New (okay, used) thumper owner from Tempe

[DaddyMav]

Hey there y'all.

Great site. Just picked myself up a new (to me) '00 GZ250 because I wanted to be part of this cool crowd and I heard that was the initiation. Well, I chose that over the diaper filled with jello and thumbtacks. Picked it up not running for a 50cc scooter and some cash. From what the PO says, the mileage is correct at 760. It has some scratches here and there but otherwise it might be clean enough to be true. I've had it for almost a week now and figured out that the ignitor is bad. An intermittent CDI just made it to the top ten in list of hardest to diagnose problems. I have another on the way right now and we'll see if I can soon consumate my ownership. Hopefully you'll see me riding around soon. If anyone is in the Phoenix area, please drop me a line. I always love meeting new friends.

Cheers,
Mike

[JWR]

Welcome,

You will find some good info here.
Browse the forum pages, good reading.

[alanmcorcoran]

Good luck with your diagnostics and repair. I don't even know what an ignitor is, but I'm sure others will weigh in here. I have read a lot on the internet about bad stuff that happens to motorcycles that aren't ridden, and it's a pretty long list. Among the few things I remember are: bad gas, gas tank can rust, pistons can... rust?, and tires develop a flat spot, ('00 tires will be bad by now anyway.) Perhaps your Previous Owner did all of the stuff you are supposed to do when storing one - it looked like a pretty long list to me, and some of it non-trivial.

Anyway, here's hoping you get it going! You'll have a blast on it if you get it started.

[Easy Rider]

Originally Posted by DaddyMav

Hey there y'all.

Right back at 'ya!

If you are savy enough to diagnose a bad ignition module, then you probably already know this .......but I guess there is no harm in repeating:

On a 9 year old bike with less than 1000 miles on the clock, you need to drain and flush the gas tank and the float bowl BEFORE you make a serious attempt to start it. Then when it does start to run, a healthy dose of carb cleaner in the gas to finish that process.

Also those 9 year old tires probably should be replaced before you do any serious riding......regardless of how good they LOOK.

OH, and change the oil, of course. I think I'd change it again at about 1K (more) miles.

Good luck!

[Water Warrior 2]

The tubes are likely ready for retirement also. Cheap considering the grief flats will give you.