Alpha Dog from Philly

[AlphaDog]

Great forum. Lots of good info. I got a neglected GZ250 for my 29 year old daughter last September as her first motorcycle. It is her daily rider, rain or shine. The poor thing had a problem with an overflowing carb that would fill the crankcase with gas, so the previous owner just parked it. It sat outside lying on it side in the mud for years. I put a new battery in it and adjusted the carb float level. It has a bit of engine noise that sounds like a rod bearing that may have been worn from the previous owner running it with gas in the oil. It had only 3,300 miles on it when we got it. I now has 9,800 miles. It's a great little bike, and I have actually taken it on a few trips.

I have been utilizing info from this forum to help me improve the set-up of the bike. I installed the K&N filter for the Suzuki 500, a 147.5 main jet, and shimmed the slide needle. The bike runs great, although I think it is still just a touch lean with this combination. I just got back from a trip where I rode from Philadelphia to Johnson City, TN where I rode "The Snake," (US 421,) with a group of Harley riding friends. This little bike really kicked ass on the mountain twisties. I even managed to wear some rubber off of the footpegs. Not so good on I-81. Some of the hills pulled my speed down below 60 mph, but that was all the trucks could do on those hills, too, so it wasn't so bad. 560 miles in one day on such a small bike was close to being work, but it was worth it for the great riding in Tennessee/North Carolina.

What a challenge it was to find tires for this bike without buying from a Suzuki dealer at grossly inflated prices. I didn't like the stock Dunlops, anyway. I learned from this forum that Kenda makes a set of tires for it if I just went to a front tire 10mm narrower. I think the narrower front tire handles better anyway.

Thanks for having such a great forum on a great little bike.