The clutch runs in an oil bath and it is very strong, standing up to a great deal of abuse without the slightest sign of slippage or dragging. There’s a high-mounted front fender and a 21-in. front wheel. The rear wheel sports a 4.00-18 tire. Both ends carry trials universal types. The brakes are more than up to the task and the machine doesn’t vibrate any more than other bikes in its class. Even the cylinder head comes tapped for an extra plug or a compression release.

Suddenly it’s 1967 all over again.

But all of these things do not a fine motorcycle make. Once a group of design engineers finishes with a prototype, it is often very cobby. It needs to be refined and detailed. The SX250 never got that far.

The limited action of the forks is good. It ought to be, Italians make some of the finest hydraulics in the world. But the springs are far too stiff. The handlebars are atrocious. No one on the staff liked them. The grips are even worse than some of the old Japanese items. The throttle cable slips out of the throttle housing far too easily; and the housing has an exposed slot that allows grit to get in and wear away at the cable. The switches on the bars are neat, but since they come off the Harley Sportster model, they also come with Sportster levers. The levers stick out like a pair of bull’s horns. It is impossible to operate them without super large hands.

The front fender is too short to protect the engine from debris that is being slung about by the tire. Also, it is made of steel, when everyone knows that fenders on such a machine should be plastic. The rear fender looks like a Sportster fender ready to be bobbed. It too is steel. The taillight is out of the way, however. The license plate rides above the taillight.

Turn signals are easy to remove, but they mount to tubing stumps that have been welded to the fender loop. Without the turn signals in place, these stumps become a potential hazard. They should be sawed off. In fact, they should never have been welded on in the first place. The same goes for the manner of mounting the turn signals up front. They consist of tubing stumps welded to the handlebars. If you cut the rear ones off, a little black paint would suffice to touch up where you cut. But the stumps up front are chromed pieces of the bars. There’s no such thing as chrome touch-up paint as far as we know.

On the left side, the exhaust pipe sticks out like a poor after-market pipe. On the other side, the kickstarter pokes you in the thigh. You can rotate the kickstarter a few splines on the shaft, but there isn’t much you can do about the pipe. The footpegs are rubber-covered and absolutely treacherous when wet. The brake pedal is in a very awkward position. It has > some very narrow ridges that run left and right as you sit on the bike. Not much help in keeping your foot from slipping off to the side. Also, the ridges pack easily with mud.

The seat flips up to the rear to reveal some electrics and the toolkit. The latch that secures the seat is very cheap looking. The seat itself is not comfortable for more than a 20-minute ride. Part of the seat’s harshness can be attributed to the rear shocks. They are not only oversprung, but have absolutely no damping. Zero. Passenger pegs are provided, but the seat isn’t large enough for two, nor is it comfortable to ride back there; the exhaust pipe harasses the passenger even more than the driver. The kickstand hangs at a downward angle instead of being parallel to the ground. As you ride, it snags on bushes and rocks.

Performance-wise, the engine is spirited. It will run with most anything in its class except for a Penton or Can-Am. Externally, it bears a resemblance to Suzuki’s TS250 enduro. There were never any hassles starting; and the only carburetion change was dropping the three-position needle one notch at high elevations. We have no complaints about the power plant. But the gearbox is another story.

The engines for the Harley SX line are manufactured in Italy by the H-D-owned Aermacchi factory. The transmissions are fabricated by an Italian concern by the name of AgostiniPagnelli. The first transmission we had lasted through a mild street break-in ride and a dozen runs at the drag strip. Then fourth gear disintegrated. We gave the machine back to Harley and they installed a fresh trans. This one was fantastic. It shifted smoothly and positively, much like an Elsinore’s. But right at the end of our test, it blew up too.

The trans is the very same one that comes in the SX 175, in which it is holding up beautifully. But with the added power of the 250 engine, the gears can’t take it. The solution was to go to another gearbox manufacturer. Cima, a gear company that has, in the past, built transmissions for the Ferrari and Porsche racing efforts, was consulted. The new SX250 H-Ds will come with Cima transmissions. We didn’t get one in time for the test, but it certainly should be stronger than the two we had.

The bikes with the Cima transmissions will be designated as having a “C-type” trans. If the SX250 you’re looking at in the dealer’s showroom isn’t labeled that way, don’t even consider > it. It presently appears that H-D will absorb the cost of the more expensive gearbox.

HARLEY-DAVIDSON SX250

$1130

While the bike was running, and in spite of the suspension’s shortcomings, it was very quick on smoother trails. It steers incredibly well and can be stuffed into corners with considerable recklessness even with the standard tires. It slides well, too. But riding rougher areas was a chore, and a tiring one at that.

Gearing was also a problem. While the SX will run strong on the street up to its 72-mph maximum, first gear required a little extra clutch slipping in order to get underway. In the dirt, the clutch had to be slipped even more and the machine wouldn’t pull fifth gear even on flat fireroads. The countershaft sprocket is a 16-tooth one. For trail riding we recommend a 14. Top speed with the smaller sprocket will be reduced to about 55 mph. The engine must scream its poorly muffled wail to let you know that it isn’t going to rev any farther, for you see, there’s no red line indicated on the tachometer.

The Harley has an overall rustic appearance. It is not finely finished, but apart from the tranny problems, nothing else broke during our test.

There are a lot of things that the bike needs done to it before it is ready for off-road use. It’s generally okay for the highway as it is, but is seriously lacking as a motorcycle for weekend boondocking. If the trail rider wishes to purchase a machine that has a number of fine features, including a brisk engine and excellent steering geometry, then he should take over where the factory left off and carefully shape the machine into a fine dual-purpose motorcycle. This is a bike that not only needs it, but demands it.

You can make excuses all day for the multitude of shortcomings that the SX250 possesses, but when you ask $1130 for a 250cc dual-purpose motorcycle, you should at least be able to deliver features and performance equal to those of other similarly priced machines. The Harley doesn’t. In fact, it doesn’t even come close. 0