1972 Suzuki TS250 Bobber Project (Advice Appreciated)

Hey all,

been lurking the forum for quite some time with only a few infrequent postings so I felt it was time to make a thread and introduce myself/my build. I am a 22 year old student from Toronto, Ontario so I have very limited knowledge for bike building. This will be my second project bike as I already have a '76 KZ400 that is in the process of being cafe'd. My girlfriend wasn't too impressed with the solo/cowl combo I put on that bike so I purchased this bike to build for her. To this point the bike has been converted to a rolling hardtail. I have purchased a wassell peanut tank, ribbed solo seat, chrome clip-ons (33mm), chrome headlight bucket (needs custom mount), new clutch basket/lever, added a chrome front fender/stay from a kz400 (to be used as a rear fender), taillight (needs custom mount for the rear axel or frame), a new oil tank/battery tray combo (the typical cylinder oil tank shape) and new bolts for the engine. The inspiration for my build is saras triumph:



but as of right now it looks like:



Any/all advice for this build is appreciated, I know dirtbike to bobber conversions are rare but there are a couple I've seen on this forum so I'm not first to attempt it. Some specific question I have however are:

1) The bike needs a new exhaust setup. As a two-stroke dirtbike engine it has the prototypical ding-ding high pitch sound whereas I would prefer a lower registration for the exhaust. Are there other 250cc exhaust systems from other bikes that would work with little modification? Should I instead look towards getting a custom exhaust mocked up? What would a reasonable ballpark be for the cost of a custom setup like that?

2) I plan on getting the peanut tank custom painted. I have contacted a couple painters on this forum for quotes but I have not limited my search. If anyone has had good dealings with reasonably priced painters I would appreciate their contact information.

3) I haven't purchased springs yet for the seat, are there any differences between scissor/traditional coiled springs other than purely aesthetics that I should consider?

Thanks, I'll update this thread with progress / more questions so please favourite it. Also, I can post my kz400 build if anyone's interested in following that?
Adam

Guess this post was a little premature or maybe this isn't the proper forum for this type of build? If anyone has answers to the few questions I posted I'd be really appreciative - especially the exhaust q's (stock exhaust is terrible looking).

Best,

Adam

I'm interested to see where you go with this! I'm in the process of building an xl350 (4 stroke) hard tail bobber. I don't have any answers to your questions specifically but I can give you tips on painting, feel free to pm, or ask here. Mine is coming home in a couple days, I'm getting the hard tail welded up.... It's stretched 6" from stock.

I'd like to see where this goes as well. I can't give you much info or advice on your build only because my skill set is very limited as well. I think this is a fine place to post this build thread. Just keep updating it and people will start chiming in!

I don't know much about these bikes and I own one! But can't wait to see your progress on the bobber and would love to know if you find a lower register exhaust for the engine


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

1. 2strokes are supposed to sound like that! If they dont something is really off.

2 strokes will always sound much different than a 4 stroke it will be impossible to make it have a deep sound
that said for 100-$300 you could probably find a hooker or jardine or bassani vintage era exhaust for the savage, keep an eye on ebay
they were almost all up pipes but a talented fabricator could modify it to a down underneath pipe for a few hundred dollers more or you could do the reaerarch and find the specs for a correctly sized expansion chamber exhaust and have one built for proly less than $500
you can't just put a straight pipe on it