My Suzuki GN125 Scrambler/Cafe racer Conversion..

[twostrikes]

Hello,

You've probable all heard this before but.. Hi, this is my first post and will be an ongoing one of how my build is going. Just a bit about myself. The first thing I started riding on was a little Honda 50 (one of the new scooter style ones) and immediately brought the house prices down in my are by parking it proudly on the front drive . I loved it and it did really well.. for 3 months until 16 year old me wrote it off on an icy roundabout. I did pretty much everything to get her running again including rebuilding the engine but to no prevail. Then I picked up another one of the same mopeds which died a few months after (I had now spent a whopping £400 on bikes now ). The final moped I bought was an old Honda C50 with the massive white panels and 3 gears.

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After selling this I was in profit somehow and managed to save up and earn enough to get myself the almighty 125.

Anyway, that has brought me onto what I have now which is a 1998 Suzuki GN 125 (I'm only 17 so restricted to this unfortunately and don't fancy/can't afford one of the street racer style bikes). When I got her she ran fairly well apart from an awful rattling at 4000 revs. (Pic below)

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Yes that is the same exhaust! just had to do a fair bit of work to bring it up as well as I could.

So, my plan is to strip it down and sort her out on a budget to get her looking as good as I can as I am stuck with her for the next few years. It is on a budget of 400 as I only have a holiday job so we'll see how it goes!

She failed her MOT on three points.

1 - Leaking front shocks
2 - Worn chain
3 - Break light not responding to hand break leaver

I thought this would be a good place to start to get things going so I ordered the chain and new seals immediately and got them pretty soon after. I had the pleasure of using my great granddads chain length adjustment tool (I believe thats what its called) but soon she had a sparkly new chain on and I rebuilt the shocks with new oil as well as replacing the seals.

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The budget is now at 370

While sorting out the shocks I had a little go at sorting the front mudguard. I planned to clean it up and paint it black but it turns out it had a fair old amount of rust on which had previously been hidden!

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I threw that away but still haven't got a replacement yet!

(I'll continue on another post as I'm not sure if all of the images will be posted considering the size of them...)

[twostrikes]

I took it back for an MOT and it passed!!

Next it was the time of the handlebars to go, I decided to put almost flat bars on there and personally I really like the look of them!

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To create the look I am going for and seeing as I want to label this an overhaul, I decided that I'd re-spray the tank the first job though was to strip it down which proved to be a pig of a job!

I first started with wet and dry but it was taking years as I believe the paint was baked on for lack of a better term and is particularly hard! I changed to heavier sand paper and it seemed to do the trick nicely. To get the decals of the sides I had to use an unconventional method which you all probably will scream at me is a cardinal sin but anyhow, as it was underneath the enamel type of overcoat and would have been a pain to sand, I took a chisel to my beautiful fuel tank!

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Luckily with a lil bit of skill , it all turned out well and I could start sand down behind where the decals were.

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Towards the end I tried to use a paint stripper but it did absolutely nothing to be honest!

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I ended up having to just use a bit of elbow grease and after 7 hours of sanding (sounds excessive I know and I probably should have used power tools in hindsight but it leaves it with a personal touch ) I had finally got the vast majority of the paint off!

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The side panels were tired so I sanded them down and resprayed them with wrinkle effect black spray which worked nicely and I am planing to lacquer over them (or protect them with an appropriate overcoat)

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I took the bike on a little road trip to the beach with dad (he's on the 250 version) and got a nice shot of her. This was before the tank had been completely done though.

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(Again I'll continue on another post as I'm not sure if all of the images will be posted considering the size of them...)

[twostrikes]

Oh I forgot to mention that the seat cover was actually custom made by my mum! we built the existing seat up with some foam and then put that new cover on and I think it looks rather sharp!

After buying a new:

Exhaust
Handlebars
Exhaust wrap
Chain
Seals
Paint
Oil

I am down to 290ish which is actually pretty good considering how much it has changed!

I decided to get rid of the massive monstrosity of a break light and replaced it with this;

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I had to custom make (i.e. smash a bit of metal with a hammer to bend it to shape) the bracket to hold it on and don't worry I will be sanding it so it is rounded then painting it black.

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I bought some new LED indicators to replace the filament ones but after wiring them all in they didn't work but rather which ever way I indicated, all four indicators would go on.. well at least now I have hazard lights

But seriously after a bit of research I found out that the most likely cause would be the indicator timing module. This is because, if my sources are correct there is a bimetallic strip within the module that controls the indicator timings. Because the LED's draw so little current the strip never heats enough to switch the lights off and so the system doesn't work.

The possibilities of fixing this include buying a new module or coming up with my own little system. I was thinking of maybe knocking up a little monostable pulse producer or maybe a programmed micro controller system but I am still yet to attempt anything. For now I have left them of following this law (If I need to have them on or I am interpreting this wrong or if you have any Idea of how to make the indicators work then please let me know!!)

[twostrikes]

I am down to around 200 including the paint I have just got...

The Tank! I took the plunge and decided to paint the tank. I thought bright blue would be a good Idea... so after masking it off

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..then putting several coats of primer on (sanding and cleaning in between coats) I put the light blue on;

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Now... lets be honest... It looks shite anyway, after persevering to see if the tank would look any better with more coats, I threw the can away, traumatised by the colour it had made my tank! Another trip to the paint shop left me with a far darker blue which seems to look far better but please give me some opinions!

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I ran out of paint tonight and really it needs a few more layers before lacquer but if I'm being honest with myself, I preferred it far more with the bare tank... anyone got any thoughts on what I should do with her? colour or bare?

Thats it so far but any comments, advice or whatever would be great!

Cheers.

[hmmmnz]

cool. ive not much experience with the 125's but the gn250 is a staple of the learner bikes in new zealand,
the problem with the looks of the bike is the tank and seat angles.

you need to raise the tank at the rear by about 40mm a spacer isnt too hard to make up.
and then chop the loop at the very rear of the subframe where the passenger would sit.

make a new seat base out of alloy or an old skate board, cut the old foam (or buy some new stuff,) and recover.

its the tried and tested method of de-uglying them in nz

https://thebikeshed.cc/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Helles-GN250-3.jpg
____________________
the humans are dead
I kick arse for the lord
Wiring Diagrams BIDNIP it bitches

[Suntan Sid]

You're making a good job of that, looks good so far!

Indicators, as far as I'm aware, If your bike was manufactured after 1986 and you want more than a daytime MOT, it must have indicators, that should be working. There are some exceptions for, road legal, enduro/trails bikes!
There are a few threads here about LED indicators, I think you need to put a resistor in the circuit, somewhere!

Can you get a replacement front mudguard in plastic, might save a bit of weight?
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"Everybody needs money, that's why they call it money!"

[twostrikes]

Hmmmnz, the idea of raising the seat and tank actually makes a lot of sense and looks pretty good! How did you get rid of the battery/hid it?

Also I think I should be able to knock a rear mudguard up out of some old metal somewhere or get my hands on a skateboard so that will happen soon and I'll post how it goes.

Suntan sid, a daytime MOT? I should be able to sort the electronics out but its one of the things that could go pretty far wrong if I'm not careful, thanks for the advice on the legalities of it though! I tried a few resistors simply in series with the system to try and draw more current to heat the timing strip but had no luck so its going to be a little project on its own I think but I'll hopefully learn something .

I am going to get a mudguard and I did buy one but it was too wide unfortunately so had to send it back, I'm trying to find something quite small, not covering too much of the wheel and discreet...

[hmmmnz]

im not sure what they did on the bike pictured, it was just to give an idea,
we used to keep the battery and the covers, but these days,
ultra capicitors seem to be the way forward, if you want rid of your battery.
____________________
the humans are dead
I kick arse for the lord
Wiring Diagrams BIDNIP it bitches

[garth]

Nice progress. You need longer rear shocks for a correct stance.
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You ain't a has been if you never was

[twostrikes]

I hadn't heard of ultra capacitors before but they look awesome so I will have to try and put one together and test it. I can't find any pre made ones that would suit going I'm my bike, any suggestions?

I did buy some 400mm eye to eye length shocks and tries to put them on (they where pretty big compared with the 320mm standard) but because of where the exhaust is set the right shock could not be put on as the swing arm is pushed down meaning the shock would be grinding against the exhaust.

I might try some 350mm shocks but I need to see if I can actually get them first.

[hmmmnz]

i wouldnt raise the rear too much, even 350mm is going to be close to rubbing on the swing arm.


as for caps, you can buy premade 12v caps, but you pay a premium for them, you are better off buying 5 or 6 2.5v/2.7v caps and soldering them together yourself,
____________________
the humans are dead
I kick arse for the lord
Wiring Diagrams BIDNIP it bitches

[Holdawayt]

Here's my old one, I didn't go too mad with it as I was commuting and wanted to keep the seat fairly comfortable.

Great bikes to work on though, had the engine swapped in 2 hours.

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[twostrikes]

Managed to do everything I wanted to do to her and she looks amazing in my opinion!

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On eBay as I managed to pass my A2 and have a beaut of a BMW K100!

(https://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=182398874306#ht_500wt_1205)