Suzuki GN250 winter hack (and refurb)

[grahamd1]

My Virago (XV750) is great on dry days, but a pain in the butt cleaning all that chrome if it gets wet, so I wanted a small, no fuss bike for local commuting and a bit of fun. Looked at 125's and no way, and I'm not built for leaning on petrol tanks, so the bike had to be custom(ISH), and simple to keep running, but economic. I chose a GN250, simple single cylinder (ok strange double valve arrangement resulting in a twin exhaust downpipe to a single silencer).

Watched a few on fleabay go for silly money (circa £8~£900), then someone listed a 95 GN250, at £50 start, made and offer and got it for £400, inc 11 months MOT, and 6 months Tax.

https://i314.photobucket.com/albums/ll431/grahamdrry/CD175/IMAG1169_zpsbbabfabb.jpg

So far I've done about 30miles (mainly back roads due to the lack of torque this thing puts out), and its a fun ride, smoothest gears I've ever known, starts first push of the button, no smoking, no top end rattles. However there are some problems and these are just some of the tasks I need to tackle;

Front tyre is barely legal (must have scrapped through the mot, but no advisory was given) ---- New Continental arrived today

Front forks are soft (so the advisory stated), ordered new fork
seals and fork oil, so when the front wheel is out the forks will be serviced.

Front brakes are almost down to the metal (how could these have passed the mot?) again new pads arrived today

Main beam is not working (bulb blown), new higher spec bulb arrived today

Well that takes care of the front end, now the rest;

Mot advisory was exhaust was noicy (yes some arsehole has snapped off one of the studs in the cylinder), so winter engine strip (something to do when its snowing).

Paint on the frame is chipped and flaking (part of winter strip down plan).

So for now do the front end, and RIDE, RIDE, RIDE.

https://i314.photobucket.com/albums/ll431/grahamdrry/CD175/IMAG1171_zpsd8e99479.jpg

Apart from the above, a very tidy bike, that starts and runs nice (cornering will be better with a good tyre up front). The icing on the cake was he gave me two big boxes full of parts he purchased with the plan of doing the rebuild himself, inc

Spare Tank, side panels, carb, calipers, loom, CDI, and loads more.

If anyone needs a manual let me know, after a lot of searching I found a downloadable copy thats not bad.
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XV1100, XV750
CD175 (Rebuild)
CF70 (Chaly - Rebuild),

[GrumpyGuts]

mysterious_rider could do with a manual considering he's tearing one apart
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My Bikes: Lifan Beat 125cc '11 -> Suzuki B120P '76 -> Suzuki EN 125-2A '08 -> Honda CG 125 '04 -> Honda CB600F Hornet '98 -> Kawasaki ZZR 600 '99 -> Kawasaki GPZ 500S '95 (Current)
Theory test passed - 09/02/2012 >>>> Module 1 passed 24/07/2012 >>>> Module 2 passed 24/10/2012

[mysterious_rider]

ah appreciate the thought, No need for one though.

Still not 100% on what to do. Would be such a shame to ruin the bandit! It's pretty!


Bike looks good mate, pretty much identical to my gn250.

[GrumpyGuts]