My GZ: now with bags

[loudboys]

Here it is, my new transportation appliance; a 2008 GZ250 with 172 miles. Apparently the original owner bought it in the hope it would inspire his wife to take up riding. Didn't work, so he traded it in on an ATV.


http://imageshack.us/a/img856/2470/p5010279.jpg

[Fawlty]

Great looking bike, as new. Make sure you check out the threads here about preparing it.

Good luck.

[northsidegz]

Lookin' good. Congrats on the purchase!

[loudboys]

Thanks. It's actually too pretty.

I was in the garage yesterday trying to mount up some saddlebags, and found myself waxing it instead.

There's this voice in my head saying I should just take it out in the rain and get it filthy and install the bags with woodscrews, but god help me, I just can't. :tongue:

[alantf]

There's this voice in my head saying I should just install the bags with woodscrews, but god help me, I just can't.

ok........so use bent nails instead :whistle: :crackup

[loudboys]

It helps if you know a little about my motorcycling history. Here's one of my Ninjas:

http://imageshack.us/a/img380/7405/webibrstartdl8.jpg

I built it as an endurance rally bike, specifically for the '07 Iron Butt Rally. My previous bikes have always been utilitarian devices.

[northsidegz]

What is that tank on the back for? (sorry for my ignorance)

[jonathan180iq]

It's a secondary fuel tank. Iron Butt Rallies are insane (thousands of miles) and a lot of the riders will fabricate secondary fuel tanks with their own petcocks so they don't have to stop for fuel very often.

There is another rider over on the Ninja board named Leon who has some cool custom dual gas tanks. They even keep the same relative line of the original design and it flows rather well...for anyone who wants to look into it.

[northsidegz]

Wow! I had heard of the Iron Butt Rally, but hadn't realized some fabrication was done to help go a longer distance before fueling up (although it makes perfect sense hearing it).

That's impressive to me. That is neat stuff there.

[loudboys]

Sorry I didn't see your post earlier. As mentioned, it's an auxiliary fuel tank; the range varies from 400-500 miles.

If you look close, you'll see o-ringed camera cases used as hard luggage, an HID driving light (high tech in '06 when I built the bike), J&M CB and weather radio, Eliminator 250 crash bars (with $5 highway pegs attached with $50 Kuryakin clamps), custom fabbed bodywork quick realeases, heavily modified Honda Shadow seat, and a whole bunch of other miscellaneous crap. And a Hawkoiler chain oiler which is why the left side of the bike will never rust.

The bike has so much extra wiring and plumbing that it's a little hard to put the side covers on.

[jonathan180iq]

Oh, man! I came acorss an Eliminator 250 a couple of months ago and I had cash in hand to buy it. The guy, however, was pulling some shifty ways. He didn't have a good explanation of why the Title wasn't in his name and why he couldn't just go and get it from Alabama... I begrudgingly passed on it. I've been looking for an eliminator ever since I had my Ninja.

[loudboys]

Those of you who purchased a GZ as an expression of your own personal style, and believe that the way a bike looks is it's most important attribute: look away now.




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http://imageshack.us/a/img545/7558/p5150293.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img248/1910/p5150294.jpg

The tankbag is from my BMW G650GS; it's the only part of the bike that survived the crash. It's a Wolfman Large Expedition tankbag. It fits the tank perfectly; if you're interested they also make them in all black.

The saddlebags are from one of my Ninja 250s, they're Fieldsheer Expanders mounted on MC Enterprises saddlebag brackets.