New to me bike with some issues

[anubis19ak]

Hey everyone,



I just started riding about a month ago and I'm loving it so far! I bought a 2000 GZ250 from a friend that had it for 9 years. She hadn't ridden it for about 2 years so it was just sitting in her garage. A friend and I got it started and I brought it home and over the last month I've discovered some issues and questions that I was hoping to get some help with.


The tank was almost empty so we just added gas to the tank to get it going. My friend had to put his hand over the air inlet to create a vacuum and the bike fired up eventually. The oil is clean and recently changed and I haven't seen a single leak under the bike after it's been sitting. Other than that, the only thing we really had to do was put a new battery in it.



1) When I first start the engine, I have to have the choke on. Even after a few minutes, if I turn the choke off, the bike idles way low like it wants to die. About halfway through my 20 minute commute, I can turn it off. My idle speed is currently set about halfway, if that matters. Any thoughts on how to fix that?


2) All of the lights in the speedometer are dead, so I can't see how fast I'm going at night when I ride on a dark stretch of road. The highbeam indicator light still comes on when I activate them, however the rest of the speedo is dark. My big question here is regarding bulbs. Where can I find bulbs for this, preferably something that will be somewhat bright.



3) I'm 6'0 and around 250, so I'd like to stiffen the suspension to its highest setting (it's currently on 4). Whenever I've tried though, I feel like I'm just going to bend the tool I'm using to try and rotate the adjustment. Is it possible that it's just gunked up from sitting so long? What can I use to make that easier?


4) When I pull the front brake lever, the brake light comes on, however the light does not come on when I press the rear brake pedal. The taillight comes on just fine when I start the bike, but the light just doesn't get brighter when only the rear brake pedal is pressed. Is this normal or is there a fault somewhere?


5) When I pull the clutch in to shift, the bike revs up and I've made sure that I'm not giving the bike any throttle. I'm not sure if this is bad for the bike or not, but just something happening when I wouldn't expect it to happen.


6) When the handlebars are full lock left or right, the engine revs. I had my wife sit on the bike and alternate between full left and full right and I couldn't see the throttle moving at all. It's a little disconcerting when I'm just trying to get the bike turned around so I can park it.


7) The turn signal indicator light appears to be burned out as it doesn't come on regardless of which signal is flashing. Where can I find a bulb for it and how in the world do I get the old bulb out? I didn't mess with it too much as I didn't want to damage the rubber housing. Any tips or tricks on that would be greatly appreciated.



Thank you in advance for any assistance any of you can give me!