Hello from an 85 GN250 in Sydney Australia

[Boon13]

Hi I'm new to the site and was wondering if there was any applicable GN knowledge to be had. TUs and GZs are similar to the GN. I want to 'bob" the GN and will attempt taking it apart to polish and paint. I have never done any of this before so thought I'd better have somewhere to get advice.

Thanks in advance!!

[mole2]

Welcome to the forum from South Carolina, USA. Ride safe.


:)

[Dave Dark]

Welcome to the site.

Everybody is friendly and more than willing to help.

Good luck with the bob!

[blaine]

Welcome to the family. :cool: :)

[5th_bike]

Welcome, welcome :)

There are a few other members with GNs, amongst them one from Indonesia who recently joined I think, but GNs are not sold in the USA - so, the vast majority at this forum is GZ, as you may have noticed.

Anyway you can sure get some bobber ideas here, in the "GZ pics" threads.

[lenkf]

The GN250 isn't in the US now. Further the classic GZ250 isn't coming to the US any more. The TU250X is the "replacement" in the US in 2011 but no California motorcycle shops have them yet though they are supposedly "legal" according to California CARB requirements, more "clean" than the other 49 states. The TU250 would be a rare breed if found in the US and much less a California variety. Sadly, the US gets fewer and fewer "standard" simple motorcycles these days because plastic faired bikes are popular according to Japanese been counters. I think the Japanese don't realize American "senior citizens" are looking for easy to maintain bikes like the old days. We don't want to spend big bucks at a motorcycle shop! Maybe the Indians have something with the Royal Enfield.

[Water Warrior 2]

Senior Citizens aren't the targeted buyers. We don't want to upgrade near as often and like to keep things longer if it doesn't break. Big comfy cruisers and sport bikes are where the most money is generated to make a profit in the North American market.

[lenkf]

Water warrier: You're right. Not much profit in a small simple street bike. I have a '96 ford ranger 4 cyl with 186k miles still running nicely, though well used looks wise. If foreign moto manufacturers can't make a profit with their big CC bikes due to modern economy, we might be stuck with Harley motos. I've been eyeballing the Cleveland Cyclewerks motos at clevelandcyclewerks.com (Misfit, Ace) to replace my GZ250 down the road.

[Water Warrior 2]

Don't say that !! Only Harleys would be the end of life as many of us know it. I'd have to learn how to polish a bike and dress in Halloween colors.
Looked at the Cleveland bike site. Interesting and mostly made in America too. A small factory made chopper that almost anyone can afford is a good thing in this economy. Looks like another good bike for newbies and old weak guys too. Nothing fancy but all you really need.

[lenkf]

Update: Cleveland Cyclewerks JUST got their California CARB approvals for the chopper (Heist) and the cafe bike (Misfit) 12/21/11 according to their Blog. I like the looks of "Tha Misfit", especially with its 3.9 US gallon gas tank, rear and front disk brakes that probably won't squeal like the GZ at every stop. For our GN brother down under, the Cleveland Cyclewerks models are also available in OZ even before California :) (see http://www.clevelandcyclewerks.com/blog)

[Way]

Welcome and g'day Boon! I'm sure you'll get plenty of ideas even if there aren't many GN's here.