GZ250 "Street Fighter" - Work in Progress

[MadCityRider]

Here's what I've got so far.

This was a Red, '00 GZ250, stock with saddle bags, sissy bar and bag, highway bar, windshield, etc. I've stripped it down to this:

http://i.imgur.com/AQ1T3l.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/fNQjWl.jpg

Since I purchased it a few weeks ago I've:

- Switched to the 16T sprocket
- Moved to a 130 Main Jet
- Installed the K&N air filter
- Went to a higher quality headlight bulb
- Replaced the bars with stock Buell ones (shorter, but similar style to stock)
- Replaced the grips with foam "Motocross" grips (very comfortable)
- Removed all unnecessary components; Front and rear turn signals, brake light assembly, one of the mirrors, the passenger pillion
- Added a "chopper" tail light, and bar end turn signals. I'm replacing the mirror with a bar end "under-handlebar-style" one as soon as they come in.
- Chopped the front and rear fenders down, and painted all parts with enamel spraypaint
- Relocated horn (need to upgrade, or remove... the stock one is way to weak)
- Chopped the stock exhaust off and bolted on a Jardine Rumbler Amazon Link which went on with no welding, just the supplied band clamps.
- Wrapped the headers with Titanium exhaust wrap
- Replaced the stock seat with a Harley Cop Seat (this is such a good mod, I'll do a separate post about this.)

I did all this myself, and have absolutely zero experience working on bikes. Everything came out of this and a few other forums. I'm hooked though now, and really enjoy doing the work. :rawk:

http://i.imgur.com/lfJcJl.jpg

I plan to:
- Replace the pegs
- Remove the rear suspension and replace with struts (will require welding), lowering the bike 2". I'll then put springs on the frame under the cop seat, and use the rubber pads there now as "bottom-out" protectors.
- Weld some forward control extensions on, and do all the necessary cable, shifter modifications to push everything out 2.5 - 3"
- Trim the sides of the seat down (soit doesn't look like I have a huge @ss)

http://i.imgur.com/tcYTYl.jpg

What I like:
- I went from top speed of 55, with average speed about 50 to a top speed of 70 with average at 65 (all in MPH of course)
- The sound went from angry lawnmower to a throaty growl, when I open the throttle it really barks, but I can also pull into my neighborhood at night without pissing people off. ( If there's any interest I can record the sound for anyone thinking of trying out some different pipes)
- The seat is insanely comfortable
- Everyone seems to like the styling, and I get a lot of questions about the bike. It was fun to go into a Suzuki dealership and have a salesperson trying to figure out what it was.

What I don't like:
- Really my complaints are minor here. The performance mods have all been great, and it rides nice with little to no backfire / sputtering
- It needs a much louder horn. Right now it sounds like I'm just cranking the motor when it's running... just a faint noise. I was embarrassed the one time I had to use it, because a car wasn't departing from a light that had turned green. I've seen the post on these, I just need to do it.
- I constantly forget to turn the turn signals off, so I need to try the turn signal alarm some of you have done
- I sometimes have trouble switching into 1st or 2nd from neutral. I want to try the synthetic oil to see if this helps.

I purchased the bike with 8,000 miles for $1600, it was an impulse buy and I wish I had researched it more because I think I spent too much (Not that I would have gotten a different one, I just should have haggled more). But after getting many of the parts I needed from scrap bins, buying everything else cheap, and selling all the stock parts and accessories I could, I've gotten the total cost of everything you see here to about $1400.

If anyone needs some parts, please check out my listing here (http://www.gz250bike.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=4531). Any money I can raise goes right into the bike!

Questions, Comments?

:rawk:

- MCR

[jonathan180iq]

That's pretty. I just hope your brake lights and blinkers are enough.

[MadCityRider]

The brake light is good. The handlebar blinkers are OK, but I use hand signals for every turn or lane change anyway. I do have one more plan for these though. See the holes at the end of the frame tubes in the picture of the rear... I've got two more handlebar lights (right now they're zip-tied above the holes) which I'm going to use as frame hole plugs. This will give me a full set of four turn signals, all of which are only really visible when I turn them on...

Well it's not the brightest (or probably safest) option. I like the look and styling, and keep my riding to just bumming around town. I definitely wouldn't recommend this mod to a new rider who is not fully aware of how little car drivers notice motorcycle riders.

:rawk:

- MCR

[alantf]

Relocated horn (need to upgrade, or remove... the stock one is way to weak)
- It needs a much louder horn. Right now it sounds like I'm just cranking the motor when it's running... just a faint noise.

Quite a few people have complained that the stock horn is not very loud, yet on my European GZ it's fine. I wonder if this could be yet another of the differences, to comply with some American nanny law or other. :??:

[MadCityRider]

Maybe. It does sound like we drew the short stick. You have many components that just seem to perform better than the US equivalents.

[geezer]

my horn is fine. and i live in the great u,s and a

[Strelok]

Hmmmm...maybe I should get a Horn that plays Dixie.

:tongue:

[blaine]

Hmmmm...maybe I should get a Horn that plays Dixie.

:tongue:

Here ya go. :tongue: :)
Dukes of Hazzard Horn (Dixieland) Super Loud Air Horns.

http://s1.postimage.org/4ln0rpdw/13954530_300.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/4ln0rpdw/)

[cayuse]

I've got the Wolo Bad Boy and IT IS LOUD!!!

[alantf]

I use hand signals for every turn or lane change

What happens when you do a right turn? Many years ago (before bikes were fitted with indicators (turn signals)) the throttle was fitted with a screw so that we could adjust the friction, & stop the throttle from slamming shut when we took our right hand off, to signal a turn. On modern bikes, if you take your hand off, the throttle slams off. :??: :)

[geezer]

for right hand turns you use your left hand to signal u just make a 90 degree with your left arm and there you go. but problem is alot of idiots dont understand signals. i have been inches from being hit because ofthis. i use my bikes signal hand signal and point wildly at the direction im going

[jonathan180iq]

Yes. But AlanTF is not living in the US. Driving on the opposite side of the road, they would use their right hand to signal turns.
And I'm sure that for that reason alone, Alan, you guys had the little throttle stop design that you mentioned.

[alantf]

Signals on a bike were always, stick out right arm for a right turn, & stick out left arm for a left turn.

Cars were slightly different. Stick out right arm for a right turn, stick out right arm & make a circular motion for a left turn. :)

Don't you use your right arm for any signals in America? :)

[jonathan180iq]

Nope.

http://www.bfw.org/uploads/media/bicycle-hand-signals.jpg

[MadCityRider]

This is exactly what I do. It's still interesting though at low speed, because of the need to operate the clutch. I accepted that riding around town on a bobber style bike, I'd be ok with hand signals only, but at stop lights trying to hold the clutch and make sure I'm telling people which way I'm going "forced my hand" in getting the bar-end turn signals.

I'm kind of lucky, because the town I live in is both bike and motorcycle friendly, so people here are pretty good at giving space to bikes.

[jonathan180iq]

This is exactly what I do. It's still interesting though at low speed, because of the need to operate the clutch. I accepted that riding around town on a bobber style bike, I'd be ok with hand signals only, but at stop lights trying to hold the clutch and make sure I'm telling people which way I'm going "forced my hand" in getting the bar-end turn signals.

I'm kind of lucky, because the town I live in is both bike and motorcycle friendly, so people here are pretty good at giving space to bikes.

Yeah. Madison is well-known for being commuter friendly. I had a blogger that I used to follow who lived up there. "Rural Roads with Roger", I think it was called... he chronicled his experience after buying an electric bicycle. My style old man :)

Anyway. I digress.

[tcrave]

This is the turn signal and horn I use:
http://www.thedailyfetch.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/middle-finger.jpg

[tcrave]

Just kidding, of course. What kind of mpg do you get? Why did you chop the rear fender instead of just taking it off? sorry if its a dumb question.

[alanmcorcoran]

Don't you use your right arm for any signals in America? :)

Seeing as how we sit on the left side of the car (or as we call it, the "driver's" side), and the window is on the left, and your left arm is not (necessarily) steering or shifting, our hand signals all evolved from the left arm. However, as someone noted above, over the years since the development of the automobile, knowledge of hand signals has not persisted across the generations. I do recall them being on my first New Jersey written driver test (in 1976) but I don't recall them being on CA written when I had to re-take in '08.

Most people get the left turn signal, but they think the right turn signal is you saying "Hi" and they don't even know there's a "stop" signal (left hand down at 90 deg palm facing backwards.)

On a bicycle you signal with the left hand, but you don't trust. You don't trust anything on a bicycle if you want to live.

[alantf]

Seeing as how we sit on the left side of the car (or as we call it, the "driver's" side), and the window is on the left, and your left arm is not (necessarily) steering or shifting, our hand signals all evolved from the left arm. and they don't even know there's a "stop" signal (left hand down at 90 deg palm facing backwards.)


English hand signals in England are obviously evolved from the right hand, however, a car signal for a left turn is right arm extended while making a circular motion, but on a bike it's left hand extended, and to a policeman on traffic duty it's the right hand across the windscreen, pointing left :cry:

As for stopping signals, it's right arm extended & moving it up & down, while in Australia it's right arm held up at 90º

Confusing, eh? :)

[MadCityRider]

Just kidding, of course. What kind of mpg do you get? Why did you chop the rear fender instead of just taking it off? sorry if its a dumb question.
I have only filled up the tank once, so I'll post MPG once it's all done. AS for chopping off the fender vs just removing it, I needed to put the plate and brake light somewhere, but after I put the struts on I might change my mind, and find a way to remount the light and plate.

[Rookie Rider]

Can you explain exactly what you did to get that muffler on? Where did you cut the original off to get the new one on ? It looks great.

[Rookie Rider]

Are those the original pipes coming out of the motor or did you change those along with the muffler ?

[MadCityRider]

I put the new pipe on using the stock bracket. The Jardin muffler actually has a threaded hole on the inside that lined un with the stock. I measured the stock to the point before the stock muffler, where the "entry end" of the new muffler would provide at least 2-3" of overlap. Then I just cut it off with a sawzall, and if I had wanted to stay chrome I would have just used the provided tension strap, and been done.

But, my headers were a bit pitted, so I scoured them a bit, then wrapped them with exhaust wrap. That's why they look different coming out of the motor. I've seen some posts on here saying they'd make the engine hotter, but in fact, they facilitate heat transfer, so the engine should run cooler. The exposed stock pipe at the end definitely got hotter though, and started to blue almost immediately. I ended up using the "heat shield" that came with the Jardin to bridge the gap, and now no one's the wiser.

[MadCityRider]

Relocated horn (need to upgrade, or remove... the stock one is way to weak)
- It needs a much louder horn. Right now it sounds like I'm just cranking the motor when it's running... just a faint noise.

Quite a few people have complained that the stock horn is not very loud, yet on my European GZ it's fine. I wonder if this could be yet another of the differences, to comply with some American nanny law or other. :??:


Ok. I put the new horn on.
http://i.imgur.com/gYpwT.jpg

Holy HONK is it loud! I feel much safer now!!!

113 dB!!!

[Rookie Rider]

Thanks alot MCR, I gotta do something with mine. CHEERS

[Black Warrior]

@ MadCityRider
How many feet of wrap have you used, Im thinking of doing something similar....

[Water Warrior 2]

The Stebel Air Horn is 139 db. That is a whole bunch louder than 113 db. Got one waiting to go on the truck too.

[MadCityRider]

I couldn't imagine what 139dB would sound like O_o

[TSUMBA]

did have to adjust your carb mix after putting on the new exhaust?

[MadCityRider]

did have to adjust your carb mix after putting on the new exhaust?

I switched the Main Jet, but never shimmed the needle. I still want to do that, but just haven't yet.

[Skunkhome]

Most of those modifications would NOT be street legal here in LA . It would never pass vehicle inspection and though I doubt it is ever enforced most exhaust modifications are illegal everywhere in the USA. Other than that it is a mean looking bike. I would be interested to see how those modifications were received by your local authorities.