New UK member saying HI!

[Tankslappa]

Morning/Afternoon/Evening all!

I recently decided that my 1000cc V-twin (whilst stupidly fast) was not a practical commute to work, and actually used more fuel than my car.
So decided I'd get something smaller, and economical. I liked the idea of a more relaxed retro-style riding position, and decided to go genuine retro I can work on. Something that would just putt-putt along between A and B while I enjoy the ride, as opposed to trying to hold back a homicidal maniac that's determined to give me a near-death experience!
(Yeah, I guess I'm getting old!)

And that's how I'm now the owner of a 1981 GS250T. I have no idea if she's a TT or TX. After 37 years there's a lot of non-standard bits. GSX alloy wheels, single sided exhaust, mudguards/fenders (no idea where the rear came from, it's square edged and horrible!). The mirrors had Kawasaki written on them!

So over the past few months I've been fixing and tidying things up. She was last on the road in 2012.

After a carb strip down and new jets she started fine. Rear brake has been sorted, front brake refuses to work even after new seals, so I'm currently waiting for a new master cylinder to arrive. Headlight housing cleaned and repainted. Bulb mounting has been replaced with the genuine article, so now she has 45/45watt instead of a random holder and 35/35watt she came with. It's still candle power though. Any suggestions for a halogen unit that will fit in the housing?
I'm an IT guy, so upgrading the wiring/adding a relay is not a problem. I've already replaced all the dash bulbs with LEDs, and the stop/tail too to reduce the load on the electrical system. I'm in the process or cleaning up all the connectors and redoing the earths, and tidying up some electrical repairs she's had in the past. I'm almost at the point where I know all the wiring colours from memory!

With any luck I'll be able to get her tested and on the road before the UK summer disappears, and then this winter I can actually spend some time trying to find spoked wheels and chrome/stainless mudguards and get her back to original condition. Any suggestions?

Cheers,

Steve

 

[Charlie G]

Welcome to our little nut house! I used a 35w LED bulb (H2 ?) from ADV Monster in my 1100g and it worked great. I have no idea where/if you can buy one in the UK or if the headlight on the 250 will except one. Nice bike.

 

[scratch]

Check out that front brake hose too... probably vintage and a new one makes a huge difference...

 

[eddypeck]

Hi I'm UK too and found myself in a similar situation, my previous bike was a zx9r used for my daily commute and found myself doing silly speeds on a regular basis.

I sold that with the intention of replacing in a few months, but while I was without bike my situation changed and I had to blow my wad on a replacement car at short notice. 3.5 years later found myself in a position to choose a new bike.

Wanted something retro, but couldn't afford the modern take on classic bikes so also went for the original retro style, and whilst still capable my GS1000 is a lot harder work at high speed than the old rocket was so it's keeping me a bit more controlled.

Anyway it's your thread not mine, bike looks great and after recently picking up a 125 for my son and realising how much fun small engined bikes are I've been broswing eBay for projects around 250-500cc.

 

[ddaniels]

Welcome Tankslappa. Good luck with the tidying up process. Bike looks nice.

 

[GSXR7ED]

Welcome Steve/tankslappa!

Nice lookin' "T". Single front disc and rear drum set-up...just like my 750T. Keep us updated on your progress and post pic of your "T" here when you get a chance:

https://www.thegsresources.com/_for...-2nd-Thread)-3rd-Overall-(I-think)&highlight=

Welcome and enjoy your way around the GSR.

Here's a helpful place for your bike:

http://members.dslextreme.com/users/bikecliff/


Ed

 

[Gorminrider]

Nice bike! tankslappa..those are the original tire rims- the engine actually is a "gsx" 8valve.
yes, You can get the original suzuki shop manual at BassCliff's (bless him!) You want the "GS250T-300L...91mb"

BikeCliff's Website

 

[Tankslappa]

Hi all,
Thanks for the warm welcome.
I've grabbed the BikeCliff's pdf now, has some useful stuff. I actually bought a Haynes manual when I got the bike, mainly for torque wrench settings, but you can never have too much information, and the BikeCliff's doc has a lovely diagram of how all the wiring should route through the frame .

Headlamp bulb wise, the genuine fitting (for Europe at least) is a 45/45 APF. It's a strange thing which engages on 3 protruding mushrooms.


Has anyone had any luck replacing the entire lens and reflector unit? Will pretty much any 5 3/4" unit do the job? I suspect a halogen or LED bodged into a pre-focus lens housing is going to make a hell of a messy beam pattern!

Good call on the brake hose, it does look a bit "original"!

It'll be nice to get her on the road, my workmates keep coming into my office and looking bemused at things that have been delivered...
(Oh booo, I can't attach a 2nd image... Oh well, it was hysterical... Honest! lol!)

@Gorminrider - I've seen mention of the GS being a 4 valve, and the GSX an 8 valve on some websites, but as far as I know, I've never seen a GS250 which wasn't an 8 valve. They've all has the TSCC badge on the side, and the engines all look the same. I'm not sure I'd even know what a 4 valve GS engine looked like. Was this something which only applied to the bigger engined GS bikes?

 

[eddypeck]

I would have thought any modern universal headlight of the same size would be fine to swap over to a H4 bulb, worse case you might have to take the whole headlight bowl.

Something like this for just the light unit:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/5-75-5-3...888873?hash=item3f863a04a9:g:HAQAAOSwlndZDbpP

or this if you wanted to change the lot:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Motorbik...206431?hash=item2ca49b5d5f:g:GO8AAOSwNSxU9vey

or if you fancied it, one of those LED type ones.

 

[Brendan W]

Nice bike and Welcome.
If you haven't already I would open the ignition and kill switches and clean off the contacts. It will generally get you back a few hundred mV at the coils and make starting so much easier and cold throttle response better. Also worth a visit are the handlebar light controls for a good spray of contact cleaner and of course the supply plug for the ign coil. They can look OK outside but hide a mess of corrosion. As they say 90% of carburettor problems are electrical

 

[Tankslappa]

Something like this for just the light unit:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/5-75-5-3...888873?hash=item3f863a04a9:g:HAQAAOSwlndZDbpP

Thanks Eddy, I had actually been looking at exactly that one, and thinking Hmmmm...

I'd prefer to keep the original housing if possible, I'm trying to keep the bike original... Plus I just spent ages cleaning up and repainting the old housing!

Nice bike and Welcome.
If you haven't already I would open the ignition and kill switches and clean off the contacts. It will generally get you back a few hundred mV at the coils and make starting so much easier and cold throttle response better. Also worth a visit are the handlebar light controls for a good spray of contact cleaner and of course the supply plug for the ign coil. They can look OK outside but hide a mess of corrosion. As they say 90% of carburettor problems are electrical

Good call. I'll do that this weekend - It doesn't look like my new master cylinder is going to arrive in time, so I won't be sneaking off down the road for a test ride for a while.

I think my carb problems were more geological!

 

[Brendan W]

I think my carb problems were more geological!

View attachment 55212

Sedimentary formation - is that what they call it?

 

[Gorminrider]

I'm not sure I'd even know what a 4 valve GS engine looked like. Was this something which only applied to the bigger engined GS bikes?

no, for instance the GS 450 has the 4 valve engine. Lots of those in the states being sold same years the UK and Canada and Japan and elsewhere were getting the GS 400 with the GSX engines..The TSCC you already know is a good clue but
easier yet are the cam-end covers:
Square = 4 valves per cylinder
Round = 2 valves per cylinder
The Americans also got your bike as a 250 or 300 , with the gsx engine but not the 400s- it's kind of a mess as to looking for engine bits so I look them up on CMSNL to get the part numbers, wherever you finally buy them
parts suzuki motorcycle accessories spares replacement aftermarket

 

[Guest]

It's actually pretty easy in the UK. All 4 valve/cyl engines were titled GSX, and all 2 valve/cyl engines were titled GS. The one exception is the one you have - a GS250TX. Same engine as the GSX250, different styling.

I had one exactly the same 30+ years ago.

 

[scratch]

Nice bike and Welcome.
If you haven't already I would open the ignition and kill switches and clean off the contacts. It will generally get you back a few hundred mV at the coils and make starting so much easier and cold throttle response better. Also worth a visit are the handlebar light controls for a good spray of contact cleaner and of course the supply plug for the ign coil. They can look OK outside but hide a mess of corrosion. As they say 90% of carburettor problems are electrical

Going to do this on all my bikes in the morning. Always clean the loom terminal connectors really well but, I never thought about the switches themselves... thank you for this nugget, I'm going to creeper stalk you from now on.

 

[Brendan W]

Going to do this on all my bikes in the morning. Always clean the loom terminal connectors really well but, I never thought about the switches themselves... thank you for this nugget, I'm going to creeper stalk you from now on.

Ok , I guess
Another sneaky component is the fuse holder or box depending on the machine.
They corrode and drop more voltage.
Just because it's not blown doesn't mean it's ok.
In some cases you will have one or both ends of the fuse getting warm.
Many of the glass fuses available are not of the same quality as back in the day.
In particular the soldering of the fuse wire to the end caps is cracked.