A new member wanting to say hi to every one

[Peachy140]

Hello every one my names Chris, I'm 29 from Gibraltar. I've had a Suzuki Marauder GZ250 for almost two years now that I bought second hand from someone I work with who bought it from someone else I work with who... recurring. This goes back to the first name on the log book earning her the nick name "The village bike".

My bike has just spent a total of 3 months in two garages and after just getting it back 2 days ago I am already seeing problems which could be costly. I did a google search for the problems Ive found since getting the bike out of the garage and this forum was the best resource I found, so much so that I decided to sign up.

Ive got a fair amount of experience on forums having run several of my own for pleasure and work in the past. I'm a regular user on other forums so I'm generally a fair player, although please excuse my netspeak and bad spelling. Having read the rules prior to posting I'll do my best to curb it.

Despite having owned and ridden mopeds, racing replicas, scramblers and road bikes for the last 12 years, Im by no means an expert but Ill gladly share my limited experience in any way I can for the benefit of the community.

Looking forward to chatting to you all.

Chris

[alantf]

Hi there,

You'll find that none of us stand on formality, here. Just accept the rough & tumble, & go for it! :) :neener: :lol:

BTW, where are you from originally, like - I'm in Spain, but I'm originally from England? :)

[Peachy140]

Hey Alan,

Yeah thanks for that will do mate :)

I was born in Bermondsey London, although I have to admit I dont consider my self a Londoner. My mums a local here and I've lived here for most of my life so for all intents and purposes Im a local. What part of Spain do you live in?

[alantf]

Spent all my life in Yorkshire, but retired early, & spent the last eight years in Tenerife. Not the touristy south, but up in the north among the mountains & vineyards. :) We've got a car, but with it being such a small island, with a traffic congestion problem, & parking spaces virtually non existant in the villages & towns, a bike's the ideal form of transport. Plus, I can ride 52 weeks a year.

BTW, if you've got the big "Marauder" logo on the tank (as opposed to the flat Suzuki "S") it's a European bike. That means that the carb's set up different (richer) than the American bikes, which have to comply with their emmission regs, so ignore anything on the site regarding carb mods. :2tup:

[blaine]

Welcome to the family. :) :cool:

[mole2]

Welcome to the forum from South Carolina, USA. In the "Mug" forum I mentioned the MFS BRC. I didn't realize (duh) you were not in the US so whatever course is available to you you should take. You probably already did in order to get you license. Good luck and wear your gear.


:)

[Peachy140]

Thanks guys nice to be here :)

Mole - sorry didnt understand a word of that, perhaps when I read the mugshot thread it will come clear to me lol

Alan - BTW, if you've got the big "Marauder" logo on the tank (as opposed to the flat Suzuki "S") it's a European bike. That's interesting. I just got my bike back from the garage and they told me that it was a "grey import" meaning that parts had to come from the US because they werent available in Europe, or at least they couldnt identify the parts with the VIN number. Yes mine does have the Marauder logo on the tank. Good tip, thanks :)

[blaine]

I just got my bike back from the garage and they told me that it was a "grey import" meaning that parts had to come from the US because they werent available in Europe, or at least they couldnt identify the parts with the VIN number. Yes mine does have the Marauder logo on the tank. Good tip, thanks :)
Something doesn't add up.The big logo signifys that it is a Canadian-European model. :??: :)

[Peachy140]

My thoughts exactly i think ill add to check the VIN number to my list of dos and dont when buying used bikes on another thread lol

[lenkf]

As I've been observing on this forum, there's many variations of the "GZ250". American and European models. Further, there are "Chinese clones" of this bike which simply dont have "Suzuki" on the engine side cases.

My 2009 GZ250 has decals indicating it was "made" in Spain. I suspect most GZ250s of this era were made in Spain. The Spanish used to make decent motorcycles, but maybe Suzuki didn't like quality control of the GZ250 so stopped manufacture there. Thus, the GZ250 is no longer manufactured, at least not coming to the US now. Too bad because it used to be a high performing single cylinder moto with twin dome head and "dual exhaust". This gz250 forum has yet to explain the "big" advantage of the dual exhaust on the twin dome head, while other Suzuki similar engines are still used with maybe less capability, like the TU250.

Luckily, my GZ250 has not had any manufacturing problems as yet with about 500 miles. I'm still breaking it in per the manufacturer's requirement to keep things less than half throttle (whatever that is if you don't know what full throttle is, 55mph? :) An mph per gear would have been more informative for break-in. Can't wait to try 65mph on the freeway since "max" speed on the web seems to be closer to 80mph, after the manufacturers nebulous recommended break in period. The GZ250 doesn't have a tach or other engine guages to determine performance. Its a simple bike and that's why I like it because I can maintain it.

fred

[Water Warrior 2]

If my memory still works I think I have a little info on the twin dome thing. Back in the late 70s/early 80s Suzuki was dabbling in four valve heads on their performance bikes. The technology naturally filtered down to the GZ engines and their stablemates. The twin dome heads were supposed to have a swirling effect for better mixture control of fuel and air. 2 smaller valves are lighter and flow more air than one larger valve with it's greater weight that is a limiting factor for high RPM. Modern FI in the TU 250 probably lends itself well to lower production costs with a 2 valve head and a single exhaust header pipe.
Modern FI 4 valve per cylinder performance engines have awesome power curves using shim and bucket valve adjusters. A 600 sport bike can make almost 2 times the power of my Vstrom and rev as high as an F1 race car.
In the 60s Honda had a 6 cylinder 250 for the track that was unbeatable. Tiny little low weight parts allowed it to rev to unheard of RPM at the time.

[alantf]

Thus, the GZ250 is no longer manufactured, at least not coming to the US now.

I think it's more to do with emissions. America seems not to like anything that has a carb. They want everything to be FI. There are plenty of 2012 bikes on the web that state "not in North America" as they're fitted with carbs. Every other country in the world seems happy with them.

America seems obsessed with "emissions". Our island's got one of the world's highest number of vehicles per area, including a lot of old leaded fuel vehicles, and according to the sensors installed in all the major towns, the air is relatively clean. So - Who's kidding who in America?