Help please is this a Cagiva or Harley

N

NICK004298

Registered User
Help please im looking at this bike its advertised as an SX250 1976 but registered in 1982 not seen the V5 yet but on the mot status it states Cagiva Harley Davidson also i Hpi the reg and it says sst250 i thought the indicators were different to mine sx250 back in the 70s I want to know if its worth the money @£2650 and are parts the same i attach some photos thanks in advance

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If it was manufactured in 1976, it’ll almost certainly be the Harley version. 1982 will be the date at first registration in the UK.

Worth doing an HPI check as a lot of the registration numbers and identities of the two stroke Harley’s ended up being used on larger engined HD customs.

Also worth researching spares availability for these bikes. I was looking at a nice SS175 earlier this year and after doing some research decided that the relative lack of spares availability, is probably why a lot of these bikes never get used and end up as garage ornaments.

Theres a reasonably active Facebook group “2 stroke Spaghetti Harley Riders” Looking at this particular group was what highlighted to me the less than straightforward situation regarding sourcing some spares for these bikes.

I’d be wary of any two stroke thats been laid up for a while and is advertised as needing attention to the carb to get it running right because of over revving. It might be an indication that the crank seals have gone hard.

Nice bikes, just need to look at any prospective purchase without rose tinted glasses on, give the bike a thorough inspection and expect some problems after purchase.
 
Mark Hammond said:
If it was manufactured in 1976, it’ll almost certainly be the Harley version. 1982 will be the date at first registration in the UK.

Worth doing an HPI check as a lot of the registration numbers and identities of the two stroke Harley’s ended up being used on larger engined HD customs.

Also worth researching spares availability for these bikes. I was looking at a nice SS175 earlier this year and after doing some research decided that the relative lack of spares availability, is probably why a lot of these bikes never get used and end up as garage ornaments.

Theres a reasonably active Facebook group “2 stroke Spaghetti Harley Riders” Looking at this particular group was what highlighted to me the less than straightforward situation regarding sourcing some spares for these bikes.

I’d be wary of any two stroke thats been laid up for a while and is advertised as needing attention to the carb to get it running right because of over revving. It might be an indication that the crank seals have gone hard.

Nice bikes, just need to look at any prospective purchase without rose tinted glasses on, give the bike a thorough inspection and expect some problems after purchase.
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Thanks for the reply Mark appreciate it is there any I can check if it’s the crankshaft seals ? Without taking the bike apart
 
It has the 1978 tank (last year as a HD) and the last couple of years switchgear, the seat looks SST and the last SST's had that wide rim headlight, the bikes shared the same style VIN as the US builds - first two characters (number and letter) give the version, five digit serial number then H and single digit for year - for example 7T(SST250) 12345 H8.
Mark is right about the spares but the biggest obstacle to having one (they are quite pleasant willing bikes) is the ignition module - they fail and so all owners (of 175 & 250 models only) are chasing the same slowly disappearing part. The 125 is the better bike apart from lower performance, if someone could source a module from a better manufacturer that would be a huge boost for these. (Last year there were also two 350 two-stroke versions, often forgotten or mixed up with the old Aermacchi four-stroke)
 
Errr, well,..I do feel their prices overall are far too optimistic, I would enjoy having a nice one again but cannot even dream of applying values that could buy a decent four speed Evo Sportster to be frank.
 
NICK004298 said:
Thanks for the reply Mark appreciate it is there any I can check if it’s the crankshaft seals ? Without taking the bike apart
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Difficult to check with any certainty, without taking the bike apart. You can sometimes tell by taking the air filter of of the carb and placing a hand over the carb inlet while kicking the bike over, if it hasn’t got a healthy amount of suction it can be an indication of failing crank seals or worn top end. You could pull the plug out and look to see whether there is any indication of the bike running lean, but that could be a number of other things as well as a failing crank seal.

If its a failing crank seal that causing the fast idle/revving, it will be the left hand one, and it will be drawing in air causing a lean mixture and the high idle. If the right hand crank seal starts to fail, it will usually start sucking in transmission oil and smoke badly out of the exhaust. Some bikes allow for changing the crank seals from the outside and some need to be done from the inside and therefore splitting the crankcase, I’m not familiar enough with these to say which would be the case with this engine.
 
Paul P. said:
Errr, well,..I do feel their prices overall are far too optimistic, I would enjoy having a nice one again but cannot even dream of applying values that could buy a decent four speed Evo Sportster to be frank.
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I would agree with Paul, most sellers of these bikes are valuing their bikes optimistically and if you watch the market for these bikes for a few months, most of the bikes that are for sale remain for sale for some time.
 
Ive just done the hpi for the bike and it states its was first registered in 1982 and not 1976 as advertised also was registered in the uk in 1982 it also states its a Cagiva sst250 last mot was in 2016 with the same miles that its showing now so hasn’t been used for a few years so have decided to leave it alone thanks for all your help, Therefore im still looking :)
 
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I had a 76 SST which came with a disc not a drum, looks more SX than SST to me, the SST was a road bike and had a lower exhaust on the other side, the SX was a trials style bike with higher suspension and the high level exhaust.

if its a non runner i would run away from it personally, i paid £600 for mine with a seized engine in boxes. Documented on here somewhere i believe.
I eneded up getting a complete engine from italy as the piston had rusted to the cylinder and was scrap, I also sent the broken CDI off to a company in devon who made me a new one.
Worked well and started easily but was truly dreadful to ride anywhere at anything over 25mph, sold mine to a collector in NI
 
More exactly, the SS was the road bike and the SST was the sort of European market version, all SSTs had front disc and should have sideplate brackets for the headlight instead of bottom ball joint, also had flat bars (SS had little buckhorns) and a strap across the seat. There was, in the last year (78) an SST350.
 
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