kseries.rookie

Family photo, back home after unloading bikes





As mentioned earlier, first plan of attack is to hear the bike run.
In order for this to happen it would require the following..
- A battery
- Carb clean
Try and see what happens

Unfortunately I don't have a garage to work on. I have converted a garden shed into a make shift work shop. It could be worse, but could be better haha but I still get it done
At this stage I had never taken a carb apart (well practised now haha) so I took plenty of photos along the way to make sure when it came to reassemble time I wasn't going to get stuck.
What an absolute nightmare! What should have been a very simple excersize (in my mind, in theory) turned out to be about 5 hours work and approximately 451 swear words and 6 mangled knuckles.
In the end I had to remove the rear wheel and drop the swing arm to get the air box out.. Even with this dropping I had approx 2mm of room each side to work with..



Great success!! Carb is no longer in the hole.

Thanks man. Exactly, although it's 'just' a shitty little Hyosung, I still enjoy getting out there twisting throttles and banging gears.

The GN250 is perfect for the Wahine. She mentioned the other day she was wanting to change it up a little to more of a 'scrambler' style so i've gone and brought a whole bunch of parts so stay tuned for v2.0. I'm looking forward to it as it's the direction I would have gone myself if it was a bike for me.

Alrighty, GB400tt build.
Backstory..
I was on my way home from a party and as the taxi driver dropped me off he saw a bike out the front and said "Oh are you into bikes? I've got an old Honda I wana sell, a CB500". I was hammered but my voice of reason kicked in and politely declined.
The next morning I remembered the conversation and had a moment of instant regret.. By some miracle I remembered his name and rang the taxi company. I explained the situation but they wouldn't give me his number but the supervisor did say he would pass on my details.
Several weeks went by and he called me. Again, he called it a CB500 and I was fizzing thinking it was a 4 cyl CB500 and I said I would come and have a look.

Had a squizz and turns out it was a GB400tt.. I still thought they were bad ass bikes but was low key gutted it wasn't a CB four. 
He also had a spare bike tucked away in the bushes and a shed of parts. Needless to say, after some negotiation I purchased the bike(s) on the spot. He also had a Yamaha xz400 sitting under a tarp that he didn't want so I took that off his hands too. Kinda to help him out, I knew I would take a loss on it but I got the others for a fair price so was happy.

Enough talking, moar pictures..



As you can tell, the bike has been neglected. It hadn't had a warrant of fitness since 2015 I believe
He said it was a runner before he parked it up when he got hand surgery and I had no reason to not believe him but the first thing on the list was for me to hear the bike run before I pour a load of money into it. Don't look too closely at that wiring by the headlight or it will heart your heart as it did mine

This was also the spare bike and box of spares it came with - Bit worse for wear, yeah



To be continued
 

By the way - I have no idea what I am doing.. I am an IT nerd by day that doesn't mind getting stuck in and just figuring things out.
I have mechanical experience when it comes to cars (enough to get by) but motorbikes is a whole new world for me.. I'm loving it so far tho

Quick snap @ Paekakariki (where the b0yz are cheeky)


Not much has changed from here really other than i've done a couple of the Ride Forever courses (highly recommend to anyone), I got my lazy ass off my Learners and passed my restricted and i've also started a new project - a 87 Honda GB400TT!
The GN is still going strong several thousand km's later and so is the GT250r

Alrighty up next..
The Mrs had registered her interest in learning to ride a bike. I was all for it! She went and got her learners licence
Once she had that I set a budget and got to work finding her a bike to learn to ride on.
She had done her basic handling test on a GN125 so that sort of riding style was all she knew and was keen on continuing to learn on.

A mate of mine was selling his GN250 that needed a little love, which was perfect for me.
He had taken it in for a WOF but it had failed on the below..
- Remount the rear shocks (Looks like it's missing a spacer or something?)
- No rear reflector
- Master cylinder has been welded previously "needs replacing" (I'm going to file back the weld and paint it black and see what happens)
- Exhaust not secure (Missing a bolt on the engine side of it)
- Fork seals need replacing (Doesn't look like they're leaking to me although they're soft.. Not sure if GN ting?)
- Forks have surface rust
- Throttle is sticking
- Indicators need spacing, can't be seen

It had already been modified a little so I can't claim all the good looks on my own personal design haha but I will show a before/after picture at the bottom of the post.
This was the condition I received the bike in



The priority here was to get the bike as safe as possible.
She wasn't too fussed on the aesthetic side of things but I did want to have a go at polishing a turd, within reason
I must also add - I don't have a garage. What I do have is a small garden shed which I have converted into a "workshop"
Here are a series of pictures, because who is actually reading all of this?







I am loving re writing this.. I tend to forget all of the headaches that were head during the process..
The snapped bolts, the faulty wiring, the cross threaded nuts etc.. 







Went for a re-check for the WOF.
Failed on a few basic things (IE missing split pin etc) which I fixed took my tools to the workshop and quickly banged it out
WOF - Check!

Here is a little comparison photo - I reckon I did alright for a super tight budget 'build'



 

This will be a somewhat copy/paste from another forum.
I've decided to also update here because there is a plethora of knowledge of older bikes on the forum so would like to capitalize on that, also the other forum is private so if anyone is google'ing a problem that I have come across, they won't be able to see the resolution, like they would if the situations were posted on here.
First off i'll post about my daily and then I will update with what i've built and/or am building currently.

Current daily
This was my first bike after not riding a road bike for nearly 10 years. I have ridden plenty of dirt bikes so I am by no means a complete pleb but I am also well aware of my limitations.
I wanted to spend 2k or under and I also wanted it to be 2000+ (because bugger 6 month wofs).

What I got was a 2008 Hyosung GT250R. Bog standard, nothing special with a butt load of maintenance paper work.
So far (while I write this on the 18/6/18) I am happy with my purchase (As I re-write this on 2/4/19, I can confirm - still happy)
I brought it beginning of May, done 48 thou km. It's now done appox 51 thousand kms (Now done 70,000 as of 2/4/19)





Did a DIY tail tidy, added LED indicators and put on a black tinted front screen





I replaced the sprocket so I am not humming at 8500 RPM at 100kmph (Most of my riding was highway riding to and from work)
Now comfortably sits at 110 at 7300 ish. Happy days.

In terms of other maintenance, i've done countless oil changes, oil filter, air filter cleans, new brakes all round, new tyres - Just all the usual stuff..
Obligatory image of the bike at my mates work shop

 
Current future plans..
It's probably due another birthday soon
- Clean the carbs
- Oil change
- Replace spark plugs 
etc

In terms of aesthetics - Nothing.. It's just a cheap burner that I chop traffic with in the mornings
Just keep riding it really.. It does the job

Picking up the new exhaust pipe tomorrow.
After that I just need to bleed the front brake and then book it in for a WOF. Fizzing

18 hours ago, peteretep said:

Got to 100 yesterday, really it’s too fast for a city scooter, and too slow for open road. I should just try tune it for wheelies and top speed of 70

Vidz or it didn't happen1 (The whoolies part)

57 minutes ago, kdotlowe said:

My mate has a Jack Batson exhaust on his GB500TT and it sounds goddamn incredible. I can't hear my fairly loud DRZ when he's next to me. 

I've thought about going down this route too but they're not cheap!
This is the factory exhaust with a crazy amount of holes in it. I've got a near-enough straight through pipe going on it, I just need someone handy with a welder to lend a hand 
 

First test ride on the GB today - Motor is tired and needs a freshen up but woo!

Whats everyone working on at the moment? Even better if you've got some pictures
 

Sat on my GB400tt with my feet up on both pegs and able to put arms on the handlebars for the first time last night. Good feels

On 14/03/2019 at 18:57, kseries.rookie said:

Wiring barcarole on previous page

Turns out when I was re arranging the wires putting the headlight back in I mixed the blue and the blue with white strip.
all working as per norm 

OS Wellington bike meet?!

Yeah, the pass puts what I think is the high beam (farkin bright) but it's the same brightness as the normal "low beam"
You're most probably right, I was hoping I wouldn't have to do this again..

 

Bit of a weird one..
In the process of putting together my GB400tt
Wiring was an absolute mess so I have spent some time cleaning that up. In the process I have also wired in new LED tail light, indicators and flasher relay. For some strange reason, the tail light wasn't getting power. While I was fault finding I took apart the controls (what a mission/so many small parts)..  I managed to find the issue and basically just spliced the power wires from the speedo back light and thats all good.

Once I had got everything back together I tested all the switch functions and they all worked as normal. Did some other work (non wiring related), fast forward a couple of days and did another round of testing/showing the misso the new lights and the headlight wouldn't go onto high beam..
If I switch on the headlight, it's on. I bang on the high beam, the high beam light comes on the "dash" but no change in the headlight.
Press the button again, nothing happens other than high beam light turns off on the dash.
Turn headlight off completely, flick the "flash/pass" button and headlight flicks on (as expected) but it's the same brightness as when I turn on the high beam, if that makes sense??
If i've got the headlight on and push in the high beam button eeever so slightly, the headlight flickers to what I would only describe as "low beam"
So it's not the switch, not the wiring. 
I thought perhaps it could be the battery because of all the testing I have been doing with the battery on. I charged the battery and started the bike today in anticipation that it wouldn't do the high beam issue but low and behold, it's doing the same thing.

Nothing has changed since I knew it was working other than I wheeled it out the shed and back in again.

Anyone ever come across anything like this before?
Where would you start..

Pic for thread - before headlight debacle 



pls advice thnx

Ahh perfect. Thats exactly what I was thinking.
I'm thinking what i'll do is strip the headers off and take the new tip and headers/smog box to a engineer and get him to just weld it on.
Initially I was hoping I could just slide it on and clamp (as per design on muffler) but it's not i'm planning on changing it

Cheers

I have zero fab equipment.. Or skill for that matter
Happy to learn if someone has the tools and patients haha.

Nah it 65mm is the outer, it's got an inner exhaust pipe (see photo) so no issue with air restriction (happy to be proved wrong.. but the headers aren't 65mm haha)


 

Hey team,

Exhaust (muffler) is rooted on my GB so i'm looking at getting a new tip..
Problem is, the inlet outlet for the smog box (I could remove but I don't want to faf around with new jets as i've just rebuilt with standard jets) is massive..

I need some piping that on one end is 65mm and on the other is 42mm - The pipe needs to be as short as possible without compromising structural integrity.
Located in Wellington (Johnsonville).. something local is ideal but not restricted to.
Will pay in beer or money, whatever your choice.

Anyone able to please help a brother out?
021808466 

Thanking you ever so kindly.

 

On 20/01/2019 at 19:45, kseries.rookie said:

Looking for some advice on how I can get this seat looking a little better than worse for wear..
Obviously a new cover will make it mint but I am looking at how I can make it look a little more respectful until I can be find a good quality original seat cover..
Any life hacks/tips or tricks?

Thanks for the advice. I had some matt black vinyl/fabric spray tucked away that I hadn't used yet which worked out.
It looks a million times better but i'm still going to refit an OEM seat cover when it's not so low on the priority list..

 

On ‎14‎/‎02‎/‎2019 at 13:04, kseries.rookie said:

Hoping someone could shed some light..

 

For those interested and possibly in the same boat..

I started looking into this last night and think I have resolved the problem.
Process of elimination went something like this..

- Hand/eye check. Make sure everything is done up tight where it should be
- Checked petcock again, made sure fuel was running through correctly.
- Drained fuel in the carb bowl, made sure that wasn't old fuel getting stuck
- Checked spark plug, this was grotty but certainly not the worst I have seen
- Went and brought a multi metre and did a series of tests on the battery, the charging system and also the reg/rec

These all came back clear.
Scratching my head, I thought perhaps it's an air leak somewhere?

- Got the bike to idle and sprayed some start yer bastard around the airbox/piping
Bike didn't change
- Sprayed around the carb inlet
Bike died..
Rinse and repeat, just to confirm it wasn't the bike just dying on it's own..
But it was consistent.

So it appears there was an air leak somewhere between the motor and the carb.
Took the carb off, checked the seats where good, which seemed fine.
I banged it back on with a new clip and got it nice and tight.
Tested again with the above technique and surely enough, the bike stayed alive!
Gave it a rev, no pop!
I did however notice there was a slight exhaust leak between where the piping stops and the muffler starts, so I undid those bolts and banged on the tip further in with a rubber mallet. That appears to have stopped the slight leak.

Went for a test ride and yeah, wasn't running like a bag of dicks anymore.
There is still a intermittent liiiiiiittle misfire at 5k rpm in 3rd but I cannot replicate it every time and it's generally when the bikes under load (going up a steep hill) from what I can gather.

The bike needs a good birthday. It's a bit rattily (more than the normal gn250 factory rattle) so i'll replace the cam chain, new oil and filter, new spark plug, possibly a new lead as well while I am there and she should be all tickity boo.
If not, i'll look into giving it a little more fuel either by the a/f mixture screw or just banging a larger jet in the carb, which would make sense with having an aftermarket exhaust tip on

So yeah, that's my story.

Keen to hear feedback, what would you have done differently?

 

2 minutes ago, MopedNZ said:

Sounds silly but check out the fuel tap. Had a customers bike acting like it was running out of gas but had half a tank. Fuel tap seals had perished and ended up restricting fuel flow. Not saying it's the issue, but could be another lead to follow to rule out fuel. 

I did think that, I should have mentioned, after I tried to start it after the hour break, I popped the hose off the tap and turned the tap on; fuel started flowing no problem
Thanks tho, appreciate the thought

Hoping someone could shed some light..

A couple weeks ago, the Mrs bike (06 GN250) started spluttering on the way home the other day under throttle so when we got it home I stripped the carb and it all looked as per norm, the jets were clean. It's been opened before, it's got new screws holding on the bowl and new seals.
I also popped out the spark plug out, gave that a clean and put back in. I also cleaned the air filter too.
This resolved the issue and was running fine again.

Yesterday she was riding up the gorge and it started to splutter again, she managed to get it near home but it died. (Note, it wasn't a lack of petrol issue)
I went and had a look, it didn't want to fire and then it did fire and the idle was all up the wazoo/would hold and then if I gave it some gas, the bike would splutter a bit and die.

I got the bike home an hour later and gave it another crank over and it started and held idle without any issues.. So I took it around the block. It wasn't running right straight away but after a fang, it cleared away and started running as it should. I thought it was too good to be true so went for another loop and surely enough, the bike started to splutter and eventually died on the driveway.

I've checked the fuel lines, they aren't blocked. The spark plug didn't look filthy and it's getting spark (obviously) otherwise it wouldn't fire (albeit inconsistently).
Something else I did notice the other day was the headlight wasn't working on low beam, but was on high beam. The bulb looked fine and I had a look at the connections and these all looked fine. I gave the headlight a little smack on the bottom and the light came back on.. So I stripped the headlight and tried to replicate the problem but was unable to. The light still only works on high beam.

What does this sound like to you? I don't think it's fuel and I don't think it's a carb issue..
Could the headlight issue that occurred around the same time be related to the misfiring problem.
Is a dodgy stator/regulator rectifier unit/relay something that could cause the problem?

Dicky battery? Although it doesn't feel like the battery is sluggish, it could very well be?
Do I strip the earths, give them a clean and try again?

Keen to hear what your thoughts are

 

I didn't see that, I didn't think it was for me as I wouldn't have thought vapor blasting was for plastic but if they've got a sweet solution, i'll hit em' up
cheers man

Any advice on restoring handlebar controls?

Thanks for the suggestions team, on the GB seat refresh.
I've picked up some VHT Vinyl/fabric spray paint. Hopefully I don't get a black arse every time I ride..

Next up on the ole' gizz us some suggestions pls, we have the controls..
These aren't cheap to replace with OEM ones and mine actually work fine, they're just looking.. well, like the rest of the bike (well, not anymore but in this picture..).. Tired
I've tried to tackle it with a heat gun which i've done before fine on car plastics but this just starts to melt/bubble.

I also tried some black shoe polish (on a spare broken control I have in similar condition) and left outside for a few days and it already went funky..
I mean, I could paint them? Not too keen on painting them, unless I drum up the old warhammer painting skills and brush it? 
Let me know your thoughts/experience/expertise






Churr