[KefRacer]

Hi!
Awesome site you have here []

I am building my first bike and this is how it looked when I got it home. I got some parts and lots of them on the way in the moment.
Still searching for a piston kit, exhaust rocker and camshaft[B)]
Greg

 

[texmawby]

where is the rest of the frame? why did someone stretch the swingarm? i got lots of questions for you.

tex

 

[BANDIT]

That'll be the first Cafe'd hill climber I've ever seen!

 

[catboy]

um...wtf is that?

 

[shinneh]

dood, some one jacked your frame Anyways, it'll prolly look cool cafed but you're gonna want some serious horsepower to back up having it stretched.

 

[KefRacer]

yeah, guy before me wanted to make a chopped hardtail, but he abandoned it when he opened the engine. broken piston, camshaft, exhaust rocker, exh valve, seals.. so..I already got a frame, bars, lots of parts, new swingarm and all new parts for engine rebuild are on the way. Also new shocks and some small parts. I will make something out of it
and if I finish this frame later, I have 2 in 1 heh

 

[KefRacer]

heres today progress. I switch to the new frame and made a rear brace. Also cut some wood just to see the stance. seems ok to me, what do you think? tail is next

 

[HackAsaw]

how much travel do the forks have? they look very long even with the trees set down lower on them, almost motard or MX long

what is the height of the drop rump seat area?

just peeking...... it seems to have what appears to be a very weak headstock

I think I'd consider putting in horizontal duplex back bones which coincidentally were bent to fit any numbers of flat bottomed cafe-ish tanks

my inclination would also be to do this while raising that drop seat area and also lowering the ride height

but I only know what my eyes see at this point, not any hard measurements and I'm too sunday morning easy to scale it

looks like you have a decent tubing bender and can grind welds so why not

 

[HackAsaw]

looking again, I just had one of the guys move a bigger 4 valve single out of the work area and into storage

I'll look at it and snap some pix but for some reason it looks like it would just about bolt into that frame

also what is the wheelbase with the current setup?

it looks like it wants it's swing arm shortened maybe two to three inches

use a smaller tank and keep the seat area as is

looks like it could make a really tight small cafe bike but not if you try to make it fit a big person

 

[HackAsaw]

section to make shorter a common /5 /6 /7 BMW tank to make it fit that short backbone and fit over the top of some of the engine

sorta thinking out loud but jerking the keyboard a bit

 

[KefRacer]

quote:I think I'd consider putting in horizontal duplex back bones which coincidentally were bent to fit any numbers of flat bottomed cafe-ish tanks

Thats the plan, but first I have to do it with no mods to the frame, so I can get all papers. Then I will do that, I have all the tubing measured already. I will use this tank with some polyester to fit it to the rails. eh, my english..

 

[HackAsaw]

ahhhh........ I see and I've no idea what I would do if I had to answer to anyone to paper what I build. But the way I do things here, I don't have the state having to paw my stuff over. I've been told some countries are extremely strict on modifications to motorcycles. Know of quite a few running really hardcore outlaw machines. They tell me if they get caught their bike would be impounded and they would never get it back, and they would have to flatten jail time. Where I live, pretty much anything within the law goes and we have no state inspection if your title-able build platform isn't 100 percent ground up built, or uses no frame with an MSO.

So this means I start with 69 or earlier HD cases, or something obscure that was titled by the engine

or a title-able frame errrr um...... maybe just a headstock and maybe a piece of a down tube

and I'm good to go

good luck and I would love to know the critical dimensions of your builder, even if in millimeters, I can convert those numbers easily enough

 

[HackAsaw]

ahhhh........ I see and I've no idea what I would do if I had to answer to anyone to paper what I build. But the way I do things here, I don't have the state having to paw my stuff over. I've been told some countries are extremely strict on modifications to motorcycles. Know of quite a few running really hardcore outlaw machines. They tell me if they get caught their bike would be impounded and they would never get it back, and they would have to flatten jail time. Where I live, pretty much anything within the law goes and we have no state inspection if your title-able build platform isn't 100 percent ground up built, or uses no frame with an MSO.

So this means I start with 69 or earlier HD cases, or something obscure that was titled by the engine

or a title-able frame errrr um...... maybe just a headstock and maybe a piece of a down tube

and I'm good to go

good luck and I would love to know the critical dimensions of your builder, even if in millimeters, I can convert those numbers easily enough

 

[KefRacer]

well, I shaped the tail out of foam so I can put some polyester on tomorrow. I dont know about the fork travel, normal I quess, not soft at all. I found some specs..
GN 250
Overall Length: 2,030 mm (79.9 in)
Overall Width: 840 mm (33.1 in)
Overall Height: 1,120 mm (44.1 in)
Wheelbase: 1,350 mm (53.1 in)
Seat height: 740 mm (29.1 in),690mm/27.2 in top of the foam in my case
Dry Weight: 128 kg (281 lbs)
Engine type: Air-cooled 249 cc single cylinder SOHC, 4 valves. 22 hp / 8,500 rpm, 2.0 kg-m/ 5,500 rpm.

We cant really do much modification here, but if someone have a real project, he can go to some other country.. we have some cars with USA plates.
greg

 

[HackAsaw]

I think I would put the fork tube back where they go........ and then lower the front by machining a spacer to limit fork travel internally

you can determine fork travel by removing the fork caps and removing the springs

then you can stroke the front end thru it's entire range

my guess is they have at least 6 inches, maybe even 8 inches, of travel and I'd be happy with 4 to 4.5 inches of travel

the result of internally limiting travel is the forks will effectively be shorter, and even stiffer..... cut the fork spring to make it stronger

I think I'd lower the rear with appropriate length/travel shocks

and use as low profile tires as you can get for it

thanks for sharing the numbers, looks like it has much potential and thanks also for telling about modification limits in your country

 

[KefRacer]

well, I was thinking about cutting the springs before, but I couldnt find anyone here doing that. And because springs arent cheap, I was kind of scared. Can anyone tell me how the bike will handle if I shorten them for couple inches? That would be nice because forks are long, I know. not sporty at all..
I will lower the rear only for 5mm(0.2 in), shocks are on the way already. hope the clubmans and engine parts will showed up soon

 

[HackAsaw]

to shorten the forks

take them apart but only after you check the actual travel as laid out previously

then you should be able to see that if you put a machined spacer in the right spot

it will limit and reduce the travel

while effectively shortening the forks due to capturing, in the fully extended position, more of the fork tube in the lower leg

then all you have to do is whack the spring with a carbide cutoff wheel in a die grinder or whatever

smooth the end of the spring so it's action is predictably repeatable

when you shorten the spring it will be stronger and depending on how long the stock spring is and how much preload exists

it may very well be a good idea once the travel is reduced and will result in a firmer and more sporting ride

suppose you could always modify/move the rear shock mount if it then needed lowering in the rear to level everything out.......

glad to help if you have any other questions and I'm sure I'm not the only one here with a grasp on the subject

 

[KefRacer]

heres the link to my forks.
http://www.cmsnl.com/suzuki-gn250-1988-j_model13367/partslist/FIG-39.html

I also find a site about lowering the front forks. Is that what you mean?
http://users.metro2000.net/~cdc/mag...ring the v65 magna/lowering the v65 magna.htm
We have a long section of very bad road here and you have to go there if you want to leave the city(daily). So I would like to have stock fork action, but shorter forks. The second link is about this right? no spring cutting. I have a small lathe so machining both spacers is not a problem.
thanks

 

[KefRacer]

I made some progress this weekend. I decided that I want a box to fit everything in, except the rectifier. also welded all holders for electrical devices and tried new shocks. about forks, I will try to shorten them for almost 3 inches, I hope that is possible. this rear light is what I had before and it fits ok I think. engine parts are in also, so..

 

[KefRacer]

well, I think I got screwed on clubmans, so I have to find onother bars. I made a quick draw...what do you guys think, clubmans or clipons?