Prospective new owner

[TexasCam]

Hey, everyone! I think this is the place to ask, forgive me if I'm wrong.. I found myself a possible bike. An acquaintance is selling his 2001 gz250 for $200. Yes, $200. The bike itself is not in bad shape, just a little dirty. The catch is, it's been sitting for a little under a year. I went to take a look yesterday and the bike will turn over (starter works) with good compression and a clean carb. but will not start. Obviously there is no cure-all solution and every bike is different, but I'd love some outside opinions on whether this would be $200 well spent towards a solid weekender bike.

[Cathy]

Definitely, yes.
Welcome and I hope you buy it. These bikes are so simple that working on them is a breeze.

[TexasCam]

Thanks! I hope to get quite a few miles on it. I forgot to mention it only just broke 9,000

[Cathy]

Do you have any other bikes ?
These are great beginner bikes.

[jonathan180iq]

How long did you attempt to get it to start? If it's been sitting for almost a year, I wouldn't expect her to fire up until she's been given some love.

Had the battery been kept on a tender? Was the fuel fresh? How do you know the carb is clean?

I mean, either way, for $200, go get it right now. We can walk you through just about everything in regards to getting her running again. No problem.

[Water Warrior 2]

Sounds good. Some TLC will have the bike running in no time.

[raul10141964]

Flush the fuel tank an ad fresh gas, use the chock, check for spark

[Goose51683]

Let us know if you don't buy it quick....one of us will. For $200 it would be worth the trip down to Texas...not to mention you might actually have a chance to ride it down there.

[TexasCam]

Thanks, everyone! This will be my first road bike, when I get her going.

There was gas left in the tank with a fuel preservative,

no battery (I used jumper cables and my idling truck),

I assume the carb. isn't too bad, the fuel petcock was left in the off position so no gas left to sit and funk. Although it is my first intention to remove and clean it right away.

I the poor starter a great workout, however haha. Do these bikes have a kickstand failsafe? The kind where they won't start if it's down? That may be it.

[Cathy]

Yep it does have a kickstand fail safe.

[5th_bike]

It won't start when it's in gear. If you get the starter running, it should start.

[Water Warrior 2]

The bike has a side stand switch that prevents the bike from starting and running if the tranny is in gear. It must be in neutral or have the side stand up if in gear. WORD of WARNING!!! Do not jump from a running vehicle. The charging system of almost anything on 4 wheels will fry the GZ electrical system. The GZ will easily draw enough power from a 4 wheeler battery with the engine off. Keep in mind to put the fuel cock in the prime position for a few seconds in case the carb is dry. After that put it in the run position.

[alantf]

I noticed that you said that the petcock was in the off position. There is no "off" position on the GZ petcock, so unless it's been swapped for some reason, the stock petcock has three positions. Run, Prime, Reserve. In run, engine vacuum opens the petcock, and shuts when the engine is switched off. (so you leave it in run, all the time) Prime lets fuel flow freely to the carb, so should only be used when starting a bike with a dry carb (then switched to run when the bike is running) reserve pulls fuel into a pipe that is shorter than run/prime, so lets you know when you need to fill up quickly.

You say that the carb is clean, but the carb is the achilles heel of the GZ, so you, at least, need to run carb cleaner (mixed into the fuel tank) every 3 or 4 tankfulls.

[TexasCam]

I noticed that you said that the petcock was in the off position. There is no "off" position on the GZ petcock, so unless it's been swapped for some reason, the stock petcock has three positions. Run, Prime, Reserve. In run, engine vacuum opens the petcock, and shuts when the engine is switched off. (so you leave it in run, all the time) Prime lets fuel flow freely to the carb, so should only be used when starting a bike with a dry carb (then switched to run when the bike is running) reserve pulls fuel into a pipe that is shorter than run/prime, so lets you know when you need to fill up quickly.

You say that the carb is clean, but the carb is the achilles heel of the GZ, so you, at least, need to run carb cleaner (mixed into the fuel tank) every 3 or 4 tankfulls.
I've only seen the bike in person once so far, so I'll keep that in mind! Thanks for the info!

[Cathy]

Tell us how it goes. :3

[Goose51683]

TexasCam- I was reading through the earlier post in this thread and you mentioned idling your truck while jumping the bike. I've always been told to shut your vehicle off entirely and then jump the bike. I think the concern is that running your vehicle can produce more power than the bikes electrical system can handle.

I'm not sure how big of an issue this is but I wanted to mention it for future reference.

[alantf]

Yes, it is a BIG issue. The problem is that if the car engine is running, the alternator that is charging the car battery is putting out such a high rate of charge that it can (will!) fry a puny bike battery. A bike battery will need a maximum of 2A to charge without problems, while theGZ battery (6AH) is happiest at 0.6A charge, so it's the charging system of the donor vehicle that will do the damage.

[Goose51683]

Thanks for the clarification Alan.

[TexasCam]

Duly noted, gentlemen! This is my first non kick-start bike so you'll have to bear with me.

[Goose51683]

not a problem, we all have things to learn