New GZ250 owner, new saddlebags, next windscreen

[lenkf]

Just got new River Road saddle bags from the local Cyclegear.com brick and motor store in Oxnard CA. good price at $99. Not real leather but that's probably a good thing. Pretty wide which was one of my needs. I had to make a couple extra holes to raise the bags above the dumb raised muffler output. But since the bags went over the fender, I could not reattach the pillion seat without mods. Because the bags went over the fender, the pillion seat (passanger seat) bolts didn't have adequate clearance into their welded on holes due to additional clearance. Without the pillion seat installed, it would have easy for the bags to walk away in a parking lot. I disassembled the pillion seat and put the forward attachment in a drill press and extended the attachment holes about 1/4" to accommodate the extra reach.

The bags are clear from the shocks, rear lights, and dumb elevated exhaust pipe. Not as "big" as perfect, but good enough to carry milk and bread or 6pack. It attached nicely to the Suzuki OEM bag mounts I got last week. I used a couple zip-ties to hooks on the bags. I suspect the bags will have little aero affect down the road. But, bags will allow me to avoid wearing a heavily laden backpack as I have been doing lately and not happy with due to weight

On this 2009 model I bought with only 132 miles, now with over 500 miles nearing first oil change, I checked chain looseness and with my weight on the bike it was good. I oiled the chain just because. Need to investigate a new oil filter at local auto supply stores for the big "600 mile maintenance". As this bike no longer has a warranty, I'm pretty much on my own to keep it running

Still observing the factory recommendation in terms of "half throttle" usage (how obvuscative is that, where is 1/2 throttle?), and not exceeded 55mph yet. But I sense there's plenty left I can do in 5th gear, wot, with stock 15t primary drive gear. Haven't taken on 75mph freeways yet - maybe 1k miles.

Next project on "my new" GZ250 is a decent windscreen. Since my local motorcycle store, Cyclegear, doesn't sell windscreens, I'm still gleaning details from the net for an online purchase. Assistance appreciated if mounting details and attachment pics offered. Looking for 4 point attachment.

Thanks fred