HONDA ELITE 250 (CH250)

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The Elite 250 (CH250) was sold from 1985 - 1990 and is considered by many to be the grandfather of modern maxi scooters. The Elite 250 spawned the awesome Honda Helix scooter, which is a clear inspiration of today’s maxi-scooters like the Suzuki Bergman, Honda Silverwing and Yamaha Morphous. The Elite 250 is ultra-reliable and it cruises comfortably at 70mph. The Elite 250 featured some advanced technology for scooters in its day, such as a front disc brake (except North American models), liquid cooling and digital instrumentation. 70mph might not sound like a big improvement over other 150cc scooters but the Elite 250 was designed for high speed riding so you could cruise at these speeds all day without stressing the engine and while still maintaining great fuel economy.

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When the Elite 250 was introduced, it was the largest scooter ever to hit our shores. Previously, the largest scooters sold here were the Lambretta X200 (1966) and the Vespa Rally 200 and P200E. At 250cc, the Elite was capable of comfortably cruising at highway speeds. This new ability was half of the equation for the maxi-scooters we have today. The other half of the equation came in the form of Honda’s Helix, with its long, low and comfortable design.

The Elite 250 has a nice sized glovebox for keeping your smaller items. Unfortunately, the ’85 - ’88 models don’t have storage in the main body of the scooter like its sibling, the Helix. One neat aspect of the Elite 250 is it’s digital dash. The Elite 250 has great instrumentation
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with not only a speedometer and fuel gauge, but also a clock, engine temperature gauge, trip odometer and even the ability to switch between km/hr and mph. Like all of the Elite scooters, the CH250 has a neat engine oil life indicator that switches from green to red when it’s time for an oil change. As is usually the case, scooterists in North America were offered only the base model of this scooter. Elsewhere in the world, buyers got a front disc brake but Americans and Canucks were sold examples with drum brakes front and rear.

For the 1989 model year, Honda introduced a new generation of Elite 250. Honda updated the styling and switched the motor to a new horizontal engine.
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The new styling was more rounded, much like the redesigned ’87 Elite 150. Like the new Elite 150, the new Elite 250 was not very popular with buyers and few were sold. One significant improvement with the new model was massive underseat storage. This was made possible by the less intrusive design of the new horizontal engine which replaced the old 244cc vertical engine. Interestingly, Honda did not use this new engine in the Helix so the Helix continued to use the older 244cc vertical engine right up until its final year in 2007.


Pros:
* Highway cruising speeds
* Front disc brake
* Neat dash
* Very reliable
* Powerful

Cons:
* Some issues with exhaust manifold cracking
* Limited storage space
* Small wheels for a maxi-scooter

Links:
MotorscooterGuide Forums - Visit the forum on this site to chat about your scoot.
BikeBandit.com - Good for looking up OEM parts and finding out what’s still available
Tony Sander’s Video Review - Watch this. It’s a great review.
'85 - '88 Elite 250 Service Manual - Hosted by the fine scooterists at HondaSpree.net
'89 Elite 250 Service Manual Supplement

If you have any info to add, email me at dandurston@hotmail.com

Colors:
1985: Candy Orchard Red, Summer Blond
1986: Pearl Satin White, Pearl Gold Black
1987: Candy Ruby Red, Pearl Gold Black
1988: Myth Gray Metallic, Pearl Gold Black
1989: Starlight Blue Metallic
1990: Granite Blue Metallic

Specs:
* Engine: 244cc, liquid cooled, 2-valved, single cylinder, 4-stroke
* Compression: 9.8:1
* Bore x stroke: 72.0 x 60.0 mm (2.8 x 2.4 inches)
* Fuel system: Keihin Carb.
* Fuel Tank: 8 litres (2.1 gallons)

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