My GN250 rebuild

[richisells]

so i've bought a gn250 which i am going to build into a cariblanco styled flat tracker, when i got the bike it was really dirty and had bald tyres and a holey exhaust so i've replaced the tyres and have built a new muffler for it then i can go and get it tested so i can atleast have it on the road this summer, once that's done it will be onto the seat, front and rear mudguards , raise the tank, 35cm rear shocks and paint, the bike came with another motorcase which i will re-build next winter (it's the original block for the bike) and have painted, maybe do the upgrade to the bigger cylinder but in all honesty these bikes are not about speed! at the moment it has areally bad flat spot at abot 6k which i geuss is in the carb which is probably the only thing i'll do to the motor this year

[richisells]

So this weekend i'm going to take the bike to the shop and make up a rear hoop and the new seat pan, the question is how to make the rear hoop, whenever i've needed to bend aluminium i usually put it in a vice and use a bar to bend it but with steel i'm geussing i can heat it and bend it around a jig, has anyone out there done this and can point me in the right direction,
thanks.

[Laava]

What do you mean by rear hoop?
You need to upsize that muffler outlet by the way.

[richisells]

when i say rear hoop i mean an extension to strengthen the rear of the frame as i'm going to take the brace under the seat out to put a flatter seat on it, yes the muffler hole will be cut larger at the moment it's only 2.5cm diameter and when backing off it farts alot! but apart from that i like the noise it's making

[richisells]

So if anyone out there is interested I muddled through a bit more work at the weekend unfortunately not so many photos but a few, i started by dropping the forks 5cm, man that oil stinks! a sort of grey mess came out so they were long overdue for a change of oil, then i stripped the front and put my motorcross rubbers on the forks, i started to lift the tank by making a raised platform for it to sit on but decided (see photos)it was too high for the new seat so cut that off again and made a new bracket for the tank itself (will photo this next time) i also cut the rear cross brace off and welded a lower one in. I tried to bend a rear frame hoop but was unsuccessful my toolbox and skillset don'T stretch to this it appears! so i went online and picked one up for twenty quid which i thought all in all is a pretty good deal. so at the moment i'm waiting on that to come to finish my seat base and then it will be cut the mudguards, make brackets for the bates front and rear lamps make new sidecovers, new battery holderr and then strip back dowm for paint, should be on the road next week:rolleyes

:

[ducatilover]

You'd have to be a sick bugger to modify a GN

[AllanC]

You'd have to be a sick bugger to modify a GN

says one who'd know of course!

[richisells]

whilst they don't quite carry the stigma here they carry in New Zealand, there are sitll plenty of doubters!! haven't had a chance to do much more on the bike although i did finish the seat pan (need to find some better foam as the closed cell i have on it is too hard), been finishing up my airstream/burger van conversion, have the first opening on Friday!

[kiwikk]

Sound choice for a project bike.
You might find some useful info on my old GN250 thread:
http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...om-Project-FSM

A word of advice: You may find that 50mm drop of the forks will make it a bit twitchy and unstable in a straight line. You'll be uncomfortable taking one hand off the bars (surprising how often you'll need to shake off the tingling sensation riding the old GN )

[richisells]

Sound choice for a project bike.
You might find some useful info on my old GN250 thread:
http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...om-Project-FSM

A word of advice: You may find that 50mm drop of the forks will make it a bit twitchy and unstable in a straight line. You'll be uncomfortable taking one hand off the bars (surprising how often you'll need to shake off the tingling sensation riding the old GN )

too late it's done!!, i have read online people have had success with such a modification, is the tingling sesation due to the drop or is this just an inherent evil of the GN?!

[richisells]

so slowly stating to make progress with this project, i've managed to get the two side covers on and build a new battery box for it, unfortunately the rear wheel is offset so the rear mudguard needs to be widened for it too lokk half decent, the front mudguard i shortened but wasn't really happy with the result but it will be o.k until i can find another one cheap to play around with, the only one i've found the guy wants €200 for!! f##k me what a dreamer, i wrote him an email telling him that but had no reply (maybe my German wasn't up to a slagging).so at the moment i will like with the short and stumpy, what i should have done was removed the holder and then cut a section out of the middle and re-welded and then spot welded the holder back in, it would have been less time to what i did, getting the ridge back on the front took some time! i put the regulator and the flasher relay onto the back of the battery box and the solenoid onto the front but have decided the relay and the regulator can go on the right hand side of the battery box and will be out of sight, gotta say i'm not looking forward to re-wiring this bike back in!! i know there's a loád of wiring i won't be using for the gears e.t.c maybe i can cut some of it out?. next part will be mounting the front light, i've started to make a brace which runs from left to right on the bottom tree which i will bolt onto where the two reflektors were and underneath is a bolt for the brake hose so it will have three mounting points, should be stable enough, i really want a lucas 477 tail light for this bike but they don't have a regulation number over here so will have to go with a bates style, hopefully will be able to find a normal one and not led, have a look see what you think.

[richisells]

mounted the front light today but i think it's a little small, your opininis would be appreciated

[nzspokes]

I think its to small. But its your bike, do what you like.

[unstuck]

I think the light looks ok. But you really need to sweep that floor.

[richisells]

Slowly getting there, am starting the rebuild, I made myself a seat which is o.k but i really wanted it a little flatter so i may do another one and mold it so it follows the frame all the way from front to back at 3cm so it will have a slope in it, also i may do a diamond pattern on the seat and go a little darker on the vinyl as this one is a bit too yellow. I put new shocks on and had to move the rear frame across to acommadate the swinfg arm but then decided half of that original frame isn't used as it was holding the old exhaust so i chopped that off and welded a new streinger in so it now is triangular like the left side of the bike, then the brake pedal hit the swing arm so i shortened that as well, i then dismantled the bike and found one very rusty swing arm but was really lucky and found one on ebay for €50 deliverd. I then sanded the frame and widened the rear mudguard as it didn't go the whole way from left to right with the new hoop on the back, everything got painted black but when ui started to rebuild i found the head bearings were shot so have to wait until tomorrow for Skf to open (should have done them as a matter of course really). Tuesday i've got the afterneoon off so I will paint the tank and side covers, i did the wiring today but in reality i shoud make new loom for it as the old one has been cut and spliced so many times it looks like overcooked spaghetti. I'm on the lookout for a gs550 rear wheel as it's 18" and if it comes with a brake will slide right in there (mayne need to adjust spacers e.t.c) and then i'll put on enduro or classic tyres on it. I have also bough a classic british fornt light for the bike which is 20cm round so the front light wont be small anymore!!