1980 GS250 "dirty little brat"

[nikola25]

So 3 months ago I began with a rusted old GS250 rolling frame and partially assembled engine in a bucket with several other buckets of random parts. I bought the bike with the intentions of building a custom bike for my fiancee for her birthday Dec.21st/xmas present. I really wish I had pictures of the rusted junk I had to start with but I imagine you guys just need to know it sat for 10 years and somebody who thought they could get it running again took it all apart and then never put it back together. I began taking pictures after I powdercoated the frame.

I first explored the idea of doing a cafe conversion but I already have a CB650 cafe project going so changed direction, a bobber crossed my mind but I already own a GN250 bobber and this is nearly the same bike but a twin. I in the end decided to explore a sort of bratstyle mixed with enduro- with the future intention of raising the exhaust to really be able to go offroad if I want. I'm a good ways along in the project and although I will not be finished on December 25th I will at least have a presentable machine visually to give her. Here are some pictures of the process thus far.

Frame after powdercoat


20121022_125158 by nikola25spasic, on Flickr



20121022_125219 by nikola25spasic, on Flickr

Engine wheels forks install



20121022_190444 by nikola25spasic, on Flickr



20121022_190542 by nikola25spasic, on Flickr

New superbike bars


20121105_160926 by nikola25spasic, on Flickr

Added grill guard to headlight and installed the wiring harness i got from ebay


20121105_160845 by nikola25spasic, on Flickr


20121105_160900 by nikola25spasic, on Flickr



20121105_160952 by nikola25spasic, on Flickr

 

[nikola25]

New master cylinder and grips but i bent one and mocking tank and sidecovers to see what it looks like


20121117_171815 by nikola25spasic, on Flickr


20121117_171856 by nikola25spasic, on Flickr


20121117_171918 by nikola25spasic, on Flickr

Added pods and shocks


20121121_120246 by nikola25spasic, on Flickr


20121121_120254 by nikola25spasic, on Flickr


20121121_120302 by nikola25spasic, on Flickr

Painted Forks and sidecovers, bought new tires, exhaust mock


20121206_110621 by nikola25spasic, on Flickr


20121206_110632 by nikola25spasic, on Flickr


20121206_112247 by nikola25spasic, on Flickr


20121206_112306 by nikola25spasic, on Flickr

 

[nikola25]

Added seat


20121207_113645 by nikola25spasic, on Flickr


20121207_113709 by nikola25spasic, on Flickr


20121207_113721 by nikola25spasic, on Flickr


20121207_113733 by nikola25spasic, on Flickr

Exhaust connectors made then wrapped and mounted the pipes


20121211_161805 by nikola25spasic, on Flickr


20121211_161818 by nikola25spasic, on Flickr


20121211_170413 by nikola25spasic, on Flickr


20121211_170423 by nikola25spasic, on Flickr



Today I painted the headlight bucket, finished sanding the tank, worked on cleaning the inside, stripped the clear from the engine cases and polished them and then added primer and basecoat to the tank. I intend to get some custom pinstriping done for her after Xmas so unfortunately the tank will not be that bright shiny gloss for quite a while. I'll have photos up in a few days of the newest work.

 

[musicman]

Looks like it's coming along fairly well

I'm curious about the tires, what are they specifically? They look too knobby to be a street legal tire.

 

[nikola25]

The tires are Shinko 244's Theyre a 70/30 street/dirt tire https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XTH2gwh-UE

Cheap tires but the reviews I read on bike bandit suggested that people were quite happy with them on the street and in general. I considered the 80/20 tires in the video because I really liked the look as well but went with these because the 705 bias ply's have an issue of coming apart. The road handling should be fine especially for a bike that probably maxes out at 85mph and a g/f that will likely only go 65 the only bad part about these types of tires on bikes is that they can sometimes be noisy. We'll see in the spring...

 

[tkent02]

I have them on my wife's DR 200, they are a bit on the slippery side on pavement.
OK on dirt and gravel and rocks, nothing special. Good dual sport knobbies are actually better on dirt and pavement both. But for $40 or so apiece they are great.

 

[nikola25]

New pics of the tank sort of done (It's done enough for xmas but I honestly have to go back and sand down further because I see several spots where I didn't sand the bondo quite enough ) Sanded the rear sprocket and quick polished the cases also painted the headlight bucket.


20121214_124058 by nikola25spasic, on Flickr


20121214_124159 by nikola25spasic, on Flickr


20121214_124219 by nikola25spasic, on Flickr


20121214_124232 by nikola25spasic, on Flickr


This side of the tank came out nice.... the other side not so good with a few high spots.


20121214_124725 by nikola25spasic, on Flickr


20121214_125304 by nikola25spasic, on Flickr


Still on the to do list for after the holidays-
Cosmetic-
Cut the stock front fender down, grind and mount.
Cut a rear fender down, grind and mount.
add turn signals
add brake light
add speedometer
fix tank
add pinstripe to tank and sidecovers
paint hubs black (possibly?)


Mechanical-
Add chain
figure out clutch
add front and rear brake
rebuild petcock
adjust valves
add fuel lines
get running (it sorta runs, spraying starting fluid in it fires off so in theory it should run..... maybe...)

 

[Guest]

That is friggin' sweet! Excellent!!!!!

 

[ptexotik]

Looks great! Me likey

 

[Guest]

Mate I love it! Awesome little project.

If they were available in Australia I was planning on the Shinko 244's for my 450 but I ended up with Pirelli Scorpions front and rear as noone has the Shinko's here and shipping makes them more expensive than the Pirelli's bought locally.

If you want inspiration for your high pipe, have a look in my rebuild thread at what I got my local exhaust shop (Tranzac) to make for me. Very happy with it!

Have you got any detailed pic's of how you did the seat? I really like that.

And what shocks are you using?

 

[Charlie G]

The bike is looking sweet!

cg

 

[nikola25]

Pete, your pipe is exactly what I'm looking for aside from the merge collector into a single.

The seat is by dime city cycles. I was going to make my own but wouldnt have been able to accomplish ribs in it. The measurements on DCC's seat was an exact fit to the GS250 so all I had to do was make 2 cuts to remove the bracket that sticks up on the frame. It went on sale for 175 so I splurged.

The shocks were given to me by my brother, just gas shocks he got on ebay. He didn't like the gold on his bike and has now bought a pair of the royal enfield gas shocks. I also dont like the gold and may just wrap the piggy back in electrical tape or something.

 

[wally]

It is a very nice build! I like the look of the brat style with the knobblies. Very nice!

 

[Guest]

Cool, Dime City seem to do some nice stuff although I haven't bought anything from them myself at this point in time.

What's the plan for the high pipes? Two into two? Are you going to do one down each side like the Metisse? http://www.metisse-motorcycles.com/stevemcqueen.htm

 

[Zbradley1215]

how do the shorty mufflers sound on it? i have a 2-1 header on mine but was thinking about going back to the 2-2 with the shorties on it.

i like your build since its close to mine. i have a 450L with the same seat, but i have clip ons on mine, but they might be a little low for me( im 6'1'')

 

[nikola25]

Bike isn't running yet so I'm not sure about what it sounds like with the exhaust. I plan to spray some fluid in soon and get a battery to see what she purrs like....... that's assuming it does actually start. As for the pipes I want to do essentially what you did except 2 into 2 on that side. Similar to what the Honda CL's exhaust is like.

 

[Zbradley1215]

yea, please keep me up to date on those. i like them a lot

 

[pureitx]

What size rear tire did you get? I can find the Shinko 244 tire size for the front but not the rear.

 

[nikola25]

120/90/17. I saw someone running a 130/90/17 on the bike on Ebay which is the max and probably pushing it.

 

[nikola25]

I cant get her to run unfortunately. Here is what I can tell you to help me diagnose the issue.

plugs are new and it sparks from both sides. I tried switching the coils to the opposite sides I had them on in case i have them on backwards and that didnt work. Fuel is flowing just fine, airflow is fine. The carbs went through a super cleaning and the jets were replaced. The bowls fill properly, fuel should not be the issue and air should be ok.

Even without carbs I can usually get a bike to start and run for a second by spraying some starting fluid directly in the spark plug holes or where the carbs attach. (typically how i diagnose a fuel/air issue) This bike will not start when I do that. I do not have a compression tester but my fingers get blown out of the holes pretty much like every other bike I've worked on and evenly from both holes I'd say. I do intend to get a tester in the next couple of days to definitively rule out compression.

Strange things-

The bike cranks as normal unless I pull on the choke in which it suddenly really really struggles or stops cranking (can this tell me anything?)

I bought a brand new ballisitic li-ion battery and it gets hot while cranking. I was under the impression that this is not supposed to be happening.