2002 RM250 - No Regrets

by Chris
(Bairnsdale, Victoria, Australia)

I've had my RM for roughly 3 years now, after upgrading from a '96 TT-R250 which I learnt on, and let me just say.. best decision I've ever made!

After talking to many people about what my next bike should be, there were many, many suggestions. It came up for sale in the local paper and I jumped on it straight away. I had heard a few times that riding on a highly strung bike like that out in the bush will make you a much better rider. And wow, I never thought it would make such a difference! After becoming a fairly confident rider on the RM out the bush, I jumped on a mate's dad's CRF450X, and the difference was amazing! My bike skills had improved out of sight!

The simplicity of a 2 stroke engine was also a very big draw card, meaning that hopefully I could do the majority of the servicing and mechanics myself, and after 2 bottom and countless successful top end rebuilds, I can confidently say I've mastered it! (With some help from my brother who is a mechanic by trade.)

This has been a great side to owning this bike. Not only flying around on it every weekend, but learning the mechanics of it, and how to fix it really added to the experience I feel.

The bike has never given me any real major troubles. Well, nothing that was the bikes fault anyway. (Unfortunately the previous owner was a bit of a...'dud' when it came to maintenance.)


The bike is still fairly standard you would say.. a FMF Powercore 2 slip on, slight port mods done by the previous owner, and a Wossner double ring piston is the extent of the mods it has (as well as frequently renewing the rubber!).

The best advice I can give is don't skimp out on parts. Always use quality parts (The Wossner pistons have been GREAT!) and oils, (I run Castrol TTS 2 stroke oil in my fuel, and Motul gear oil, and it's never missed a beat!).

The majority of my riding is done out on bush trails, although I love a blast around a MX track every now and again! But no matter what the terrain, the RM just loves it. I have an absolute ball, no matter what sort of riding I'm doing! (Except rocks, I HATE rocks) From shredding gnarly hill climbs to tearing round the track it just loves it.

Although I am soon to be moving on from my precious Suzi, (looking at a newer enduro 450 that I can put on the road), I can honestly say I have never regretted buying this bike, and I would not hesitate to recommend it to someone else looking at one. I have many fond memories with this bike, including a road trip up the coast with my best mate and his '07 CR250, and it will be very hard to let her go!