CN250 Accessories

I'm compiling this list of accessories for the Honda CN250 or Helix. They are typically UK addresses but if they cannot supply you direct, they should be able to direct you to the local importers. For international telephone calls, add the 44 at the beginning and leave out the initial 0.

If you know of any other bits for the CN250, Please drop me a line at julian@shockwav.demon.co.uk. There are rumours of people boring the engine out to 300 and also of a Turbo kit available in Japan, but I haven't tracked these down yet.

My CN250
BFF Special Offers
Baglux
Givi
Hagon and Bitubo shocks
Oxford Products Ltd
Exhausts
Backrests
Chrome Bumpers
Sidecar
Tyres
Spares
Customisation
A Stripped Helix

Baglux

Baglux do a range of excellent tank bags and covers but of special interest to people in cold climates are their range of handlebar muffs and lap covers. These are common in Paris but an unusual sight elsewhere. The lap covers are approx £80 while the muffs are £40. They take credit cards and can ship world wide.

The pictures here are of my own machine and it works very well below 60mph. It is a bit of an effort to get on the machine and you have to feel around for the ignition switch but it keeps you wonderfully warm and dry. It's still easy to get your feet out but it encourages you to try and stay feet up as much as possible. Above 60mph it flaps a bit and I've folded it back at the sides with pop studs to make them a bit stiffer. I've also attached it a bit further back near your feet to hold it in to the body work. This is now more or less stable up to top speed.

Also in the picture is my instant top box/backrest created by bolting a cheap Rickman top box to the rear backrest. It ought to be fairly easy to make this hinge backwards to allow a passenger, but I haven't done this yet. It just needs a couple of brackets to limit the movement as the backrest already swivels. Andy Tribble is sitting giggling on the bike and in the background is Tudor Thomas talking Ian Leslie (with hat).

Baglux UK
7 Mercury Units
Tir-Llwyd Enterprise Park
Kinmel Bay
Rhyl Clwyd LL18 5JZ
Wales
Tel: +44 (0)1745-338080
Fax: +44 (0)1745-337339

Tucano also make a lap cover which people tell me is better than the Baglux one. They have recently appointed an importer but they can be obtained from Scooterzone just north of the city of London.

Givi

Givi sell a taller, wider screen and a well known range of top boxes including a fitting kit for the Helix. The screen is approximately £70. This is tall enough to force you to look through it, and one owner has chopped the top off. The big problem with the standard screen is the amount of turbulence generated and the Givi is no better. The BFF are working with Sprint Engineering to come up with a better design.

Givi UK
Tel: +44 (0)1327 706220
http://www.givi.it
givi@globalnet.co.uk

Hagon

Hagon took over the production of Girling shock absorbers and have a very cheap range for small machines. Their main business is spoked wheels and they do good reliable cheap work on rebuilding wheels. In recent years they have branched out to repairing cast wheels as well. They do replacement shocks with significantly more damping for both the front and rear at £80 per pair

Hagon Products Ltd
7 Roebuck Road
Hainault
Essex IG6 3JH
Tel: +44 (0)181-502-6222
Tel: +44 (0)181-502-6274
http://www.hagon-shocks.co.uk

Simon Creasey says. "For the benefit of any other luddites out there still running Helixes, I think I've finally found an adequate suspension/steering compromise. The problem with fitting Hagon shocks at the front is that they are longer and so make steering heavier (greater rake I guess). The ideal spring for my wieght (65kg) also falls somewhere between Hagon's 16kg/cm and 18 kg/cm spring.

The solution I've found is to fit Bitubo (www.bitubo.com) shocks at the front, which have nearly the same extra travel as Hagon's but a shorter loaded length, giving quicker steering. They also supplied me with springs (1.75 kg/mm initial / 3.1 kg/mm final stiffness after 60 mm travel) between Hagon's 16 and 18 springs which with minimum pre-load are about right for me solo or with pillion (the Bitubos have a threaded collar which allows much less preload than the Hagon units). Bitubos are more expensive but they are also rebuidable and about a pound lighter a pair than Hagons.

At the rear I run long Hagons (they made a batch that were about 10mm 'too long' but which quicken the steering up nicely) with 18 rate springs (standard spring rate is 20, which was way too hard for me, as well as topping out constantly at the front).

The Helix now takes everything that Milan's pave can throw at it without bottoming out / rattling my teeth or steering like a hog on ice power off. I also finally got round to making up a braided brake line for the front - lever effort is about the same, but it's much more linear, which has made coming down mountain passes 2 up a lot less frightening! "

Oxford Products

Oxford produce a range of motorcycle products that include bags, locks, and heated grips. These last are of most interest to Helix owners. I've fitted heated grips to several bikes and although they don't keep your hands hot, they provide enough heat to take the edge off cold weather and combined with a good pair of gloves, allow you to keep riding down to -5C without any real discomfort.

The Helix has a convenient accessory connector just behind the left side of the dashboard. This has an earth wire, a red unswitched but fused wire and an unfused but switched black wire. The grips come with a small switch and LED which I mounted in the dashboard and wired them through the supplied in line fuse to the switched circuit so that turning off the ignition turns off the grips. Perfect.

Oxford Products Ltd
Station Estate
Kidlington
Oxford IG6 3JH
Tel: +44 (0)1865-841400

Exhausts

The standard Honda exhaust doesn't last forever and with all the salt on the roads in the UK, they typically only last 3 or 4 winters. They're only painted mild steel, so the old standard price of £380 inc VAT is extortionate. Honda have since dropped the price dramatically bringing it down to £180.

I've been quoted US$230 for a new one in the USA by Sloan Honda of Nashville and I've also bought one myself through the US breakers yards network. Keith at Independent Cycle, (611 E. 2nd, Spokane, WA 99202, 800-900-1292 icycle@ior.com) was very helpful. This is all very well if you are travelling to the USA and can carry it back, but you will need to add shipping and taxes to these prices.

As an alternative, LeoVinci once made an aftermarket exhaust for the Helix. It's no longer made, but they keep threatening to make another one.

The UK Importer is:
G.K.Blair
Cliff Cottage
Marchington Woodlands
Uttoxeter
Staffs ST14 8PB
Tel: +44 (0)1283 820508
Fax: +44 (0)1283 820398

Meanwhile Gianelli have also threatened to make one, but it hasn't been seen yet. What is rather frustrating, is that there are at least 5 and possibly 10 different designs available in Japan, but nobody I know has seen them in the flesh.

Backrest

If you ride any distance, you'll find that the layout can cause lower back pains as you "hang" off the handlebars. Utopia makes a fairly expensive backrest that swivels back when carrying a passenger. They are located in Ohio, USA. The nice part about their backrest is that you do not need any extra mounting bars. Their backrest mounts right into the seat pan and according to Utopia, it can be installed on almost any seat in minutes without removing the cover. The backrest gives great support and does not interfere with passenger space. Price is about $129 US.

On my own bike, I've fitted a Rickman top box mounted on top of the pillion seat. It's tilted forwards so you lean against the top and the base points backwards. 4 long bolts attach it to the standard Honda pillion backrest. With one bolt removed on each side, this can easily be swiveled back so that with a simple bracket, it should be possible to arrange so that it tilts back to form a pillion backrest when carrying one, but I haven't done this yet.

Utopia Products
Tel: +1 330-666-2602
Avery Frail has some pictures of this on his website.

A BFF member has also come up with a design that he is putting into production.

Chrome Bumpers

I got this from Michael Vornlachner

As I am interested in information exchange about this scooter, I'd like to inform you about a further part which isn't listed yet. It's a metal-protection-cache (sorry, but I don't know the exact english expression) which preserves the scooter from damages caused by falling down to one side. It's mounted with screws using the original attachment points of the scooter, so you don't need any further modifications. The unit is divided in two parts for each side, linked with a small "communication"-tube. The surface is chromium. The manufactor is in Germany, his address is: "Fehling Motorradzubehoer, Mendener Strasse 1, 58739 Wickede-Ruhr" The price is about 400 DM, and in my opinion, it looks great, cause it's the missing bit of chromium...

Sidecar

Steve Simpson sent me these from Switzerland. Mail him if you want more information.

As for the USA, Avery wrote:-
"Sovey's in Potsdam New York have a 1994 Helix with a 'California' sidecar. I don't remember the model, but it is small. The company built a one-off sidecar frame. Instead of a traditional three or four point mount, there is a single mandrel-bent 'S' shaped three or four inch seamless tube attached to the underside of the Helix (across the downtubes). The sheet metal panel on the underside of the Helix cannot be fitted with the sidecar frame in place. It is a very neat, uncluttered setup. John Sovey is asking $5500US for the whole outfit. I don't know if he will separate it. Sovey's can be reached at (315) 265-4297."

Sidecars by George have also started producing sidecars and trailers for small machines.

Tyres

Size Name Price(£)
Bridgestone
110/100 -12 67J T/L ML17(A) Molas-17 37.25
120/90 -10 65J T/L ML16(A) Molas-16 37.25
Dunlop
110/100 -12 67J T/L K488F 30.50
120/90 -10 65J T/L K488 35.25
Pirelli
110/100 -12 67J T/L SL26 32.99
120/90 -10 66J T/L SL26 32.99

The Pirellis are fairly new and I've been using them for some time. The front wears well but I'm only getting 3000 miles from the rear. They are much better than the other two for grip. The front has a slight quirk, that it is slightly taller and this makes the speedo read lower than the Dunlops. I suspect that it is now exactly accurate.

Several people have complained that the Dunlops wear quickly and 3000 miles looks like tops for the rear. Favorites seem to be the Bridgestones with reports of anything up to 10,000 miles per set.

UK Spares

M&P

M&P have a huge range of accessories and run an efficient and fast mail order service. They're expanding round the country and will soon have a shop in Hertfordshire. They carry several pieces including the Givi parts and tires.

M&P
Unit 4&5 Castell Close
Swansea Enterprise Park
Llansamlet
Swansea SA7 9FH
Tel: +44 (0)1792-775566
Fax: +44 (0)1792-781452

MPS

MPS
Daneheath Business Park
Heathfield
Newton Abbott
Devon TQ12 6TL
Tel: +44 (0)1626-835835
Fax: +44 (0)1626-836666

David Silver Spares

While spares for the Helix/CN250 are reasonably easy to obtain from any Honda dealer, David Silver specialise in Honda spares for virtually any Honda that has ever been built. They quoted me £ 130 for a new exhaust which is a lot more reasonable than last year's 320.78 (gasp!)

David Silver
Unit 14
Masterlord Ind Estate
Station Road
Leiston
Suffolk IP16 4JD
Leiston
Tel: +44 (0)1728 833020
Tel: +44 (0)1728 832197

Slocombes

Slocombes
46-52 Dudden Hill Lane
London NW10 1DG
Tel: +44 (0)181-8301000

Customisation

You can customise them too.

A Stripped Helix

A couple of pictures of a Helix without all the plastic.