Customer Reviews

Clymer Honda Twinstar, Rebel 250 & Nighthawk 250: 1978-2003 (Clymer Motorcycle Repair)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Having a slightly flakey Honda Rebel it became very important to me to be able to find my way around the bike. This manual is extremely informative and extremely accurate. It does detail just about everything you need to know.

However for a relative neophyte such as myself it has some significant deficiencies:
1) The photographs are black and white and quite low contrast, you cannot always quite see what they are pointing at and thus finding it on the bike is tough
2) I think these manuals are designed for a motorcycle repair shop, they often assume too much. 'Quickly check the compression before reseting the timing' is not detailed enough for someone that is proud he found the ignition switch ...
3) They were only half updated for the newer model. The 199x model rebels are different to the older ones but all the differences are contained in a seperate chapter

As I say, I don't think there is anything any better ... but this manual will be a little intimidating for a newbie ...

Top quality routine maintenance and repair manual. The pictures with the text and the step by step format is a home mechanic's "right hand" tech manual.

This is just one of many Clymer manuals I've had over many years. Always top shelf material.

I ordered this book to help trouble shoot starting problems I was having with the bike. It gave me very precise instructions, and easy to follow illustrations.

I was able to find and fix the problem in no time. I recommend it if you have this bike.

Shima.

Got the book in good condition and in a timely manner.
Just needed it so that which-ever friend I can get to work on my bike will have a handy reference ! Hopefully, I'll never need it !

Recently, I bought a 1978 Honda Twinstar and I wanted it performing up to specs - if not better - before I start to bob it. Realizing how old the motorcycle was, I needed to tune up and do a complete check before I started dismantling parts and customizing them. Clymer's Honda book has met my expectation for what it is designed for. I am a novice DIY mechanic, which most of what I have learned is from working on bicycles, reading forums and reading repair manuals. This being said, many repair manuals assume the reader has some background in mechanics, so they overlook the most basic procedures and use terminology that is ambiguous. This book is no exception to that statement. There are small segments in various sections that are unclear to a new DIY mechanic; however, the book offers plenty of pictures. The pictures are plentiful, but be warned they are in black and white. Sometimes, the pictures are not detailed or zoomed in enough to discern what the author is showing/ demonstrating. Despite the former, there are enough pictures to give the reader a trail to follow.

I strongly recommend that anyone who buys this book - or any repair manual - that you also buy a theory book, which goes into the system and illustrates pictures of the various systems' components. I used Zimmerman's "The Essential Guide to Motorcycle Maintenance", which gave me an idea of what and how I will be affecting my motorcycle's performance; for example, while I was tweaking the valve clearance, Zimmerman showed where exactly I needed to measure with the feeler gauge, which the Clymer book essentially had neglected. Furthermore, I cannot encourage enough being your own researcher. Be sure you use a search forum to un-earth more information about the topic on the internet. Don't believe everything you read, but read enough to establish your own approach and opinion.

Overall, I would recommend this book. It is organized - although, at first I didn't like how it lumped up the various motorcycle models in each chapter, like the Twinstar, Rebel & Nighthawk. After awhile, I grew into it and started using the various motorcycle models as reference checks for one another. Have fun and be safe!

I have had a lot of repair manuals and some are very extensive in their approach to repair where others are more general. It use to be that there were few pictures and lots of writing to accomplish getting the job done but more recently the manuals have gravitated to more pictures and less explanation. This manual falls somewhere in the middle of the two scenarios where they have a fair amount of pictures and a fair amount of description for repairs. That being the case it leaves a lot of room for guessing what really needs to be done in some situations like the process of removing the counter shaft sprocket. Bottom Line: There may be better manuals out there but for the price this will get you most of the way there and you can always take notes as you go through the first time right in the book. If you aren't daring when it comes to tearing things down you probably should pay the extra for a more detailed manual.

had to completely tear down my bike, down to splitting the cases and i couldnt have done it without the manual, helped out a lot

The Honda Rebel is still in production and is a very popular bike. If you want to do your own maintenance and repairs, this Clymer manual is well worth its price. However, you'll want to check some internet forums to get answers that you won't find in a repair manual, such as, "What do I do when my obsolete headlight bulb fails?"

Great packaging, fast shipping, and really was brand new with the correct item sent! Would buy from again!